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The Prison Gate.
THE
CHRONICLES OF NEWGATE
BY
ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
MAJOR LATE 63RD REGIMENT; ONE OF H. M. INSPECTORS OF PRISONS
AUTHOR OF “THE MEMORIALS OF MILLBANK,” ETC., ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I.
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL
(Limited)
1884
[All rights reserved.]
Bungay:
CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
PREFACE.
WHEN I undertook the work of which these two volumes are the result, Iscarcely realized the extent of the task before me. Now at thetermination of my labours, which have extended over a period of nearlyfive years, I cannot give my work to the public without regret that ithas not been accompanied by deeper study and more widespread research.But I have, in truth, been almost overwhelmed by the mass of materialsat hand. These always increased enormously with every digression, and Ifound at length that I must be satisfied with what I had instead ofseeking for more. Even with this restriction I have often been compelledto reject much, to epitomize and perhaps unduly abbreviate what I haveused. A really copious and detailed history of Newgate would be a mostvoluminous affair. This well-known prison, which has stood for centuriesupon the same site, is in itself an epitome of the criminal history ofEngland; to have traced its chronicles down from epoch to epoch, closelyand minutely, would have been wearisome to the reader. There is a familyresemblance in crimes in