CHAPTER VIII. 



Prison Discipline Fifty Years Ago — Sweeping the Streets of 

 Aylesbury — Old Jem and his Bill — Description of the County 

 Prison — Murderers and their Beer — Attempted Escapes — John 

 Tawell, Quaker ; his Trial for Murder and his previous Career 

 — " Apple-pip Kelly " — Imprisonment for Debt — Captain 

 Paulet and " Tally-ho 1 Hanmer." 



In recalling my recollections of prison discipline, it 

 seems to me that many of the customs which then 

 appeared ordinary instances of life can scarcely now be 

 credited. Market-day at Aylesbury was Saturday ; and 

 after four o'clock in the afternoon, gangs of prisoners 

 were turned out of the gaol, under the superintendence 

 of one, or at most two, turnkeys, to sweep the streets. 

 These prisoners were dressed in blue and yellow uni- 

 forms, cut in grotesque fashion, and carried their birch- 

 brooms with them. Many of their friends from different 

 parts of the county came to see them, and chatted and 

 joked with them in the streets during their scavenging 

 surreptitiously gave them tobacco and money, occasionally 

 treated them with beer, and many a joke was cracked 



