A NOTED PRISONER.

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 108, 31 January 1879, Page 6

A NOTED PRISONER.

The * New York limes ' gives the fo'lowing acc-.unt ot a rtlie of Charles Dickeu's first visit to America: -" When he was in Philadelphia the alderraau took him to see among otiier places, the Haste ru Penitentia y com-

monjy known as the Oherry-hill prison. The ' silent system was then, as now, the great feature of this prison, and Dickens was much struck wi h what he regarded as its cruelty. Une Charles Laugherraer was serving a five years' sentence, and Dickens devoted several j pages of his ' American Notes ' to a descripI tion of the cell, and, in particular, of the .'dejected, heartbroken appearance of this erimiual, whose life has been cruelly, tortured out of him by the solitary confinement system.' Langheimer had decorated hia cell with coloured drawings made with dyes extracted from the yarns he waa working witb, ! aud the cell is still shown to visitors as one of the curiosities of the place. He had made a flower-bed in bis little yard, whicb Dickens described as * looking for all tbe world like a little grave.' After serving out his term, thia ' dejected, heart-broken crimi. al managed to violate a few more of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sufficiently to be sentenced to, and to serve, at least ten more terms in the same silent prison. He is now 75 years old, and, after being released from that institution about a year ago, he went out to Michigan to try farming for a chang upon his son-in-law's place. Bis fare there waa paid by a benevolent gentleman. About a month ago the inspector of the penitentiary received a letter asking if the institution would receive him again, and would send the wherewith to bring him on No answer was reurned and it was treated as a wbim. But the * Philadelphia Times ' states that one morning in October tbe Mayor's door-bell was rung vigorously, and a small-sized old man, whose meagre features were framed in close-cropped gray whiskers and hair, the. last surmounted by a blue cap, stood before him and announced himself to be the noted prisoner. He said be had been promised work, and wished the Mayor to give him a financial lift. He was so persistent tbat "he was sent away to the Central Station in custody. He speaks of the Penitentiary as <( borne."