FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO (PART 11)
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS
  OF OHIO

   An Encyclopedia of the State
     By HENRY HOWE  LL. D.
    Published by the State of Ohio
        C.J. Krehbiel & Co., Printers and Binders
   Cincinnati, Ohio
       copyright 1888 by Henry Howe
      1904


THE OHIO PENITENTIARY

    The penitentiary system was introduced into Ohio in 1815.  Previous to that date certain 
crimes,  afterward punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary,  were punished by whipping.  
For instance,  upon conviction of larceny the offender was sentenced to be whipped;  not 
exceeding thirty stripes on the naked back for the first offense,  and not exceeding fifty 
stripes upon a second conviction for a like offense.

    In 1815 was enacted the first Ohio statute for the punishment of larceny by imprisonment 
in the State prison.  It provided that conviction of larceny of the value of ten dollars and 
upward should be punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than one nor more than 
seven years.  In 1821 the amount of larceny to constitute a State prison offense was increased
to fifty dollars,  but in 1835,  was reduced to the present amount- thirty five dollars.

     The first penitentiary in Ohio was built in 1813,  on a ten-acre lot in the southwest 
corner of Columbus,  which was conveyed to the State for that purpose by the original 
proprietors of the town.  It was a brick building fronting on Scioto street;  the dimensions
were 60 by 30 feet and three stories in height,  which included the basement partly below 
ground.  The basement contained the living-rooms of the prisoners,  and could only be entered 
from the prison yard.  The second story was the keepers residence.  The third or upper story 
contained the prisoners cells,  thirteen in number,  nine of which were light and four dark 
cells.

    The prison-yard,  about 100 feet square,  was enclosed by a stone wall from fifteen to 
eighteen feet high.

    In 1818 a new brick building was erected,  and the prison-yard enlarged to about 400 by 160 
feet,  enclosed by stone walls twenty feet high and three feet thick,  with a plank floor and 
hand railing on the top.  Workshops were arranged within the yard.  The new building was 150 by 
34 feet,  two stories high,  and formed a connecting line with the old building,  which was 
remodeled as a residence for the keeper.

    The dining-room,  kitchen,  and fifty four cells occupied the ground floor of the new 
building;  below ground,  accessible only by a trap-door in the hall,  were five dark and 
solitary cells,  and on the second floor two adjoining rooms served for a hospital.

    Until 1819 the keeper or warden was appointed by five inspectors chosen by the Legislature.  
That year,  however,  the office of State agent was created,  and both agent and keeper elected 
by the Legislature for a term of three years.  It was the State agents duty to receive from the 
keeper all manufactured articles,  make sales,  collect debts,  and pay over to the State 
treasurer all cash receipts.  The office of State agent was abolished in 1822.

    The first warden or keeper of the penitentiary was James Kooken.  At that time the prison 
contained but few convicts,  the keeper was kind-hearted and as lenient as was consistent with 
official duty,  and there being at times but little work for the prisoners,  they were 
permitted to indulge in various amusements,  one of which was ball-playing;  and when,  as 
sometimes happened,  the ball was knocked over the prison walls,  a dog they had trained for 
the purpose would run to the main entrance,  summon the guard,  passout,  get the ball,  and 
return with it to the players.

    The labor of the prisoners was employed in blacksmithing,  cabinetmaking,  gunsmithing,  
wagon-making,  shoemaking,  coopering,  weaving and tailoring,  the manufactured articles being 
sold or exchanged for provisions or raw materials.

    Attempts at Escape--  There were more or less individual attempts to escape,  but only one 
outbreak at all general in its character.  One day,  during the year 1830,  about a dozen 
prisoners,  under the leadership of a daring fellow,  Smith Maythe by name,  secreted 
themselves near the outer door of the prison,  and when the turnkey unlocked the door,  Maythe 
sprang upon him,  securing a firm hold,  while his companions rushed out.  Then releasing the 
turnkey he bounded out,  and joining his fellow-conspirators fled to some woods a short 
distance southeast of the prison.  Their liberty was short-lived, however,  for soon they were 
all recaptured and returned to the prison.  Maythe,  the leader,  was eventually hung by a mob
in Kentucky for an attempt at robbery and murder.

