Recollections of Old Liverpool | Page 9

The prison
allowance was a three-penny loaf of 1lb. 3oz. to each prisoner daily.
Convicts were allowed 6d. per day. The mayor gave a dinner at
Christmas to all the inmates. Firing was found by the corporation
throughout the building. There were seventy-one debtors and
thirty-nine felons confined on the occasion of our visit. In one of the
Towers there were seven rooms allotted to debtors, and three in another
tower, in what was called "the masters side." The poorer debtors were
allowed loose straw to lie upon. Those who could afford to do so, paid
ls. per week for the use of a bed provided by the gaoler. The detaining
creditor of debtors had to pay "groating money," that is to say, 4d. per
day for their maintenance. In the chapel there was a gallery, close to

which were five sleeping-rooms for male debtors. The size of these
cells was six feet by seven. Over the Pilot Office in Water-street were
two rooms appropriated to the use of female debtors. One of these
rooms contained three beds, the other only one. This latter room had
glazed windows, and a fire-place, and was, comparatively speaking,
comfortable. The same charge was made for the beds in these rooms as
in other parts of the prison. The debtors were also accommodated with
rooms in a house adjoining the gaol, from which, by the way, an escape
of many of the prisoners, felon and debtor, took place in 1807--a
circumstance which created immense public interest. When the
prisoners were discovered, they stood at bay, and it was not until they
were fired upon, that they surrendered. The criminals were lodged in
seven close dungeons 6.5 feet by 5 feet 9 inches. These cells were
ranged in a passage 11 feet wide, under ground, and were approached
by ten steps. Over each cell door was an aperture which admitted such
light and air as could be found in such a place. Some improvement took
place in this respect after Mr. Howard's visit. There was also a large
dungeon or cell which looked upon the street, in which twelve
prisoners were confined. This dungeon was not considered safe, so that
only deserters were put into it. As many as forty persons have been
incarcerated in it at one time. In five of the cells there were four
prisoners; in the other two, there were only three.
The court-yards (one of which was 20 yards by 30, the other 20 yards
by 10) were kept in a most filthy state, although a fine pump of good
water was readily accessible. The yards were brick-paved. In one yard I
noticed a large dung-heap, which, I was informed, was only removed
once a month. There were numbers of fowls about the yard, belonging
to the prison officials and to the prisoners. In these yards, as may
readily be supposed, scenes of great disorder took place. The utmost
licentiousness was prevalent in the prison throughout. Spirits and malt
liquors were freely introduced without let, hindrance, or concealment,
though against the prison rules--not one of which, by the way, (except
the feeing portion) was kept. The felons' "garnish," as it was called, was
abolished previous to 1809, but the debtors' fee remained. The prison
was dirty in the extreme; the mud almost ankle deep in some parts in
the passages, and the walls black and grimy. There seemed to be no

system whatever tending towards cleanliness, and as to health that was
utterly disregarded. Low typhoid fever was frequently prevalent, and
numbers were swept off by it. The strong prisoners used to tyrannise
over the weak, and the most frightful cases of extortion and cruelty
were practised amongst them, while the conduct of the officials was
culpable in the highest degree. At one time the chapel was let as an
assembly room. The prisoners used to get up, on public ball nights,
dances of their own, as the band could be plainly heard throughout the
prison. The debtors used to let down a glove or bag by means of a stick,
from their tower into the street, dangling it up and down to attract the
notice of passengers, who dropped in pieces of money for the use of the
"poor debtors," which money was invariably spent in feasting and
debauchery. The town boys used to put stones into the bags, and highly
relished the disappointment of the "poor debtors," on discovery of their
"treasure."
I recollect an execution taking place in front of the Tower, which
created an immense sensation throughout the country. In March 1789,
two men named Burns and Dowling, suffered the extreme penalty of
the law for robbing the house of Mrs. Graham, which stood on Rose
Hill. They broke into the lady's dwelling, and acted with great ferocity.