Over the table was a small shelf. Below the shelf, and at the opposite end of the cell to the window and flap table, was the hammock, which was rolled up in the smallest possible compass, and strapped against the wall.
There was a water spout, so ingeniously contrived that turned to the right it sent a small stream into a copper basin, and to the left into a bottomless close stool at some distance.
There was also a small gas pipe tipped with polished brass.
In one angle of the wall was a small commode or open cupboard, on whose shelves were ranged a bright pewter plate, a knife and fork, and a wooden spoon.
There was a grating at the bottom of the door for the air to come in, and another for foul air to go out if it chose.
An ordinary stable bucket with iron handle and hoops was on the floor alongside of a low wooden stool, a small hand broom, and in a corner under the table a scrubbing brush and flannel. Two tin tallies, with the number of the cell, prison, and hall, hanging behind the door, completed the furniture of this lively and cheerless apartment.
The cellular system has, however, many advantages, and is a far better arrangement than that adopted in the earlier days of prison management.
At one time English gaols were denounced by Howard and others “as schools for instruction in iniquity,” and there can be but little doubt that to an extent this was true.
The poor dandy priest, Dr. Dodd, who was executed for forgery, spent six months in Newgate before he suffered death by hanging, and during part of his time he was forced to herd with the common rabble. The change from the caresses and luxuries lavished on him by the silly devotees of his green-room theology to the riot and ribaldry of the gaol sorely tried the unstrung nerves of the pet preacher. When at last he was accommodated with a separate apartment he wrote a poem, entitled “Thoughts in Prison,” in which he copiously lamented the evils of association and his own personal miseries.
The case of the unfortunate divine-about-town made a great sensation. He really was hardly dealt with, for he had done all he could by confession and restitution to atone for his crime.