At the turn of the century, Chester County's legal and
prison system appeared quite different from that which exists
today.  In an examination of the Chester County prison and its
inmate population circa 1900, the data collected revealed not
only the demographic profile of the prisoners, but the nature of
crime and punishment in the county during this era as well.  
     Data collection for this project proved somewhat difficult. 
The current prison was unwilling to cooperate and share their
records.  Indeed it is unclear if these records still exist in
the prison archives.  Therefore, an alternate route was taken to
obtain the necessary information. The data collected led to some
interesting conclusions.
     The first step in the process was to determine just who
resided at the prison in early 1900.  The only source for this
information was to be found in the census records.  Under the
supervision of D. Smith Talbot, the census of 1900 was taken in
Chester County between June 1 and July 3, 1900 (Daily Local News
May 28, 1900, July 03, 1900).  While specific dates of data
collection seemed of a low priority to the census takers, it
appears the county's 8th Precinct, in which Chester County Prison
was located, was surveyed around the 13th of June 1900.  This
date seems to be fairly accurate in that the latest date I found
a prisoner admitted was June 7.  The census information contains
a wealth of information on the demographics of the prison
population, as well as others residing at the same location.  Not
all of the residents at the prison were inmates.
     The next step was to inspect records located at the Chester
County Archives.  These records included court docket indexes,
the actual dockets and the accompanying case papers.  Initially
the docket indexes were combed to find the inmate case numbers. 
There are two sets of indexes, the Quarterly Indexes that listed
those charged with misdemeanors, and the Oyer and Terminer
Indexes that contained those that were charged with felonies. 
The vast majority of cases found in the Quarterly Indexes were of
a civil nature and finding the names of the inmates in question
required a rather extensive search.  The Oyer and Terminer
Indexes were more direct in nature and therefore required less
inspection.  I found listings for 31 of the 40 prisoners in the
combined indexes   23 in the Quarterly Indexes and 8 in the Oyer
and Terminer Indexes.  The next item was to inspect the dockets
themselves, which again were split into two separate sets  
Quarterly Dockets and Oyer and Terminer Dockets.  These records
contained all court action taken against the accused.  This
information included the original charge, how the defendant
pleaded, whether the Grand Jury returned a True Bill (an official
indictment), the findings of the jury after the hearing and the
sentence imposed.  What these docket records did not include were
the original date of incarceration, nor original date of the
crime.  I then began to examine the actual court documents that
contained all papers relevant to the trial   the Grand Jury Bill,
often a Justice of the Peace complaint, as well as any affidavits
or similar paper work.  The Justice of the Peace complaints
(which when present contain the original complaint) was the best
source for determining the date of the crime and initial
incarceration date with some elaboration on the nature of the
offence.  The Grand Jury True Bill usually contained a more
detailed description of the criminal events, and the date of the
trial that was frequently the same day as the issuance of the
True Bill.  
     Thoroughness required an examination of the local newspapers
printed in the county at the turn of the century.  Located at the
Chester County Historical Society, these local papers have been
organized into files of clippings organized by subject.  In the
clipping files were reports on the Quarter Session court
activities that contained details not found in the official
material.  Additionally, there were reports on the trials of four
inmates that had not been accounted for through the docket
search.  In other sections of this clippings index I found
material on the history and daily routine of Chester County
Prison, as well as valuable census data.  
     I will preface my findings with a description of the legal
process used in Chester County during this era.  I could find no
formal description of this process but from the examination of
the court records this appears to be the procedure.  A complaint
would be made and the suspect would be taken to a Justice of the
Peace.  The Justice of the Peace at this time could have many
other jobs as well   one I found was not only a Justice of the
Peace but also a collector, real estate broker and insurance
salesman (Dixon Letter).  This initial arraignment made formal
charges and set bail requirements.  If bail was not rendered the
defendant was remanded to the county prison.  Here the accused
waited until the next formal court session was convened.   These
proceedings, called `Quarter Sessions  were held four times a
year, at the end of January, April, August and October.  So if an
inmate were unlucky enough to be incarcerated just after a
Quarter Session ended, he/she would be required to wait as long
as four month in prison awaiting a hearing.  When brought before
the Grand Jury at the Quarter Session, it would return either a
`True Bill  (a formal charge) or a `Bill of Ignoramus  (dismissal
of the initial charges).  With the defendant receiving a True
Bill there was an almost immediate jury trial.  It is interesting
to note many of the defendants did not have legal representation
  attorneys were not provided to those who could not afford them. 
The trials themselves were speedy in nature (though one may have
waited months in prison to receive their day in court) and a
verdict was usually rendered quickly.  Sentencing was immediate
and all that were found guilty were required to pay the cost of
their prosecution in addition to any fines imposed.  Even those
found not guilty could be required to pay the prosecution costs,
and would be imprisoned until the payments were complete
(Quarterly Sessions Docket V- 64).  
