t. It was not savory, but not very offensive. He looked up at
me; gave himself an odd, dogged kind of shake; and fixed his eyes on his
book again. I came out, and the door was shut and locked. He had been
there a month, and would have to wait another month for his trial. 'Has
he ever walked out now, for instance?' 'No.'. . .

"'In England, if a man is under sentence of death even, he has a yard to
walk in at certain times.'

"'Possible?'

". . . Making me this answer with a coolness which is perfectly
untranslatable and inexpressible, and which is quite peculiar to the
soil, he took me to the women's side, telling me, upon the way, all
about this man, who, it seems, murdered his wife, and will certainly be
hanged. The women's doors have a small square aperture in them; I looked
through one, and saw a pretty boy about ten or twelve years old, who
seemed lonely and miserable enough--as well he might. 'What's _he_ been
doing?' says I. 'Nothing,' says my friend. 'Nothing!' says I. 'No,' says
he. 'He's here for safe keeping. He saw his father kill his mother, and
is detained to give evidence against him--that was his father you saw
just now.' 'But that's rather hard treatment for a witness, isn't it?'
'Well, I don't know. It a'n't a very rowdy life, and _that's_ a fact.'
So my friend, who was an excellent fellow in his way, and very obliging,
and a handsome young man to boot, took me off to show me some more
curiosities; and I was very much obliged to him, for the place was so
hot, and I so giddy, that I could scarcely stand. . . .

"When a man is hanged in New York, he is walked out of one of these
cells, without any condemned sermon or other religious formalities,
straight into the narrow jail-yard, which may be about the width of
Cranbourn Alley. There, a gibbet is erected, which is of curious
construction; for the culprit stands on the earth with the rope about
his neck, which passes through a pulley in the top of the 'Tree' (see
_Newgate Calendar_ passim), and is attached to a weight something
heavier than the man. This weight, being suddenly let go, drags the rope
down with it, and sends the criminal flying up fourteen feet into the
air; while the judge, and jury, and five-and-twenty citizens (whose
presence is required by the law), stand by, that they may afterwards
certify to the fact. This yard is a very dismal place; and when I looked
at it, I thought the practice infinitely superior to ours: much more
solemn,