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THE GREEN BAG
center of which was the gaoler's house. The prison derived its name from one of the old city gates which stood near it, made in the reign of King Henry I or Stephen, about the beginning of the twelfth century, and called the New Gate. Before this there was only one entrance in the western wall of the city, namely the Lud Gate. New gate became a prison for criminals as early as the time of King John (a.d. 1190) if not
to the number of sixty died of gaol fever. It was in consequence of this and the danger caused to the neighborhood that the city commissioned George Dance to provide a new and more sanitary prison. It was almost completed when the London riots of 1780 broke out and the building was stormed by an infuriated mob, who burned everything combustible inside and so seri ously damaged the structure that an extra
before, and there is extant a mandate of the third year of Henry III to the sheriffs of London ordering them to repair the gaol of Newgate. All through the centuries down to the time of the building whose loss we have been regretting the prison was a grim place. Dirt, bad water, overcrowding and want of air produced the disease called gaol fever, of which prisoners died whole sale. As late as about 1750, two judges, the Lord Mayor, several of the jury and others
expenditure of ^30,000 was required to reinstate it. A prison forms no part of the new structure which is wholly given up to the admini stration of the law, and the prisoners con victed in its courts will serve their sentences elsewhere. There is, however, a large block of cells four stories in height in which persons awaiting or during their trial will be detained. These cells are completely cut off from any other part of the building,
