from the male department. The dormitory is on the third floor. The
female convicts wear striped calico dresses, the stripes running
lengthwise. The female prison is kept scrupulously clean, which reflects
great credit upon those having the management of this department.

In company with Doctor Lewellyn, the prison physician, I passed through
the dormitory. Here I found a great curiosity. It was a baby prisoner,
six months old. The little convict was born in the penitentiary. It is
a colored child--its mother being a mulatto, who was sent to prison for
fifteen years for murdering two of her children. When on the outside,
she lived with her paramour, a white man, and, as fast as children were
born to them, she would murder them in cold blood. The white man was
tried also as accessory to the murder, but, owing to her refusal to
testify against him, there was not sufficient evidence to convict him,
and he was set at liberty. He often visits her at the prison, bringing
her eatables, which are very much relished in the penitentiary. I saw
also the notorious Sadie Hayes, who was sent up from St. Louis for
killing a policeman. She was under the influence of strong drink, and,
thus crazed with whisky, the officer tried to arrest her. She drew a
razor, and began to slash away at the officer, and, in spite of his club
and large, muscular frame, she soon cut him to pieces. He expired on
the sidewalk, where the engagement took place. She was sent up for
ninety-nine years, and has now been in prison about three years. She
is one of the most desperate looking women I ever saw, and, when crazed
with drink, becomes an infuriated demon. She is an adept in the use of
the razor.

The oldest female prisoner is an aged German woman by the name of
Oldstein, from Gasconade County. She has been in the penitentiary
thirteen years, and, doubtless, would get a pardon if she had any place
where she could make her home after securing her liberty. The old woman
is entirely broken down and is a physical wreck. She spends the most of
her time knitting. Aside from keeping her own bedding clean she is
not required to perform any labor. She was charged with a cold-blooded
murder. She, her husband and daughter murdered her daughter's husband.
The old man was hung, the daughter was sent up for life, and died in a
few months after entering prison. The old woman was sentenced to be hung
also with her husband, but the governor commuted her sentence to that of