     Life inside the prison, as well as its history, proved an
interesting exercise.  Built in 1838 at the corner of Market and
New Streets in West Chester, it remained in operation until a new
prison was built in 1959 (Daily Local News May 05, 1955).  It was
designed to hold approximately 100 inmates after which it was
deemed `crowded  (Daily Local News November 14, 1958).  In 1900,
the facility was basically a family run institution.  The prison
officials were political appointees, and at the turn of the
century the staff consisted of Warden Joseph James, Matron Mrs.
Joseph James, the warden's wife, and Prison Clerk Miss Mabel H.
James, the warden's daughter.  Also on the staff were `keepers 
(presumably guards), a prison physician Dr. Joseph Scattergood
and the county solicitor Thomas Baldwin (Daily Local News January
04, 1900).  The prison housed a carpet making facility for which
inmates, deemed able to work, were required to produce a minimum
quota of five pounds of carpet rags a day.  Those prisoners who
exceeded this quota were paid a 2 cents per pound bonus (Daily
Local News July 25, 1900).  Spring was the busiest time of the
year for the mill, presumably due to `spring cleaning  and the
need to replace musty carpets at this time (Daily Local News
March 22, 1898).  In addition to the carpet making facility, the
prison also housed broom making and weaving departments as well
(Daily Local News January 17, 1895). 
     The original census information provided a wealth of
information on the individual prisoners in Chester County Prison. 
Of the forty prisoners incarcerated there, the ages ranged from
seventeen to forty-eight.  It was interesting to see three of the
inmates under the age of eighteen, indicating that minors were
housed in the facility.  The average age of the prisoners was 26
«.  There was a disproportional number of colored prisoners
versus the county population as a whole (colored, in the census
records would include Black, Asian and Native Americans as
well)(Daily Local News August 15, 1902).  Census records
indicated that less than ten percent of the county population was
`colored  whereas in Chester County Prison, coloreds made up
sixty-two percent of the inmate population, with twenty-five
colored and fifteen white prisoners (Daily Local News August 15,
1902).   There were two female prisoners as well, indicating
there was no separate female prisons in Chester County.  The
ethnicity of the inmates proved quite interesting.  Only one
inmate was not a native born American, being from Ireland.  Nine
of the prisoners had at least one immigrant parent, five from
Ireland, three from Austria and one Italian.  None of the colored
inmates had foreign parentage indicating either the inability or
the undesirability for them to immigrate to the still highly
racist society.  Additionally, since it had been only thirty-five
years since the abolition of slavery in America, immigration for
the parents would have been unlikely even to the free northern
states.  A closer inspection of the birth locations of the
inmates found that two were likely born into slavery.  One man
was born in the slaveholding state of Maryland in 1861, while
another was born in Virginia in 1860.  There is also the strong
possibility that thirteen of the inmates were born to former
slaves.  One or more of the parents of these prisoners were born
in these slave states: North Carolina (1); Maryland (3); Delaware
(3); Tennessee (2); Virginia (2); South Carolina (1); and
Virginia (1).  The vast majority of the inmates were single with
only ten of the forty being married.   Domestic abuse was
involved in only one case (Swartley Affidavit).    
     The occupations listed by the inmates reflected all were
among the working class, usually unskilled labor.  Twenty-eight
indicated their occupation as either `day laborer  or `farm
laborer .  Rounding out the other occupations were a cacophony of
blue-collar work such as a barber, junk dealer, cook, ironworker
and hotel porter.  Two said they were `furniture polishers  which
strikes an odd chord as an occupation by today's standards.  It
follows that the prisoners would be in these low paying
occupations since many of them were in the facility awaiting
trial and unable to make bail, or subsequently convicted due to
the inability to afford legal counsel.  Of those whose
occupations were laborers, sixty four percent were colored,
keeping roughly the same percentage as their proportional
representation in the prison.  
     The literacy rate amongst the prisoners was surprising. 
There was a thirty percent illiteracy found in the inmate
population, consistent between colored and white prisoners.  Only
twelve of the prisoners indicated an inability to read or write. 
Only one inmate could not speak English   the son of two Austrian
immigrants.  Having no data on the literacy rate in Chester
County in 1900, it would seem this thirty percent rate of
illiteracy, especially among a collection of unskilled laborers,
is lower than would be expected.  
