A reference to the “system of progressive stages” will obviate my repeating many details as to the particular men put to this punishment, etc.
I had never seen a tread-wheel except from the stalls of the Adelphi Theatre, and was particularly anxious to gratify my curiosity. I cudgelled my brains as to how it was to be managed, with such success that I eventually found myself on the “works.” As I have the misfortune to be neither a mechanic nor an artisan, and incapable of driving in a nail without hammering my finger, and being a perfect infant in the use of a shovel, I was at a loss to conceive how I could possibly be employed; but this difficulty was at length surmounted, and armed with a brush I was put on a roving job. I had the run of the building, with a kind of general instruction to brush everything and everybody, up stairs and down stairs, and in the warder’s chamber. The warder in charge of this building in course of construction, was a worthy man, incapable of being tampered with, though I never tried him (why should I?), but withal courteous, respectful, and considerate—one of those men whose bringing up had thrown him amongst gentlemen, and who knew how to maintain his own position without offending the susceptibilities of others. The artisans under him worked with a will, and reports and rows were things unknown, except on scrubbing days, when some ill-conditioned hound happened to be temporarily employed. My duties consisted in sitting about in sheltered nooks with the broom between my knees, and on the approach of a spy, with which the place was infested, to rise and make furious lunges at imaginary spiders. These sweeps into space were very effective, and, fatal as they would have been to any insect had I seen one, were equally gratifying to their human prototypes, whose desire was to see one working hard. During my employment in this building it was, I verily believe, the object of more inspection than it had ever been before. I had been informed by telephone that my antipathy had given a hint that I was to be looked after, and if he was satisfied with the result I certainly was. Not twenty minutes elapsed between the various inspections, and occasionally they swarmed like horse-flies in summer round a lump of sugar. These frequent visits involved an immense loss of energy, and the casualties amongst the spiders must have been enormous. When all had been destroyed I constructed a pile of dirt—one pound of dust to four of shavings—which I placed in a conspicuous position. This was violently propelled from me during a visit, and gently restored when the intruder had passed.
I had the opportunity of inspecting this huge instrument of torture, and was considerably disappointed that I could not try its effect. I had the gratification, however, of putting some paint on one panel and a piece of putty into a hole, thereby having assisted at the making of the wheel. Putting putty into a hole is not so easy as it may sound. At the inspection of work next day I had the mortification of seeing my lump condemned, and cruelly removed. The tread-wheel is moved by elaborate machinery worked by powerful engines, which, in addition to setting the wheel in motion, grinds corn in an adjoining building for the use of the prison. It is entirely different from the Adelphi one, and may be described as four long cylindrical wheels extending the length of the building on either side and along the gallery. Partitions, of sufficient dimensions to enable a man to stand up, run the entire length of the various wheels, thereby precluding all communication between the several occupants. Two hundred and sixty men can be “on” at once, and the punishment is carried out on the principle of ten minutes “off” and twenty minutes “on.” The victims are marched down at 7.30 A.M., and beguile the time thus pleasantly till 11.30. They return at 1.30 p.m., and continue the enjoyment till 5.
I am told this is considered an easy wheel, and men who have experienced the working of others assured me that this one was mere child’s play. A great deal depends on the worker, and the experienced jail-bird rises—or, as it was termed to me, “waits for”—the step with little or no exertion. With the novice, however, it is severe labour, and the exertion involved bathes him in perspiration. A supply of warm water is given them on returning to their cells of an evening, to obliterate in a degree the unpleasant consequences of the wheel. But the discomfort—can one estimate it? A poor wretch bathed in perspiration, and having to sleep in the same shirt and work in it for a week! Only prisoners fit for hard labour are put to the wheel, and no man is ever so employed unless passed by the surgeon. The doctor’s work is considerably augmented by the reconstruction of the wheel, and besides having to visit the yard frequently during the day, he is persecuted by strings of schemers trying by every conceivable subterfuge to evade the punishment. Some go the length of tumbling off, and occasionally succeed in temporarily disqualifying themselves by a sprained ankle or wrist. I was much amused during my employment at its construction at the interest that the various officials took in every detail connected with its progress. They revelled at the prospect of the treat in store for them, and seemed to gloat over the exquisite misery awaiting some of their lambs. Bunches of these warders would occasionally meet, and discuss the intricacies of the machinery with a gusto only to be acquired by prison contagion. It would not have surprised me to have heard that the opening ceremony had been attended by some kind of fête, to which the warders and “their ladies” had been invited, and condiments—made on the premises—distributed wholesale.
My worst enemies, and those I had to fear most, were the prisoners. They were all jealous of me, and had got an absurd notion into their heads that I could do as I liked, and, though there was no truth in such an impression, never lost an opportunity of “rounding” on me. A one-eyed scoundrel, who was one day checked and eventually punished for idleness, complained to the Governor that he didn’t see why he should work all day and another man (me) sit down and do nothing. This had the effect of causing me to be transferred elsewhere, and I next added to my experiences by becoming a gardener. I was not sorry to leave the wheelhouse, for it had a depressing effect on me, which the hum of the traffic just outside did not assist in allaying. As a wag said to me one day, “This will be a nice place when it’s finished.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
GARDENING.
I had at last indeed tumbled on my legs. My new duties offered a combination of advantages—such as variety, fresh air, newspapers, tobacco, etc.—far in excess of my fondest dreams. There are six so-called gardeners, who are constantly employed in the grounds. At 7.30 they go out, and rarely return before dinner; and again at 2, remaining out till 5. In fine weather this is a great relief, and I enjoyed many an afternoon basking in the sun on a grassy bank.
The general duties of a so-called gardener are a combination of the qualifications necessary for a dustman, carpet-beater, and agricultural labourer. They are, in fact, the scavengers of the establishment, and poke about all day under a curiosity of the turnkey species, and overhaul everything and everybody. Their duties are absolutely legion, and carpet-beating, mowing, weeding, and raking the walks are only a moiety of their accomplishments. I was appointed to this favoured team through the kindly recommendation of the assistant surgeon after my recent temporary discharge from hospital; and the master gardener, not having been consulted, as I fancy he usually was, was not by any means predisposed in my favour. That, however, wore off; and though I found him the most crotchety, three-cornered eccentricity I had ever met, I soon discovered his weak point, and did pretty much as I pleased. I must here repudiate any insinuation that by this I mean to imply he was to be squared. I might as well have tried to square the Marble Arch. Besides which, I did not require to, my supply being greater than my demand.
Our first duty was to proceed to the tool-house, and, armed with shovels, wheelbarrows, baskets, etc., to commence grubbing about. As a newcomer I was selected for the “barrer,” and a heavier “barrer” I never felt; but having knocked some paint off a gate, and rolled it over a sacred grass plot, my incapacity was so manifest that I was disrated to a shovel. Here, too, I was lamentably ignorant, and out of every spoonful I collected a third went into the “barrer” and the remainder everywhere else. I was, in fact, trying to emulate the scavengers one sees ladling mud on wet days. The long shots they make have always inspired me with admiration; their revels in the oceans of mud exercised a fascination over me, causing me till now to overlook the science that is required to produce such apparently simple efforts.