have expected. The workshop in the yard, and also the fence around the prison yard completed, with an elevated walk for the guards. December 25, the Inspectors recommended the appointment of a clerk, to act as commissary also, and say they would fail in justice to their own feelings if they withheld the expression of satisfaction with the general management of the concerns of the institution.

The state of the prison in 1826 was very much crowded. The Inspectors believe that the application of the principal part of labor of convicts in the quarry would overstock the market with lime. They therefore think it would be proper to employ some portions of labor in hammering granite, and recommend to the Legislature the expediency of adding to the inexhaustible quarry of lime-rock an inexhaustible bed of granite. Another important and embarrassing matter is the confinement of female prisoners in a prison where no arrangements have been exclusively made for their confinement, employment and government. It is a subject they approach with diffidence and touch with reluctance; they will venture, however, to declare their opinion, not lightly or immaturely formed, that the females should be excluded, not only from the observation of the male prisoners, but from personal intercourse and communication with male officers of the prison. This subject should not be permitted to escape the attentive consideration of the Government.*

It is impossible to tell the expense of this year, as the debts owing to the prison were all reckoned good, and a large part of the credit was stock on hand. There seems to have been trouble with the contrators for the products of the prison. The Inspectors recommended an enlargement of the prison and prison yard, the erection of shops for stone hewers and procuring a quarry of granite.

In 1827 the prison wharf was built with a suitable crane for hoisting granite, and a shop for stone cutting, and also a stone dining hall, which was used also for a chapel. More trouble with contractors for not paying.

A contract was made with Joseph Berry in 1828 to erect a wing to contain 20 new cells, to be added to the eastern wing of the prison, for $4,625, Berry to furnish all materials. October 14th the warden reported the additional 20 cells completed, but the Inspectors refused to accept the job, as they thought them unsafe and insecure. One of the Inspectors suffered himself to be locked into one of the cells,

*After a lapse of 60 years the same condition of things still exists, and and nothing has been accomplished in a proper direction.

The

and the ladder by which he descended into it withdrawn; in twenty seconds he came out by drawing the bolt which held the lock. gondola which the warden was authorized to build to transport granite up the St. George's River, was completed and thought to be a valuable addition to the landing, transporting and unloading granite. A granite quarry was purchased at Long Cove, St. George.

Mr. Rose, the warden, having been appointed Land Agent, Hon. Joel Miller of St. George was appointed warden June 28th. Mr. Berry added sundry improvements to the new cells, which he had built to the satisfaction of the Inspectors. December 17th the Inspectors say that the results from canses wholly out of their control do not fully accord with the pleasing anticipations entertained by them at the commencement of the year.

March 3d, 1829, the Legislature elected a committee of three to make a thorough and complete investigation of all accounts and doings of the late warden of the prison as warden, superintendent, agent, or contractor, to be laid before the next Legislature. The purchases of granite up to this date were the Biskey lot at St. George, 33 acres, $180; School House ledge, the right to take stone on 70 acres adjoining the Biskey lot, $100; Long Cove at St. George, right to take stone from 30 acres, $200; cost of wharf, $112.14; two islands near the mouth of the St. George's River, the right to take stone, $25. The Inspectors believe the above will supply all that will be required at the prison. Mats of braided oakum were provided to cover apertures in top of cells to keep out cold. Other industries have been added from time to time, cabinet making, painting, chair making, and joinering; the blacksmiths and tailors have done more work than has been required for the use of the institution. Picking oakum has afforded work for invalids, but the institution must rely on its limestone and granite quarries. The literary, moral and religious instruction is deplorably defective, it consists only of one short religious sermon on the Sabbath, and the reading of a portion of the Bible twice in a day at meals by one of the convicts in presence of the others, and the unenforced use of a Bible or Testament in each cell.

Governor Hunton, in his message, February 10th, 1830, says: "I would particularly recommend the examination of the causes

* Mr. Miller held the offices of Senator and Judge of Probate, and died in Thomaston September 10, 1849, aged 65.

which have rendered our State Prison so expensive as compared with other States; and in this examination, an inquiry into the advantages originally anticipated in the location of the prison appears to me of great importance. If the location is such that the prison cannot by the best management be rendered other than a perpetual and heavy expense to the State, the sooner the Legislature knows it the better."

April 10th, under the direction of Inspectors, on the next Sunday the warden will have established a Sunday School for the convicts, and books will soon be purchased by the warden or chaplain, agreeably to the resolve of the Legislature.

The warden was authorized to enlarge the wharf or prison yard by adding two hundred and nineteen feet in length and twenty-one feet in width. The wharf at State's quarry at Long Cove was damaged by high tides and repaired.

March 7th, 1831, a law passed this year says: "One Inspector to visit prison once a week, and no Inspector to reside more than six miles from the prison." September 28th, the rains this year washed large quantities of earth from the hill north of the granite yard upon the yard and upon and against the granite workshop; a wall was built to prevent future washings. Mr. Ira Norris, the first agent for the prison in New York, absconded owing the prison from $8000 to $10,000. Mr. Bryant, another agent for sale, was also in trouble and about removing elsewhere.

