What was life like for the gangs of New York and others thrown into the nineteenth-century slammer?

In 1876 the Jesse James and Cole Younger gang rode into Northfield, Minnesota, intent on robbing the local bank. Townsmen were waiting for the famous outlaws and they suffered the greatest rout of their careers. The James brothers fled, Clell Miller was killed, and the three Youngers got shot up and thrown into the Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater. Years later, Cole Younger wrote his rip-roaring account of the great raid on Northfield and his ensuing time behind bars. Younger is just one of the more famous outlaws who took to writing while incarcerated.

Bandits &Biblespresents a lively array of selections from convict autobiographies that cover every facet of the prisonerslives — crimes, arrests and convictions, punishments inflicted, and, in some cases, spiritual awakening. The harrowing tales of convict life presented in this volume leave no doubt that prison in the nineteenth century was far from easy. Hard labor in coal mines, whippings, solitary confinement in bare unheated cells, water torture, and iron maidens: These were just a few of the punishments meted out to these prisoners and vividly recounted in these pages.

Only memoirs such as these, printed after the convictsrelease or smuggled out of prison, tell the other side of prison life and help paint a true picture of what went on behind the bars of the Big House . . .

This volume presents excerpts from the autobiographies of nineteenth- century American convicts. Selections include, for example, a description of the thief's "code of honor," an explanation of convict slang, and an account of the Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery by one of the participants. Several selections represent the sub-genre of religious conversion literature. Sullivan teaches criminal justice at the City U. of New York. The volume does not contain an index.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"Sullivans years of research and judicious selection have created an extraordinary peek into the dark, hidden world of nineteenth-century American prisonlife."

-- James McGrath Morris, author of Jailhouse Journalism

"Fascinating . . . Sullivan is an impressive authority on the subject . . . This should be read by anyone interested in criminals, law, or social reform."

— Library Journal, Feb. 2003

A lively array of selections from the earliest recorded convict autobiographies, examining crimes, arrests and convictions, punishments inflicted, survival techniques, and spiritual awakenings. Hard labor in coal mines, whippings, solitary confinement in bare unheated cells, water torture, and iron maidens-these are just a few of the punishments meted out to these prisoners and vividly recounted in these selections.

Dr. Larry E. Sullivan is Chief Librarian of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Professor of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. He is the author of The Prison Reform Movement: Forlorn Hope, as well as author or editor of numerous other books and articles in history, penology, and other disciplines. Sullivan is currently the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement.

Introduction by Larry E. Sullivan

Part One: Bandits, Outlaws &Rogues

What Comes of a Bad Name? by Stephen Burroughs

Tramps and Escapes by Simeon Coy

Twice Born by Henry O. Wills

Self-Preservation by John Wesley Hardin

From One Who Has "Squared It"by Josiah Flynt

What the Burglar Faces by Light-Fingered Jim

Real Facts About the Northfield, Minnesota Bank Robbery by Thomas Coleman "Cole"Younger

My First Train Robbery by George Sontag

Part Two: Arrests, Convictions &Descriptions of Convicts, by Convicts

Convicts by W.A. Coffey

A Thiefs Code of Honor by William Stuart

My First Crime by Flave Weaver

Going to Prison by Jerry McCauley

Problems After Release by D.B. Smith

Gambler and Blackleg by Franklin Carr

I Go to Sing Sing by Number 1500

Part Three: Life Behind the Bars

Prison Diary by Seth Wilbur Payne

Punishments by D.B. Smith

Sunday in the Prison by John N. Reynolds

The Prisoners by John N. Reynolds

Under a Stamp by Langdon W. Moore

Persons and Things "In"by Julian Hawthorne

Concerning Punishments, General and Particular, and their Effects by A Life Prisoner

Prison Slang by Joseph "Bunko"Kelley

Slang Among Convicts by Number 1500

The Dope Habit by Walter Wilson

In Stir by Light-Fingered Jim

Literary Convicts by a Newspaper Reporter

Part Four: Bibles &Reform

The Great Turning Point of My Life by Henry O. Wills

Real Reform by Andrew L. George

Outside by Jerry McCauley

The Bright Side of Life by Franklin Carr

Prayers by J. Wess Moore