It is not an uncommon thing to see a chain gang of prisoners, especially about the stockades. Sometimes they are marched to and from their work shackled with handcuffs, while others are fastened with clanking chains. There are also men to be found with iron bands or rings welded around their necks, to which a chain is fastened with the other end of the chain attached to a ball to prevent their escape. These are generally the most desperate characters.
To those who are acquainted with such scenes it is shocking indeed, and creates a feeling of pity and sympathy which calls for a more humane treatment in behalf of the poor unfortunates. There are men who serve almost an entire term of sentence in stocks or irons, or go to their work in the chain gang, because of a lack of proper provision of accommodations on the part of the state or government, or by unjust, inhumane treatment.
Few men have fallen so low in sin and degradation, or have been so hardened by crime, but yet have at least a spark of humanity or manhood which can be kindled to a flame by proper humane and reformative treatment; where, on the other hand, an undue amount of the imposition of irons and chains causes them to grind with revenge, and seemingly the little spark of manhood is seared over with a more hardened conscience, leaving him still a criminal almost beyond redemption.
The Chain-gang.
THE FELON’S CELL.
When one is taken to serve a term in prison, has exchanged his citizen’s clothes for a suit of stripes, is measured, and a full description is written in the prison books, he is taken to a cell which is to be his future abode during his confinement, except what time he is at work, at his meals, or is otherwise stationed by the prison officers. We can here only give a description of what is commonly found to be a prison cell. It is a small iron room with a stone floor, and when two convicts are to occupy the same cell, there are two bunks or beds in the cell. The bed-rack is made of iron or wood slats, and the bed-tick is generally filled with corn-husks or some similar material, likewise the pillow. When the beds are not in use they are fastened to the side of the wall with a chain. When down and in use they take up nearly the entire space of the cell, so that it is impossible for the two occupants to pass each other in walking to and fro. The other furniture generally consists of a small tinbucket holding about two quarts of water, and a washbasin. A short-handled broom is also found in one corner of the cell with which the convict brushes it every morning. The walls are either iron or stone, decorated with a small looking-glass and a towel. Each cell contains one chair, as there is not room for two; so that when one sits on the chair the other stands or occupies a seat on the stone floor. The door is made of half-inch iron bars crossing each other at right angles, leaving spaces about two by six inches. Through these spaces come the air, light, and heat.
To give the reader an idea of how one would naturally feel on the first introduction to such a place, we will give it in the language of a prisoner, who says: “After examination I was shown to my cell. It was now about two o’clock in the afternoon of my first day in prison. I remained in the chair during the entire afternoon. Of all the dark hours of an eventful history none have been filled with more gloom and sadness than those of my first day in prison. All my life I moved in the highest circles of society, surrounded by the best and purest of both sexes, and now I was in the deplorable condition of having been hurled from that high social condition down to the low, degraded plane of a convict. As I sat there in that desolate abode of the disgraced I tried to look out down the future. All was dark. For a time it seemed as if that sweet angel we call Hope had spread her wings and taken her departure from me forever. The black cloud of despair somewhat settled down upon me. But very few prisoners possess the ability to make anything of themselves after having served a term in the penitentiary. I sat brooding over these things for an hour or more and my manhood asserted itself and hope returned. I reasoned thus: I am a young man, I enjoy good health, there will be only a few months of imprisonment, and then I will be free. I thought of my loving wife, little children, my aged mother, my kind friends, and for their sake I would not yield to despair. Soliciting aid of a kind heavenly Father I resolved to do the best I could toward regaining what I had lost. I was aware of the fact that when I got out of the penitentiary all the money I would have with which to make another start in life would be five dollars. The United States presents her prisoners upon discharge with a suit of citizens’ clothes and five dollars. This was my capital.”