“According to the State Prison Commission, of the sixteen counties that have adopted the ‘chain gang’ methods of handling county jail prisoners, this county is not meeting with the least success.
A visit to the prisoners’ stone house at the Inlet, and a study of the manner in which Sheriff Curry handles the law breakers that are placed under his care, bears out the compliments that have been extended by the prison board relative to the success of the methods….
At present there are only four members of the chain gang. During the winter they are kept at work breaking stone which is used in the open season to improve highways. When Sheriff Curry made his tour of inspection this morning there were four men at work.
One of the most interesting of these is Icadore Delvecchia, one of the Italians who is held as a witness in the Lugi Porzi murder case. Icadore elects work in preference to spending his time unoccupied in jail….
After they get experienced the prisoners will break an average of 1,500 pounds of stone a day.
For some time past the prisoners have been occupied in making sign boards which this spring will be placed along all highways in the county for the purpose of giving travelers along the roads proper directions to and from different places in the county, together with distances. These sign boards are now completed with the exception of lettering.”
“Work for Chain Gang: Stone Breaking Keeps Prisoners Occupied—System Approved,” Ithaca Daily Journal, March 7, 1905, 3.