The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-09-09
In for Life...HOw One Can be Buried
Alive.

"Thls CELL" said the Warden, as we
reached 2l2, IS belongs to one of the
oldest lifers in this prison. I believe
he has been here nigh on to thirty years
and he bids fair to last for twenty more.
He is very singular man." .
- His crime was murder, OF course.
8. Yes, and a strange murder. He
was then a young man of twenty-five,
rather quiet, ii not mOrOse, and no one
had ever heard him use an oath or
seen him display even the smallest vice.
Had he stolen an ak his friends
would have been amazed, what could
their feelings have been, then, when he
was charged with murder? One night.
with no earthly excuse for ofiense. he
got out of bed, walked three miles to
the house OF a friend and called him
out ami stabbed him to the heart. lie
then retraced his steps to his home and
reformed to bed and slept soundly until
morning, the bloody knife lying on
chair by his bedside. He made no
effort TO conceal his crime, and when
arrested had no excuse for it. From
the day the constable put hands on him
up TO this hour he has not spoken ex-
capt wiIeu forced to. have several
times had to threaten him with the strap
to make him answer my questions.
Does he mate with any One"'
"No; he comes and goes Us if alone
in this great prison. [ cannot imagine
what inducement could be held out to
make him address a question to pris-
oner. He shuus all OF us as if we were
poison. During all the years he has
been here he has never asked a favor of
any sort.
Is he ever sicii9'
"Once in great while, but he never
complains He would die in his tracks
before he would ask to see the doctor.
He has tainted away at his workbench
and cried out in the delirium Cf fever,
but he has never complained"
"What DO the prisoners say about
him?'
They fear him. have been told
twenty different times that he would
some day rebel and that he would have
to be shot before he could be disarmed.
l can't say that he is plotting. but we
keep sharp eye on him. He has the
eye of perfect devil, and he will look
at you in 4 way to make your flesh
crawl"
"Can he be inSaneg'
"No; dozen different doctors are
agreed that he is as sound as any man.
He is simply born devil. He was
never known to laugh or cry. His old
mother used to come here in years gone
bv-before she died--and she said she
had never seen smile on his lips or q
tear on his cheeks, not even during his
babyhood. He is Halter. He hates
himself. He hates everything living Or
dead. There is a cauldrOn of ugliness
boiling within him and some day it will
bubble over. When that event occurs
we shall most likely be forced to Kill
him in self-defense."
HAS he any relatives9'
mot that we know of. His father
was dead before the murder. He had
n mother and brother, but when he had
been here about five years the poor old
woman went to her grave, If a man
has any heart in him a mothers love
and tears can touch it. She used to
come here and wiring her hands and
weep and SOB and pray, and this tiend
sat as unmovcd as 4 rock, even refusing
10 answer one of her questions. She
was old and wrinkled and heart-0roken
the last time she came. She told him
that il was her las. visit, and that she
had only few weeks to live. and
the murderer turned his back on
her. The brother came three
or four times. receiving the
same treatment. and the last visit he
made came near being his last day on
earth. Taking advantage or the mo-
mcntary absence OF the doorlnan this
fiend grasped the brothers throat and
was fas: choking him to death when help
arrived. The brother died several years
ago in Illinois. and now the man is alone
on earth No one asks after him-no-
body thinks OF him. He is buried
alive"
"He never writes TO any one?'
"Never. He has not had d pen in
his hand since entering the prison.
Most of the prisoners manage to keep
posted on outside affairs, but this man
neither knows or cares to know. 1don'
believe ne knew of the WAY, long IS il
Lcu. nc Htll u vi won
read; he won't permit a prisoner to
talk to him, and as a consequence he
hears 70 more of the worlds doingS
than if he were in his grave. 1t must
he a horrible feeling for q man to live
this way. and yet he seems to enjoy it.
One day is the same as another to him.
One night is no blacker than another.
Weeks pass and Bring no change.
Years come and go and his routine is
the sane. the past is full OF blood
the future is looc, unbroken mid
night | have wondered that he did
not commit suicide"
''Has he never tried to eScape?'
s'Never, and that is why we fear
him. Three different times since he
came here he has had good opportuni-
ties to take French leave, but he has
refused to 90. 1t wasn't because he
feared recapture and punishment, for
any of them vii. take the one chance in
hundred ca that. 1t was because he
hated the world worse than his prison.
Give him another chance to-day and he
would also retnSe it. AS told YOU. he
is a s,range case lie is half man. half
acvii. ilaci year he is growing more
like Gcnh. auI every time look into
a - "a