It stood on Amos Street, now our Tenth, close to the
river and was an imposing structure for its time--two hundred feet in
length with big wings, and a stone-wall enclosure twenty feet in
height.
Strange to say the Greenwichers did not object to the prison. They
were quite proud of it, and seemed to consider it rather as an
acquisition than a plague spot. No other village had a State Prison
to show to visitors; Greenwich held its head haughtily in consequence.
A hotel keeper in 1811 put this "ad." in the _Columbia_:
"A few gentlemen may be accommodated with board and lodging
at this pleasant and healthy situation, a few doors from the
State Prison. The Greenwich stage passes from this to the
Federal Hall and returns five times a day."
Janvier says that the prison at Greenwich was a "highly volcanic
institution." They certainly seemed never out of trouble there. Behind
its walls battle, murder and sudden death seemed the milder
diversions. Mutiny was a habit, and they had a way of burning up parts
of the building when annoyed.
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