It Is Never Too Late to Mend — Chapter XXV
CHAPTER XXV. MR.
EDEN had taken Mr. Lacy to the dark cells.
Evans, who had no key of them, was sent to fetch Fry to open them.
“We will kill two birds with one stone--disinter a patient for our leathern gallows, and a fresh incident of the ---- Inquisition.
Open this door, Mr. Fry.
” The door was opened.
A feeble voice uttered a quavering cry of joy that sounded like wailing, and a figure emerged so suddenly and distinctly from the blackness that Mr. Lacy started.
It was Thomas Robinson, who crept out white and shaking, with a wild, haggard look.
He ran to Mr. Eden like a great girl.
“Don't let me go back--don't let me go back, sir!
” And the cowed one could hardly help whimpering.
“Come, courage, my lad,” rang out Mr. Eden, “your troubles are nearly over.
Feel this man's hand, sir.
” “How he trembles!
Why, he must be chicken-hearted.
” “No!
only he is one of your men of action, not of passive fortitude.
He is imaginative, too, and suffers remorse for his crimes without the soothing comfort of penitence.
Twenty-four hours of that black hole would deprive him or any such nature of the light of reason.
” “Is this a mere opinion or do you propose to offer me proof?
” “Six men driven by this means alone to the lunatic asylum, of whom two died there soon after.
” “Hum!
of what nature is your proof?
I cannot receive assertion.
” “Entries made at the time by a man of unimpeachable honesty.
” “Indeed!
” “Who hates me and adores Mr. Hawes.
” “Very well, Mr. Eden,” replied the other keenly, “whatever you support by such evidence as that I will accept as fact and act upon it.
” “Done!
” “Done!
” and Mr. Lacy smiled good-humoredly, but, it must be owned, incredulously.
“Is that proof at hand?
” he added.
“It is.
But one thing at a time--the leathern gallows is the iniquity we are unearthing at present.
Ah!
here are Mr. Hawes and his subordinates.
” “Subordinates?
” “You will see why I call them so.
” Mr. Williams.
“I trust you will not accept the evidence of a refractory prisoner against an honest, well-tried officer, whose conduct for two years past we have watched and approved.
” Mr. Lacy replied with dignity: “Your good opinion of Mr. Hawes shall weigh in his favor at every part of the evidence, but you must not dictate to me the means by which I am to arrive at the truth.
” Mr. Williams bit his lip and was red and silent.
“But, your reverence,” cried Robinson, “don't let me be called a refractory prisoner when you know I am not.
” “Then what were you in the black-hole for?
” “For obeying orders.
” “Nonsense!
hum!
Explain.
” “His reverence said to me, 'You are a good writer; write your own life down.
See how you like it when you look at it with reason's eye instead of passion's, all spread out before you in its true colors.
Tell the real facts--no false coin, nor don't put any sentiments down you don't feel to please me--I shall only despise you,' said his reverence.
Well, sir, I am not a fool, and so of course I could see how wise his reverence was, and how much good might come to my poor sinful soul by doing his bidding; and I said a little prayer he had taught me against a self-deceiving heart--his reverence is always letting fly at self-deception--and then I sat down and I said, 'Now I won't tell a single lie or make myself a pin better or worse than I really am.
Well, gentlemen, I hadn't written two pages when Mr. Fry found me out and told the governor, and the governor had me shoved into the black-hole where you found me.
” “This is Mr. Fry, I think?
” “My name is Fry” “Was this prisoner sent to the black-hole merely for writing his life by the chaplain's orders?
” “You must ask the governor, sir.
My business is to report offenses and to execute orders; I don't give 'em.
” “Mr. Hawes, was he sent to the black-hole for doing what the chaplain had set him to do by way of a moral lesson?
” “He was sent for scribbling a pack of lies without my leave.
” “What!
when he had the permission of your superior officer.
” “Of my superior officer?
” “Your superior in the department of instruction, I mean.
Can you doubt that he is so with these rules before you?
Let me read you one of them: 'Rule 18. All prisoners, including those sentenced to hard labor, are to have such time allowed them for instruction as the chaplain may think proper, whether such instruction withdraw them from their labor for a time or not.'
