The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-02-20
MISSIONARY.
A CURIOUS UTILIZATION OF CELL
PESTS.
Capturing the Reaches That Infest the
County Prison and Using Them to
Convey Spiritual Comfort to
Fellow Inmates.
philadelphia News.


The story of Baron Trenck, who succeeded,
by almost incredible ingenuity, in Willing
away the hours of a lifetime of imprison-
ment with comparative content, and more
than paralleled by the remarkable ingenuity
and curious inventive genius Of DIR. Albert
g. r, Goersen, the wife poisoner and MUIR
derer, now in solitary confinement at Moy-
amensing, awaiting the fulfllment Of the
law The story is almost beyond belief, and
certainly nothing so remarkable has ever
been known in the unwritten history OF
prison life in America.
Prior to his trial Goersen was a man Of
diss;pated habits, and on that rested one Of
the strongest pleas of the defense, that the
murderer was irresponsible. Since his in
carceration, however, and under the abb
steminous diet and regulations of prison life,
he has again developed the peculiar religious
fervor he once possessed, and is now
warmly interested in the future fate Of his
fellow prisoners With this thought in view,
Goersen applied for permission to read the
Bible to the inmates of the prison The
request, naturally, was refused. Goersen,
however, was determined to impart to his
companions in durance his knowledge and
professed belief in the scriptural writings,
and resorted to a scheme which in all prob
bility has no smile in criminal annals the
world over.
Black roaches wers the messengers en-
listed by DIR. Goersen to convey spiritual
instruction to the benighted prisoners of
Moyamensing
The county prison is overrun with big
English beetles. The insects are from an
inch and a quarter to two inches or more in
length, and infeSt every cell in the prison.
Goersen, who is of an inventive turn Of mind,
and at the sams time a remarkable panman,
saw In tho reaches a ma lium through which
it was possible to attain the desired object
To utlizs the reaches became his hobby
Filled with this idea, he captured hercu-
lean beetle, and, parting the wings, salivated
tiny strip OF tissue-paper AMI stuck it, by
the aid of paste ingeniously made from
scraps Of bread, ON the insects back On
the paper, written in minute characters, and
with the skill for which Goersen was so much
motel were the words, small but legible:
Although thy sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow.
The insect was then released and scarried
through q crack in the floor The following
day the doctor captured fifteen or twenty of
the largest reaches outof the insectional bat
TALON that entered his cell and concealed
them in an ingeniously- box. Hiding
the box under his bel, he prepared dozen
slips similar to the first, and, inscribing on
each microscopic selection from the scrip
lures, attached them to the backs OF the cap
tive reaches,
After keeping the insects confined long
enough to see that the paper slips would
stick the reaches were released, and they,
like their predecessors, quickly escaped
through the cracks and crevices in the floor
and walls of the cell The result OF his ex-
pertinent Goersen awaited with feverish
anxiety.
The lid Of pan filled with scraps was
placed ON the floor as a bait. Three days
later Goersen found nearly a score Of
reaches in the lid,
Carefully he picked them up, one by one,
and examined them.
Speaking of his feelings to his keeper
afterwari he said his excitement was in
teuse.
"My beart stood still" he said; "the tears
stood in my eyes, and / thought the disap-
pointment would kill me. examined over
a dozen reaches and could not discover a
single one with any characteristic that
would lead me to believe ! had seen 1t be-
fore. Suddenly / saw among the mass some
thing white cleaning ON the back of one of
the bugs. My breath came fast, and for
moment I hardly dared to look. Then,
plucking up courage, l took the white
backed roach between my fingers and parted
the wings.
VI trembled as though stricken with the
ague, and could hardly seq for excitement
examined the struggling bug-I knew it-I
had seen it befors-on its back, fast and
tight, was still fastened message had sent
to my unenlightened fellow prisoners"
On the back of the roach, and inscribed on
the strip Of paper, we're the words:
"Be not deceived; evil associations corrupt
good morals"
But this was not ALL Written transversely
across the paper, in a scrawling and almost
illegible hand, were the words:
IL no yure rite.-Sined, g.
Goersen was delighted, and the phenom-
email success Of his russ made him long for
greater achievements and look for new
worlds to conquer.
After the return of the first me ssenser
Goersen devoted his attention to insects Of
the largest dimensions alone. .-s
After several ineffective attempts be
achieved the remarkable feat Of writing in
ininitesimal characters, on the back of a
tWO-incn rodcn, clear ana uistinct tTan-
script Of the "Ten Comman iments."
Tho other day while one Of the official Of
the prison was walking through the corri-
dors, his attention was attracted by pc
culiar-looking insect. It appeared to have
@spasm," and was evidently trying to re-
lieye itself of the incubus of a strip of paper
thst trailed from its back.
The insect was captured without trouble,
and then the astonished official was con-
founded with amazement to find on the paper
the following text clearly and distinctly
written; "Look not upon the wine when il
Is red, for at last it biteth like serpent
and stingeth like an adder"
It had been written by Goersen. The
darkness that had Swallowed his own life
through his weakness and dissipation had
suggested text that In the execution Of his
peculiar mania found expression as a mes.
sage to his equally unfortunate and equally
shadowed fellow-beings.