January 27th, 1832, the warden was ordered by Governor and Council to enlarge the upper yard by removing the fence in a southerly direction, to enclose a larger quantity of limestone, but the Inspectors advised to extend in an easterly direction, as the limestone was better. June 11th, the Inspectors are gratified to learn that there is increasing attention given to the Sunday School by the instructors and convicts. In October, suits were commenced against Foster Bryant, agent at New York, for $3400. June 26th, an insurrection of the convicts took place by a conspiracy of prisoners in the stone shop; at 6.20 the prisoners were ordered to go to their cells, which they refused to do; the warden and five others armed with rifles sallied forth," and upon their refusing again, fired at and wounded the leader, Robert Jones; the prisoners then obeyed and the leaders, eight in number, were whipped and sentenced to wear a chain.

The amount received from Norris in 1883 was $1698.93. The prison yard fence and stone shop rebuilt at an expense of $1300.

A ready sale was made for nearly all the granite wrought at the prison in 1834, at the city of New Orleans. A part of the granite shipped to New York was unsold. The Sabbath School was in successful operation. No part of the demands against Ira Norris or from Foster Bryant was recovered this year.

March 23, 1835, a resolve was passed providing that a commission be appointed to report a system of prison discipline, etc. Under this resolve, Governor Dunlap appointed William D. Williamson, J. R. Abbot and Nathaniel Clark. They made a report (which was presented to the Senate January 22d, 1836) in which they recommend that a new prison be built on the Auburn plan, in the vicinity of the State House, naming Hinckley's plain in Hallowell, as one of the most eligible sites that could be selected. The labors of this commission did not produce any results. The warden in his report says that the cells are so constructed that no warmth could by any means be communicated to the convicts. The labor in granite shop was not sufficient to pay the expenditures. The committee of the Legislature on the prison say that the settlements of the warden should be predicated on real and not on nominal transactions; they should be the results of actual receipts and expenditures.

John O'Brien was appointed warden June 23d, 1836.* The whole number of deaths in the prison since 1824 has been fourteen. The old demands owing the prison, amounting to $12,239.07, were put into Mr. O'Brien's hands, and at the end of the year he had collected $350. Very little more was expected to be realized.

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Governor Robert P. Dunlap, in his message, 1837, says the prison seems to have been constructed with a view to inflict the greatest punishment in the shortest time and at the least expense." March 31st, a fire broke out in the prison, which resulted in the total loss of the wheelwright, painter's and joiner's shops, with all their contents. The loss was estimated at $3000, exclusive of buildings. The fire was said to have been incendiary. The Legislature having adjourned, the Governor authorized the warden to erect a suitable building for a workshop; this building, 100 feet long, 34 feet wide and two stories high, was completed in November. The granite business having been totally abandoned, it became necessary to pros

* Mr. O'Brien was born in Warren, 1791, died in Thomaston, September 23d, 1850. Held the office of Executive Councillor.

ecute some other branch of business for the benefit of the prison. A lime-kiln was built and the manufacture of lime commenced, which would no doubt become profitable. Whole amount expended for buildings and repairs, $6087.12. The old accounts turned over to the warden in 1836 on which was due from Ira Norris, $3477, and from Foster Bryant, $3399, had not as yet been paid, although in litigation in New York for four or five years at expense to the State. Bibles were furnished the prisoners by the State. The Inspectors call attention to the ill designed and inconvenient construction of the prison. The mere appearance of these stone jugs, into and from which the prisoners must descend and ascend by the help of a ladder, is a sufficient cause of objection to them. The cells are so constructed as not to be capable of being warmed or kept clean. Whole amount expended for the year on buildings and repairs, $6087.12.

In his report for 1838, the warden thinks the Legislature may look with confidence that the prison will support itself hereafter from its own resources. A new watch-house was built on the wall, and stable and out-buildings completed. Whole amount expended on buildings and repairs $1701.98. The old demands are hardly worth mention as to value. A loss of not less than $40,000 to the State will be the result of the working of granite in the prison.

Benjamin Carr* of Palermo was appointed warden and entered upon his duties April 26th, 1839. A house was built this year for the only female convict. The demand has been quite limited for lime. When the present warden took charge there was a perpetual lime kiln in operation in the prison which produced 22 casks a day. On examination it was found to be a losing business to the State, and it was discontinued. Limerock continues to be quarried and sold outside. The warden has the vanity to believe that at the end of another year we shall be able to show a small dividend to the State. Buildings and repairs at a cost of $346.67.

In 1840 the amount expended for buildings and repairs, $925.07. John O'Brien re-appointed warden in 1841. May 15th, the shoe shop was burned. The Thomaston Recorder of May 17th says, "On Sunday morning a fire broke out at the State Prison, two buildings within the yard were destroyed, one was occupied as a shoe shop, wood-house and cook-room, the other for storage of carriages,

*Mr. Carr was born at Whitefield, May 1, 1802, and died at Thomaston January 11, 1854. He also held the offices of Representative and Executive Councillor.