     The census questioned the citizenry about `months
unemployed .  It does not however, specify if this period
includes the time served in the prison.  Thirty-four of the forty
inmates indicated at least one or more months unemployed, with a
range of one to nine months.  This translates into an eighty-
three percent unemployment rate with an average time of 2  
months without work.  Judging from these numbers it would seem
that the times given to the census taker indeed does include the
time spent in the prison. (1)
     The types of crimes allegedly committed by the inmates were
for the most part in three categories.  The largest category were
those that involved some type of theft.  Thirteen of the
prisoners were incarcerated for larceny.  The second most
prevalent crimes were types of assaults   simple assault or
assault and battery, of which nine of the inmates were charged. 
Four were charged with `keeping a disorderly and/or bawdy house . 
Rounding out the crimes were fornication and bastardy, desertion
and resisting an officer.  There could be found no records on
seven of the inmates, except for their presence in the prison
during the census.  Conceivably these inmates may have been in
the prison for some short-term offense that did not require
appearing before a Quarter Session inquiry.  In the course of the
investigation there was a reference to `ride stealers , caught by
railroad police and remanded to the Chester County Prison (Daily
Local News May 05, 1900).  There was no mention of these
individuals in any court dockets so this may have been a case of
a petty crime that went no further than the Justice of the Peace
level. (A search for Justice of the Peace records proved
fruitless but could be an interesting subject for future
research).
     The items allegedly pilfered by those charged with theft
were indeed a reflection of the times.  As would be expected,
money was one item but in only two of the cases.  Brass and
copper were stolen in two cases, presumably for their scrap
value.  One of the female inmates was jailed for horse theft. 
Other items stolen, and what would seem strange by today's
standards included a lard bucket and press, a stool, some knives,
a harness and string of bells, a barrel of flour, bottles of beer
and porter, books, and a set of clothing.  Those convicted of
even these minor thefts received rather lengthy prison time,
showing a low tolerance for theft of any kind in 1900.  
     The sentences doled out to the inmates garnered some
interesting observations.  There were twenty sentences rendered,
with nineteen going to Chester County Prison and one to Eastern
Penitentiary.  Of the defendants sentenced, fourteen out of the
twenty were colored   a whopping seventy percent.  The fine
imposed in relation to the prison time was inconsistent.  The
range ran from no fine to $100, with an average fine of $23 «. 
However, there seemed little consistency between the amount of
the fine and the length of confinement imposed.  One example has
a defendant receiving a $10 fine and one-month in prison, while
another man received the same $10 fine but an eighteen-month
prison sentence.  A fine of $25 was found for sentences ranging
from 12 to 24 months.  The highest fine of $100 did however, go
to the inmate who received the longest prison term of five years. 
There seemed little in the way of any official guidelines to
follow for fines and sentencing, so judges had wide latitude in
their imposition.
     There were many inmates that spent months in Chester County
Prison waiting the next Quarter Session only to be found not
guilty.  Of the eleven prisoners found not guilty, most had spent
between two and four months behind bars.  In one particular case
a woman was found not guilty but commanded to pay one third of
the cost of her prosecution.  Until this fine was paid in full
the woman had to remain in custody.  The woman remained in
Chester County Prison for a minimum of ten months even though she
was found not guilty.  Three of the defendants had no record
pertaining to the outcome of their hearing but spent three to
five months at the prison.  Six cases had no court records at
all. (2)
          One interesting item found in the census records
indicated the presence of a boarder at the prison.  On the
surface it seemed odd that anyone would wish to use the county
jail as a boarding house.  On closer inspection, it was
discovered this `boarder' was in fact the infant daughter of one
of the female inmates.  Apparently it was not uncommon for women
who had infant children, and no one else to care for them, to
keep them in the prison with their incarcerated mother.  This
practice was very unpopular with the `keepers' for it required
additional duties they wished to avoid (Daily Local News July 27,
1900).
     In my attempts to spot trends in the inmate population
demographics, the single most glaring trend was the uniformity of
the prisoners.  While the big difference lay in race, most shared
the same sex, marital status, occupation and socioeconomic
status.  Little thought was given to the concept of bringing a
defendant to court quickly and many innocent people languished in
prison for months until the next Quarter Session.  Additionally,
the length of sentences for very petty crimes is by today's
standards cruel.  The rate at which coloreds were convicted was
slightly higher than the prison population as a whole.  Both
these rates however were far greater than the general population
of Chester County and reveals that racism and prejudice were
alive and well in 1900.  An informative project for future
consideration could be tracking these racial trends to see how
consistent they have been over time.

                                   NOTES
1. All information used for examination of the demographics was
acquired from: United States Department of Census, "Census of
1900 Chester County Pa 8th Precinct," 129, located at the Chester
County Archives on microfilm.

2. The crime information was collected from both the Quarter
Session Court Docket Volume V as well as the Oyer and Terminer
Court Docket Volume 3.  Additional information was found in the
Quarter Session Court Records.  All are located at the Chester
County Archives.