Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

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BEHIND
THE PRISON BARS.

_A REMINDER OF OUR DUTIES
TOWARD THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SO UNFORTUNATE
AS TO BE CAST INTO PRISON._

By E. E. BYRUM,

Author of “The Secret of Salvation,” “Divine Healing of Soul
and Body,” “The Great Physician,” “The
Boy’s Companion,” Etc.

“_Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them._”—_Heb. 13:3._

GOSPEL TRUMPET PUBLISHING CO.,

MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA.

1901.

COPYRIGHT, 1901,
BY
E. E. BYRUM.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Help a man who is in trouble and manifest a care for his soul, even though he is an enemy; it touches a tender chord of his hardened heart, tends to loose the binding powers of sin, causing him to look up with hope. Realizing the great neglect of duty toward them who are behind the prison-bars, unable to help themselves in many respects, inspired the writing of this volume. It was not the intention of the author to write a thorough work on this subject, but to call attention to a few facts concerning the prisons and jails, also the treatment and privileges of the inmates, and thus awaken the people to a sense of duty and the manifestation of a feeling of sympathy. The majority of people have never visited a jail or state prison, consequently know but little about them, and feel little, if any, responsibility on that line.

About two years ago the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company of Moundsville, W. Va., established a fund for sending out literature free to the poor, to jails, prisons, and wherever most needed. As much as ten thousand dollars’ worth of books, tracts, and papers have in this way been sent out during one year to various parts of the United States, Canada, Europe, and other foreign countries. Yet it seems only a drop in the bucket, as it were, in consideration of what should be done. It is our earnest prayer that the readers of this little volume will at once put forth the greatest possible effort to properly supply the prisoners and thus aid in bringing about a reformation in their lives.

In order to show the result of some of the efforts put forth to supply the prisoners with good literature and their appreciation of the same, quite a number of letters from prisoners and prison officials have been inserted. While these letters have quite a similarity, yet it is hoped that their sameness will not destroy their interest in consideration of the fact that thereby the prisoners from a broad scope of territory have the privilege of giving expression to their feeling of gratitude toward those who have thus manifested their friendship.

The names have been omitted of those who have written letters and testimonies; however, they appear in full in the original manuscript and are genuine. Only the serial numbers are given to those whose biographies appear in the book. We are grateful for the kind assistance of prison officials and prisoners who have kindly contributed. Further communications, or letters, from prisoners or any one interested in this line of work will be gladly received by the author. With an earnest prayer for the salvation of every prisoner, I remain,

Yours in Him,
E. E. BYRUM.

Moundsville, W. Va., July 4, 1901.

_CONTENTS._

PAGE.

In Prison. 9

Make the Best of It. 12

Punishment. 14

Capital Punishment. 22

Life Imprisonment. 26

The Dungeon. 28

Cat-o’-nine-tails. 33

Buck and Gagged. 34

Lock-step March. 34

Literary Privileges. 37

Tobacco Allowance. 46

The Prisoner’s Work. 47

The Stockades. 48

The Chain Gang. 49

The Felon’s Cell. 53

The Library. 56

The Chapel. 58

Scaling the Prison Walls. 60

A Prison Reform. 64

History of West Virginia Penitentiary. 73
(As Written by a Prisoner.)

Letters from Prison Officials. 107

Testimonies of Convicts. 121

Released from Prison. 141

_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._

PAGE.

The Black List. 19

Cat-o’-nine-tails. 31

Lock-step March. 35

The Chain Gang. 51

Scaling the Prison Walls. 61

Tracked by Bloodhounds—Captured. 69

Penitentiary of the State of West Virginia. 105

The Younger Brothers. 145

_BEHIND THE PRISON-BARS._

IN PRISON.

Our country is called the land of the free, but could we at one glance behold the thousands and tens of thousands now behind the prison-bars and know their irksome lives, there would be an awakening in hearts that have never known the bondage that exists in our midst.

A crime is perpetrated. Some one is arraigned before the court to answer the charges as to whether he is guilty or not. The jury renders a verdict, “Guilty.” The judge pronounces the sentence a term in prison. The poor unfortunate is now considered a convict. Shackles are brought to make him secure, in order to prevent his escape. An officer accompanies him to his prison house, where he is to be in servitude according to the length of his term of sentence. No one but the prisoner realizes the awful feelings as the prison door shuts behind him with a clang, and he hears the click of the lock fastening him in an iron cell. Whether innocent or guilty, he feels the awful disgrace upon himself and his friends. It would not seem so bad if only the guilty were brought to justice in this way, but ofttimes the facts reveal that not only hundreds, but thousands, of innocent persons are thus sentenced and brought into disgrace, many of them serving a life sentence.