And again, by 'Rule 80. Each prisoner is to have every means of moral and religious instruction the chaplain shall select for each as suitable.'
So that you have passed out of your own department into a higher department, which was a breach of discipline, and you have affronted the head of that department and strained your authority to undermine his, and this in the face of Rule 18, which establishes this principle: that should the severities of the prison claim a prisoner by your mouth, and religious or moral instruction claim him by the chaplain's, your department must give way to the higher department.
” “This is very new to me, sir; but if it is the law--” “Why, you see it is the law, printed for your guidance.
I undo your act, Mr. Hawes; the prisoner Robinson will obey the chaplain in all things that relate to religious or moral instruction, and he will write his life as ordered, and he is not to be put to hard labor for twenty-four hours.
By this means he will recover his spirits and the time and moral improvement you have made him lose.
You hear, sir?
” added he very sharply.
“I hear,” said Hawes sulkily.
“Go on with your evidence, Mr. Eden.
” “Robinson, my man, you see that machine?
” “Ugh!
yes, I see it.
” “For two months I have been trying to convince Mr. Hawes that engine is illegal.
I failed; but I have been more fortunate with this gentleman who comes from the Home Office.
He has not taken as many minutes to see it is unlawful.
” “Stop a bit, Mr. Eden.
It is clearly illegal, but the torture is not proved.
” “Nor ever will be,” put in Mr. Hawes.
“So then, Robinson, no man on earth has the right to put you into that machine.
” “Hurrah!
” “It is therefore as a favor that I ask you to go into it to show its operation.
” “A favor, your reverence, to you?
I am ready in a minute.
” Robinson was jammed, throttled, and nailed in the man-press.
Mr. Lacy stood in front of him and eyed him keenly and gravely.
“They seem very fond of you, these fellows.
” “Can you give your eyes to that sight and your ears to me?
” asked Mr. Eden.
“I can.
” “Then I introduce to you a new character--Mr. Fry.
Mr. Fry is a real character, unlike those of romance and melodrama, which are apt to be either a streak of black paint or else a streak of white paint.
Mr. Fry is variegated.
He is a moral magpie; he is, if possible, as devoid of humanity as his chief; but to balance this defect, he possesses, all to himself, a quality, a very high quality, called Honesty.
” “Well, that is a high quality and none too common.
” “He is one of those men to whom veracity is natural.
He would hardly know how to tell a falsehood.
They fly about him in this place like hailstones, but I never saw one come from him.
” “Stay!
does he side with you or with Mr. Hawes in this unfortunate difference?
” “With me!
” cried Mr. Hawes eagerly.
Mr. Eden bowed assent.
“Hum!
” “This honest Nero is zealous according to his light; he has kept a strict record of the acts and events of the jail for four years past;
i.
e. , rather more than two years of Captain O'Connor's jailership, and somewhat less than two years of the present jailer.
Such a journal, rigorously kept out of pure love of truth by such a man is invaluable.
There no facts are likely to be suppressed or colored, since the record was never intended for any eye but his own.
I am sure Mr. Fry will gratify you with a sight of this journal.
Oblige me, Mr. Fry!
” “Certainly, sir!
certainly!
” replied Fry, swelling with importance and gratified surprise.
“Bring it me at once, if you please.
” Fry went with alacrity for his journal.
“Mr. Lacy,” said Mr. Eden, with a slight touch of reproach, “you can read not faces only but complexions.
You read in my yellow face and sunken eye--prejudice; what do you read here?
” and he wheeled like lightning and pointed to Mr. Hawes, whose face and very lips were then seen to be the color of ashes.
The poor wretch tried to recover composure, and retort defiance; but the effort came too late.
His face had been seen, and once seen that look of terror, anguish and hatred was never to be forgotten.
“What is the matter, Mr. Hawes?
” “W--W--When I think of my long services, and the satisfaction I have given to my superiors--and now my turnkey's journal to be taken and believed against mine.
” (Chorus of Justices.
) “It is a shame!
” Mr. Eden (very sharply).
“Against yours?
what makes him think it will be against his?
The man is his admirer, and an honest man.
What injustice has he to dread from such a source?
” Mr. Lacy.
