The Jasper weekly courier., 1877-06-29


From the -. Louis Republican.
How far we are masters u our fate /.
a question which has pcrplexed some 81
the ablcst minds ;. The fault. dear
Brutus, II not IN the stars, but IN our
selves, that we are underlings, y said the
lean and hungry Cassins when prompt
ing the ambition Of the noble iyranni-
eide. And yet il would seem that the
strongest viii. the iicrcest ambition. the
noblest impulses are powerless against
surrounding circumstances which sweep
IN invisible currents about us and hurry
after to undreamed Of and horrible ends
Brutus, with his high and enthusiastic
patriotism. one Of the nOblest of pas
sions. was swept on with irresistible
force TO the suicides grave. If John ID.
Lee, who expiated the massacre al
Mountain Meadows, told the truth and
the whole truth in the confession which
he gave 70 the world in his cell in the
shadow Of deaths presence, he was per
haps another though humble victim
innocently and against his will in a web
Of circumstances, in which he was mex
tricably caught fast from the moment
the idea Of the massacre was dimly hint
ed 70 him by the Mormon bishop who
first conceived il.
These are perhaps insoluble questions.
Let the fact stand, ii il i fact. that
men are more the creatures Of circum-
stances than circumstances are the
creatures Of men. These reflections are
partly
PROMPTED BY A STORY
which was told RepuLiican reporter by
an cx-Penitentiary officer, sitting one
night in the vestibule Of the Lacledc
Hotel, bathed in light and filled with
warmth and comfort. What the officer
said was in substance something like the
following:
= You ask me if there are any strange
characters up there in the Penitentiary.
Well, hate 70 talk Of that gloomy place I
where spent so many years. The
prisoners that took care Of up there in
Jefferson City sometimes meet on the |
streets here in st. Louis, and shudder
when have 10 take them bv the hand
and speak to them. They recall faces
that saw peering through iron bars
hard. cruel faces, which sometimes
tighten up with smile as passed one
of the guards through the lofty and
chilling halls along which the cells were
ranged in tiers To the ceiling. At the
same time there was something horrible
about il all. To shave mans head. to
dress him up in dingy suit Of hori-
zontal stripes, like a zebra's. and 10 inn
mure him in a Penitentiary where his
face soon becomes cadayerous yellow.
and then ghastly white, the skin
stretching more tightly each year over
the cheek-bones. till they stand out with
shocking distinctness-to keep him silent
during the day while at work. and shut
him up in cell at night--well. it soon
wipes the humanity out Of HIM The
faces gradually assume striking re-
semblance 10 types Of the animal king
dom, and | don't know which predomi-
fox, the wolf or the hyena
but think the last is the most hateful, |
because Of the laugh that accompanies ,
i, grating and boisterous and cruel.
= don't know, either, as il is any
better 10 lock them up in company.
During the last years was at the Mis- .
souri, Penitentiary. the place was 50 full .
hat we bad to put sometimes four or !
scenes in those crowded cells are such ,
l. 10 make a penitentiary nothing to re-
with pleasure But was 90 /
NJ 10 tell you Of one man there. of l
whose fate nothing to this day i known l
y his friends, who. in single hour. af- 4
er the commission Of a rash crime, took |
step from which there was !
NO RETREAT,
md buried himself in grateful and oh y
cure ignominy and shame His name /
IA the penitentary was james ID. Wells. 4
fine, handsome fellow. with black b
wonderful pair OF black h
YES and possessed Of magnetism that II
made him irresistible TO men and wom- Il
n alike. He was a physician by pro- Il
ession and had graduated in some Of a
h, best medical schools Of the country !
nth high honors. Besides that, he had y
he advantage which great many doc /,
prs lack, Of A fine literary and classical II
ducation, and altogether he was il
man for whom nobody could have Il
rophesied any thing but success in his Q
mfession. and success in worldly and 4
ocial point of view. He had the mis- Il
,rtune in his boyhood Of having ac- Il
uired some vices. such as many boys :,
cquirc at some time or other, but he
al been rescued, il was thought, from A
career Of dissipation by marriage to v
beautiful girl in Cincinnati After v
he honeymoon he came to st. Louis to d
,tablish himself in business. He took h
,oms in fashionable boarding house A
n Washington Avenue near Eighth /,
freet In an adioininp room were two ~
Dung ladies, with whom he became ac- o
Their prospective wealth n
ladc them the object Of attention from u