There are two sides to prison life—a bright side, and a dark side. It may be a query in the minds of some how there could be any enjoyment or any bright side to such a life, but this will be clearly shown in other chapters in this book. There are many things that go to make the prison life a dark one. Viewing the matter from a natural standpoint, with no one to look to but human help, the way does truly often look dark and dreary. There are prisons where men are cast into dungeons and left to almost starve to death, or they are bound hand and foot and beaten with the cat-o-nine tails, or hanged by the thumbs, or made to pass through some severe ordeal of punishment that is almost beyond human endurance. Even in our own country there are yet stockades wherein prisoners do not receive treatment that would elevate them nor fit them for the higher circles of society. Many of these stockades wherein prisoners have been kept during the years past have been but little, if any, better in many respects than were the Andersonville or Libby prisons during the Rebellion. There are exceptional cases to be sure. During the past year a number of the states have not properly provided for their prisoners. It has not been an uncommon thing in some of these stockades to see a gang of men shackled together with chains, obliged to go about with the clanking chains to their feet, under rigid rules, and having to suffer the severe treatment of wicked and ungodly guards.

The National Prison Association, which is generally represented by officers from the various prisons throughout the United States, have for a number of years met annually to discuss the best modes of handling and caring for the prisoners. Various methods have been set forth. Experiments have been made, and too often it is the case that hard-hearted officers have used the most excruciating means and hard-heartedness in their dealings toward their prisoners, in order to keep them in subjection. Some officers deem it necessary to speak to prisoners in the sternest possible manner, imagining that being cross, gruff, and surly toward them will make them feel a subordination that can be brought about in no other way. This only deepens the sorrows of the poor unfortunate prisoner and tends to harden his heart and affections. Such officers forget that kind looks, gentle actions, and words of encouragement fitly spoken will elevate a man and encourage him to show his manhood and return the love by putting forth his best efforts to show his appreciation of kindness. It is true there are hard-hearted men in prison, men who would kill a man for a trifle, whose consciences are seared over, as it were, yet there are comparatively few men so hard-hearted but can be touched by love and kindness. There are times when more severe punishment must be inflicted, but the warden and prison officers who continually show forth kindness toward the prisoners, greeting them with a smile and words of encouragement, have but little trouble in bringing about a great reform in the lives of those under their charge.

MAKE THE BEST OF IT.

There are thousands in prisons whose hands have been stained with the blood of their fellow men; others whose hearts are hardened in sin and their lives blackened with many crimes; while again, there are those who are innocent, and some who have been cast into prison for Christ’s sake. But whether innocent or guilty, the most expedient thing is to make the best of the situation. Worrying over the separation from friends, the disgrace that is brought about, and bewailing the condition of things in general, will by no means help the matter. If a sin or crime has been committed it is not hidden from the God of heaven, and though the prisoner maybe shut in for years he can have the soul liberated from all the sins committed, by confessing them unto the Lord, calling upon him, and believing that he does forgive; as the Bible tells us in 1 Jno. 1:9 that, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The dear prisoner should make a decision for the right at once, cast away his gloom, doubts, and fears, and remember the words of the apostle, who urges people to cast their care upon the Lord, for he careth for them. He is a very present help in time of trouble. By the help of Almighty God the prisoner can yet make his mark in the world. He can rise above every foe and be of some use before his life closes. While he is in the midst of the most desperate characters in the land, yet he can have good associates. He can commune with God when alone in his cell. He can call for good books and holy literature, read the Bible, and make every effort to please the Lord and those around him. He can so live that even the prison walls will be a hallowed spot unto him. It was while John Bunyan was serving a twelve-year sentence in prison that he wrote the notable book “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” which has been a help and comfort to multitudes of people. He no doubt worked often under adverse circumstances and completed his work through many difficulties and much hard labor. Likewise Martin Luther translated the New Testament while in prison, and wrote a number of other valuable works. The apostle Paul wrote a number of his epistles while in prison. He and others with him sometimes were punished by stripes until they were left lacerated and bleeding, then cast into prison and bound hand and foot. It was under such circumstances that one time Paul and Silas were found praising the Lord, singing and shouting at the midnight hour, when the Lord sent an earthquake and rent the prison walls, throwing open the doors and loosing the shackles, setting them free; but they did not flee from the prison until they received proper orders. It was their faithfulness that caused the jailer to ask what he should do to be saved. Paul told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The generous jailor then took the brethren and washed their stripes and properly cared for them, and soon they were dismissed and sent on their way. It often happens that some must suffer an unjust punishment. To such we can only say, Be of good courage; look up and trust for better days.

