Cincinnati long after the incidents occurred, describes his action: "When the cholera broke out in the Ohio penitentiary Gov. Ford was absent from Columbus. To be used in extraordinary cases, he had left a small number of blank pardons with Mr. Samuel Galloway, the secretary of state. The scene in the penitentiary and in the city was fearful. Galloway could not withstand the piteous appeals for liberty, and he soon exhausted the pardons and wrote to Ford at his home in Burton, Geauga county, for more. This the governor refused, but wrote Mr. Galloway that he would come down to Columbus immediately. He did so; went to the prison, examined the hospital and patients, assembled the convicts and told them that no pardons would be issued while the cholera was in the prison; that to those who behaved well, nursed the sick and aided in cleaning the prison, pardons on the recommendations of the officers would be freely granted when the danger was passed; even those who had homes to go to could not be half as well nursed or attended to as in the prison hospital, and that the appearance of a single man in the neighborhood who was known to have been in prison and pardoned because of the cholera would create alarm and perhaps produce the much-dreaded disease. The men were satisfied. The effect in the city was good, and the heroism and good sense of Gov. Ford were much commended. At the risk of his life he personally went among the sick and personally attended to their wants.

July 10th the epidemic reached its height, the number of deaths being twenty-two, a greater mortality than on any other single day. On that day Dr. Gard was attacked and Dr. Lathrop again stricken down by the disease. The two heroes both died noble sacrifices on the altar of professional zeal and large-hearted humanity. On July 11th Dr. G. W. Maris filled the vacancy caused by Dr. Gard's fatal sickness, and from this date the virulence of the epidemic gradually declined until July 30th, when the last death from cholera occurred.

Number of Deaths.-During the thirty days of the epidemic 116 prisoners had died from cholera, and out of 413 convicts, the number had been reduced by deaths and pardons to 273. With the subsidence of the disease the prison discipline was gradually resumed.

When the cholera prevailed in Columbus between August 30th and November 29th of the year 1850 there were twenty-two deaths attributed to dysentery and other disease by the regular prison physician, but since then the prison has been exempt from epidemio diseases.

The Present Penitentiary. In October, 1832, the legislature passed an act for the selection of a site and the erection of a new penitentiary, and a site in the western part of Columbus, on the banks of the Scioto, selected; but there being some complications with regard to a perfect title, five publicspirited citizens of Columbus-Joseph Ridg

way, Jr., Otis Crosby, Samuel Crosby and D. W. Deshler-succeeded in securing the property for the State and guaranteed a perfect title. The property consisted of fifteen acres of land, to which was added a small strip purchased of John Brickell for $50 by the directors of the penitentiary. The whole site cost the State but $800.

Work was started on the building in 1832 by the preparation of much of the material, but the structure itself was not commenced until the following spring, and operations were suspended during the summer owing to the cholera epidemic. Convicts were employed in the work. When the building of the new penitentiary was begun, convicts whose time would not expire before its completion were promised a pardon when the building was finished if they would faithfully perform the tasks assigned them and make no attempt to escape. Those making this promise were employed accordingly, and in no case was there a violation of the terms.

New Rules and Regulations.-In 1834 the new building was occupied; and in 1835, with a new building, new officers, new rules and regulations, the old system of barter was abandoned and the present system of hiring the convicts by the day to contractors and manufacturers, who employed them in the prison workshops, was inaugurated. Rules of great severity were rigidly enforced which have been relaxed of late years and kindness and humane treatment substituted, with the object of reformation as well as punishment of the offender. Solitary confinement instead of the "shower bath" and the "cat" is now used to bring the refractory convict into subjection.

In 1837, at the east end of the main building, an addition was constructed which contained eleven cells, with capacity for twice that number. This addition was used as a separate apartment for female prisoners.

