Life in a Missouri river town in the 1840s?

Answer 1

Early prison labor build houses in JCMODuring those early years, many convicts were put to work building houses in the city-making and laying the bricks, and quarrying stone. Many fine homes remain today that were built by convicts. Other prisoners chopped wood, split rails, and worked outside the walls, accompanied by guards armed with pistols and muskets, with orders to shoot the first prisoner attempting to run away.The old Price mansion.Convicts working at quarrying stone.Prisoners RevoltOne Wednesday morning, a group of prisoners were at work quarrying stone at Gunn's Quarry, in close proximity to the prison, but outside its massive walls. In fact, the stone being quarried was to be used for extending the prison's perimeter walls. Suddenly, all the convicts broke and ran from the guards. The guards immediately fired upon them, and all but six of the men surrendered. Those six scattered wildly, with gun-toting guards in hot pursuit. When two of those six convicts were injured, all surrendered but one. He continued to flee and got away. Abolitionists arrestedIn 1841, three Methodist seminarians Alanson Work, James E. Burr and George Thompson-were caught helping slaves escape to freedom. The three stood trial in Palmyra, Missouri, where they were found guilty by a jury that allegedly included Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) father, John M. Clemens. The men were sentenced to twelve years in the Missouri State Penitentiary and placed in a stagecoach bound for Jefferson City. A guard force of six heavily armed men accompanied the trio to protect them from a lynch mob that had gathered to administer vigilante justice before they ever made it to prison.

Missouri was a slave state, but at the time of the trial in 1841, it is interesting to note that no laws were on the books regarding the abducting, enticing, or attempted abduction or enticement of slaves. The statute which addressed those actions was not signed into law until March 27, 1845. Nevertheless, the three were found guilty.

Thompson kept a journal of his experiences which he published in 1847 as Prison Life and Reflections. In the book, he gave this description of their arrival in Jefferson City:

In the afternoon, we came to the Missouri River, opposite the City of Jefferson and the penitentiary. A messenger who went over the ferryboat reported "the abolitionists have come!" and a multitude crowded the bank to behold the sight of us. The mass of the male population, old and young, sick and poor, bond and free, were there, each one striving eagerly to get one view of an abolitionist! I think the arrival of the President would not have caused greater joy in that city!

A multitude attended us to the prison; and the office was crowded, while we were loosed from our chain, stripped, examined, recorded, one side of our hair cut close, arrayed in shining colors, and another chain put upon each of us. The Warden (Burch) was insulting, calling us kidnappers. The overseer stood before us with his great knife and pistols, while guards with muskets kept the door.

We were treated very ungentlemanly; charged with lying when we told the simple truth, and told the rules:

The Rules In 1841

1. You must not speak to any prisoner while out of your cell, nor to each other in your cell.
2. You must not look up at any visitor, even if it is your own brother. If you do, I'll flog you.
3. You must always take off your cap when speaking to an officer, or when an officer speaks to you.
4. You must call no convict "Mr."

John Cummins Edwards, the ninth governor of Missouri, eventually pardoned the three abolitionists after they had served a few years in prison even though it was not politically wise for him to do so. Governor Edwards kept George Thompson, considered the more radical and outspoken of the three, imprisoned just a bit longer than the other two and then released him.

Earliest documented homicides and escapes, June 1841One of the earliest documented homicides and escapes from the penitentiary took place in June of 1841. A group of convicts plotted to kill their overseer, Mr. William Bullard, while lessees Burch and Gordon and a number of the guards would be away from the prison. Shortly after the noon meal, three convicts who worked in the saddle shop summoned Bullard under the pretense of inquiring about their work. As soon as he entered the room, one asked him a question to divert his attention while another struck him a mighty blow with a mallet. After several more blows proved fatal, the group grabbed his keys and two pistols.

The gravestone of William Bullard, the first prison employee to lose his life in the line of duty.

They headed toward the gate and along the way picked up a few more prisoners eager to make a getaway. Nine succeeded in slipping free of the walls. The alarm was immediately sounded, and citizens managed to capture one of the men who was sick and unable to keep up with his comrades. The other escapees hid in the deep ravines near the river until nightfall when they managed to sneak away to freedom. Eventually, a prisoner was caught and charged with the murder of Bullard. Although he defended his innocence to the end, he was hanged outside the wall. William Bullard, the first officer killed in the line of duty, is buried in an obscure location in the Old City Cemetery in Jefferson City.

