Oldal 147 [147]
OCR
ar ——— MÉ = oi «pee sali tsai = | ae. wi le ee ES RY "eo eee = Eza S = sm there.” Whittington left money for the improvement of the prison, saying in his will “that every person is sovereignly bound to support and be tender of the lives of men.” Newgate continued to exist as a prison till it was burnt by the Gordon rioters in 1780. Meanwhile the present prison had been begun a little to the southward, and was finished in 1783. The Surgeons’ Hall, which stood in the Old Bailey, was now removed, and the present Sessions House, in part, erected on the site. Down to 1625 and later Newgate prison was in a wretched state, the humane exertions PRISONER AWAITS HIS TRIAL of Howard and of Mrs. Fry having for a long time failed to make much impression. The convicts were crowded like sheep ina pen. The keeper of the prison had to assist them at his own expense. As late as 1815 a visitor states that the women especially were but half clothed. A Sunday always elapsed between “Trial Friday” and ‘Execution Monday,’ and there are several views extant of the appearance of the interior of the chapel, with the condemned ina pew in the centre and