The cost of the new penitentiary, when completed, was $93,370, besides 1,113,462 days of convict labor expended upon it. The buildings and prison walls formed a hollow square containing about six acres of land, which was increased in 1868 by the addition and enclosure of ten acres of land lying north of the prison. These ten acres of land were purchased from the representatives of Dr. Lincoln Goodale at a cost of $20,000.

New Humanizing Features.-Many improvements have been made in the labor system since the adoption of the contract plan; a recent one is that of having piece-work given out to the convicts, who are thus stimulated to greater industry, and many of them, by increased application to their labors, often leave the prison upon the expiration of their sentences with sufficient money saved by working extra time to start them in useful callings. During our visit mention was made of one prisoner who will shortly leave with $540 earned in that way. The habits of industry thus acquired, with the consciousness of possessing the reward of faithful efforts, cannot fail to have a beneficial effect upon

criminals and do much toward making them honest and industrious citizens.

All prisoners who are physically able are employed in the different labor departments. Those who are experienced in any particular trade upon entering the prison are given work in their specialty; but the majority of the convicts have never learned trades when first imprisoned.

In the female department a number of the inmates are employed making stogies, and we were informed during a recent visit to the institution that in every instance the trade was learned in the prison. The cooking and laundry work in this department is all done by the female prisoners. At the present time there are only about thirty-five females in the department, who are entirely separated from the rest of the prisoners. It has two dark cells or dungeons, which are seldom used, as the women generally are well behaved.

The Reformatory Principle.-Every effort is made to improve the moral and religious condition of the convicts, and to carry out the reformatory principle as far as possible. Religious exercises are held every Sunday, in which the prisoners take an active part. The prison Sunday-school is divided into classes that are taught by different teachers from the city. Convicts who are members of the Catholic denomination have a large chapel devoted to their special use. The uneducated are obliged to attend night - school for a few hours every evening, with the exception of a few vacation months in the summer. prison library, which contains over 2,000 volumes, besides a large number of monthly magazines, furnishes another means for intellectual improvement, and is a great aid to moral reformation. Humanity and kindness is shown in every possible way in the treatment of the prisoners, every incitement to good behavior given them. As a result of the influences, out of over 1,200 convicts there are not over six or seven daily infractions of the rules.

The

The Suit of Honor.-The prisoners are graded by different-colored clothing. The wearing of a suit of clothes striped gray and white instead of striped black and white is a badge of good behavior. The plan was suggested by the prisoners themselves, originated here, and works so well that this "Ohio idea" is being copied in other States. To entitle the prisoner to don the gray he must sign a special agreement to implicitly obey all the rules and regulations in spirit as well as in letter, and must for six months receive the highest possible rating for good behavior. With these conditions fully met, the convict becomes entitled to his mark of honor-the suit of gray. The plan works well as a reformatory measure.

A mail department has been established within the prison, where convicts are allowed to receive letters or papers from their relatives or friends. One day of each month a prisoner is allowed to receive visits from friends and relatives.

In the insane department of the penitentiary there are at present about twenty-five inmates, who are given the best medical treatment, and owing to their unfortunate condition of mind are allowed many privileges. Being incapacitated from work of any kind they exercise in the yard adjoining, and are ⚫ only locked in their cells at night. Many of the convicts feign insanity with the hope of being sent to this department to enjoy its freedom and idleness; but such attempts at imposition are soon discovered. There are also numerous applications for admittance to the hospital by those who are perfectly well and under the plea of sickness hope to escape work.

Hopefulness of Life Convicts.-At present about 125 convicts are serving life sentences, and we were surprised to learn that this class of prisoners, instead of giving way to the hopelessness of their position, are generally in a cheerful frame of mind, and seldom realize that the remainder of their lives are to be spent in prison; they invariably expect that through some unforeseen good fortune or a pardon they will regain the liberty of which their crimes have deprived them.

