St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-11-26
Silas M. Waite.

| lOiotbiCoOAO Lctter " springfield hepuDncan-l
An interview to-day with Silas NJ
Waite at the Newfane jail-hotel, where
he is confined, showed that the default
ing BrattlebOro cashier is suffering Sc
verely in health, but that he has the
best possible care, and is talkative and
cheerful. He is even hopeful of prov
ing in court his innocence of anything
more than misfortune, and this be
claims might have been averted had
others put their shoulders to the
Wheel" His illness, the result of a Sc
we're cold caused by confinement In a
cell which is simply disgrace to
| Windham county, has reduced him
from plump, well-cOnditiOned man of
l6O pounds, to pale invalid of 130. At
present he is treated just as any guest
of the hotel would be, eating at the pub
lie table, sitting i'll the office through
the day by warm fire, and sleeping in
a well-furnished guest chamber, warm
ed by wood stove, which he regulates
himself He declares that his W eakness
would not permit him to escape, and
that he would not in any case "plead
guilty by running away" for he is de-
termined, he says, "never to leave here
until | am carried out, or walk out be-
cause | have right to-"
Stiff with cold, we reached the New
fame Jail, where Il man indicted for cat
tie stealing led the horse to oats, while
we turned toward dinner. As we ell
tered the hotel Office an elderly man
reading newspaper by the window
was recognized us Waite, who half rose
and extending his hand said in hoarse
whisper, 81 am glad to see you, gentle
men, but 1 can't meet you" 1t was pa
thetic enough to see him sink back in
weakness, pale and thin, pitiful smile
wrinkling his cheeks, and his hand
trem bling a little in its feeble grasp
"Oh, yes,' he said, 81 feshed right up
when l was out West; it agreed with
me as grain would with steer" His
damp cell had given him a severe cold,
which bad settled on his lungs and tax
Ell away 80 pounds of flesh, nearly all
in the last two weeks. He was allowed
for some time to sleep-in the corridor,
but on Sunday he was given his pres
ent privileges. JailOr Bolles was trying
to fatten him up, he said, but with lit
tie success, as his stomach was so rack
ed by his coughing that he could eat
only sparingly. The sheriff had been
unwilling to let him out of the Jail, but
JailOr Bolles "hadn't the heart to keep
him in there" ''Why, this sheriff seems
to think l want to run away" said he
with laugh. "But am so weak that
you might set me down in the yard and
come back in two or three days and
find me only few feet away.n He had
not let himself be brought back to run
away, and he added that in the journey
home the detective had left him alone
in the car at Cleveland for Is minutes,
and as he had brother there, he could
have walked out and been in Canada in
a .jiffy. "No, l answered those indict-
ments when l heard them in court, mot
guilty. and 1 shall never plead guilty
by running away. That would give
some people too much pleasure. Pm
going to fight this case through, and
show the world that am not to blame.
There are others who should have put
their shoulders to the wheel and tided
the trouble over. But they weren't
bold enough. I tell you it takes deal
of courage to run bankrupt shop and
make the whole world believe it's first
rate. did all 1 could; l sunk 100000
of my own in the bank, and l guess /
suffered more than any enc else from
the break
"Could Congressman Tyler have
helped you any ?" was asked. "No, no
1 don't think any one ought to blame
Jim in the matter Tyler's well-mean-
ing fellow, but he had so much to do
for himself, going into politics and all
that, that he never troubled US, except
to ask a question now and then" When
asked whether he thought the indict-
ments against him were detective, he
leaned his head wearily on his hand
and said that he was too sick to talk of
them. ~ can't think clear enough now
to explain that" Through all his talk
bis voice scarcely rose above whisper
and between every two words he made
pause.
As he sat talking, sudden spasm of
pain wrenched his side, his features
were drawn with pain, and sudden
tears filed his eyes, clouded his glasses
and rolled down his face. His beard
has grown to its former length, and the
resemblance of his former self was the
sadder. AS he sat talking, stunning
with keen sensitiveness any direct allu-
sion to the legal look of his case, and
finding his best pleasure in stray remi-
niscences of the days when he walked
the streets as the great man of the vii
lage, one could not help being touched
with sympathy, however true he might
think the trite lesson, "the way of the
transgressOr is hard" A visit to his old
cell explained his illness, and made it a
wonder that any prisoner there had
ever lived to face the court that tried
him. The cell door looked like tun-
mel, opening through a wall of clammy
stone, three feet thick, into dark, Gu
bical den, lighted and ventilated only
by slit through the wall to the open
air, two inches wide and perhaps two
feet long, crossed with iron bars. 1t was
hard to believe that this refrigerator,
medieval in its cruelty, could be in
America and Vermont.
A fear that the pending indictments
against Waite are defective is the prob
able cause of the transfer of his case to
the United States courts. A special
term of the district court at Rutland to-
day has found through its grand jury
three true bills, one charging him with
embezzlement, abstraction and misap-
plication of moneys, funds and credits
of the bank, one with false entries in
the books of the bank, and the third
with false reports and statements to the
controller of the currency and to Bank
Examiner Hendee. Waite's condition
makes it uncertain when he will be
tried, but United States District-Attor-
ney Haskings will determine tOmOr-
row what to do.