Smyrna times., 1874-08-19
mise eIINN e OWS
Number Ninety Nine.

1t was an hour after noon, on a dull day in
the dead of winter. The sky, or that patch of
it which can be seen from the yard of Middleton
Jail, wears gloomy, lowering, | might almost
say sulky, aspect, such as denotes black frost.
There lies a wide sheet of water, called Middle
ton Mere, not half !. mile from the town, and
wild fowl that have flown inland from he coast
are dipping and p,dlling and pruning their
feathers along its edge. The flap and splash of
their wings, the continuous babble Of their call
can be heard within the jail
Little children can be heard at play outside
Shrill voices break the monotOnous tramp of
some eight or ten prisoners taking their en-
forced allowance of air and exercise in one Of
the stone paved courts. They keen step like a
squad of soldiers, but sullenly, like soldiers
ripe for mutiny, and seldom raise their eyes
from the square level flags, each so like the
other, at their feet, unless it be to steal a
glance at the warder on duty-a stout, imper
turbable person, whose lot, but that he accepts
| it of mis- own free will, seems little more eDvia-
| be than their own.
Twelve hours out of twenty-four he shares
their unbroken silence, their irksome confne-
mental but their labor and their meals. For
twelve hours out of twenty-four his eye must
| be on the watch, his attention on the stretch.
| He is locked 10 as they are be is detenceess
as they are, wears no steel at his belt carries
no revolver 10 his hand but he wields that
moral force which is SO potent in the world
outside, which loses none of its dead, unvary
ing, irresistible pressure in the Jail. He has
been sitting since daybreak in box like
pulpit, overlooking some twenty cells of the
ward under his special charge. Mirrors, skill
fully adjusted, enable him to detect every lool
and action of his prisoners, as each remains il
his own separate compartment. leaving it only
when the click that produces his number warn
him it is time to take his turn on the tread
: mill Even there he holds no communication
with his neighbor, and never sees his face
Twin brothers might occupy adjoining cells 70
, years without recognizing each other by
glance, whisper, or a sign. 1t is hardly pos
sble for one who has not tried the experimen
to conceive how man loses his own identit
when be becomes numeral No. 100 begin
to wonder if he ever was John Smith, if b
ever did lay Mrs. John Smiths head ope
with fire shovel, or squandered in gin an
prohigacy the wages that should have foun
d the little Smiths 10 bread. The warder know
r him as No. 100. He knows himself as Nc
n 100. After awhile his knowledge of things i
! general seems dwindled down to these tw
. facts.
! Mutiny is thus checked by rendering comb
: nation impossible and the warder, relievin
!, his weariness only by the change from sittin
i and despotic as the captain of man of war O
t his own quarterback.
i 1t is not surprising that under such cond
l'o tions vigilance may sometimes relax, attentio
e wander, for minute at a time.
le Round and round the prison.yard falls th
r. dull tramp of footsteps In that weary, sulle
]; march. The gates are locked the walls al
x smooth and high. Twenty yards off are fresl
$; turned mould, wet grass, bushes, freedom, an
ID an uninterrupted view for miles. Twenty yard
ID off are Joy, liberty, paradise-for bird of ii
ID air but for no creature without wings. Th
,i- court, between white-washed building, wher
nnS in cooking is done, and the outer wall, may
some fourteen feet wide. The wall itself is
Or least equally high, but considerably overto
% ped by the cooking-house, on the sloping ro
81 s.; Of which certain repairs, entailing the nece
I'd I'd sity of a slight scaffolding are in process
aiT completion. A desperate running leap take
.e ss from the edge of that root might land a dc
ur perate man on the coping of the outer wa
"a, Once there, if he dared drop fully four tim
his own height, he would find himself outs
900 the prison.
No. 80 has calculated the chance, day al
night, ever since that scaffolding was raise
No. 80 gives no trouble. He has been a mod
convict from the time he came in; was pc
ieety clean in his person when subjected
the preliminary wash and neither scowled n
blssphemed when they cut his hair. tie b
learned the routine OF the Jail with unusu
er. quickness and docility, eats his prison ia
with good appetite, and thankful smi