The cells are built of stone and have iron barred doors; they are about 4 x 7 feet in size, and are not occupied by the prisoners during the day, as they are then engaged in the workshops. Each cell contains a bed or cot, which can be turned up against the side wall, and the furniture is of the simplest kind, although they are permitted to furnish them more expensively if they or their friends have the means to do so. There are two stories or tiers of cells in each section of the prison; they face the outside walls of the buildings in which they are located, having wide corridors between them and the walls. Dampness in the lower cells is avoided by an air-duct, which runs under the stone flooring.

When Gen. Morgan escaped from the Ohio penitentiary, during the war, he discovered the existence of this air-passage by sounding the floor of the cell; and having secretly obtained a case-knife, he cut through the stone flooring until this passage was reached and the hole made large enough to admit his body to the space below, when he crawled through the passage to the outside of the prison, and thus gained his freedom. The cell occupied by this famous rebel raider still shows the marks of his work, but the airpassage now opens inside instead of outside of the prison-walls.

The Condemned Murderers' Quarters.-In the east end of the penitentiary is located the annex which has recently been constructed for the accommodation of criminals condemned to death. It consists of three rooms, one of which is called the cage, because one side of it is protected by an iron lattice-work partition. It is the place of confinement for the condemned criminal, who for several days previous to his execution has what is called the death-watch set upon him; this vigil is kept by guards on the outer side of the lat

ticed partition; here also is a large alarmclock, which rings a bell every half hour of the night, so as to insure wakefulness on the part of the guard on duty.

The Execution Room.-On the south side of the cage and guard-room is built a stairway, which the prisoner ascends when going to execution. A door at the top of this stairway opens on a balcony built in the adjoining execution room. On this balcony, which is about seven feet above the floor of the execution room, is the death-trap. The doomed prisoner stands upon the trap, a cap is drawn over his head, the rope adjusted, and at a given signal a spring is touched. which opens the trap, and the prisoner falls about six feet, when the rope tautens with a jerk and the neck is broken by the force of the fall. Most criminals condemned to death declare their innocence to the last, but they rarely meet death with calm demeanor.

So superior is the management of the Ohio penitentiary, that convicts are sent here both by the United States and also by some of the Territories, their expenses being paid by the government sending them. At present there are ten Apache Indians sent here by the United States authorities to serve sentences of from ten to thirty years for manslaughter. These prisoners have been employed in weaving chair-seats, no difficulty having been experienced in making these representatives of a wild and savage race maintain the best behavior. We were informed that they had killed a number of their own race, members of a hostile tribe, in revenge for some injury done.

The Parole System. In 1885 a parole system was inaugurated at the Ohio penitentiary, in pursuance of an act passed by the Legislature on May 4th of that year. Section 8 of that act is as follows:

That said Board of Managers shall have power to establish rules and regulations under which any prisoner who is now, or hereafter may be, imprisoned under a sentence other than for murder in the first or second degree, who may have served the minimum term provided by law for the crime for which he was convicted, and who has not previously been convicted of a felony, and served a term in a penal institution, may be allowed to go upon parole outside the buildings and enclosures, but to remain, while on parole, in legal custody and under the control of the board, and subject at any time to be taken back within the enclosure of said institution; and full power to enforce such rules and regulations, and to retake and reimprison any convict so upon parole, is hereby conferred upon said board, whose written order, certified by its secretary, shall be a sufficient warrant for all officers named therein, to authorize such officer to return to actual custody any conditionally released or paroled prisoner, and it is hereby made the duty of all officers to execute said order the same as ordinary criminal

process.

This system of parole has proven to be a wise measure. Of the 254 prisoners paroled since the passage of the law, but sixteen have violated their parole and but ten have been returned for its violation.

Bertillon's Method for Identification.-In 1887 the penitentiary management adopted what is known as the Alphonse Bertillon's new method for the identification of criminals by anthropometic descriptions. This system looks more directly to the detection of recidivists a term applied to confirmed criminals and, when carefully applied, renders their identification as certain as can be made.

