Elizabeth Fry Part 2

Many a reformer could echo these words. But the abiding trial seemed to be the remembrance of the loss of her little daughter, Elizabeth, who pa.s.sed away after a week of suffering, and who was laid to rest in Barking churchyard. The memory of this five-year old child remained with her for many years a pure and holy influence, doubtless prompting her to deal tenderly with the young strayed ones whom she met in her errands of mercy. How often the memory of "the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still," influences our intercourse with the living, so that while benefiting them we do it as unto and for the dead.

CHAPTER VI.

NEWGATE HORRORS AND NEWGATE WORKERS.

About Christmas 1816, or January 1817, Mrs. Fry commenced her leviathan task in good earnest. The world had been full of startling events since her first two or three tentative visits to Newgate; so startling were they, that even in the refined and sedate quietude of Quakerism there must have existed intense interest, excitement, and possibly fear. We know from Isaac Taylor's prolific pen, how absorbing was the idea of invasion by the French, how real a terror was Bonaparte, and how full of menace the political horizon appeared. Empires were rising and falling, wars and tumults were the normal condition of society; the Continent was in a state of agitation and warfare. Napoleon, the prisoner of Elba, had returned to Europe, collected an army, and, contesting at Waterloo the strength of England and Prussia, had fallen. He was now watched and guarded at St. Helena, while the civilized world began to breathe freely. The mushroom kingdoms which he had set up were fast tottering, or had fallen, while the older dynasties of Europe were feeling once more secure, because the man who hesitated not to sacrifice vast myriads of human lives to accomplish his own aggrandizement, was now bound, and, like a tiger in chains, could do nought save growl impotently.

Meanwhile the tide of prison-life went on, without much variation.

Newgate horrors still continued; the gallows-crop never failed; and the few Acts of Parliament designed to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners in the jails had almost become dead letters. In 1815 a deputation of the Jail Committee of the Corporation of London visited several jails in order to examine into their condition, and to introduce a little improvement, if possible, into those under their care. This step led to some alterations; the s.e.xes were separated, and the women were provided with mats to sleep upon. Visitors were restrained from having much communication with the prisoners, a double row of gratings being placed between the criminals and those who came to see them.

Across the s.p.a.ce between the gratings it was a common practice for the prisoners to push wooden spoons, fastened to long sticks, in order to receive the contributions of friends. Disgusting in its ways, vicious in act and speech, the social sc.u.m which crowded Newgate was repulsive, dangerous, and vile in the extreme.

It is evident that the circle to which Mrs. Fry belonged was still interested in philanthropic labors on behalf of the criminal cla.s.ses, because we find that Sir Thomas F. Buxton, Mr. h.o.a.re, and several other friends were busy, in the interval between 1813 and 1816, in establis.h.i.+ng a society for the reformation of juvenile thieves. This matter of prison discipline was therefore engaging the attention of her immediate circle. Doubtless, while listening to them, she remembered most anxiously the miserable women whom she had visited some three years previously.

It seems that Mrs. Fry succeeded with the women by means of her care for the children. Low as they were in sin, every spark of maternal affection had not fled, and they craved for their little ones a better chance than they had possessed themselves. To a suggestion by Mrs. Fry that a school should be formed for the benefit of their little ones they eagerly acceded. This suggestion she left with them for consideration, engaging to come to a decision at the next visit.

At the next visit she found that the tears of joy with which they had welcomed the proposition were not feigned. The women had already chosen a school-mistress from among themselves. A young woman, named Mary Cormer, who had, although fairly educated, found her way to prison for stealing a watch, was the person chosen. It is recorded of this young woman that she became reformed during her stay in Newgate, and so exemplary did she behave in the character of teacher, that Government granted her a free pardon; which, however, she did not live long to enjoy.

It is pleasant to record that the officials aided and furthered this good work. An empty cell was granted for the school-room, and was quickly crammed with the youngest of the criminals. After this step had been taken, a young Friend named Mary Sanderson made her appearance at Newgate to a.s.sist, if it were possible, in the work, but was almost terrified away again. She informed Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton of her experiences and terrors at her first encounter with the women: "The railing was crowded with half-naked women, struggling together for the front situations with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the utmost vociferation." She felt as if she were going into a den of wild beasts, and she well recollects quite shuddering when the door was closed upon her, and she was locked in with such a herd of novel and desperate companions.

