The Statistics and Gazetteer of New-Hampshire, Seventh
Edition, Compiled by Alonzo J. Fogg. Concord, N.H.:    D.L.

538    NEW-HAMPSHIRE STATE PRISON.

grace for the dilapidated prison buildings at the present time. The
manufacturing of bedsteads is the only mechanical employment of
the convicts, who are let under contract to George T. Comins. It    j

is doubtful if there is an equal number of men in the State, who
turn off more work than the convicts in this bedstead shop. 10,000
feet of lumber of various kinds are daily cut up for bedsteads.

The discipline is very strict but not cruel. A vigilant eye is
kept on the convicts every moment, and they are soon fully con-
vinced that no chance will be offered them to make their escape.

Consequently they are more contented and cheerful than a lax dis-
cipline can make them. Their food is wholesome and ample. No
better wheat and brown bread can be made than the bread furnish-
ed for these convicts. Their cots and cells are kept clean, well
aired, and are as large as the State furnishes. The State went to
the expense of sending Mr. Allen Folger to the International Prison
Congress, held in London in July 1872, as commissioner from New-
Hampshire, and in his report made to Governor Straw, he says the
cells in the English prisons, compared to New-Hampshire State’s
Prison cells are very large, being seven feet wide by eight feet long,
and eight feet high. This is quite a contrast to cells less than four
feet wide, seven long and seven feet high. It is to be hoped that
the expense of sending Mr. Folger to London, will not be wholly
lost to the best interest of the State.

A six inch main water pipe has been laid the entire length of
yard, with two hydrants set at convenient distances, and having
two hundred feet of hose to guard against fire.

Under the present management of the Warden, J. C. Pillsbury,
this Prison has become a paying institution, instead of a bill of ex-
pense to the State. In the three years that Mr. Pillsbury has had
charge of the Prison, it has earned over and above all expenses, in-
cluding repairs &c., $ 20,035.11. This amount has been passed to
the credit of the Prison account with the State, and eventually will
be used to make extensive repairs of tlie old buildings or erect new
ones.

There is a library of fifteen hundred volumes connected with the
Prison, for the use of the convicts.

Within a few years, a law has been established which orders that
all persons convicted of murder and sentenced to be executed, shall
be confined in the State Prison not less than one year prior to the
day of their execution, which shall take place within the walls of