Prison fireIn the wee hours of December 2, 1841, a fire broke out at the penitentiary. One of the lessees, Gordon, took 30 convicts from their cells and put them to work fighting the blaze. A prison arsonist had ignited a pile of cotton clothing in the tailor shop. That shop burned to the ground, as did a workshop area containing chairs, bedsteads, ploughs and saddles. Cells bordering the building were saved. Damages were estimated at $10,000.Sally Burr's gravestone.Jefferson City resident is hanged for killing wifeThe public gallows was located near the prison, adjoining a hay field. In 1841, Jefferson City resident D. B. Burr, a prison blacksmith who had killed his wife, Sally Burr, with ground glass, was hanged there. Gordon allowed the prisoners to join a large number of townspeople to watch the execution. The condemned man made a short speech in which he confessed, repented, and expressed his hope of forgiveness. He then admonished the audience to learn from his example and calmly met his death. Sally, Burr's second wife, was buried in the Old City Cemetery. He was buried alongside her, her grave marked and his, unmarked. No record could be found to disclose what happened to Burr's first wife. First female convict arrives at MSPIn May of 1842, the first female convict was sent to the penitentiary. She was Amelia Eddy from St. Louis County, given a two-year sentence for grand larceny. She would not serve her sentence, however. Within only a few days of arriving, she was pardoned and released because of the lack of adequate facilities for her. Also, women were still thought of as the fragile, fairer sex, incapable of the atrocities that men could commit. No real effort was made to arrange for the housing of women convicted of crimes. The next female prisoner, Martha Casto, was not as lucky as Amelia had been. As soon as she arrived, special arrangements were made for her to live and work in the home of one of the lessees. While there, she became pregnant. She was horribly mistreated by the man's wife and ran away. Apprehended the next day, she was returned to the prison and given an isolation cell. There she later gave birth with assistance from one of her fellow convicts-a man-and both the mother and baby girl remained imprisoned until a year and a half later when Casto was finally pardoned.

Another woman unfortunate enough to be sentenced to the penitentiary was simply placed in a cell with three men. She was forced to wear a dress vividly dyed half yellow and half white that identified her as a convict. During the day she worked in the wash house. While in her cell, the door was kept unlocked so that any prisoner or guard could "visit" her as he wished.

Burch and Gordon neglect prisonersThe winters of both 1842 and 1843 were hard on all the prisoners. Since the lease of Burch and Gordon was near expiration, and since the two businessmen knew they would not be renewing it, they spent as little money as possible on the inmates entrusted to them.

The convicts walked around in filthy, patched rags and had only thin cotton pantaloons to shield them from the weather. If a prisoner wanted a clean shirt, he was compelled to go bare-chested, even in the dead of the winter, while his lone shirt was washed and dried. Night was even more dreaded than the day as the prisoners shuffled back to dark unheated cells. Some were fortunate enough to have thin Indian blankets; others had nothing at all in the way of bedding. Muscles cramped and stiffened in the freezing cold, and morale was low.

Soon, rumors began circulating that the convicts were being horribly mistreated by the lessees. An 1843 report to a House of Representatives committee from the prison inspectors gave a scathing review of conditions at the penitentiary:

We found the prisoners very badly clothed, dirty, and in a miserable condition. Their bedding scarcely deserves the name. The prisoners complain that they suffer much from cold of which there can be no doubt, as they have no fire, little clothing and less bedding ...

The report went on to suggest that a hospital be built at once as sick inmates were being crowded eight to ten into a lone cell that contained a small stove. The report also mentioned the large number of escapees. Finding adequate accommodations for female inmates was also still a problem, and often females were simply pardoned if a suitable housing arrangement could not be made. The inspectors asked the legislature to consider separate lodgings for females.

The report from Burch and Gordon that same year ignored the negative and focused on the more positive changes at the prison. It pointed out that a brick blacksmith shop containing nine forges had recently been built by the prisoners, along with a coal house, kitchen and privy containing ten "apartments." Water for drinking and cooking was being hauled up from the river, with meat and other foodstuffs purchased from local farmers. A new stone wall now surrounded the prison buildings. As the population grew, another cellblock, dining area and hospital were constructed. Capacity of the penitentiary was now 300 prisoners. The auditor's records show convict population on November 28, 1840, at 77.