    Liberties to Convicts--  Previous to 1836 convicts were frequently taken out to work in 
different parts of the town,  and sometimes without a guard.  Among others who were allowed 
great liberties in this respect was one Scott,  a printer,  who was permitted to earn money, a
part of which he was allowed to keep for himself,  by working at his trade outside the prison.  
On one occasion he got uproariously drunk and meeting Gov. Lucas on the street,  he besought 
him to grant him a pardon,  and backed up by the whiskey he had imbibed,  became very urgent,  
much to the Governors discomfiture.  Perhaps it is needless to state that Mr. Scott served out 
his full term,  and with restricted privileges.

    The Asiatic Cholera--  In the summer of 1833 the cholera broke out in Columbus,  and soon 
became epidemic within the penitentiary.  Out of 303 convicts few were exempt from sickness.  
One hundred were confined in the hospital,  forty of them were pronounced genuine cholera, and 
there were eleven deaths before the disease disappeared.

    In 1849,  the prison having been removed to its present quarters,  the cholera again made
its appearance,  and with a fatality that was appalling;  and notwithstanding every precaution,
more than one-fourth of the inmates became its victims.

    Heroic Devotion--  It broke out in the prison on the 30th day of June,  having previously 
prevailed in Columbus and surrounding towns for eight or ten days.  The first day there were 
two fatal cases,  and the daily fatality increased to five on July 7,  eight the day following,  
and twelve on the 9th of July.  Dr. Lathrop,  the regular prison physician,  was attacked by 
the disease July 3;  fifty to sixty new cases were occurring daily,  and although Dr. Trevitt 
was in attendance,  having been called the first day the epidemic broke out,  Dr. Lathrop felt 
that his duty was at his post;  and although advised by his physicians to keep his bed, totally 
unfit for any labor,  on the 6th of July he was again at work administering to the sick and 
dying.  His heroic devotion cost him his life five days later.

    July 8,  nine days after the first appearance of the disease,  396 out of 413 prisoners had
been attacked by cholera,  21 had died and the next day 12 more died.  The condition and 
prospect of affairs was horrible to contemplate.  The directors called to the aid of Drs. 
Lathrop and Trevitt other physicians in the city,  as Drs. B.F. Gard,  Robert Thompson,  J.B. 
Thompson,  Norman Gay,  and J. Morrison.  Medical students and citizens were also engaged as 
attendants and nurses.

    Distressing Scenes and Panic--  The hospital being crowded the abandoned workshops were 
divided into wards,  nurses and attendants assigned,  and they were soon filled with the sick
and dying.  Just at this time,  when their services were most needed,  the guards fled,  panic 
stricken.  Necessarily discipline was very much relaxed.  For sixteen days and nights the cell 
doors remained unlocked and the prisoners comingled freely.  Some of them were stoically 
indifferent to their surroundings,  others were manly,  heroic,  and rendered very efficient 
service in administering to the sick,  while another class of prisoners were filled with 
nervous fear and trembling,  imploring physicians,  attendants and nurses, with piteous cries,
to speak to the governor and have them pardoned out.

   Governor Ford acted with great discretion in this emergency.  An article written by Hon. 
Charles B. Flood and published in 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 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 22,  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. Gards 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 epidemic 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 public-spirited citizens of Columbus;  Joseph Ridgway 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,  and 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 6 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.  The 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 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 4x7 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 air-passage 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 latticed 
partition;  here also is a large alarm-clock,  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 is adjusted,  and at a given signal a 
given 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 1855 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 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 identifications 
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,  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. Thompson,  
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 males 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 high school 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 on any 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 cooperation 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 equaled 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.