PUNISHMENT.

People are sentenced to a term in prison on account of crime committed. There are two systems of punishment. One is called punitive or retributive system, the other the corrective or reformative. Until within the last few years the punitive system was almost the exclusive one. However, our humane officers, prison officials, lawmakers and statesmen are not only learning better ways of bringing men and women thus incarcerated into subjection, but in many places are making and enforcing laws which require that prisoners be more humanely treated and receive better care and accommodations. Men have resorted to almost every possible device in order to make bad men good and raise them from ignorance to intelligence, and in so doing have inflicted the most severe punishment, causing the prisoners to pass through severest ordeals and most terrible sufferings imaginable. When we say there has been a radical change in many of our prisons in the land in discarding the severe corporal punishment, we do not wish to convey the idea that all prisons have yet accepted the more humane ways of governing the prisoners under their charge. When we say some of these punishments have been and are yet severe it does not fully express the facts of the case. The word “severe” is not a strong enough word. There have been and are yet punishments that are brutal—brutal to the extreme. Many prisoners who are within the prison walls carry the deep lash marks of the whip; the unjointed and deformed thumbs resulting from the punishment of being hanged by the thumbs; and there are other deformities. Many of us can no doubt remember the time of our early days in the country school when the schoolmaster was almost constantly with a beach or birch whip in his hand, something equal to an ox goad. This instrument for correcting the youths of our land and bringing them into subjection, when not in the schoolmaster’s hand was in the corner near by and was generally freely used. There have been, however, such a radical change and better modes of government brought about, that many schools are taught without once using such an instrument of punishment. If such a successful change has been made in our public schools, surely as radical a change can be made in our prisons, to take the place of the brutality of the past. Concerning the easy government of the prisoners there is much that depends upon those in charge of the prisoners. The warden, chaplain, and prison guards who have direct care of the prisoners should be good, whole-souled men, kind and benevolent, and who are capable of appreciating the good traits of a man even though they may be covered by many dark ones. They should be good readers of human nature and understand the dispositions of those under their charge. They should be firm and unyielding to their trust, yet loving and tender.

Mr. Meade, warden of the state prison at Auburn, N. Y., says: “Till the nature of criminals undergoes a complete change, nay, till the nature of man is much altered, there will be times when punishment must be inflicted on prisoners. Much as we have gained on using the modern reformed treatment, and much as we may justly expect to gain in the future, the fact remains that there are times in the prison life of men when the results of their former passions crop out irresistibly, making them for a time not accessible to friendly reproof. At such times, for the effect it has on others, but quite as much for its effect on its misdemeanant, it is necessary to forcibly bring him to recognition of his obligations and his duty. But to my mind forcible restraining, or to employ the common term, punishing a convict, does not require the use of the paddle or other instruments of torture; furthermore, in my judgment, such process should be condemned in the strongest terms. For they tend to imbitter not only the man punished but all prisoners against the officers of the prison, the rules of the prison, and law itself. One instance of the use of the paddle would do more to destroy the desired friendly relation between officers and men than many months of considerate treatment could restore. No! Experience has proved to me that when it is imperative that an inmate be punished, the screened cell or dungeon without discretion furnishes an effective mode. Such cells should be kept dry and well ventilated, but wholly devoid of furnishings. Confining men thus and supplying them with a very limited amount of food and water has, in the great majority of cases which have come under my observation, speedily brought the desired result of making a man see the advisibility of abiding by the regulations of the institution.”

There are also other ways, however, of vividly impressing the minds of those who are disorderly, or who insist on not observing the prison rules. Most prisons have what is called “short time;” that is, for good behavior their sentence is shortened so many days each month, and in some prisons a certain percentage of the worth of their labor is placed to their credit for good behavior. One of the effective ways of bringing them to time when they become stubborn and rebellious, refusing to obey the rules, is to withhold the commutation, or short time, and also deduct so much of the compensation money that has been placed to their credit. This is generally much more effective and pleads to the reason and common sense of the prisoner more than some forcible persuasion by way of corporal punishment.

For certain offences some are black-listed to be punished in various ways. One is, during working hours or while others are resting or at services on Sunday, the disobedient convict is to march for a few hours around the prison square and carry a heavy piece of railroad iron, weighing from fifty to one hundred pounds.

