Connecticut western news., 1878-12-18
In Sing Sing Prison.

There is caste in S1ng Sing prison, says newspaper correspondent. At the head of the elite stand the bank robbers. The man who enters as the hero of 8 daring and successful bank robbery, and was given away by some faithless pal, finds his reputation already established. The scums of prison society are those who are under sentence for rape. They are ostracized by the other prisoners. No other prisoner will speak to them ; they are summed even by the most hardened criminals. The manner in which murderers are regarded is de- pendent upon the clrcumstances of the killing. The convict who has killed his man in cold blood does not enjoy the esteem of his fellow convicts. If he shot down man in order to make his way out of trap into which he had fallen while attempting daring thing in the burglary line, the affair is considered one attended by extenuating circum- stances. As rule, murderers do not rank very high-using the expression in it's prison sense-among those belonging to the criminal classes. They are not often professional criminals. Their criminal history IS frequently summed up in the one act which was done in the heat of passion, and which gent them to prison. Thus it is that murderers are not re- garded by the keepers as very danger ous class of prisoners.
 Caste in prison is wholly dependent upon the prisoners past. A man once in gentle society may be employed on the most distasteful of prison drudgery, and social outcast may be in the en- joyment of position that is almost com handing; yet the status of prisoner among his fellows was fixed before he entered there, and nothing can change it unless it be daring and masterly strike for liberty.
 In their walks the keepers sometimes find man hanging from the grates of the cell, his face black and his. eyeballs protruding. Such & discovery would startle person who has not had a keep CTS experience. But the keeper prompt ly cuts down the would-be suicide and then hastens to the key-reom in order that the cell may be opened and the man re- suscitated, if it is not already too late. There is nothing that will arouse the prisoners quicker than man running along the gallery. A face appears at al- most every door, with the inquiry, "What's up?" "What's the matter p On some of the galleries the cells are all provided with separate locks. These can be easily and safely opened if any thing is wrong in any cell in the night. But more care needs to be exercised in opening cell on a gallery provided with lever lock. When it is necessary to open one of these cells keepers are sta toned at either end of the gallery and another keeper stands in front of the cell to be opened. At silent signal from this keeper the lever at the end of the gallery is raised, the small lever on the cell door is displaced, and the main lever is brought into place again. This is done in an instant, and so suddenly that the prisoners on the gallery do not have time to displace the levers on their doors. If they could all be ready and could wit ness the keepers signal, the fifty men on the gallery could got the freedom of the hall, overpower the three keepers on duty, take their arms, and attempt to fight their way out of prison.