A NEW GOVERNOR--BREAD-AND-WATER JACK--SEVERE PUNISHMENTS--DIRECTORS
AGAIN--A HERB DOCTOR--EXTRAORDINARY STORY.
During my second stay in hospital the governor from another prison came
to rule over our establishment. He was known to most of the prisoners
as "Bread and Water Jack," some called him "Captain Spooney," some "the
Lurcher," and others "Mr. Martinet." The patients had just completed
their out-of-door exercise, and were standing in file two deep when he
first made his appearance. Some of the prisoners whispered, "That's the
new governor," and the sound having reached his official ear, the order
was issued "Now you men, you must understand there is to be no talking
in the ranks when I pass you." Almost every week some fresh order
issued from the new governor, and the following may be taken as a fair
example of the weighty matters which troubled the official head, and
afford a very good idea of its qualifications for disposing of them.
"Prisoners must roll their neckerchiefs twice round their necks and tie
them in a particular way," and the way is then described.
"Prisoners must walk three abreast round the parade, and not pass each
other in walking."
"Prisoners must be sure to keep their hands out of their pockets in the
coldest days."
"Prisoners must not neglect to salute the governor when he passes
them."
"Prisoners must walk only two abreast instead of three abreast, as
formerly ordered."
"The spoons and platters must be placed in this particular way." And
next week the order came to have the spoons and platters placed in
exactly the opposite way!
"Prisoners' hair must be cropped shorter; they must not go to bed so
soon as they have done: they must cease talking at work," and so on.
These were the principal orders issued, and attempted to be carried
out. I say attempted, for some of them were regularly evaded or broken
by the prisoners, and winked at by the officers. These were the orders
that were expected to be instrumental in converting thieves into honest
men! Whatever opinion might be formed of their probable efficacy out of
doors, or of the sanity of the man who sat in his office and scrawled
them out, the thieves themselves mocked and ridiculed them, and called
the small-minded military man set over them a "Barmey"[20] humbug. "What
does it matter," they would say to each other, "how we walk? What does
it matter whether our neck-ties be once or twice round? Why don't they
teach us to get an honest living and show us a good example? What good
will all this humbugging do us? We don't want to come into such places
if they will only let us live when we are out. Why don't they find us
work and try to keep us out of prison?" "Ah! that would spoil their own
trade," someone would reply. Such criticisms passed between the
prisoners on these new orders, with an accompaniment of oaths which I
cannot repeat.
[20] Insane.
The punishment for prison offences now became more severe under the new
governor, and the following may be taken as fair examples of the manner
in which this class of offenders were dealt with. A convict just about
due for his liberation had half-an-inch of tobacco given him by another
prisoner. The officer happened to notice the gift, went to the
prisoner, found the contraband article upon him, and took him before
the governor. That gentleman sentenced him to ten days in the
refractory cells, and recommended him to the prison director for the
loss of his gratuity and three months' remission. The unfortunate
prisoner was by-and-bye called up and informed that in addition to the
governor's sentence he was condemned to lose all his gratuity money,
which amounted to about 3_l._, and three months of his remission.
Two sentences for one offence were getting very common, but this
prisoner happened to be one of those who cared very little about
liberty, and received the information very coolly. As soon as he was
out of the cells he had his "snout" again as usual, but he was
"chaffed" a good deal by his "pals" for neglecting to swallow the quid
when he saw the officer coming to him. One of the hospital nurses (a
convict) got punished, though not quite so severely, for appropriating
to his own use a mutton chop that he was ordered to carry to the pigs.
At that time the authorities kept swine, who got all the food the
patients could not eat, but now it is sold. The prisoner thought, I
presume, that the chop would do a hungry man more good than it would an
over-fed pig. Another prisoner was sentenced twice for having an onion
on his person. One of his fellow-prisoners who was working among these
luxuries gave him one, and as the officer in charge had a grudge
against him, he was taken before the governor, who gave him ten days'
punishment, to which the director afterwards considerately added three
months! Such offences as these were of daily occurrence, but the
punishments for them when detected were very unequal.
It is not often a convict is flogged, but it does happen occasionally.
I remember a young rollicking Irishman being flogged for attempting to
strike an officer, who, as often happens, was far more to blame than
the prisoner, who in this case was goaded and tempted to strike. The
majority of the officers--who are civil and sensible men, considering
their position in society--would have acted very differently.
Another case, where the prisoner not only attempted but did actually
strike his warder rather severely, met with a more lenient punishment.
In this case the prisoner was decidedly to blame, and his punishment,
in technical language, was "six months in chokey with the black dress
and slangs."
These cases were usually disposed of by the director at his monthly
sitting. That gentleman--who was fond of having nothing to
do--generally spent about twenty-four hours in prison per annum, spread
over eleven visits of an average duration of two hours each. Latterly
it was rather difficult for a prisoner to get to see him, and quite
impossible if he had a complaint to make against any of the officials,
which they thought he could establish. I have often thought that this
gentleman's duties could be performed more satisfactorily for a less
salary than one thousand pounds per annum!
