arrival and interference of a boy prevented her from receiving serious injuries. Many admired her courage and endurance upon learning of her misfortune, but none offered to furnish her transportation to Columbus.

The Warden, being moved with compassion upon hearing a recital of the woman's suffering and privation, and ever ready to relieve the worthy in distress, immediately invited the mother and daughter to partake of refreshments, after which they were told that they might rest till further arrangements could be made for their comfort and relief.

In the meantime, the Warden's good wife having learned of the pitiful plight of the visitors, at once hastened, like an angel of light and love, to offer such encouragement and substantial sympathy as only one mother can to another in distress.

The poor woman was furnished with clean garments, the little girl receiving a new gown, shoes, hose, etc.

The boy was sent for, and the meeting between mother, sister and brother was one long to be remembered by those present. When the time came for their departure, the woman was presented with a sum of money-more than sufficient to enable her and the child to ride in a comfortable car back to the county from whence they journeyed.

The foregoing remarkable case of distress and devotion, though not without a parallel, will afford an idea of what is of almost daily occurrence in the Guard-room.

CHAPTER III.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRISON.

Entering the prison through the Guard-room, you behold a snug little park, containing about two acres, adorned with trees, shrubbery; in summer flowers, a statue of considerable artistic skill, a greenhouse in charge of a convict who is a skillful florist, and an artificial lake.

On your left stands the finest of all the prison buildings, the New Hall, a large, beautiful and commodious structure. This cell room is a credit to the State. The cells are large and comfortable, the whole front of each cell being a lattice work of iron, giving good ventilation and plenty of light. This block contains 580 cells, and for health, comfort and security is, beyond a doubt, the best arranged structure of its kind in the world. Behind you stands the balance of the cell blocks, three in number, containing over a thousand cells, which are not so comfortable as those in the new hall and will doubtless soon be replaced by more modern structures.

At the end of the east hall is the famous annex and execution room. To your right stands an old rambling three story building, the ground floor containing the dining room, having a seating capacity for 1,700 men, said to be the second largest in this country, exceeded only by the Soldiers' Home, at Dayton; the Kitchen, where all the cooking is done by steam and gas; the bakery, bread room, meat and butter room, and an office for the Superintendent of Subsistence. The second story contains the Catholic Chapel, which is also used for a school room, and the State shop where everything is made that is worn, or used by the prisoners. The whole of the third floor is occupied by the Hospital.

As you pass through the yard, the round, miniature lake will attract attention, for in summer time, on its surface rides an ingeniously constructed model of a sidewheel river steamer, propelled by a stream of water from a pipe attached to a pivot in the center of the lake, which is connected with the water

works. This handsome little boat is the invention of the prison poet and artist, that wonderful genius, Samuel D.

Miller.

There is the lake of the woods, and a lake of the "spooks,"
But the lake of this prison, is the lake of the "crooks."

'Tis round as a well, and as deep as a sack,

'Twas planned and constructed by a noted old "crack."

In front of the lake stands the Chapel, seating over two thousand; it also contains the Deputy Warden's office, Secretary's office, Chaplain's office, and Prison Library, with nearly four thousand volumes on all subjects. Underneath the church is a cellar which is shunned as much as possible by all the inmates. This is where the men are punished for violating the rules. A regular court is held every day, except Sundays. The offender is given a fair trial, and strange to relate, in what is considered the most hardened community in the State, the offenses do not average higher than in a ward of a city containing the same population. Of the sixteen hundred inmates, about two hundred are negroes, generally ignorant, and often lazy, and the "colored brother" is a frequent visitor to the cellar, and probably outnumbers all "de poor white trash" that are compelled to go there.

Offenders are punished by an electrical apparatus which causes more terror than any real harm or injury inflicted. All brutal punishments have been done away with, and the State Prison of Ohio has slowly but surely evoluted along. Probably each administration has been an improvement on former ones. Near the church, in the rear, stands a small two story building, containing the Postoffice, Superintendent of Construction's office, a barber shop, and the Fire Department, fully equipped to make a gallant fight in case of fire, which occasionally occurs. This department is provided with a fire alarm, the invention of Charles F. Kline, a Montgomery county prisoner. It consists of an indicator, having sixteen figures on the face. Numbers 2 to 15 are for fire purposes only, so arranged that an alarm bell will ring from 14 different places, the alarm boxes being located in different parts the prison. All that is needed is to pull the handle, which is attached to

each box. If the number of any box is pulled it rings a gong in the engine house, new hall and Guard-room, and a general alarm on the large bell in the Chapel belfry, locating the fire. Beyond the expense of the battery, which was small, it cost the State nothing.

At the northeast corner of the church, towering far above all the rest of the buildings, can be seen the huge iron standpipe, which looms up in the horizon 145 feet high, furnishing an abundance of water for all purposes, except drinking. The rest of the prison is divided up into wards, six in number, which in turn are divided by streets, similar to a city. In the first ward is the wash house, where the enormous amount of four hundred thousand pieces are washed yearly. In the spring of 1891, the wash house was burned, but rebuilt in two weeks, all the work being done by prisoners. Also in this ward stand the grist mill, not in use at present, the printing office, where all the printing for the prison is done. The type that prints this work was set up in this office.

Next to this office, is the carpenter shop, which is able to turn out anything from a mouse trap to a palace.

By the wall, at the north end of the ward is the butcher shop where all the cattle are killed, for use in the prison.

From four to ten head are slaughtered every week and only the very best the market affords are accepted. Bulls and worn-out, dried up cows must find some other market. Here is also found the soap house, and the ice house, all under charge of trustworthy prisoners.

In ward four can be found the "Idle House," an odd name in a prison. "What is the 'Idle House' used for?" is frequently asked by visitors. Here congregate the old, the lame, the sick and the lazy, many excused by the doctor, some by the Deputy, cripples of all description, and in no other spot in Ohio can be found such a conglomeration of suffering humanity. The inmates of this Idle House have nothing to do but sit on benches or walk up and down in front of the building. At the north end of ward four is the gas house, which 'furnishes gas for the Penitentiary, Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Blind Asylum, and State House. The amount of gas made in a year amounts to forty million feet, all done by prisoners.

It seems a great pity that more of the inmates are not employed on some such labor, to the great benefit of the State, for the prison gas works most assuredly saves the tax-payers of Ohio thousands of dollars yearly. These works are in charge of a practical superintendent.

In the sixth ward is the plant that furnishes the electric lights used for the yard, wall and a few other places. The Insane Asylum is also in this ward.

Scattered over the six wards are about thirty large buildings, from one to three stories high, used by the different contractors who employ the inmates in manufacturing whisk brooms, brushes, cradles, scythe snaths, rakes, pitchforks, hayforks, washers, hinges, trunk findings, nuts, cigars, corn huskers, jack planes, chairs, buggy fronts, stoves, all kind of enameling and moulding, bolts, buggy findings, harness hardware-from the raw iron to a first class article—all finished and polished. The prisoners earn for the State from fifty to seventy-five cents per day. Many of them make by over work in some cases as much as fifteen dollars per month.