Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1891 — A Female Prisoner In India. [ARTICLE]

A Female Prisoner In India.

There was a separate ward in the Jail for the female prisoners, and though female prisoners are usually few in number it generally happens that some of them are very bad and unmanageable. It was not-easy to devise a system of reward or punishments for these women. They were required to spin thread, or to clean cotton, which were probably their ordinary avocations in their own homes. If they behaved well some indulgence could be contrived for them, such as let them dress their hair according to their own fancy, instead of wearing it plain or short cut. It was amusing to see the wonderful plaits and structures they made with their long and thick hair. Another indulgence was to let a woman cook her own food, instead of having to take her portion cooked by the mess cook. When these indulgences had been granted the withdrawal of them served as a punishment for misbehavior. Fortunately the majority were quiet though guilty creatures, who had taken the life of a child or grown-up person in some moment oi passion or jealousy, but had seldom been out of the precincts of the zenana.

There were however, some who had been bad, and had led a vicious life before they came to jail, and they gave every possible trouble to the jailer and his guards. Their command of abusive and vile language was incredible. There was one who was pre-eminently mischievous and fractious. One day when she and her companions were taken out to bathe as usual in the jail tank (a large reservoir, about one hundred feet square), just outside the jail walls, this young lady swam out into the middle of the tank and defied the jailer for hours. Of course her bathing in the tank was stopped for a time, but at last she proposed to the jailer to have fetters put on her legs, so that she could not swim if taken out to bathe. The jailer kindly consented to gratify her whim; but no sooner had she reached the water than she struck out boldly swimming, and then pretended to be drowning from the weight of her fetters. The jailer was terrified, and came rushing to me for orders. I went to the side of the tank and saw the lady plunging around like a young porpoise and setting us all at defiance. A fisherman’s canoe was brought, and the woman was eventually hunted to the shore, not without making several attempts to upset the boat. A great crowd had assembled while her performance was going on, and although she had at last to submit to capture I think she certainly had the best’of the day’s amusement. —National Review.

Balmaceda is as fair of countenance as any man of Anglo-Saxon descent, and his hair is auburn. He is a finelooking specimen of manhood, being fully six feet in height and well-pro-portioned. The cruelty in his nature comes from the strain of Indian blood in his veins.

“Why do leaves fall to the ground?* asked a poet. *lt is because they can’t fail anywhere eLo. They have got tc fall somewhere.