Before leaving the hospital, I will now relate a few of the
conversations I had with some of the patients.
"How long have you been unwell?"
"About fifteen months."
"What is the matter with you?"
"Oh! my health has been ruined by the treatment I received in the
Scotch prison before trial."
"How long were you detained waiting trial?"
"Six months."
"Have you been to the public works?"
"Yes, I was at Chatham; but my strength and constitution gave way, and
for a working man I am now ruined for life."
"Did you enjoy your health before you got into prison?"
"I was never a day unwell, and was as stout and as fit for work as any
man in the country."
"What will you do when you get out of prison?"
"God knows! I suppose I shall have to go to the workhouse. I am very
willing to work, but if I don't mend I shall never be able to handle a
tool again."
Another case--
"How long have you been ailing?"
"Ten months."
"What is the matter with you?"
"Oh! I am dying fast. I was seven months in a Scotch jail before trial,
and that is what is killing me."
This prisoner died a few days after he uttered these words. His last
hours were spent in humming over a Scotch ballad he had learnt when a
child.
Another case--
"Well, what's your sentence?"
"Five years."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-five."
"What did you do outside?"
"I was born in a workhouse, and lived in it for thirteen years, and I
have now been nine years in prison; so that I have not had much liberty
to do anything at all."
"What do you intend doing when you get out this time?"
"I think I shall go hawking bits of things through the country."
"I am afraid you will find it difficult to make a living at hawking?"
"Well I have the prison to come to, where I'll always get my grub."
This prisoner had a delicate constitution, and in his case "hard
labour" was a meaningless sentence, and imprisonment was no punishment
to him whatever. To have made it more severe would have been all the
same to him, as the hospital would then have been his perpetual abode.
Some prisoners were in hospital nearly the whole of their sentence. One
prisoner lay in bed with paralysis upwards of four years, and had to be
lifted out to have his bed arranged several times a day: if he had been
paid to commit a crime he could not have done it.
Another prisoner was in hospital all the years I was in prison, and had
been so for several years previous to my arrival. I only remember his
being in bed a few days on one occasion. I was much interested in
another patient, who ultimately died in prison, and whose history was
rather a singular one. I shall narrate it as he gave it to me:--
"I am what is called a herbalist, or herb doctor. I was brought up in a
workhouse, my parents having died when I was quite a child. I had a
great many brothers and sisters, all of whom died young. I had a very
delicate constitution, and was thought at one time to be dying of the
same disease as carried off my mother and sisters. The doctors gave me
up as being beyond their skill. Well, I had begun to study medical
botany by this time, and I at last discovered herbs that cured me. I
now thought of curing others, and began first with some children
belonging to poor people. I succeeded in almost every case, and as I
charged nothing at all for the medicines, I was called out by all the
poor people in the neighbourhood.
"At last my practice began to interfere with my employment as a weaver,
and my master told me that he was willing to keep me and advance my
wages, but I was on no account to have anything more to do in curing
the sick. Well, I went round my circle of friends to ask their advice,
and they unanimously agreed to support me among them rather than be
deprived of my assistance. I accordingly gave up my place and opened a
herb shop. I studied the properties of herbs constantly. I had no taste
for any other employment. I tried the effects of all of them on myself
first of all, and sometimes on my wife, before I decided on using them,
and I daresay I may have done too much in this way in order to be able
to assure my patients that I had first taken a dose myself. I have read
all the books on the subject, in addition to my own practical
experience; and I will not yield the palm to anyone for having a
knowledge of herbs--I mean as to their medical properties. Well, I
continued in my first shop for about nine years, got married, and had a
comfortable home. About this time a clergyman of my acquaintance
happened to be removing to another county, a considerable distance from
the town where I lived, and as I had cured his wife after all the
regular doctors had given the case up as hopeless, he offered me
52_l._ per annum if I would go to the same place as he was removing to
and open a shop there, and I agreed. I was unfortunate the first year
in not getting many patients, and began to regret that I had left my
old abode. But by-and-bye the news of my cures spread abroad in the
neighbourhood, and I soon had as many patients as I could attend to. I
never advertised a line, and yet I had patients as far away as
Scotland. Ultimately my patients extended to the middle classes, and
that was what brought me here. So long as I confined my labours to the
poor, the regular doctors did not interfere with me, but when I began
to take away their paying patients by the half-dozen, they tried all
they could to damage my character, and get me out of the district."
"What is your sentence?"
"Seven years, and I'll tell you how I got it. I sold a mixture composed
of four different herbs, which is the most effectual medicine for
certain diseases peculiar to females; in fact, it is invaluable to
young unmarried women subject to the complaint I refer to, but,
unfortunately for me, it has also the effect of procuring abortion.
