150 



PRISONS CRIME ACCORDADA. 



cavalry on the route as soon as he came to power, and numerous 

 arrests were made which were followed by the prompt conviction 

 and execution of the bandits. No mercy was shown. The rob- 

 bers were garroted, in pairs, in the towns along the road and in the 

 capital; and thousands turned out morning after morning to witness 

 the tragic end of these merciless wretches. For a short time the 

 road was free ; but, in a few months, new bands replaced the exe- 

 cuted robbers, and, since the war with the United States, the main 

 highway of Mexico has become as insecure as of old. 



Prisons — Crime. 



The prisons of the city of Mexico are in a wretched condition, 

 and, although it has often been proposed to introduce some of the 

 modern penitentiary systems of Europe and the United States, we 

 are not aware that any thing has been done to effect this desirable 

 end. The Accordada is the common prison of Mexico. In front 

 of one of its wings, at a low window protected by stout iron bars, 

 are laid, every morning, the dead bodies that have been found 

 throughout the city during the night. Every day these frightful 

 evidences of murder or violent death are exposed to the gaze of 

 citizens as they pass onward towards the western limits of the city. 

 Sometimes five dead bodies have been seen at one # time in this 

 Morgue of Mexico ; — and, on days succeeding festivals, the num- 

 ber is sometimes largely augmented. These unfortunate wretches 

 are the victims of quarrels, or sudden rights ; — and the front of the 

 deadly window is commonly crowded with women and children — 

 the relatives of the victims who come thither to seek after or to 

 gaze their last on friend, father or husband. 



Loathsome as is this exhibition on the exterior of the Accordada, 

 the interior of this edifice is scarcely less frightful. Like all large 

 Spanish edifices it is quadrangular. A strong military guard 

 watches the gate, and a gloomy stairway leads to the second story, 

 whose entrance is guarded by a massive portal. Inside of this, a 

 lofty room is filled with the prison officers and a crowd of subalterns 

 engaged in writing, talking, smoking and walking, whilst the clank 

 of chains, the shouts of prisoners and the constant din of a disor- 

 derly establishment, add to the disgusting sounds and demeanor 

 within. 



Passing through several iron and wood barred gates, you enter 

 a lofty corridor, running around a quadrangular court-yard, in the 

 centre of which, below, is a fountain of troubled water. The 

 whole of this area is filled with human beings, — the great congress 



