Arizona silver belt., 1879-01-03

o ttttNcs fAo "a 4ttto tita tat AtIl Ca o Ay HUI rank very high--using the expression
 n its prisUn sense-umoDg those be-
 iongipg to the crimnal classes They
 are pot often professional criminals.
 rheir criminal history is frequently
 summed up in the one act winch was
 dote n the heat of passion and which
 sent them to prison. Thus t is that
 murderers are not regarded by the
 keepers as a very dangerous class of
 prisoners
 Caste in prison is wholly dependent
 upon the prisoners past. 4 man
 once in gentle society may be em-
 pioyel on the most distasteful or
 prison arudgery, and a social outcast
 may be 10 che enjoyment of posi-
 tion that is almost commanding yet
 the status Of a prisoner among his
 fellows was 6xed before he entered there, and nothing can change t un-
 less It be daring aud nlaslerly strike for liberty.
 h their walks the keepers some
 times finds man hanging from tho grates of the cell, bis face pluck and
 his eyebdlls protradlng. Such q dis-
 coyery would startle a person aho has not had keepers experience.
 But the keeper promptly cuts down
 tue would be suicide and thea hastens to the key-roem m order that the cell
 may be opened and tue man resus- eitated if t IS not already too late. There Is nothing that will arouse the prisoners quicker than a man ruH- aing along the gallery. A face ap- pears at almost every door, with the inquiry, Whats up z' Whats the matter Y1 On some of the galleries the cells are all provided with sep arate locks. These can be easily and safely opened if anything IS wrong in 4Gly ceA in tue night. But more care needs be exercised in opening q cell on gallery provided with lever lock. When 1t is necessary to open one of these cells keepers are stationed at either end of the gallery and another keeper stands in front of the cell to be opened At a silent signal from this keeper the lever at the end of the gallery is raised, the snatl lever on the cell door is dis- placed and the main lever IS brought into place again. This is done m an instant, and so suddenly chat the prisoners on the gallery do not have tune to displaee the levers on their doors. if they could all be ready and could witness the keeper's signal, she fifty men on the gallery could get thq freedom of the haH, ovcrpower the three keepers on duty, take their ariAs and attempt to fight their way out of prison.
 One night about two months ago one of the keepers heard strange sounds in cell On holding his lantern to the grates, he saw a man hanging ia tho back part of the cell. After the cell was opened, 1t was found that the man had tied his hands behind him, after he had put a moose around his heck, and fastea- ed the cord to a wooden plug driven into the yenhlator. This he had done while standing on his bucket. Then he kicked the bucket away, and was left suspended m the most ap- proved and helpless fashion. It was the noise made by kicking away the bucket that attracted the attention of the keeper. The man was taken to the prison hospital, and next morn- ing, when he recovered his seuses, but before he had regained speech, he wrote on slip of paper a fear ful curse on the man that cut hin down.
 Late at night the snoring of the sleepers almost entirely ceases, and the place becomes as silent as though t were vast sepulchre, save when the stiffness is broken by the outcry of some dreamer, or the knocking of , restless prisoner, who has found pretext for calling a keeper. There is something thrilling and chilling in these noises. They are magm6ed and distorted by the acoustic proper ties of the place. The hall viii be as still as death, when. suddenly, an agonizing shriek will come from somewhere along the vast galleries, followed by the cry of Murder murderer ' The hall will be still ; or, perhaps, a ludicrous turn will be given to the occurrence by the advice Df a disturbed neighb5r of the dreaming convict, rendered in words ike the following "0h lay down md sleep, you big head" " Again, 3 groan, swelling into a painful yawn. win break the stiffness, to be followed by some such exclamation ,e 4.WolI .roH e,f,L ,o ffofss