Prisons -- United States; Women prisoners -- United States
Should such a criminal go unpunished? The halter could bring no surer
death than what was slowly creeping upon her. Restrained of her liberty
she should be, and from the power to do further harm. Labor for her own
support should be required of her. Connected with it, a sufficient
amount of rest to secure health, a place to sleep free from the damp and
noisome air of a stone prison.
A plenty of wholesome food should be allowed her; time and space for
repentance given, time to think upon the error of her ways, and
instruction that would teach her how to do it.
That worrisome night was to meet with one more "thrilling adventure"
before it passed away into the light of the following day.
I lay, tossing from side to side, after I returned to my bed. Sleep was
out of the question. I lay, tossing thoughts about the circumstances
that surrounded me to and fro in my mind, trying to analyze, to
distinctness, the mixed up conclusions that arose from them.
Another unearthly cry rung out on the air, and startled me from my
perplexed meditations. It was more like the shriek of an animal in
distress, than a human sound.
Wail followed wail, in quick succession. Can it be a human being? I
asked myself, as I hurried on some clothing. It must be, there is
nothing else here that can make such a noise.
I stopped to listen, as I went to search it out. It came from one
quarter, and then, from another. If it were made in one cell, it
possessed a wonderful power of ventriloquism.
I remembered the hooting and whistling of the night before, and
immediately inferred that the same mischievous girls, who made the
disturbance in the evening, had set up this cry and echoed it around
from division to division, in order to make a night of it.
Quick as the thought entered my mind, my patience gave way. I vowed, in
my heart, that I would have them punished if I could catch them. My own
aroused temper certainly suggested the punishment that I contemplated.
Even with the thought which suggested punishment arose the query--Is it
not a just indignation that I feel, and do they not deserve punishment
for willfully making this unreasonable disturbance? Is it my anger that
seeks revenge for the annoyance they are inflicting?
Although half way down into the prison, I ran back to my room, and left
my slippers, in order to avoid the tap, tapping of the leather soles on
the walks, which would announce my approach to the culprits, and warn
them in season to avoid detection.
Again I traversed flat after flat in my stockings. Quickly, and
noiselessly, I threaded the walks towards the spot from whence the sound
appeared to proceed. But when I reached it, all was silent there, and
the wail came shrieking around another corner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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