Jesse Pomeroy Ends 40th Year in Prison

1916

Notorious Prisoner Longer in "Solitary" Than Any Other "Lifer" in Country.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Jesse Pomeroy, serving a life sentence for murder, has just completed his fortieth year in solitary confinement at the state prison in Charlestown. Pomeroy is said to have served in solitary longer than any other prisoner in this country, and, unless the commitment order is changed, he will have to be kept in that manner until he dies.

He began his sentence at the age of 16, after having been convicted of diabolical attacks on several small children. In recent years numerous efforts have been made to secure for him the privileges of a "trusty," but all of these have been unavailing.

Numerous attempts at escape have been made by the notorious prisoner, and these, together with his known predilection for taking human life, have influenced the authorities in strictly adhering to the conditions of the original sentence which prescribed solitary imprisonment.

While "solitary imprisonment" is the name given to the punishment Pomeroy is undergoing, it does not mean that he never leaves his cell. He goes out in the yard every day in charge of a guard and spends an hour there. But that is while the other prisoners are at work in the shops. During the forty years that he has been confined Pomeroy has seldom seen the face of a human being other than those of his keepers and of his aged mother, who died several years ago.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Judge Also Town Bartender, Court Recesses for Drinks

California, 1879

Tending Two Bars

At Moore's Flat, Nevada Co., Cal., on the 18th instant, Justice J. M. Ballard was presiding in his court room, trying a prisoner. His Honor combines the business of Justice and mixing drinks.

During the trial a man entered the court room and, walking up to "the bench," implored the Justice to come out and give him a drink, as he was sorely suffering with the belly-ache. The case was urgent and the court kept the only saloon in the place.

At length his Honor yielded to the eloquent pleading of the spasmodic appellant, and left the bar of justice to preside at the bar of alcohol. The prisoner, lawyers, and jury all left the court room to see relief administered to the colicky sufferer. His pains were speedily relieved, and after a social glass all round, the court resumed its sitting.

—Weekly Reno Gazette, Reno, NV, Aug. 28, 1879, p. 4.