The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-05-24

, this, and seeing stranger taking notes,
, he approached the guard and asked per-
, mission to hand US up one OF his
"poems" The guard consenting, a
slip of paper was given US, which we
; perused with some interest. The poem
is supposed to be a conversation between
convict and a stranger. Itconsists of
fifteen verses, the first and last of
which we here reproduce, as being some
thing of curiosity; g. ~ 49, +.
Stay! stranger, stay for mercy's sakel and
hear helpless convict's tale;
Ali sure, my looks must pity wake-'us
want that makes my cheeks so pale
| was once a mothers pride and fono
! fathers hope and joy, EFh..H
Bad company changed my conduct, and I'm
now asconvict boy.
Good day, gentle stranger, the next time
that you call
will be pleased to speak with you, if you
come upon the wall.
Ny parents, sir. are far away, in that little
They know not that their Wandering Boy"
is now at 3l3 OF I'd.
Il P. CALLAHAN.
Self, the boy who stole COW, was
wandering about the yard; Rudolph
Smith who aided in the attempted
robbery of lions Bank, was lying down
against a house; a villainous looking
i Individual was John Smith, who clanked
tabout the yard in chains; he is in for
it'holding up train on the Utah &
I Northern, something over year ago;
Moore and Green, the two men who
tried to set fire to the hunks some time
since, were said to be in "cage"-a
small whitewashed house-the interior
of which is an iron chamber. pointed out
to Us. Biddlecome and Catlin, murder
ers in for life, were not seen; Jack
Emerson We caught a glimpse of, clad
in blacksmith'S suit, and fresh from
that employment; his partner. the
wretched Hopt, is of course main OBJ
] ject of interest to visitors; he sits In a
corner directly under the promenade
! and is accorded limitedspace of ground
hedged in by wires, which he is at
liberty to traverse but outside
of which ne would not venture; he has
\ no cOmpanionship except that or a dog
and cat which he keeps constantly
near him; no one is allowed to approach
4 him or to address him except the negro
boy (infor fifteen years for the crime of
ravishment) who waits on him, and the
guard who locks him Into his cage; his
existence is almost as eventless and con-
fined as if he were already in his grave,
and the silence, as the shadow of death,
is upon him; he passes considerable
time doing braided work, at which he is
the most sklllful hand in the prison. he
has no communication from the outside
except, at rare intervals, an interview
with his lawyer, Mr.. Van.Horne, who,
our guard said, had never received any
thing for his arduous endeavors except
SIS. and that had been loaned Hopt by
the good hearted Callahan; needless to
say that the loan was really gift; our
guard stated that Emerson would con-
I tinue to have hope, as long as Hopt
lived. that he might give some dying
confession which would result in his
(Enerson's) liberation.
As we returned along the promenade
from contemplating the fated murderer,
the big gates underneath us clanked on
their hinges, and we saw the six
Mormon inmates of the place, who had
just taken leave of the last of their
guests, conducted into the yard; they
nodded in recognition, and gaily waved
in the air copies of The HERALD for the
day which they were apparently just
opening; we saw them take promen-
AIDES up and down the yard, conversing
them as they turned behind some one
of the several frame houses which
stand in the yard; two hammocks and
several beds which were in view, the
guard said, belonged to the "Mormons;"
he and the others with whom we
spoke, referred to these gentlemen in
respectful terms, and all were par
ticularly warm in their references
to ''old man Evans" HE
was one of the preachers last
Sunday" said Mr.. Parker with pride,
land he was the only one they ap-
| plauded. I" AS high as 200 visitors, he
said, had called on them during one
day.
The room was shown us where Lucy
| Deyereux is at present confined; it is
outside the prison proper, but is secure
ly guarded. The young lady is the only
| female prisoner in the place, and the
room she occupies is the same one
which has been used in turn by Belle
Harris, Nellie White and Lydia Spen-
Ger.
The guards kept on the walls are te
in number, six doing duty in the day
time. and four at night; each of the four
corners has small round house built
upon 1t, and alarm wires connecting
with the sleeping apartments of the day
force run about the promenade
| The device for assuring the warden
that no one of the guards has slept dur
ing his watch, is an ingenious one. 1t
consists of a registry clock a key to
which the guard must turnievery fifteen
minutes. Next morning if this has
been done, slip ofpaper, punctured at
regular intervals. is taken from the
machine. Ifany of these punctures are
missing, it is conclusive proof that the
guard has neglected his duty, and the
presumption is that he has been asleep.
1t was something after the time for
closing, when We again descended the
stairway. and thanking the guards for
their untiring ciyllity, rode out of the
yard. There was ample food for
curious reflection in the spectacles
we had just viewed, and needless to
say the strange contemplation of
the six religionists. imprisoned
among such associates for following
their convictions, was not the least
among our musings The thought of
their holding religious services to such
congregation, the certainty that that
night from their bedsides in Jail would
ascend fervid appeals to that Power
which they all felt assured they were |
now serving, the contemplation of the
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