Captain Smith, a few years ago, in giving his biennial report of the Kansas prison, said: “The discipline has been carefully looked after and as a general thing prisoners yield to a strict discipline better than most people think. They seem to see and realize the necessity of rules and very seldom complain, if they violate them, at the punishment that is sure to follow. Our punishments are of such a character that they do not degrade. Kansas, when she established her penitentiary, prohibited corporal punishment. She is one of the few states that by law prohibits the use of the whip and strap, taking the position that it is better to use kindness than to resort to brutal measures. I have often been told, and that too by old prison men, that it is impossible to run a prison and have first-class discipline without the whip. Such is not my experience. We have had within our walls perhaps as desperate men as ever received a sentence. We have controlled them and have maintained a good discipline second to none in the country. How did we accomplish this? Our answer is, By being kind but firm, treating a man, although a prisoner, as a man, and if he violates rules, lock him up and give him an opportunity to commune with himself and his Maker; also give him to understand that he is the executioner of his own sentence, and when he concludes that he can do right, release him. It matters not how vicious, how stubborn, or what kind of a temper he may have, when left with no one to talk to and an opportunity to cool down and with the knowledge that when he comes to the conclusion that he will do better he can be released, he leaves the cell feeling very different from the prisoner who leaves the whipping-post after having received any number of lashes that the brutal officer may desire to inflict. One goes to his work cheerful and determined to behave himself; the other dogged, revengeful, and completely humiliated, only lives in hope that he may at some time take his revenge upon the person that ordered or inflicted the punishment and upon the state or country that would by its laws tolerate such a brutal or slavish practice.”

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Being put to death for crime or some misdemeanor is termed capital punishment. This is not the most painful but is the most heinous of all punishments. It is a heathenish practice, yet men make laws, sit in judgment, render decisions, pronounce sentences, and thereby shed the blood of their fellow men, trying to hide behind the laws that are made, trying to screen themselves by the Bible, hoping all will be well in the day of judgment. Because of such lawmakers and lawyers, many are sentenced and hurled into eternity without being prepared to meet God. Will God hold us innocent if we do such things? or if we cry not out against such, will he not look down upon a government and nation stained with human blood? Surely there is guilt that must be removed. When the judge rises and pronounces the death sentence, to ease his conscience in the matter he sometimes quotes from Genesis 9:6: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Even though that scripture could apply in such cases in those days, it can not at the present time. It is true that under the law of Moses life was given for life as a punishment. For many trivial things people were stoned to death, even for the breaking of the Sabbath.

“Then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”—Ex. 21:23-25.

“Then thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”—Deut. 19:21.

“And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.”

We are not living under the law of Moses in this day and age of the world, neither are we justified by the law, but we are living in a different dispensation. Paul says the law of Moses was a law of bondage, and through Jesus Christ we are free from that bondage. The law of Moses and the prophets were until John (Luke 16:16), and we now live in the dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and nowhere does he give men the privilege of making and enforcing laws that would make the taking of man’s life justifiable. We do not read the instructions of Jesus Christ to be “Life for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” neither by way of rendering the sentence of the law upon those who have taken the life of their fellow man, nor by acting upon the impulse in taking revenge for personal offence or injury. In speaking of the law of Moses and what was written concerning the people of olden times, Jesus in that memorable sermon on the mount said: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”—Matt. 5:38, 39. Jesus Christ taught the law of love, even taught that we should love our enemies and do good to them that hate us and despitefully use us. He taught that people should show mercy to their fellow men. Even when wicked Cain slew his brother Abel because of a slight offence, and though he feared that men would put him to death, God gave him to understand that he would not have him put to death, but that he should be protected from such a penalty, although his hands were stained with his brother’s blood.

In Galatians 5:4 Paul gave the people to understand that they were not justified by the law of Moses; he said: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Neither are people justified in the sight of God for making and enforcing laws that will take the life of their fellow men. Merely quoting the words, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,” will not remove the guilt. To call such lawmaking and enforcement heathenism does not give full expression to the subject; nay, it is barbarism in the extreme. Some may severely criticize these terms and the views expressed here, but we fearlessly assert that such is truth. We are glad to know that a few states in our so-called land of liberty have become awakened on this line and refuse to make or enforce such a law. Those who still try to hide behind the law of Moses, why not carry out that law in full and stone to death every man or woman who breaks the Sabbath?

There is another side to the picture. It is sometimes the case that a man who is put to death is innocent of the crime for which he is charged. Whether innocent or guilty, a great number of those thus punished pass into eternity unsaved. With many of them it has been an act performed on the impulse of the moment. Their former lives, perhaps, have been upright, viewing them from a standpoint of morality. Again, it is often the case that a family is left in a critical condition to battle for life with this cold world. A delicate wife with helpless children must thus be weighed down in sorrow and bereavement, poverty staring them in the face, crushed with shame and disgrace, with no one to provide for them and no help nor special protection from the state whose laws have forever removed the one to whom they looked for maintenance and protection.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT.

