that date to March 1, 1876, 2,270 different boys have been admitted. The number discharged to the same date was 1,766, leaving 504 in the Institution. The number admitted to the School during the last fiscal year was 214. The number discharged was 209. Of those discharged 97 returned to their parents, 59 were sent to the care of friends, 43 to the care of themselves, 9 hired out for wages, and one died. Of those admitted, 94 were of American parentage, 5 English, 38 Irish, 32 German, 1 Italian, 17 American (colored), and 27 unknown. Fifteen were sent for grand larceny, 65 for petit larceny, 15 for burglary, 2 for house breaking, 46 for petit larceny and incorrigibility, 1 for arson, 3 for assault with intent to rape, 10 for vagrancy, 47 for incorrigibility, 1 for manslaughter, 1 from the Penitentiary, 3 for horse stealing, 2 for cutting with intent to wound, 2 for obtaining property underf alse pretenses, and 1 for obstructing railroad track. The average time of detention of boys at the School is a little more than twentythree months.

The Ohio Reform Farm School was the first Reformatory established in this country upon the Family plan. It was established as an experiment, and notwithstanding its conception originated in the minds of some of the most talented and philanthropic citizens and statesmen of the State, still the great majority regarded it as a very dangerous experiment, and it was looked upon as a visionary scheme that would soon explode and disappear. But its history and results are the proof of its success.

Founded upon the right basis, and under a continuous management for eighteen years, with economy in expenditures, efficiency of administration, and the reformation of such a large percentage of its inmates, are its credentials to public confidence and support.

The Institution has clearly demonstrated that kindness and love will do more to soften and reclaim the obdurate heart than prison walls, bolts or bars. The success of the School has been such that its influence has caused a modification of the discipline and management of many of the Reformatories of the land.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO PENITENTIARY.

The first Penitentiary building was erected in 1813. It was built of brick, 60 by 30 feet on the ground, and three stories high. The basement was divided into a kitchen and dining room for the prisoners. The next story above the kitchen was the keeper's residence, and the third or upper story was laid off into cells for prisoners. There were thirteen cells in all, four dark ones and nine light ones. The entrance to the cells or upper story was from the inside of the yard. Such is a brief description of the original Penitentiary building as it existed from 1813 to 1818, when a new Penitentiary (as it was then called), was built, and the yard enlarged to about 400 feet east and west by 160 feet north and south, the ground covered by buildings included. The yard was divided into three parts, called the upper, middle and lower yard. The workshops were principally arranged along the south side of the upper yard, some cooper and blacksmith shops in the middle yard, there being no shops in the lower yard. The new prison house was of brick, 150 feet long, 34 feet wide, two stories high, with the east gable front to the street, and joined to the original building. The accommodations consisted of two adjoining rooms on the second floor for hospital purposes, and fifty-four cells or lodging rooms above ground, and five dark, solitary cells below ground, accessible only by a trap door opening up into the hall. The old original building, after being remodeled, served as a comfortable residence for the keeper.

The trades carried on by the convicts were coopering, blacksmithing, shoemaking, wagon making, gunsmithing, cabinet making, tailoring and weaving. The articles

thus manufactured were stored in a room connected with the institution, and sold or exchanged for provisions or raw materials, such as staves, sawed lumber, hoop poles, coal and firewood.

The first convict was John Evans, sent from Pickaway County, for five years, for assault and battery with intent to kill. He was received October 8, 1815, and is marked No. 1 on the Convict Register. He, with his brother David, who was received the same time, was pardoned by the Governor, January 26, 1817. The total number received from October 8, 1815, to July 3, 1834, was 931; this was up to the time the new prison was occupied.

The Legislature on the 11th of February, 1832, passed au act providing for the erection of a new Penitentiary. Three Directors were appointed for the purpose of selecting and procuring a site, and controlling the erection of the buildings. They were to receive a salary of $100 per year for their services, and were required to appoint a Superintendent, who should direct and oversee the work. The manual labor was to be performed by convicts; the stone taken from quarries owned by the State, only paying for guards and transportation. This building was completed on the 27th of October, 1834, and on the day following, the convicts from the old prison were removed to the new, where they were subjected to strict discipline and severe punishments. The store room was abolished, and the convicts hired by the day on large contracts, the shops to be furnished by the State, the tools, materials and transportation by the contractors.

Within a few years the rules of the prison have been giving way to more kind and humane treatment. Before this the punishments consisted of "the cat" or whipping post, shower bath, underground dungeons, &c. These punishments were abandoned, and there were substituted solitary confinement for first and slight offenses, the ring for the repetition of the same, and the last, together with short rations and a plunge bath, for frequent and serious offenders. The lockstep formerly used was slightly

altered a few years since, the convicts being directed to take their hand from the shoulder of the man preceding them; but it was not until very recently that the convicts were ordered to march in military order. What was then called a "gang" is now termed a company, and the marching to meals and to the cells is a spectacle all seem anxious to observe.

There are now twenty-eight acres of land and fortyfour shops, employing one thousand men on contracts. The lowest price paid for convict labor is seventy cents per day; this amounts to about $16,600 per month as wages accruing to the State, or about the same as the receipts for the year in 1836.

The cells are three feet five inches wide, six feet nine inches high, and seven feet long, containing about 161 cubic feet of air. They are entirely without ventilation, except through a grated door opening into the hall, ten feet from the outer walls. The ventilation of this hall is through grated windows, and it is to be hoped, for the benefit of the lungs of both guards and prisoners, this state of affairs will soon be remedied.

The hospital is situated in what was formerly the chapel. It is on the third floor, entirely above the walls, windows cut down to the floor, so the ventilation is as good as it can be until a regular system is discovered. The beds are neat and clean, dispensing chemists careful in attending to their duties. A regular physician is employed, and, withal, the health of the inmates is made an object of special attention.

Although we can never hope, if we include the costs of prosecution, to make the institution self supporting. Still, outside of this item of expense, the receipts of the prison are not only equal to the expenses, but return a large dividend to the Treasury. And in regard to the costs of prosecution, if we include the rise in value of land belonging to the State and State work done by convicts, there is no doubt the net income would largely exceed even this expense. The first land purchased for the