American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-03-01
States Prison for Life.

One day during the last month the
writer of this had occasion to visit the
Massachusetts prison, and in course
of conversation with the warden.
various interesting facts relative to
| several of the more celebrated pris-
oners were developed. One, the most
| peculiar and perhaps interesting prisoner
| in the institution, and one of whom per-
haps more is known than any other, is
James Wilson, the man who is now i'm
prisOned for life for numbering a fellow
convict. His life has been frequently
written up, as the saying is, but a short
| sketch may find readers who have never
seen previous accounts.
Wilson was born in England, and there
passed his childhood and youth. He I'M
derwent a thorough tuition in crime, and
was an inmate of several jails for minor
Offenses, finally becoming concerned in a
crime which secured his transportation TO
Botany Bay. Soon afterward, however,
he escaped with a companion, and, not
daring to return to England, came to
America; and underterred by his pre-
viOus experience. at once set about earn
ing a dishonest living, and on July 10,
1898, was caught in the act of rObbing the
city treasury, and received sentence of
four years in the State prison. HIS con-
duct during his term of imprisonment was
quite exceptional and exemplary, and, as
is customary, deduction of thirty days
was made on that account. On the morn
ing of the day when he was to be released,
onc-half hour before the time when he
would have passed out of the prison door
a free man, he was walking in a file of con-
victs to do his last piece of work, when he
suddenly leaned forward by his immedia' e
predecessor and stabbed the next man,
William Adams, in the neck with a shoe
knife which he had concealed about his
person, killing him almost instantly. He
waSsat once seized and confined, and Mt
his trial was found guilty of murder in
the first degree and sentenced to be hung.
Every preparation for his execution was
made, the gallows having been erected,
when a concentration of his sentence to
imprisonment for life, with solitary coli
finement, was received. This had been
obtained through the individual eXertion
of one of the bench judges before whom
he had been tried. his Honor claiming
that as no possible motive for the deed
had been proved, and as every circum-
stance argued nOn-respOnsibility the man
must have been insane. and ought not to
be hung.
Wilson, after his recommittal, certainly
showed signs of mental and physical
weakness to such an extent, that The rules
of solitary confinement were considerably
relaxed, to allow of proper exercise and
treatment. Formerly he was great
self to metaphysical and logical trcatises,
but at present and for sometime his men,
tai condition has been so weakened as to
compel him to satisfy himself with lighter
works. Prof. Bowen, of Harvard College,
paid him several visits some ten years ago
to ascertain the depth of his researches,
and on many occasions persons have in
quired for, and been anxious to see the
''metaphysician." as he is called. In ap-
pearance Wilson is demure-looking per-
son, of kindly features, and not at all the
conventional, red-handcd murderer of
sensational literature. Although but fif
ty-six, he appears much older, and shows
the signs Of his confinement both in APP
pearance and conversation. lie has no.
yet given up hopes of pardon, and any
official of the State or National Govern
ment whom he may chance to see visiting
the prison, is at once imagined to have
come on business connected with his re-
lease. For the reason that his mind is
rendered constantly uneasy and unhealthy
by his nervous anxiety, but few visitors
are allowed to see him, those being a few
particular friends. He is at present in the
hospital quarters, and spends considerable
of his leisure time in carving. at which he
is quite an adept. What he thinks of in
his solitude, how he recalls old scenes in
the absence of any change in the future,
and what a prospect opens before him,
are sad speculatiOns. and, in his case at
least, is the punishment to be considered
heavy. Not many years ago Wilson wrote
a pathetic letter to the British consul at
this port, the Marquis LOusada, since de-
ceased, in which he claimed his interior
ence as British subject; nothing. how
ever, came of it; and he is gradually set
thing into a conviction that his life hence
forward must be spent behind bars that
separate him from his Hind.-Bosto7l Trar-
eIer