The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-10-29

~~1~~~ HSSAA AAS = AAOAP y LII NOAv u
are more horrifed at the thought of death
than other persons are" When they be-
lieve themselves to be dangerously sick
Catholics invariably ask that a priest be
and this request is always
complied with. Protestants less frequent
~ ask for the presence of a spiritual ad-
The disease of which nearly a Il of
the convicts die who do not survive the
terms OF their sentence is such that theY
become very much wasted in body and in
mind, and the step from life to the here
after is made very short. Such a thing
as a ''scene" is almost unknown. Cath
olics usually die with the assurance that
their sins are forgiven, and. others do not
appear to fear death more than the gen
erality of men. It Is rarely that a pris-
oner dies in anything resembling a def
ant mood Or with any5of that bravado
with which they frequently receive SEN
tence. a Long imprisonment seems to
make something of a philosopher out of
almost every man. They learn to think.
a great deal and say little; and so they
lie on their beds of sickness thinking
without speaking and they die as quiet.
~. The death of a fellow prisoner seems
to have very little effect on the, sick
prisoners IN the same loom. They listen
to the breathing, as it grows more painful,
day and night after day and night: and
when it ceases and the sheet IS spread
over the dead mans face, one of them
turns and whispers to another, '"Bob's
gone," and the answer is brief. eyes, it's
stopped" or something of that kind.
The body is carried to the large room
above and prepared for burial. If the
man had lived to the end of his sentence,
the State would have given him a suit of
civilians clothes, four cents a mile to
take him where he came from, and a
small sum of money besides. The State
doesn't make anything out of him now
that he is dead. . He has the suit of
clothes just the same; he is sent to his
friends If they can be found, and thew
request it; and he receives his small extra
allowance in the shape Of a plain stained
coffin. The news of a death spreads
quickly throughout the prison. The con-
victs see a coffin carried through to the
hospital. They know who was likely to
die, and they have their %conjectures CON
frmed in the way all news spreads
among convicts--from man to man in
the shops, and from cell to cell in the
prison, by means of the ventilated fues,
which are used as speaking-tubes.
When a convict dies word IS sent to
the person mentioned in the prison re-
cords, to the address there given, if such
name and address were given by the pris-
oner at the time of his admission, and on
receipt of a request to forward the body,
it is sent IN at the States expense,
clothed and cofined. If no such address
are found in the records, the prisoner is
buried In the prison burying ground.
The body is taken to the large upper
room before mentioned, and orders are
given for the clothes and the coffin. The
latter is made IN the prison "jobbing
Shop where the work Is done by con-
victs detailed for jobbing purposes-s.e.
not hired out to contractors. At the
same time, a small white slab of wood is
gotten out, and on It are painted the
name under which the convict was SEN
fenced, his age, and the date Of his death.
After TIE body is prepared for
burial it is taken, to the hospital recep-
ton room, where a brief service is held
by the chaplain. There are present the
hospital officers and such other prison.
officers as choose to come in, the convicts
who are acting as attendants in the hos
>pltal, and a detail Of ten or twelve con-
victs from the prison yard. Some one of
the prison officers IS chosen by the War
den to take charge Of the funeral. . The
chaplain makes remarks on the DISPOSE
ton shown by the dead during his term
in the prison, and his conduct in the hos
tpital, if there is anything in them that
he thinks would benefit the assembled
convicts. sometimes he refers to the
crime that brought the man to prison. A
prayer is made, and the coffin is borne to
the prison burying ground. There the
service IS very briet. -. ~ ~
The old prison burying ground is on
the bluff to the east and north of the
prison. It Is a lot of some three or four
acres, and is surrounded on two sides by
an old picket fence. On the north side
there are remnants of what was, once a
fence of a different construction. On the
east the deep cut of the SHudson River
Railroad renders fence unnecessary. A
single tree of fair size shades q portion of
the east side, and there are few other
shrubs within the enclosure. Long ago
a variety of pink was planted there, and
it has now spread all over the plot and
outside Of it. It grows in great protusion
among the other plants and weeds, and
yields a sweet iodor. There is, also a stalk.
that bears small flowers OF, sickening fra
GRANGE. rZr This growth Of plants and
weeds is SO rank sas, to hide the
mounds Of the graves and, conceal near
~ all Of, the slabs that mark the convicts'
resting places, The first convict that
died in Sing Sing prison was buried here.
Long ago the Durying ground was filled
SO that there was no room for more caves.
When the, railroad was built through the
place, some thirty years ago, many graves
were dug up, and the western portion Of
the plot was destroyed, Then the bury
ing ground grew beyond the fences that
enclosed it, and many graves were made
the side of the bluff toward the War
denis house, which is IN, tina extreme
southern end Of the prison. Three years
ago, the prison authori lies selected anew
place, further up on the side Of the hill,
toward the east, and where the score or
loco who havo dind cinna ifbo& %;,no s.a