River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-10-01

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! hurry and it S last chance.
The prisoners make their own
clothes. They also make their own
tobacco, both smoking and chewing.
! The head man in the tobacco depart
ment among the conyicts is Steve Ray
mond. He has the distinction of being
! the only man who was ever sentenced
| to IMPRISONMENT for life in this state
for forgery. He received this sentence
/ for second oiiense. He is a small,
dark-s kinncd man, and moves about at
! his work with a step as light as a
eats. He is good workman, and
never grumbles mt his lot. There are
/ at present in Sing Sing sixty-fve
murderers serving life sentences. Two
/ thirds of them killed their wives.
/ Every woman who visits Sing Sing
wants to see ''lifer. Not long ago
party of ladies who visited the
prison made the keeper who
acted as the guide promise to
| show them a ''lifer. Finally one of
| these unfortuaates passed within sight.
| The ladies were full of compassion for
''the poor fellow until one OF their
number asked what was the nature of
his crime I'm for killing his wife,
was the keepers reply. The flood TO
pity was damned on the instant, and
as soon as she could recover from her
horror the spokesweman of the party
| sayagely inquired: ''Why don't they
| hang the brute?' One ''lifer' has
| served twenty-five years of his SEN
| tence. Seeing him at work in a local
! ity when escape was comparatively easy,
the reporter inquired if it were not
| little risky to place so much confidence
in differ. mot in that one" ans
wered the keeper, ''you couldn drive
that fellow away. He coulden't live
| anywhere else. The impression is
| pretty general that the moment pris-
| oner enters Sing Sing his head as well
as his face is shaved. This is no longer
the fashion. The prisoners are shaved
every Saturday. The shave follows
the bath. The men are compelled to
wear their hair moderately short, but
| few wear it as short as the though" of
| the outside world does, or even as brief
as the style adopted by the average
| dude, if the bang is excepted. No
convict is allowed to wear bang. In
fact. no convict would wear bang
An inmate Of Sing Sing knows just
what to expect thirty minutes after his
arrival in the prison. He is instructed
to obey the Keepers and the rules, to
mind his own business and interfere
with no one, and do an honest days
work If these instructions are obeyed
his life will he rs comfortable as it is
possible to make it under circumstances
not exactly cheerful, but which might
be worse He rises in the morning at
o clock and breakfasts at half-past g.
The meals consists of hash, bread, and
coffee At z o'clock he goes to his
work and sticks at it until noon, when
he marches into the huge dining room,
which is 60x200 feet. The dinner SER
vice is of tin. The quality of the food
is good, and no one Is stinted. The
evening meal consists of bread and
coffee. 1t is served to the men in their
cells The bill of fare for dinner is
changed every day The work of the
dav stops at o'clock. Then the men
are marched to their cells. They
march to and from work with lock-step
and the right hand placed on the shout
der Of the man in front. In their cells
prisoners have the privilege of reading
and smoking to their hearts con-
tent. Each man is furnished with
two ounces of smoking tobacco
per week AS many of them
don smoke others get double supply.
There is very fair library in the pris-
on for the use of the conyicts. They
are not allowed to read newspapers or
to talk with anyone of current events,
vet they are thoroughly posted on the
news Of the day. Conyicts who obey
the rules are allowed to see a visitor
once in two months. A day seldom
passes on which more than one caller
does not present himself. and in spite
of the watchfulnesS of the keeper, the
visitor generally manages to commune
cate the news of the day to his poisOner
friend before saying good-by. 1t then
travels with surprising quickness from
one end of the prison to the other.
The health of Sing Sings inmates is
remarkably good At present there
are only nine patients in the hospital,
LIZ. DR.. Barber attends to the all
mcnts of the convict army, and has
done so five years. 1t takes a very
old and cunning bird to sham sick sue
cesSfully at Sing Sing. Fifteen hun |
dred prescriptions are prepared daily /
in the apothecary shop, according to
the DOCTOR. though NHdJ DCCOllItS VI !
them is difficult to conceive, as the |
sick roll averages only twenty-five per /
month. Two services are held in the /
prison on Sunday, one Protestant and /
the other Roman Catholic. The men /
can attend either or neither, as they I
choose. Most of them attend service. /
They say it relieves the monotony. |
Not more than one prisoner in hum
dred admits that he is guilty of the |
crime for which he is imprisoned. Chief |
Keeper Connaughton, who has been at
Sing Sing for thirteen years, says that
a convict who is willing to admit |
his guilt is an extremely rare bird. Al |
though the chances of escape are few |
and are attended with great danger, |
they are occasionally made the most of. |
Last week a short term man escaped by /
scaling the iron fence, through which |
the cleaning Hudson can be seen from |
the prison yard. Even that, as well as
the walls is under the eye of the guard |
who is supposed to be in readiness at |
all times to send the contents of a Win
chester rifle into the body of any con-
Wet bold enough to grasp at liberty be- |
fore it legally belongs TO him.
Salvation Oil, the celebrated Ameri- |
can remedy is guaranteed TO cure
rheumatism, sore throat, sWellings,