The Borough Of Media.

Notwithstanding these improvements, the grand jury in November, 1872, found the jail defective in many particulars, and recommended several improvements. Following is their report:

"To the Honorable Judges of the Courts of Delaware County:
"The grand jury, in the performance of the duty enjoined to them, have examined the prison, and inquired into the escape of prisoners therefrom, and respectfully submit the following suggestions to the court: A number of the cells in the prison are unsafe, the arches on the tops being of insufficient strength, from the lightness of the material of which they are built. There should be at least two dark cells, detached from the other parts of the prison, and out of hearing of the inmates thereof. The need of an infirmary is apparent, where prisoners who are sick can be kept separate from their fellows. The windows in the cells should be so altered as to deprive the occupants of a view of the prison-yard and streets. The pipes used for heating the building are badly out of repair, and the brick pavement in the interior is objectionable on account of the dampness. After a careful examination of the manner in which prisoners have escaped from the jail, the keeper of the prison is not, in our opinion, censurable in any way whatever, except so far as relates to one case, in which his deputy went into a cell without observing the necessary and usual precaution. The management of the institution is such as to reflect credit on those who have it in charge; the condition of the prison being neat and cleanly, and the prisoners apparently satisfied with the care and attention they receive."

Some of the measures advised by the grand inquest were adopted, and in 1877 extensive work was performed. The stone wall around the prison was extended and raised by William Armstrong, who took the job by contract. About six thousand dollars was expended on the prison during that and the following year.

In October, 1877, a laborious and determined effort was made to escape by a number of prisoners, who did not appreciate the large outlay of public money upon their quarters. This wellnigh successful attempt is thus described by a newspaper of the day:

"On Sunday evening last, as Mr. Campbell, jailor of the county prison, was making his last round, he reached the cell of William Waters, Jacob Kelley, Neil McLaughlin, and Thomas Overholtzer, the prisoners who were convicted of the robbing of the stores of I. E. Boston and J. E. Brown, at Rockdale, some time since. Looking into the limits assigned them, he fancied that their bed was somewhat higher than usual, and he requested them to lift it up. On this being done a quantity of stone was found underneath, the result of an excavation made in the wall by them preparatory to their escape, one stone only being left between them and their liberty. The work had been accomplished from time to time with an iron hook, which he found in their possession. They were removed to other quarters."

In 1878 a new building was erected adjoining the original structure. This was seventy feet in length, forty-seven feet in height, and three stories high, affording six work-rooms and thirty-six cells. It cost sixteen thousand one hundred and forty dollars, including the heating apparatus, which alone amounted to over four thousand five hundred dollars.

In spite even of the additional safeguards secured during 1877-78, a few prisoners succeeded in gaining the outer world. On March 20, 1878, Daniel Pine, who had been sentenced to six years' confinement for the robbery of the residence of Mrs. Fallon, in Upper Darby, and that of William Rhodes, in Newtown, scaled the wall with the aid of a piece of rope, which he had been ingenious enough to secure.

On Dec. 27, 1879, two colored men made their escape by breaking a hole in the ceiling of one of the upper tier of cells, and then making their way from the roof to the ground.

On Feb. 7, 1879, Joseph Williams died suddenly in the prison on the very day that he was to be released, after eleven months' confinement. He was seized with cramp in the stomach, which terminated in convulsions that quickly proved fatal.

Still later, on March 17, 1880, grim death came to the jail, this time under peculiar circumstances. The victim was Richard Neeld, and, strangely enough, he lost his life through the attempt of another inmate to escape. From the evidence at the inquest it appeared that Martin O'Harra, who occupied a cell directly over that in which Neeld was confined, had been working for some days diligently in endeavoring to escape. He cut a hole into the chimney-stack, by which he expected to reach the roof; and in order to get rid of the débris, and possibly with a view to stopping the inflow of coal-gas from below, he threw the refuse into the stack, thus stopping the means of ventilation for which the prisoners on the tier below depended. Two days before Neeld's death one of the prisoners in the cell below was affected to fainting, but subsequently recovered. At about five o'clock on the evening of March 17th, when meals were being served, the cell occupied by John Mulligan and another inmate was visited. Both these men were in a stupefied condition, but subsequently recovered. Neeld, in an adjacent cell, was found dead. The verdict rendered by the jury was, "Death caused by asphyxia, produced by carbonic acid gas."

The House of Employment, or the county poorhouse, as most readers are aware, was located here long before the town had its beginning, in fact, early in the century. The act "to provide for the erection of a house for the employment and support of the poor in the county of Delaware" was passed Feb. 13, 1804. The site was selected by a committee of seven, named in the act. The farm purchased consisted of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, and cost less than thirty-three dollars per acre. Later additions were made at one hundred dollars per acre. These prices were quite insignificant in comparison with those obtained for the same land after Media had been built up, when forty-six acres were sold at two hundred and fifty dollars, and one hundred and twelve at $341.50. The poor-house was completed within two or three years from the time the purchase was made, but we have no knowledge of the details of the work, nor of the early history of the institution, and, indeed, it is of no importance. The house was of stone, in the old English style, and was one hundred feet long by forty in width. A fine barn and other outbuildings stood near it. The following description of the institution, as it appeared in 1845, is from the pen of Miss Dix, who visited it:

"Several miles from Chester is a large stone build-