“I really cannot understand your objection to a man's evidence whose bias lies your way; and I must say, it speaks well for Mr. Eden that he has proposed this man in evidence.
” At this juncture the magistrates, after a short consultation, informed Mr. Lacy that they had business of more importance to transact, and could give no more time to what appeared to them an idle and useless inquiry.
“At all events, gentlemen,” replied Mr. Lacy, “I trust you will not leave the jail.
I am not here to judge Mr. Hawes, but to see whether Mr. Eden's demand for a formal inquiry into his acts ought to be granted or refused.
Now unless the evidence takes some new turn I incline to think I must favor the inquiry; that is to say, should the chaplain persist in demanding it.
” “Which I shall.
” “Should a royal commission be appointed to sit here, I should naturally wish to consult you as to the component members of the commission; and it is my wish to pay you the compliment usual in such cases of selecting one of the three commissioners from your body.
But one question, gentlemen, before you go.
Have you complied with No. 1 of these your rules?
Have you visited every prisoner in his or her cell once a month?
” “Certainly not!
” “I am sorry to hear it.
Of course, at each visit, you have closely examined this the jailer's book, a record of his acts and the events of the jail?
” “Portions of it are read to us; this is a form which I believe is never omitted--is it, Mr. Hawes?
” “Never, gentlemen!
” “'Portions!'
and 'a form!'
what, then, are your acts of supervision?
Do you examine the turnkeys, and compare their opinions with the jailer's?
” “We would not be guilty of such ungentlemanly behavior!
” replied Mr. Williams, who had been longing for some time to give Mr. Lacy a slap.
“Do you examine the prisoners apart, so that there can be no intimidation of them?
” “We always take Mr. Hawes into the cells with us.
” “Why do you do that, pray?
” “We conceive that nothing would be gained by encouraging the refuse of mankind to make frivolous complaints against their best friend.
” Here the speaker and his mates wore a marked air of self-satisfaction.
“Well, sir!
has the present examination in no degree shaken your confidence in Mr. Hawes's discretion?
” “Not in the least.
” “Nor in your own mode of scrutinizing his acts?
” “Not in the least.
” “That is enough!
Gentlemen, I need detain you no longer from the business you have described as more important than this!
” Mr. Lacy shrugged his shoulders.
Mr. Eden smiled to him, and said quietly: “As they were in the days of Shakespeare so they were in the days of Fielding; as they were in the days of Fielding so they are in the days of light; and as they are now so will they remain until they are swept away from the face of the soil.
(Keep your eye on Mr. Hawes, edging away there so adroitly.
) It is not their fault, it is their nature; their constitution is rotten; in building them the State ignored Nature, as Hawes ignores her in his self-invented discipline.
” “What do you mean, sir?
” “That no _body_ of men ever gave for nothing anything worth anything, nor ever will.
Now knowledge of law is worth something; zeal, independent judgment, honesty, humanity, diligence are worth something (are you watching Mr. Hawes, sir?
); yet the State, greedy goose, hopes to get them out of a body of men for nothing!
” “Hum!
Why has Mr. Hawes retired?
” “You know as well as I do.
” “Oh!
do I?
” “Yes, sir!
the man's terror when Fry's journal was proposed in evidence, and his manner of edging away obliquely to the direction Fry took, were not lost on a man of your intelligence.
” “If you think that, why did you not stop him till Fry came back with the book?
” “I had my reasons; meantime we are not at a stand-still.
Here is an attested copy of the journal in question; and here is Mr. Hawes's log-book.
Fry's book intended for no mortal eye but his own; Hawes's concocted for inspection.
” “I see a number of projecting marks pasted into Fry's journal!
” “Yes, sir; on some of these marks are written the names of remarkable victims, recurring at intervals; on others are inscribed the heads of villainy--'the black-hole,' 'starvation,' 'thirst,' 'privation of exercise,' 'of bed,' 'of gas,' 'of chapel,' 'of human converse,' 'inhuman threats,' and the infernal torture called the 'punishment-jacket.'
Somewhat on the plan of 'Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica.'
So that you can at will trace any one of Mr. Hawes's illegal punishments, and see it running like a river of blood through many hapless names; or you can, if you like it better, track a fellow-creature dripping blood from punishment to punishment, from one dark page to another, till release, lunacy, or death closes the list of his recorded sufferings.
