wheel-barrow man

At the outset of the reformatory process in Pennsylvania, it was thought that a salutary effect would result from long continued, visible, or public punishment, by degrading labour in the streets or upon the highways ; ... and many persons, now living, can distinctly remember when convicts (sometimes called “Wheel-barrow Men”) were to be seen at work in the streets of Philadelphia with a chain and clog upon the neck or leg, and other badges of degradation and guilt.