Life imprisonment is an unjust sentence. Life prisoners are those who have received their sentence for murdering a fellow being. In many cases, however, they can not really be classed as criminals. They are victims of circumstances. The deed was not premeditated but was brought about on the impulse of the moment. The sentence of a lifelong imprisonment forever deprives of the liberties of freedom and the association of friends and relatives, and the only hope of freedom is an escape, then to remain a fugitive from justice. Mr. Meade in his report suggests that the life prisoner should be allowed the same privilege of commutation or short time as is given other prisoners, and in this give him a hope of release. There are tables which insurance companies use (and they are supported by the courts) which fix an average limit of years of the existence of a man, computing from the first year; the interval beyond the present age naturally decreasing as old age approaches. He says: “It would seem that these tables furnish a foundation on which a system for life prisoners should be based. For instance, a man twenty years of age is convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for life. Our tables show that the average number of years for a man of that age still to live is approximately thirty-four. Figuring the legal commutation on this term of thirty-four years, we find the prisoner would be compelled to serve about twenty-three years of solid time. A man thirty years old would on the same basis, having about thirty years to live, serve eighteen years; a man forty years old, having about twenty-five years to live, would serve sixteen years in prison. Thus we might continue our observations indefinitely.”

My views of this matter may be severely criticised, nevertheless we do not consider that five years is unreasonably short for the first offence of murder. This releases the innocent man who may have been sentenced through circumstantial evidence or otherwise by false accusation. It is a long sentence for a man who has acted on the impulse of the moment or in a fit of anger; and even to the one who has premeditated the crime, five years of hard labor and proper training in a prison will be an impressive lesson to cause him not to repeat the act. For a second offence it should not be more than ten or fifteen years, and even for a third offence it would not be out of reason to give him the life sentence with the regular commutation. This reasoning may to many at first thought seem ridiculous, but upon proper consideration we should remember that as long as there is life there is hope, and while there is a possibility of reformation a man should have some kind of a chance; not only a chance to reform, but a chance to enjoy his liberty. Even after he has served two or three terms he is not then a worse character and not more dangerous to a community than thousands of others who are just as guilty but have not suffered the penalty of the law. When a man has served according to the penalty here suggested, has he not suffered sufficient to satisfy the law? and should we not be willing to allow him the privileges of liberty and to enjoy life once more? It is a hard heart indeed that will place a man behind prison-bars for life. In England there is a possibility of being set at liberty after twenty years, on account of good behavior. There needs to be a radical change in our laws on this line.

THE DUNGEON.

This is the dreaded place of all prisons and in many places resorted to oftener than necessary. Many prisoners who work in the mines have had to go to the dungeon without their supper after laboring hard all day, because ungodly and wicked guards reported a shortage in the proper amount of coal mined, when the facts of the case were that the guards had stolen or removed a portion of the coal from the car after it left the prisoner, because of their dislike for the prisoner and by so doing could have him punished. It also too often happens that prisoners refuse to work as they should, and deserve the punishment. It is not necessary to here describe the filthy, stifling, odorous dungeons of war times or of some of the worst prisons of the day, but a description of the dungeon of one of the best prisons in our land will be sufficient. The following is a description given by one who served a term in prison. In describing the punishment to secure good discipline, he said:

“To me these contingency dungeons are, as their name implies, dark, with similarity to an ordinary cell with the exception of a door which in the common cell contains open spaces for the admission of light, but the dark cell admits no light, and not a sufficient quantity of air. There is no furniture in this dark cell. While undergoing punishment if a prisoner desires to rest he can do so by reclining on the stone floor. No refractory prisoner ever grows corpulent while confined in these dark cells, as he receives only one meal of bread and water in twenty-four hours. The prisoner is often kept in one of these cells from eight to ten days. Sleep is almost impossible. When a prisoner enters the dungeon he is required to leave behind him his coat, cap, and shoes. During the winter months it is often very cold in these cells, requiring the prisoner to walk up and down the dungeon in his stocking feet to prevent his freezing, and this for a period of ten days in nearly every instance compels submission. After the dark cells thaw out in the summer months they are excessively hot. Sometimes in winter the temperature is below zero, and in summer it often rises to 100 degrees. They are then veritable furnaces. Generally after the prisoner undergoes a freezing or baking process for eight or ten days, he is willing to behave himself in the future. They are sometimes so reduced and weakened that when brought out of the dark cell they can scarcely walk without aid. I have seen them reel to and fro like drunken men. They are often as pale as death. In many cases the prisoner contracts cold which later on terminates fatally, and this is one of the principal objections to this mode of punishment. If the prisoner in the mine does not get out his regular weekly task of coal, on Saturday he is reported to the deputy sheriff by the officer in charge and is sent to the blind cell before supper and kept there until the following Monday morning, when he is taken out and sent to his work in the mines. While in there he gets only bread and water once in twenty-four hours. This is a great inducement to work, which certainly prevents criminals from shirking their labor, and soon converts the lazy tramp into a hustling coal miner. If being in this dark cell ten days and nights is insufficient to subdue a rebellious spirit of the convict he is taken out and placed in the solitary cell. This is similar to the ordinary cell with the exception that it contains no furniture. Here the convict remains on bread and water until he is starved almost to death or until he is willing to submit and do his work as ordered.”

