On the other hand, the large-lunged, large-brained man of sanguine temperament is affected very differently. To him the cell is a severe punishment; he chafes and frets under restraint, and most likely grows irritable and sullen.
Probably he breaks the prison rules.
An ignorant, stupid gaoler would try by sharp punishment to coerce a man of this kind to submission, but to goad and madden him still more would be the only result of such an attempt.
Not improbably a duel between prisoner and gaoler would be provoked, and perhaps some tragedy, like that enacted at Birmingham Gaol, be the issue. The details of this tragedy are treated in a masterly manner by Mr. Charles Reade in his “Never Too Late to Mend.”
Those who are in the habit of having prisoners under their charge hear some extraordinary stories of crimes.
While Peace was undergoing the probationary term of the sentence passed upon him, more than one member of a light-fingered family of some celebrity were inmates of the same prison.
A brief sketch of this family, every member of which Peace knew perfectly well, is given in the gaol chaplain’s report, which, as it is reliable, may furnish the reader with some little insight into criminal life:—
“Trained thieves and pickpockets,” says the chaplain, “differ from mere tramps, both as requiring a far greater amount of plunder to support them, and as more constantly and actively seeking it.
“While the tramps are always pedestrian, and are content to herd in the most sordid lodging-houses, the professional thieves resort to ale-houses and taverns, travel by rail, and altogether maintain a style of living unattainable by meaner rogues.
“They differ again from the ‘resident bad characters,’ inasmuch as they never work if they can help it, but live entirely upon the fruits of their daily villainy.