Six Years in the Prisons of England

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Six Years in the Prisons of England, by

A Merchant - Anonymous This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Six Years in the Prisons of England
Author: A Merchant - Anonymous
Editor: Frank Henderson
Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21284]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SIX YEARS
IN THE
PRISONS OF ENGLAND.

BY
A MERCHANT.

EDITED BY FRANK HENDERSON.

REPRINTED FROM "THE TEMPLE BAR MAGAZINE."
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1869.

TO A KIND AND DEVOTED BROTHER, WHO CHEERED ME WITH WORDS OF CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY AND BROTHERLY LOVE DURING THE DARKEST AND MOST DESOLATE HOURS OF MY PAST UNHAPPY CAREER, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR.

Transcriber's Note: In this text the use of an underline (i) indicates italics, an equal sign (=) indicates a word in bold type, and a caret (^) indicates that the following letters are superscripted. Also, British pounds are shown as l. rather than the fancy ￡.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
1.--My Commercial Antecedents--How I got into Prison 1
2.--My Feelings on First Entering a Prison--Treatment and Employment before Trial--My Trial and Sentence 10
3.--Three Months in a Scottish Prison--Begin my Study of the Convict and his Surroundings--An Old Jail Bird--A Soldier--An Innocent Convict--My First Cracksman Acquaintance--Conspiracy to Murder an Officer, and Escape--My Removal to England 21
4.--My Arrival at the Yorkshire Prison--In Simpliciter Naturalibus--Get Animal Food--Medical Treatment--Statuesque Christianity--Removed to the Hospital--Death of a Prisoner--My Leg gets Much Worse--Removal to Surrey Prison 34
5.--Surrey Prison--Daily Routine of Hospital Life--Set a Thief to Catch a Thief--My Leg gets Worse--Amputation--Life Despaired of--Prison Doctors--Want of Periodical Hospital Inspection 44
6.--I Petition the Home Secretary--Doctor pronounces me "Quite Well"--"Schemers," their Treatment and Fate--Death-Bed Scenes 55
7.--Thiefology--What the uninitiated Convict may Learn in Prison 65
8.--Another Companion--A Career of Crime--His Opinions about Religion and Church Rates--An Incurable: His Opinion about Flogging 79
9.--Another Prisoner--Happy as a King--Cure of a Doctor--The Tobacco and Food Exchange--Another Jail Bird--Civil and Lazy--Undeserved Remission--Prison Directors, and How they Discharge their Duties--I Petition to Go Abroad on "Insufficient Grounds" 93
10.--The Prison--Daily Routine--Readings in Prison--Quarrels among the Prisoners--Protestants versus Catholics--School--Sundays in Prison--"Sacrament Blokes"--Turning Point in Prisoners' Career 107
11.--Indiscriminate Association of Prisoners--Transportation, and the Cause of its Failure--A Gunsmith 119
12.--How Rebels against Society are made--I am Removed to a Small Room, amongst Murderers--The "Highflyer" again--How a Young Gentleman was made a Warning to Others 131
13.--The Act of 1864--Classification of Prisoners--The Mark System: Its Defects--The True Criminal Law of Restitution--The only Method by which Confirmed Criminals may be Reclaimed--Workhouses 144
14.--The New Arrangements as to Remissions--Artificial Legs--Another Interview with the Visiting Director--Compose Verses--Hospital once more--Fenians--Prisoners' Letters 158
15.--A very bad Case--A self-taught Artist--A Clergyman also a Convict--The Clergyman is taught Tailoring--How we Punish Violation of the Seventh Commandment and the Eighth 169
16.--Quackery--Food--A Chatham Prisoner eats Snails and Frogs--Sir Joshua Jebb's System and its Defects 181
17.--A new Governor--Bread-and-Water Jack--Severe Punishments--Directors again--A Herb Doctor--Extraordinary Story 193
18.--In Prison again--I see the Prison Director for the last time--Gentleman Prisoners--A Will Forger--A "Warning to Others"--Fenians--Treatment of Political Prisoners--Another Jail Bird 207
19.--Prisoners' Conversations--Larry and Tim get into Chokey--Big Croppy--What Pat gets "in for"--Malicious Gambling--Pat's Patent for getting a New Coat--Dick's Exploits--Ned's Adventures and Escapes--A New Screw arrives--A Prisoner empties the Wine Cup at the Altar--Ned, Dick, and Pat's Opinions about Badges, Classification, Head Blokes, Prisoners' Aid Society and the Irish System 220
20.--Capital Punishments--I receive my License--Strange Bed-fellows--My Liberation 236
* * * *
APPENDIX.
Letters received by the Author--
From the French Consul Général in London iii
From M. Rouher, Ministre de l'Agriculture, du Commerce et des Travaux Public iv
From the Committee of Privy Council for Trade v
Orders of License to a Convict vi

SIX YEARS IN THE PRISONS OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
MY COMMERCIAL ANTECEDENTS--HOW I GOT INTO PRISON.
In the beginning of the year 1856 I commenced business on my own account, as a merchant in a Northern City. Previous to that time I had been engaged in an unsuccessful partnership, but I paid my creditors in full with the small capital advanced to me by my friends for the purpose of my new adventure. When I began operations, therefore, I was literally without a shilling in the world, but I had a spotless character, enjoyed good credit, and possessed a thorough knowledge of my business; advantages which I easily persuaded myself would enable me to succeed without the actual possession of capital.--My business connections were scattered over various parts of the world, and generally ranked among the very best class of foreign merchants. I usually received orders by letter, sometimes I gave open credits to houses whose orders I could not otherwise secure, but frequently I had remittances long before the merchandise could arrive at