CAT-O’-NINE-TAILS.

A few years ago while visiting an Indiana penitentiary the warden said that some years before they used the cat-o’-nine-tails in punishing their prisoners, but had discarded that mode of punishment. There are men both in prison and out of prison who carry furrows and scars on their backs caused by the deep flesh wounds of the cat-o’-nine-tails. This is a whip with lashes some of which have wire interwoven so as to cut the flesh with every stroke. The poor prisoner must bare his back and be chained or shackled to a post and beaten by a merciless officer, who is often only too glad to wreak his vengeance in that way. It is yet the case in many prisons and stockades that a similar punishment is inflicted with the exception of not so many lashes, and a strap is sometimes used, from two to four inches wide, made by sewing two pieces of harness leather together. The same is perforated, soaked in water over night, and dipped in the sand. This, when vigorously applied to the bare flesh, causes the most excruciating pain. This is not in the least overdrawing the picture of what is constantly put into practice at the present time.

BUCK-AND-GAGGED.

This is another dreadful punishment which is still in vogue in some places. The prisoner is taken and handcuffed, his hands slipped over in front of his knees and sometimes a stick passed through just under his knees and over his wrists, his mouth opened ofttimes by force, and filled with a large cork or piece of wood, and left in this condition until life is almost extinct. This punishment is serious and is apt to make the prisoner revengeful instead of making him feel that he has been justly punished.

THE LOCK-STEP MARCH.

The lock-step march is a humane punishment, yet when continued a great length of time is very tiresome. Prisoners who have been guilty of some trivial offence during the week, and who are not otherwise punished, are generally called upon to fall in line and proceed to the open square of the prison, and there while the other prisoners are resting or at chapel exercises they must keep in constant motion in the lock-step march. This punishment is not as severe as some others, yet it is not a desirable punishment, especially when the others are all enjoying a rest or comfortably seated in the chapel during religions services. When the hundreds of prisoners are gathered in the chapel on Sunday morning and comfortably seated, the warden or some other officer reads the names of those who are to join in the lock-step march. It is not for them to retaliate nor plead their innocence, neither wait to be told the second time. As soon as their names are called they must immediately rise and as the last name is called they are all marched out to the prison yard and there begin their tiresome march. Some who have committed greater offences must walk in front and carry heavy bars of iron. This punishment is given to stimulate them to observe the proper rules and discipline of the prison.

LITERARY PRIVILEGES.

The literary privileges are so widely different in the various prisons throughout the land that it would be very difficult to render the proper information. There are some penitentiaries, and especially the stockades of the South, without libraries, and many prisoners even serve a term without being granted any educational privileges whatever, either by way of literary work or reading of good books. It is more difficult in the stockades to give the literary privileges than in other established prisons. However, there are states with established penitentiaries that have not provided the same with libraries and proper literary accommodations. On the other hand, many of the penitentiaries have established schools wherein prisoners can obtain a fair education. For instance, the Michigan state prison more than twenty-five years ago established graded schools, and all prisoners who have not a fair education are required four evenings of the week to attend these schools for an hour and a half. In this way the prisoner is not only benefited, but it brings him under a new line of discipline that enables the officer in charge to become familiar with his mental condition and capabilities and more fully understand the dispositions of those under his charge. Men who are thus drilled and properly cared for, after going through this discipline day after day, cause less trouble to those in charge. In the prisons where the most humane reformative system of management is used there can be many things brought to bear upon the minds of the prisoners that will tend to elevate them and fit them for the higher circles of society. By the proper treatment and privileges they will soon learn to have a taste for literary work. A few prisons give the prisoners the privileges of general literary work, such as delivering orations, recitations, essays, debates, etc. These things, while they educate and develop the mind, have a tendency to divert the mind of the prisoner from the feelings of disgrace and the deplorable situation; and instead of spending hours brooding in despondency it awakens an activity of the mind and new thoughts for consideration during the solitary hours.

