Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-10-30

prisoners decline TO give any name, saying
that they do not care to have any Of their
friends know what has become Of them if
they die before getting out. 1t is pro-
bable that that these have gone by as
sumed names during the criminal ca
rcer that brought them to the prison,
that their kindred are ignorant of their
whereabouts, and that the prisoners
hope to spare their parents or
their relatives the pain of ever knowing
that they have committed state prison
offence. In cases where name with an
address is given in response to the usual
inquiry, the name is seldom that Of the
prisoner. and the address is not often the
prisoners address. For instance man
who is sentenced under the name of Hen
ry Wilson Ito take a name that appears
to be a favorite one with criminals Ill
search of new. designation, and who
claims to come from Troy, will request
that word he sent to John Brown of No.
- street, New York, declining to say
whether the person named is a relative OF
his. The prison authorities naturally in
fer that the prisoners name is Brown,
and that the person named is his father,
brother or some near relative-that is,
when they think 1t worth their while to
make an inference.
There are now IN Sing Sing prison be-
tween 1000 and 1900 prisoners. Less
than twenty of them are living in cots in
the prison hospital-one to hundred,
say. Last year seven convicts died. The
youngest was 10 years old, the Oldest was
49,. The average age Of the prisoners
last year was between 20 and IS years.
The death rate was less than one-nalf OF
one per cent. Nearly all the deaths &C.
cur from the same cause "a disease which
is called consumption, for short. The
prisoner has lived life of excuses; often
he has contracted blood disease that has
passed into third stage, and is under
mining his constitution. He takes cold
easily, and the cold in his system pro-
duces waste that his impaired vitality
cannot endure. He goes into the hospi-
tai and dies when the leaves come out,
or fingers till the leaves tall. So
said Warden Davis the other day while
he and the writer were climbing the
ridge to the east Of the prison, where the
dead oonvicts are buried. "These were
harvested last spring. he said pointing
to row of five or six graves over which
the turf has not grown: ave shall not
be likely to lose any mo1e-by natural
death-till the leaves fall; but. unless
there is some casualty, and some man
is shot in a desperate attempt to. escape,
there will be no more than one new
grave before the leaves fall" Since War
den Davis took chargelof the prison, nearly
two years ago, there has been but ono
death from an acute, disease. The man
caught Geld, his lungs assumed the con-
dition of the brain in. apoplexy, and he
was dead within few hours.
All of the sick convicts lie in the same
room in the hospital large hall
with cots for perhaps sixty men.
The floor is KEEP clean, the walls
white, the roam lighted with oil
lamps. Occasionally, when a convict
is sick with disease that makes him Of
fensive to the others, he is removed to a
small room kept for the purpose elsewhere.
The sick are attended chiefly by convicts,
most of whom, detailed for that purpose,
are themselves on the sick list They SIT
by the side of the sick, attend to their
wants, give them medicine according to
the doctors instructions, and call the doc
tor when it seems to be necessary. The
sick generally appear to be- patient, and
they arc we'll taken care of. Sometimes
in the night nervous, sleepless patient,
weary of the scene around him, and per-
haps thinking of the tender care he
had received from his mother or SIS
ter at home, will draw deep sigh and
gasp, ooh, this IS horrible place to be
sick I'M" But they all have good atten-
ton, and even the most nervous cannot
say that the condition of the sick there is
any more horrible than 1t is made by the
necessities of their situation. There is no
officer of the prison that does not tiptoe
through the room when he goes among
the sick, lest he should give them pain.
The duties Of the prison physician are
strangely different from those of the physi-
clans outside. He mutt see that he is not
imposed upon by men who want to shirk
work, or to be transferred to work Of q
different nature. They feign sickness and
he must determine whether they are real
ly i'll. The prisoners feign sickness more
frequently in the hope of being transferred
to a different line Of work than TO escape
work Nearly all of them prefer to work,
and nearly all of them would like to be
frequently changed from one. kind OF
work to'somethlng else. Frequently the
physician finds it necessary to : take: the
prisoners at their word and apply rene
dies that are painful, but not injurious.
Not long ago prisoner was transferred
to an easy job in consequence of an all
ment common to those who lift heavy
packages. In three days the disease be-
came epidemic among the convicts. One
Of the first to complain was, subjected to
heroic treatment, and the next day there
was not case Of that ailment IN the
prison. The physician usually has but
little difficulty in distinguishing between
those who are really ill and those whose
sickness is feigned. II - :sssm IF
/. The prisoners die on the cots where
they are sick, in the: main room of the
hospital, surrounded by their sick te1lew
prisoners. Death-bed scenes there are
not very different from those elsewhere.
ssMy experience has been" said Mr..
Madden, ssthat all persons when they
come to die are in nearly the same con-
dition of Indifference. The time when
they have the horrors is when they are
afraid they are gong to be sick enough
to. die: and then I don't think cenvicts
are more Mortified at the thought Of death
than other persons are" When they be-
1ieve themselves to be dangerously slcki
Catholics invariably ask that q priest be
summoned, and this request is always
complied with. Protestants less frequent
~ ask for the presence Of 9 spiritual ad-
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