” Aided by Mr. Eden, who whirled over the leaves of Mr. Hawes's log-book for him, Mr. Lacy compared several pages of the two books.
The following is merely a selected specimen of the entries that met his eye: MR.
FRY.
MR.
HAWES.
Joram.
Writing on his can--bread and Joram.
Refractory--bread and water.
water.
Joram.
Bread and water.
Joram.
Bread and water.
Joram.
Refractory--crank; bread and water.
Joram.
Crank not performed--bread and water.
Joram.
Punishment-jacket.
Joram.
Refractory--crank--bread and Joram.
Refractory--bread and water.
water.
Joram.
Attempted suicide; Joram.
Feigned suicide; cause insensible when found.
Had religious despondency--put on cut off pieces of his hair to sick-list.
send to his friends--sick-list.
Josephs.
Crank not performed; says Josephs.
Refractory; said he could not turn the crank No. 9; he would not work on crank 9;
punishment-jacket.
punishment-jacket.
Tomson.
Communicating in chapel-- Tomson.
Communicating--dark cells.
dark cell 12 hours.
Tomson.
Bread and water.
Tomson.
Crank not performed; Tomson.
Refractory--jacket.
punishment-jacket.
Tomson.
Dark cells.
Tomson.
No chapel.
Tomson.
Dark cells.
Tomson.
Melancholy.
Tomson.
Afflicted with remorse for past crimes--surgeon.
Tomson.
Very strange.
Tomson.
Removed to lunatic asylum.
Tomson.
Removed to asylum.
Tanner (nine years old).
Caught Tanner.
Caught up at window;
up at window; asked what he did answered insolently--jacket.
there; said he wanted to feel the light--jacket, and bread and water three days.
Tanner.
For repining--chapel Tanner.
Refractory language-- and gas stopped until content.
forbidden chapel until reformation.
“Can I see such a thing as a prisoner who has attempted suicide?
” inquired he, with lingering incredulity.
“Yes!
there are three on this landing.
Come first to Joram, of whom Mr. Hawes writes that he made a sham attempt on his life in a fit of religious despondency--Mr. Fry, that having been jacketed and put on bread and water for several days, he became depressed in spirits and made a real attempt on his life.
Ah!
here is Mr. Fry, he is coming this way to tell you his first falsehood.
Hawes has been all this while persuading him to it.
” “Where is your journal, Mr. Fry?
” “Well, sir,” replied Fry, hanging his head, “I can't show it you.
I lent it to a friend, now I remember, and he has taken it out of the jail;
but,” added he with a sense of relief, “you can ask me any questions you like and I'll answer them all one as my book.
” “Well, then, was Joram's attempt at suicide a real or a feigned one?
” “Well, I should say it was a real one.
I found him insensible and he did not come to for best part of a quarter of an hour.
” “Open his cell.
” “Joram, I am here from the Secretary of State to ask you some questions.
Answer them truly and without fear.
Some months ago you made an attempt on your life.
” The prisoner shuddered and hung his head.
“Don't be discouraged, Joram,” put in Mr. Eden kindly, “this gentleman is not a harsh judge, he will make allowances.
” “Thank you, gentlemen.
” “What made you attempt your life?
” persisted Mr. Lacy.
“Was it from religious despondency?
” “That it was not.
What did I know about religion before his reverence here came to the jail?
No, sir, I was clammed to death.
” “Clammed?
” “Yes, sir, clammed and no mistake.
” “North-country word for starved,” explained Mr. Eden.
“No, sir, I was starved as well.
It was very cold weather, and they gave me nothing but a roll of bread no bigger than my fist once a day for the best part of a week.
So being starved with cold and clammed with hunger I knew I couldn't live many hours more, and then the pain in my vitals was so dreadful, sir, I was obliged to cut it short.
Ay!
ay!
your reverence, I know it was very wicked--but what was I to do?
If I hadn't attempted my life I shouldn't be alive now.
A poor fellow doesn't know what to do in such a place as this.
” “Well,” said Mr. Lacy, “I promise you your food shall never be tampered with again.