Every prison should supply each cell with a Bible. Many do this while others do not. The prisoners should also have access to the library and permission to call for any book in the library. Where they are thus looked after it is the duty of certain prisoners to go to each cell and learn what book is desired for the coming week and to take up the one which was in their possession during the past week. These requests are taken to the librarian and the books selected and distributed according to number. Prisoners who mutilate or destroy the books in any way are denied the privilege of having a book to read for a few weeks. If the offence is repeated the punishment on this line is more severe and they are then neither allowed to receive a book or paper or are refused all privileges of the library and not even allowed to have paper or writing material to communicate with their friends. With most prisoners this is a severe punishment. One who has not been thus incarcerated or had to spend weeks and months in solitude can scarcely realize the value of good books to read under such circumstances. But he who has had the actual experience knows just how to appreciate such a privilege.

During the civil war a number of Union men made a daring raid through the Confederate line and were afterward captured and cast into dungeons where they spent weeks of suffering, amid heart-rending scenes, and notwithstanding their extreme hunger, thirst, and the stifling odor of their dark underground prison and suffering much from their shackles and clanking chains, they were taken from place to place and then brought to trial. Seven of their number were hanged, leaving about a dozen remaining who were expecting to be called out to follow in their footsteps at any time. Through some sudden change or maneuver of war the remainder of these men were left in prison with guards over them and only a meager supply of food. As the seven of their comrades were taken from their midst to the place of execution those who remained were in much distress of mind. During the morning hours before this they had spent the time in playing cards, now and then an oath escaping their lips, but now the scene changed. Some one suggested that they should pray. There was but little hope of them escaping the fate of their comrades and thus soon be hurled into eternity, and what added more to the darkness of the hour was the fact that they had not made their peace with God. One of the surviving party describes the occurrence as follows:

“From this time forward we had religious exercises morning and evening and found them a great consolation and support. We began and closed the day right and thus added sweetness to all its hours, supplying a subject of thought not bearing directly upon our future gloomy prospects and thus enabling us to maintain better mental health. We always sang a hymn or two on these occasions. We sang ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Jesus, Lover of my Soul,’ and others of a pronounced spiritual cast. This greatly astonished the guards. They were given strict charge to watch us closely with the statement that we were the most desperate characters in the whole United States. Then to hear us singing ‘hymns’ and know that we had prayer morning and evening was a contradiction they found hard to reconcile.... What would we not now have given for the counsels and assistance of a minister whom we could fully trust! Just how to be religious was the puzzle. I know if I had a command to execute from an army officer I would do it, if in my power, no matter how difficult or dangerous, and I wished intensely that it was just as easy to be religious as to be a soldier; but there was the question of right feelings and right motives that did not seem to come into play very much in the army. For if a soldier did his duty he was not apt to be asked how he felt about it. I had the belief that I must have joy and rapture in thinking of death and readiness to shout God’s praises, which I did not feel; and for a time it seemed as if I could not reach a genuine conversion. I diligently read the Bible which we had borrowed, and while I enjoyed many things in it, little direct guidance for me was found. I asked counsel of our captain for whom I had the greatest esteem and respect, but it was so easy for him to believe that I thought his case must be very unlike my own, so I spoke to another one of our company, the only one of our number who had a clear religious faith, and seemed to be happy in it. His first answer was very striking. I asked how he felt about death. He thought I referred to our worldly prospect, and answered that probably we would soon all be put to death. ‘But what is your feeling about death itself?’ I continued. He said, ‘I am not afraid to die if it is God’s will. I trust him now and I expect to trust him to the last.’