Could lasting good be effected there? It seemed hopeless. Indeed, at first it was scarcely dreamt of; but, the stone once set rolling, none knew where it would stop. Marvellous to say, some of the prisoners themselves asked for ministrations of this sort. Feeling that they were as low down in the mire as they could be, they craved a helping hand; indeed, entreated not to be left out from the benevolent operations which Mrs. Fry now commenced. The officers of Newgate despaired of any good result; the people who a.s.sociated with Mrs. Fry, charitable as they were, viewed her plans as Utopian and visionary, while she herself almost quailed at their very contemplation. It also placed a great strain upon her nervous system to attend women condemned to death. She wrote: "I have suffered much about the hanging of criminals." And again: "I have just returned from a melancholy visit to Newgate, where I have been at the request of Elizabeth Fricker, previous to her execution to-morrow at 8 o'clock. I found her much hurried, distressed and tormented in mind. Her hands were cold, and covered with something like the perspiration which precedes death, and in an universal tremor. The women who were with her said she had been so outrageous before our going, that they thought a man must be sent for to manage her. However, after a serious time with her, her troubled soul became calmed." Another entry in the same journal casts a lurid light upon the interior of Newgate. "Besides this poor young woman, there are also six men to be hanged, one of whom has a wife near her confinement, also condemned, and seven young children. Since the awful report came down he has become quite mad from horror of mind. A straight waistcoat could not keep him within bounds; he had just bitten the turnkey; I saw the man come out with his hand bleeding as I pa.s.sed the cell. I hear that another who has been tolerably educated and brought up, was doing all he could to harden himself through unbelief, trying to convince himself that religious truths were idle tales." Contemporary light is cast upon this matter by a letter which the Hon. G.H. Bennett addressed to the Corporation of London, relative to the condition of the prison. In it this writer observed:--

A man by the name of Kelly, who was executed some weeks back for robbing a house, counteracted, by his conversation and by the jests he made of all religious subjects, the labors of Dr. Cotton to produce repentance and remorse among the prisoners in the cells; and he died as he lived, hardened and unrepenting. He sent to me the day before his execution, and when I saw him _he maintained the innocence of the woman convicted with him_ (Fricker, before mentioned), a.s.serting that not her, but a boy concealed, opened the door and let him into the house. When I pressed him to tell me the names of the parties concerned, whereby to save the woman's life, he declined complying without promise of a pardon. I urged as strongly as I could the crime of suffering an innocent woman to be executed to screen criminal accomplices; but it was all to no effect, and he suffered, maintaining to the last the same story.

With him was executed a lad of nineteen or twenty years of age, whose fears and remorse Kelly was constantly ridiculing.

About this time, Mrs. Fry noted in her journal the encouragement she had received from those who were in authority, as well as the eager and thankful att.i.tude of the poor women themselves. Kindred spirits were being drawn around her, ready to partic.i.p.ate in her labors of love. In one place she wrote almost deprecatingly of the publicity which those labors had won; she feared notoriety, and would, had it been possible, have worked on alone and unheralded. But perhaps it was as well that others should learn to cooperate; the task was far too mighty for one frail pair of hands, while the increased knowledge and interest among the upper cla.s.ses of society a.s.sisted in procuring the "sinews of war."

For this was a work which could not be successfully carried on without pounds, s.h.i.+llings and pence. Clothing, books, teachers, and even officers had to be paid for out of benevolent funds, for not an idea of the necessity for such funds had ever crossed the civic mind.

A very cheering item, in April, 1817, was the formation of a ladies'

society under the t.i.tle of "An a.s.sociation for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate." Eleven Quakeresses and one clergyman's wife were then banded together. We cannot find the names of these good women recorded anywhere in Mrs. Fry's journal. The object of this a.s.sociation was: "To provide for the clothing, instruction, and employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Scriptures, and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits of sobriety, order and industry, which may render them docile and peaceable whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it." Thus, stone by stone the edifice was being reared, step by step was gained, and everything was steadily advancing towards success. The magistrates and corporation of the city were favorable, and even hopeful; the jail officials were not unwilling to cooperate, and ladies were anxious to take up the work. The last thing which remained was to get the a.s.sent and willing submission of the prisoners themselves to the rules which _must_ be enforced, were any lasting benefit to be conferred; and to this last step Mrs. Fry was equal.

On a Sunday afternoon, quickly following the formation of the a.s.sociation, a new and strange meeting was convened inside the old prison walls. There were present the sheriffs, the ordinary, the governor, the ladies and the women. Doubtless they looked at each other with a mixture of wonder, incredulity, and surprise. The gloomy precincts of Newgate had never witnessed such a spectacle before; the Samaritans of the great city no longer "pa.s.sed by on the other side,"

but, at last, had come to grapple with its vice and degradation.

Mrs. Fry read out several rules by which she desired the women to abide; explaining to them the necessity for their adherence to these rules, and the extent to which she invited cooperation and a.s.sistance in their enforcement. Unanimously and willingly the prisoners engaged to be bound by them, as well as to a.s.sist each other in obedience. It will interest the reader to know what these rules were. They were:--

1. That a woman be appointed for the general supervision of the women.

2. That the women be engaged in needlework, knitting, or any other suitable employment.

3. That there be no begging, swearing, gaming, card-playing, quarrelling, or universal conversation. That all novels, plays, and other improper books be excluded; that all bad words be avoided, and any default in these particulars be reported to the matron.

4. That there be a good yard-keeper, chosen from among the women, to inform them when their friends come; to see that they leave their work with a monitor when they go to the grating, and that they do not spend any time there except with their friends. If any woman be found disobedient in these respects, the yard-keeper is to report the case to the matron.

5. That the women be divided into cla.s.ses of not more than twelve, and that a monitor be appointed to each cla.s.s.

6. That the monitors be chosen from among the most orderly of the women that can read, to superintend the work and conduct of the others.

