re was no
charge, either of felony, misdemeanor, or assault, within the
extensive district, of five parishes, from the night before.
Crimes of all descriptions had lessened very much; and this
decrease, it is said, is owing entirely to the heavy and tedious
labor upon the prisoners at the mill. Orders had been given for
the erection of several more in England.

_Salem Register_, 1822.

-------------------------

Description of the Tread Mill

_Recommended by the Society for the Improvement of Prison
Discipline._

The annexed engraving exhibits a party of prisoners in the act of
working one of the tread wheels of the Discipline Mill invented
by Mr. Cubitt, of Ipswich, and recently erected at the House of
Correction for the county of Surrey, situated at Brixton. The
view is taken from a corner of one of the ten airing yards of the
prison, all of which radiate from the Governor's house in the
centre, so that from the window of his room _he commands a
complete view into all the yards_. A building behind the tread
wheel shed is the mill house, containing the necessary machinery
for grinding corn and dressing the flour, also rooms for storing
it, &c. On the right side of this building a pipe passes up to
the roof, on which is a large cast iron reservoir, capable of
holding some thousand gallons of water, for the use of the
prison. This reservoir is filled by means of forcing pump
machinery below, connected with the principal axis which works
the machinery of the mill; this axis or shaft passes under the
pavement of the several yards, and working by means of universal
joints, at every turn communicates with the tread wheel of each
class.

The wheel, which is represented in the centre of the engraving,
is exactly similar to a common water wheel; the treadboards upon
its circumference are, however, of considerable length, so as to
allow sufficient standing room for a row of from ten to twenty
persons upon the wheel. Their weight, the first moving power of
the machine, produces the greatest effect when applied upon the
circumference of the wheel at or near the level of its axle; to
secure therefore this mechanical advantage, a screen of boards is
fixed up in an inclined position above the wood, in order to
prevent the prisoners from climbing or stepping up h