He took my hand and there was a steady light in his eye that made me believe every word he said. But when I asked him how he got such a faith, he could only tell me that he went to a ‘mourners bench’ two years before and sought till he found it. This did me no good, for there was no place accessible here. In sore perplexity I read the Bible from day to day and prayed, taking my turn in praying aloud and reading with the others. At length I thought I began to see that trusting Christ must be something like taking his words and teachings for my guide, trying to do all that he commanded, and leaving the result while I did this with him. This was not that sudden transformation that I had hoped, but I soon found that it opened up a good many things that I had never dreamed of. One of these seemed especially strange under the circumstances. I had yet but a slender hope of ever escaping from the prison except by the way of the scaffold. But in spite of that dark prospect as an absolute test of my obedience—‘Will you, if satisfied that it is God’s will, be ready to give up the profession of law if you ever get home and go into the ministry?’ The first and spontaneous reply was, No! I had studied law and meant to practice it if I ever got where law reigned. But at once the self response was clear, ‘What kind of obedience was this?’ I saw that I was not sincere in professing to enlist under Christ as my captain unless I would really obey him. It would be a poor allegiance that stopped short with the things I wanted to do. For a long time I could not pass this point. The difficulty when communicated to my prison companions seemed utterly absurd. ‘Try to serve God in the prison where you are,’ they said with a cheer plausibility, ‘and do not bother about preaching, being a lawyer or anything else, when you get out, for you never will get out.’ This seemed good advice but it would not give a serene mind or the victory over the fear of death, which I so much desired.

“One after another of those in the prison found the comfort I lacked. And it was not until wearied and worn-out that I vowed that if God would only give me peace I would serve him as sincerely in prison or out of it as I had tried to serve my country, and in any way he might direct. From this time I did have a steady conviction that I was on the Lord’s side and that I had a right to commit myself and my life to his keeping. Though all newspapers were strictly forbidden, yet through the kindness of negro waiters we were supplied and thus kept posted regarding war news.... We all remember with deepest gratitude the visit of a minister. When he left he promised to send us some books and did not forget to promptly forward them. These we took good care of, read thoroughly to all in the room, and then returned, asking for more. These he generously gave and we thus continued until we had read nearly his whole library. Those only who know what a dreadful weariness it is to pass days without any definite employment can realize the great boon these good books bestowed on us. It made the prison room a veritable school, and in view of our religious efforts the character of the books was just what we would most have desired, as they were of a religious cast, which only made them the more welcome. But there is no employment upon which I look back with more pleasure than that for which the minister’s books furnished us the material. With fifteen persons in a room not more than eighteen feet square it was needful to preserve quiet if any reading must be done. We therefore appointed regular reading hours, two in the forenoon and the same in the afternoon. During this time no one was permitted to speak above a low whisper and all noise and running about was forbidden. Those who did not wish to read might sleep. Sometimes the books were read silently, but for a part of the time in nearly every period a volume of general interest would be selected and read aloud. These books would often furnish subjects and arguments for discussion in the debating periods that followed. We gained a great deal of knowledge in our novel school, which has been of lifelong value. Books of travel, adventure, history, biography, and theology—no fiction—were freely read and brought the freshness of the outside world into our dreary captivity.”

The foregoing gives us a vague idea of what can be done for the welfare of the prisoners in the jails, work-houses, and penal institutions of our land, towards making the prisoners happy by supplying them with good books, tracts, papers, and such like. Oh, the neglect on this line! Were prisoners thus supplied, their minds would not be occupied during the solitary hours in scheming and planning the best modes of perpetrating crime. Get a man interested in a good book and you thus place him in good company. He may never see you, but with deep feelings of gratitude will ever have the kindest feelings toward those who thus bestowed the kind favor of placing him in possession of such a companion.

For the entertainment of the prisoner and to develop an interest in literary work they have been allowed to publish prison papers. Some of these are very small while others are large and well edited. About three years ago at Sing Sing Prison, in the state of New York, it was decided to issue a bi-weekly twenty-six-page paper to be edited and printed entirely by convicts. No article is allowed in the paper except those composed and furnished by the inmates of the prison. When papers are thus printed and distributed among the prisoners it has a great controlling influence and creates a general interest in literary work.

TOBACCO ALLOWANCE.

Most prisoners are users of tobacco, yet there are many who do not use it. Some prisons allow a pound of tobacco a month, some two pounds every month. This is generally manufactured at the prison where it is used. One of the modes of punishment, and a very effective one too, is to deprive the men of their tobacco for disobedience. With many this is one of the most severe punishments instituted. When a man enters prison he is given a copy of the rules of the prison and also a ticket stating the privileges of the use of the library, books, letter-writing, tobacco allowance, etc. Failure to comply with the rules ofttimes means to be deprived of these privileges for a month or longer. Some time ago we placed a number of tracts in prisons showing the evil effects of tobacco on the human system, the filthiness and offensiveness of tobacco, etc., and we were pleased to note the results by way of convincing many prisoners to discontinue the use and give up the habit. While some are able by strong willpower to discontinue the use of it, yet but comparatively few people can in their own strength quit its use and rid themselves of the appetite. But many can testify that they have not only been able to quit its use, but have had the appetite removed by the power of God in answer to prayer.

PRISONERS’ WORK.