Clearfield Republican

Revelations of Prison Life.

Some of the greatest villains on the face of the earth are to be found aboard a convict ship. Their conversation is awful to hear—it is so filthy and blasphemous.—Here and there amongst them you may find men who are anxious to reform, and have brought a taste of religion with them out of some model prison. These men are called 'Joeys' by the ruffians they are packed with, and who persecute them out of their senses almost. "If a Joey is only caught saying his prayers, woe to him.—It might be supposed that there is some protection for a man of this sort, if he appeals for it; nothing of the kind. There is no officer on duty between decks. The sentinel cannot get to the persecuting mob, and he doesn't want to; he enjoys the sport too much himself. An ill-tempered man with a short temper is a perfect God-send to his fellow-convicts: he kept in everlasting rage, and the more he froths and swears the more fun there is. Of course there are honors among thieves! oh yes, guard of, and believe partly; but there is little of that in a convict ship. They rob and plunder one another without mercy, and nothing is too hot or too heavy for them.

It is this plundering and tormenting that causes so many disturbances on board—It is here, too, that old grudges are paid off. If one man has done another injury in the prison they came from—beating anything, for instance—his life is not worth much when they come together on board a ship. A mob of enemies is soon enlisted against him who rob him of his food, garrote him, and beat him unmercifully. These pranks are generally played in the dark. The poor fellow reports his tormentors to the doctor, perhaps; but if he does, so much the worse for him. He has to suffer double then, for mischief making: So he finds at last that he had better take his miseries quietly: though it is not easy to do so when it comes to scalding. That is a favorite way of ill using a black sheep. A man comes down the ladder with a bucket of boiling tea or water, and if any one he has a grudge against happens to be near enough for the purpose, he has an accident, tumbles off the ladder and souses his "mark" in the boiling liquor. He may get scalded himself in the tumble, but he will run the risk of that if he feels pretty sure of having his revenge. All sorts of gambling go on in a convict ship, cards, dice and dominoes made out of almost anything the men can lay hands on. Those who would read to each other are annoyed by the ruffians, their gentleman reader is made a laughing-stock of. Tobacco, pipes and grog are to be got by paying a good price to the sailor, and so with gambling and rioting, and worse, the voyage is got over.

Convicts ought to have some employment on board ship; that, and gratuities for good conduct, would make a reformation, I am confident.—Cornhill Magazine.