It consists of certain measurements and "notation of various bone dimensions which remain unchangeable on the same subject, and which are recorded in a uniform way. These are principally the stature or height of the figure, the length and width of the head, the length of the foot, middle finger, etc."

The measurements are by the metric system and has, with its corresponding classification, been carried on in France for the past four years, during which time, from 1882 till April, 1886, eight hundred and seventy-three (873) criminals under assumed names were recognized.

Warden R. W. McClaughry, of the Joliet, Illinois, State Penitentiary, who presented this subject in a thoroughly comprehensive paper, with practical illustrations of methods employed, at the late Prison Congress, held at Toronto, Canada, quotes Mr. Bertillon as saying, that, in respect to the "identification of a criminal under an assumed name is, as far as the general welfare is concerned, equivalent to his direct arrest on the public highway for some other crime." Under the existing law of our State relating to "habitual criminals," the system of identification of recidivists-a second or third termer-who appears under an assumed name, becomes a matter of the first importance. The method of taking measurements is entirely simple and expeditious-an operation requiring two or three minutes of time, and within the range of the intelligence of an ordinary man." This system is now employed in our State Penitentiary, and has the approbation of the entire management, and will be carefully applied, and will, no doubt, in time yield satisfactory results.

The State Board of Pardons was created; in 1888. Section 2 of the act providing for this board reads as follows:

SEC. 2. Every applicant for the granting of a pardon, commutation of sentence, or reprieve, of a person duly convicted of crime, shall be made directly to said board, which shall carefully consider the same, and shall thereupon recommend in writing to the governor, the advisability of granting or rejecting said application. They shall also transmit to the governor, with their recommendation, a full and concise statement of the facts in each case, together with all papers and documents pertaining thereto.

This board consists of Lorenzo D. Hagerty, President, Henry Kahlo, Thomas T. Thomp

son, Nathan Drucker and Charles E. Prior, Secretary, ex-officio.

The statistics of the penitentiary furnish some very interesting facts. For the year ending Oct. 31, 1887, the number of convicts enrolled was 649, of whom 636 were males, 13 females; 579 of these were whites and 70 colored. Seventeen were under 17 years of age, 296 were between 21 and 30, and 18 between 60 and 76 years of age. One hundred and five cannot read, 275 have a common school education, 17 have a highschool education, and 8 a collegiate education. Four hundred and five confess to intemperate habits. Number of first convictions 567; second convictions, 69; and third convictions, 10.

The present management of the institution is most efficient. Dr. A. G. Byers, Secretary of the Board of State Charities, in his twelfth annual report to the General Assembly, says:

The Management.-"Having been familiar for nearly a quarter of a century with the management of the penitentiary, I feel it due to the present Board of Managers, without any reflection upon preceding boards, to say that in the selection of officers, in the supervision of prison labor, in patient investigation of disciplinary measures, and in the exercise of official and personal interest in individual prisoners, the board has manifested an unusual interest and a wise discrimination in the discharge of its duty, that has brought the institution to a higher standard of prison management than was ever attained before.

The warden (E. G. Coffin) has developed more than ordinary qualifications for his position, attributing the success of his administration to the wise counsel and generous support of the Board of Managers and to the efficient co-operation of his deputy, W. B. Cherrington, and subordinate officers. This modest appreciation of his own service is possibly the best indication of a capacity to command the service of others.

Earnings.-Just what the financial operations of the year have been cannot now be stated, but it is probable that the earnings of the year have fully equalled the expenditures. If this end has been attained there can be no just grounds of complaint.

No public interest demands a revenue to the State from prison labor."

Board of Managers.-Jacob J. Johnson, New Lexington; Isaac D. Smead, Toledo; Thomas Murphy, Zanesville; Robert M. Rownd, Columbus; William R. Phipps, Cincinnati; J. W. Clements, Secretary, Hamilton.

66