Well, one day a young woman came to me and wished to purchase some of
this medicine. I had cured an unmarried female of her acquaintance, but
before giving her the medicine I cautioned her not to take it if she
was _enciente_, as it would procure abortion. The female who now
applied to me wished it for that very purpose; her husband was a
sailor, she had been faithless in his absence, and she now wished to
keep him in ignorance of her sin. All this, however, I learned only
when too late. I refused to sell the woman the medicine, as I could
see she was married. On being refused, she went to an old woman whose
daughter had taken the medicine, and offered her 3_l._ if she would get
her some of it. Of course, I was not aware of this when the old woman
came to me and asked me for some more of the medicine for her daughter,
as she said. I sold her the medicine, which she gave to the sailor's
wife. It had the desired effect, and she was well and going about in a
couple of days. Her husband now returned, and the old woman demanded
the 3_l._, which the sailor's wife refused to pay. Determined not
to be beaten, she went to the husband and told him all about it. He
called in doctors to report on the case, which they did, adding that
instruments had been used, which was altogether false. The medicine was
easily traced to me. Where I was wrong was, in not having a written
statement from everyone to whom I sold the herbs, in order to have
protected myself against any such charge as was now brought against me.
The doctors, no doubt, believed that instruments had been used, because
they do not know the particular herbs at all, and no one in England
knows them but myself and I do not intend to let many know either--it's
dangerous knowledge; but, as God is my judge, I never used it wilfully
except for the relief of a disease that carries thousands of our
countrywomen to the grave in the very prime of youth. I have been
called to cases over and over again, after all the doctors had given
them up, and I have often restored the pale hectic young woman, in an
advanced stage of consumption, to health and vigour, by the simple use
of herbs--the best of God's gifts to man!"
"What diseases were you most successful with?"
"There is one disease I could never cure, and that's ossification of
the heart, but in the great majority of other diseases I succeeded
wonderfully. Sometimes, of course, I would be called to a consumptive
patient within a few days or hours of his death, when life was so low
as to render it impossible for the medicine to be taken."
"What do you think of the cold-water system and homoeopathy?"
"The cold water may do for some diseases and for some patients only,
but it is nonsense to think to cure all diseases in one way. I am not a
quack. In America there are colleges for teaching my system of curing
disease, regular teachers of medical botany. As for homoeopathy, I
think very little of it. I have known it succeed in cholera cases
sometimes, however, as well as the allopathy. When patients have very
little the matter with them, homoeopathy, or any other 'pathy' they
have confidence in, does all very well, and it fills the purses of the
practitioners, but when real rooted disease has to be encountered, the
herbs that God has given for the use of man are the only trustworthy
means by which to effect a cure. To give you an idea how many are
'gulled,' I may say robbed, by regular doctors, I will give you the
particulars of two cases which happened within my own personal
knowledge. Two men were seized with the same fever, and to all
appearance the patients were about equal in health, strength, and age.
I was called to one, and a regular doctor to the other. The doctor
allowed the fever to come to its height, as it is called. He made
frequent visits, ran up as large a bill as he thought would be duly
paid, and in three or four weeks the patient was at his employment. My
patient was at his work in three days, and all it cost him was a few
shillings!"
"How did you manage to cure him so speedily?"
"I never allow fevers to come to the height; I strike at the root of
the disease. If you were going to build up a house that was out of
repair and encumbered with rubbish, you would naturally clear away the
rubbish first and then begin your repairs. Well, that is just how I go
to work with disease. Every pore of the skin must be cleansed, opened,
and stimulated to action. The stomach must be thoroughly emptied and
cleansed by a particular herb, and the bowels must be effectually
treated in the same way. The house cleansed, I begin my repairs, which
consist in aiding Nature with the most powerful assistance given us by
Nature's God for that purpose, and the work is soon completed. I would
undertake to cure 100 out of the 150 patients here in a fortnight."
"Do you think you could cure yourself?"
"If I had two herbs here I could prolong my days for a long time, I
most thoroughly believe, but they can never touch my disease the way
they go on here--I am dying by inches."
This prisoner (now dead) was quite an enthusiast about herbs, and
succeeded in imparting confidence in his abilities to the officers as
well as the majority of the prisoners. He was to all appearance a man
of good principles, and a Christian. How far his own statements
regarding his crime can be relied on, I cannot say, but that he
succeeded in raising himself from being a poor weaver to be a
money-making and successful herb doctor, I know to be correct. I have
noticed his case chiefly in order to remark that he turned a good many
of the prisoners into pill sellers and incipient quacks, but he never
would tell them about the abortion medicine although he gave them
prescriptions for almost all diseases. I saw them all, and know the
herbs had at least the merit of being innocent. Had he been less
honest, and had the herbs which he prescribed been poisonous, I fancy
that a good many of Her Majesty's faithful, loyal, and gullible
subjects would, long ere now, have returned to the dust from whence
they sprang.