's pause.

"Well, Brown, this is a very serious offense--refusing to work; and, if
you persist in it, I fear you will have to be punished."

"I can't help that, sir."

"Do you still refuse to work?"

"Yes, sir. I shall not work under existing conditions in the shop."

"Well, Brown; I'm very sorry to punish you; but I have to obey the orders
laid down in such cases by those in higher authority than I am. Captain
Martin, you will take charge of this man."

The P. K. takes his departure. Captain Martin leisurely unhooks a large
key from a locker behind his chair and saying briefly: "In here, Brown,"
opens a solid iron door in the wall. We are in the passage which leads to
the death chamber; that terrible spot where those who are adjudged guilty
by Society of coldly calculated and brutal murder are by coldly calculated
and brutal murder put to death by Society. As if one crime of such nature
done by a single man, acting individually, can be expiated by a similar
crime done by all men, acting collectively!

We traverse the passage, up to the very door of the death chamber. Here is
another iron door on the right. This is unlocked and opened; and we enter
the jail.

* * * * *

It may be well, before beginning the next chapter, to explain just what
the jail is like.

Up to the advent of Superintendent Riley, there were in Auburn Prison two
types of punishment cells: the jail, and the screen cells. The latter are
built into the regular cell blocks and are about three and a half feet
wide with the same length and height as the regular cells. They have solid
doors of sheet iron pierced by a few round holes about the size of a slate
pencil. These holes are probably of comparatively recent origin. The doors
of similar cells at Sing Sing and Dannemora had no openings except for a
small slit at the extreme bottom and top.

Ventilation there was none; the occupant breathed as best he could, lay on
the damp stone floor and went insane for lack of light and air, within
full hearing of the officers--and incidentally of the other prisoners. The
use of the screen cells at Auburn was ordered discontinued by
Superintendent Riley immediately after he had seen and condemned those at
Dannemora.

The jail at Auburn is at present the place where all offenders against
prison discipline are sent for punishment.

Whether the offense is whispering in the shop or a murderous assault upon
an inmate or a kee