Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-01-25
One O'Clock.

-" "AAAD SHOOP pms iAdiNuSh tuS
streets. He had crept to the
Central Station to warm himself.
The Captain gave him q bite to
eat, and by-and-by the old man
grew to be loquacious. 8F
81 expect to die behind the
bars" he said, as he looked into
the corridor.
"Ever been in prison?" / ask
ed as he resumed his seat.
"Years and years." he an
swered, "fact is, l don't feel at
home outside the wall. / was
among the first fifty men in the
State Prison at jackson, and
they've had me there, off an on,
for over twenty years"
The old man removed his hat,
combed his few gray locks with
his fingers and mused:
"Less see! l was sent from
Detroit for four years, and that's
four. l was sent from Grand
Rapids for eight years, and that
makes twelve. / was sent from
Port Huron for three years, and
that's fifteen. / went back for
horse-stealing long enough to
make it twenty-one years, and
that's enough for one man, ehw
/ was lost in amazement at
his GOODNESS, and pretty soon he
said:
"Used to have some exciting
times there. Prisoners were
whipped, ,showered and tortured,
and the life-cells were always
full. We knocked over a guard
now and then, and I've been in
some plots to rise and murder
all the officials"
"But were always frustrated"
I observed.
"Always. When it wasn't
one thing it was another. The
keepers would be changed, or a
man would peach, or a new rule
would come out that day, and
al our plans would be knocked
in the head. We had one real
good chance to clean out the
prison, and it was a singular Cir
cumstance that bafied us. III
had a chew of tobacco to keep
my mouth moist I'd tell you the
yarn"
After rolling the fine cut un-
der his tongue be went on:
It's a good many years back.
The prison was new, and the
management was not what it is
now, of course. Somebody was
escaping every week or so, and
it was easy enough to smuggle
in tools and money and cook up
conspiracies. There were a
hundred and seyenty-nine Of us,
and the wickcdest man in prison
was q horse-thief and a high
way-robber named Ben Mason.
He was i'll for fifteen years, |
believe, and feeling desperate
like, be was ugly as Satan. They
had him in the kitchen as cook,
and in those days the prisoners
had little or no work and were
locked up most of the time.
Ben hadn't been in the prison g.
YER a hundred days when he
worked up one of the wickedest
plans you ever heard of. He
was to head a rebellion, and we
were to murder ever prison Of
fetal, arm as best we could, and
then march down and plumber
and burn the town."
The old man paused a moment
as the door opened and then con-
tinued:
"All the details of the plan
were soon communicated to ey-
cry convict, and every single
man was agreed. Ben made a
kew, or two or three of them,
by which he could unlock all
the cells. Only two guards were
on duty in the corridor at night,
and they we've at one end. They
were changed at one o'clock at
night, and it happened at this
hour that the guards were ten
or fifteen minutes in getting m
thus leaving an interval to be Ia
ken advantage of. Well, the
programme was for Ben Mason
to unlock his cell door just be-
fore one o'clock. He could cas-
lily do that from the inside with
the looks then in use. As the
old guard passed out he was to
fiy from door to door, let out as
many convicts as he had time,
and then overpower the new
ouards as they came in. This
done all the convicts would be
liberated, and we would sweep
the prison with o. rush. A GER
tain Thursday night was the
date fixed upon, and / tell you