Second leaseThat first lease venture did not prove profitable to the lessees, and a second group was given responsibility for the prison in 1843. The new lease was entered into with Ezra Richmond and James Brown and, in an effort to curtail escapes, the lease stipulated that convicts would no longer be allowed to work outside the prison walls. From the start, Richmond and Brown ignored that stipulation. Inmate work details were still seen outside the walls quarrying rock and gathering other building materials. As these groups were poorly guarded, simply walking away from a job was relatively easy, and many prisoners did just that. The townspeople grew increasingly uneasy and fearful, and began to complain.

Under the new "wardens," conditions for the prisoners improved slightly at first. For about one year, no work was conducted on Sundays and a chaplain was appointed by the state. Although talking to fellow convicts was still forbidden, it was usually tolerated, and the convicts could now speak to one another without fear of the lash. Lessee Brown left a warm buffalo robe in each cell. The convicts were allowed to knit socks for themselves if they could afford the materials.

High recidivism is an early phenomenonBy November 1844, the penitentiary had received a total of 395 prisoners since admittance of the first prisoner in 1836, and presently, there were 178 inmates. The inspectors' report of 1844 indicated a high rate of recidivism, and they felt that one of the prime reasons lay in the character of the overseers and guards and not in any intrinsic defects of the lease system. Thus the inspectors failed to realize that the intrinsic defect in the system which they felt was not to blame was the pecuniary base of the lease system, and most certainly to blame.Early mugshot of an MSP convict.New Cell blocks plannedOn March 24, 1845, James Brown and Thomas Price signed an agreement to manage the prison, and on June 24, 1845, they agreed to build a third cellblock. The cellblock, when completed, contained three stories with 40 cells to a story. The dimensions of each cell was 7.5 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 7 feet high. The ceilings of each cell formed an arch, and the doors measured 5 feet by 2 feet. A window with a glass shutter provided ventilation for the cells. They agreed upon a 3-year completion date with the $18,938 cost of building the cellblock deducted from the rent of the lessees on its completion Many prisoners dieMany men died while in prison. During the summer of 1845, about 60 of the prisoners were sick with ague. Men with limbs swollen stiff and blotched with scurvy were still forced to work until they fell from exhaustion. Those who died were placed in a rough wooden box and buried with little or no ceremony.Reformer Dorthea Dix.Dorthea Dix visitsOn May 15, 1846, Dorthea Dix toured the prison. She was appalled at the use of the dunking chair, a punishment apparatus built in the spring of 1845. George Thompson recalled her visit.

The modern Howard, in feminine gender, made us a visit. She first went around with the officers, but she had been in prisons enough to know that the truth could not be obtained from them, and she talked with the prisoners, who opened the abominations to before her. I had a long, familiar and very interesting talk with her. She was bold, affable, and sympathizing. She asked a great many questions, to which I gave answers.

From the documented evidence that exists, from personal descriptions of such inhumane punishment, and also from the concern of reformers like Dorthea Dix, it becomes increasingly clear that even with certain physical improvements, the principle task of the penitentiary, that of reforming lawbreakers, found little, if any response from state officials. Even with outright illegal dealings, the state still managed to turn its head from the facts and continued to profess the merits of the comprehensive lease system.

Penitentiary filled beyond capacityBy 1848, the construction of the third cellblock, begun in June 1845, neared completion. According to the inspectors, the additional cells soon would be fully utilized. Their reasons for this belief are quite unusual. They believed the recent war with Mexico allowed an outlet for the energies of those members of the community who were idle and vicious, or restless and daring. Now with the war over, "... those enlisted not for the love of or honor of our country, but for the pillage of Mexicans, have returned ..." to pillage the good people of Missouri. They soon would fill the additional prison cells. FireOn January 26, 1849, the hemp factory at the prison burned to the ground with the loss of both building and its contents estimated at $8,000 to $10,000. According to the editor of the Jefferson Inquirer, one or more convicts started the fire. The brick building measured 185 feet long and 35 feet wide. Losses of this magnitude by the lessees and their ability to remain in business is an indication of just how profitable the lease system was. It required a large investment of capital, and provided a substantial return.

Answer 2

they were blacksmilths teachers, ect