7. That the monitors not only overlook the women in their own cla.s.ses, but, if they observe any others disobeying the rules, that they inform the monitor of the cla.s.s to which such persons may belong, who is immediately to report them to the matron, and the deviations be set down on a slate.

8. That any monitor breaking the rules shall be dismissed from her office, and the most suitable in the cla.s.s selected to take her place.

9. That the monitors be particularly careful to see that women come with clean hands and faces to their work, and that they are quiet during their employment.

10. That at the ringing of the bell at nine o'clock in the morning, the women collect in the work-room to hear a portion of Scripture read by one of the visitors, or the matron; and that the monitors afterwards conduct the cla.s.ses thence to their respective wards in an orderly manner.

11. That the women be again collected for reading at 6 o'clock in the evening, when the work shall be given in charge to the matron by the monitors.

12. That the matron keep an exact account of the work done by the women, and of their conduct.

As these rules were read out, the women were requested to raise their hands in token of a.s.sent. Not a hand but was held up. In just the same manner the names of the monitors were received, and the appointments ratified. After this business had been concluded, one of the visitors read the twenty-first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel; and then ensued a period of solemn silence, according to the custom of the Society of Friends. After that the newly-elected monitors, at the heads of their cla.s.ses, withdrew to their wards.

The work room was an old disused laundry, now granted by the sheriffs, and fitted up for the purpose. Repaired and whitewashed, it proved a capital vantage-ground whereon to give battle to the old giants of Ignorance, Crime and Vice, and ultimately to conquer them.

The next thing was to obtain a sufficiency of work, and at the same time funds to purchase materials. At first, the most imperative necessity existed for clothing. For a long time the most ample help came from Mrs.

Fry's own family circle, although many others contributed various sums.

Indeed, the Sheriffs of London on one occasion made a grant of 80 towards these objects, showing thus that, although punitive measures were more in their way, they were really glad to uphold the hands of anybody who would deal with the vexed problems which such hordes of criminals presented.

After the criminals themselves were clothed, their work went to provide garments for the convicts at Botany Bay. Some tradesmen to whom Mrs. Fry applied, willingly resigned these branches of their trade, in order to afford the opportunity of turning the women's industry to account. This was a decided step gained, as the Corporation then learnt how to make the prisoners' labors profitable, and at the same time to avert the mischiefs of vicious idleness.

The ladies tried the school for a month quietly, and found it so successful that they determined to lay a representation before the Sheriffs, asking that this newly-formed agency should be taken under the wing of the Corporation. They wisely considered that the efficiency and continuance of this part of their scheme would be better ensured if it were made part and parcel of the City prison system, than by leaving it to the fluctuating support and management of private benevolence.

In reply to this pet.i.tion and representation, an answer was received appointing a meeting with the ladies at Newgate. The meeting took place, and a session was held according to the usual rules. The visiting officials were struck with surprise at the altered demeanor of the inhabitants of this. .h.i.therto styled "h.e.l.l upon earth," and were ready to grant what Mrs. Fry chose to ask. The whole plan, both school and manufactory, was adopted as part of the prison system; a cell was granted to the ladies for punishment of refractory prisoners, together with power to confine them therein for short intervals; part of the matron's salary was promised out of the City funds, and benedictions and praises were lavished on the ladies. This a.s.sistance in the matter of a matron was a decided help, as, prior to her appointment, some of the ladies spent much of each day in the wards personally superintending operations. So determined were they to win success, that they even remained during meal times, eating a little refreshment which they brought with them. After this appointment, one or two ladies visited the prison for some time, daily, spending more or less time there in order to superintend and direct. Some months after this a system of work was devised for the "untried side," but for various reasons, the success in that department of Newgate was not as marked. It was found that as long as prisoners indulged any hope of discharge, they were more careless about learning industrious and orderly habits.

At this meeting with the civic authorities, Mrs. Fry offered several suggestions calculated to promote the well-being of the prisoners, sedately and gently explaining the reasons for the necessity of each.

They ran thus:--

"1. Newgate in great want of room. Women to be under the care of women, matron, turnkeys, and inspecting committee.

"2. As little communication with their friends as possible; only at stated times, except in very particular cases.

"3. They must depend on their friends for neither food nor clothing, but have a sufficiency allowed them of both.

"4. That employment should be a part of their punishment, and be provided for them by Government. The earnings of work to be partly laid by, partly laid out in small extra indulgences, and, if enough, part to go towards their support.

"5. To work and have their meals together, but sleep separate at night, being cla.s.sed, with monitors at the head of each cla.s.s.

"Religious instruction. The kind attention we have had paid us.

"Great disadvantages arise from dependence upon the uncertainty and fluctuations of the Sheriff's funds; neither soap nor clothing being allowed without its aid, and the occasional help of charitable people."

Two extracts from the civic records prove how warmly the authorities received these suggestions, and in what esteem they held Mrs. Fry and her coadjutors.

SAt.u.r.dAY, May 3, 1817.

Committee of Aldermen to consider all matters relating to the jails of this city.