The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-10-16
sine-slng Prison Punishment.
san Francisco Argonnut.

Letter to Gan Francisco Argonaut.
The party was put in the hands OF
head keeper and sent the roundsy
The keeper was an Irishman, with d
clean-shaven and crafty-looking face.
He had an observant eye, and he did
not smile while he was showing the
party around, until h ecametoa room
which was fitted up with dark cells.
A real professional dark cell is about
the blackest thing on the face of the
earth-when you are in it andthe door
is closed. The party played pleas
ant and agreeable little trick on the
oldest member. He said he hadheard
a great deal about the exaggerated
notions men had OF time spent in q
dark room, and he asked the keeper if
lie would not lock him in there for five
minutes by the watch, and let him
have the experience; SO he was locked
up in a little whitewashed cell, in which
he could scarcely turn around. Not a
particle of light was admitted, and q
man might yell himself hoarse forever
without being heard outside. Having
locked him in securely, his kindfriends
went cheerfully off and investigated
the i~ron-foundry, shoe-shops, saw
mills, and docks. Nearly an hour
elapsed, and then they returned and
released him.
1T seemed a pretty long five min
utes, didn't it, colonel" asked the
youngest man. tlippantly.
"N-no," said the colonel, who hada
strained, round-shouidered, hollow
eyed, nervous, melancholy, and unnat-
ural air; "no, | shouldn't think l vas
there more than five minutes. You
see it's q great thing to have a strong
hold on your Imagination and not let
it run away with you, STILL" YEARLY,
81 must say that that three legged
stool was rather uncomfortable"
At this moment the attention of
everybody was attracted by the keep
er, who was actually smiling. 1t was
the first time his features had relaxed
during the day, and the crowd gath
cred around him.
SoiliS w SlloW yOA ilLNlC III
vention of my own" he said, pleas
antly, (Which has been adopted all
over the country. l suppose you
know that the criminals oftenget ugly.
The place that harbors more than
fifteen hundred of New York's worst
scum must necessarily have a number
OF hard characters to deal with. Men
here get rebellious, ill-tempcred, and
unmanageable pretty often. lnformer
years they used the lash. the paddle,
the douche, and often Gained men by
putting them into the b~lack-rooms.
The tiercest spirits are quelled by i'm
prisonment i'll u dungeon. The wild
est case we ever had turned to a lamb
after twenty-five days Imprisonment,
without a gleam OF light, III a black
cell. All that is settled now, however,
by my littleinvention. Wedon'thave
to use the black-cells, or anything
else, and the men are so thoroughly
scared by what l call my weighing
machine that they no longertight and
rebel" He then showed it to us. If
a convict becomes desperate at ILL
treatment, over-work, OIL arealization
ofthe awful duration of atwenty.years'
sentence, he is dragged into the keepers
room and n pair of iron handouts are
screwed tightly around his wrists. Then
the chain whichconnectsthetwoh hand
cuffs is hooked to a pul!y, and the
mans hands are drawn up until he is
almost lifted from the floor. Here he
hangs against the wall until his spirit
is subdued. The wall was smeared
with the stains of blood from the
wrists of the poor wretches who had
hung there.
Its a daisy" said the keeper, ra-
dainty; "the toughest man in the
whole Jail has never been athletic stand
it o than thrce-quarters OF a min
ute. 1t cures rheumatism, blindness,
and all the other ills that criminals
are heir to-"
at must be torture"
"Well, rather, 1t stops the %circular
ton OF the blood. you know"
And he still smiled as he stood with
his hands on thepully, w~hilethecrowd
wandered away. It's great thing to
have clear idea OF the humorous,