The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-09-02

An unconscious bird sings for moment
on the window ledge, but Is frightened o If
as the solemn tones of the judges voice
fall npon the hundreds of listening ears
Ere it has winged its flight to the nearest
bough the words have been spoken, the
trial is ended, justice is vindicatsd and a
man has been doomed to years of hopeless,
abject, brutalizing, despairing misery
| There is great confusion as the crowd
disperses. The judge picks up his papers.
lackey hands him his hat and cane and
| he takes his departure with a look of vir-
tuOus self satisfaction upon his face. The
lawyers who attend such trials for the ex-
perIence move OF in groups with hardly
| curiosity enough to look at the prisoner,
who in his turn is hustled away by bailiffs
eager to get him off their hands and get
home to their dinners
II this had no. come there might have
been a reclamation of human being and
repara.ion to society. Justice. however
has been done, and the world knowing
nothing of the might t-have-besns, is salts
fed
And yet, amid all the confusion. despite
the rough JoStling of unfeeling officers of
the law, and thu audible expressions of sat
iSfactiOn OF the mob, the jesrs OF soma aud
the rudeness of the irrepressible curiosity
OF Others to which the prisoner is ksenly
sensitive, with him ara ever those sad
eyes tho perfume of the roses and the
heart-thrilling words of a song. which has
long since ceased to be even al echo, ex-
cept with him.
CHAPTER III.
A hideous monotony of glaring white
walls, dull, black bars, tier upon tier of
narrow. grated calls, and row upon row of
strong iron galleries. The tiers of cells,
rising one above another, with gallery
about each, form an inner building in the
center of the quadrangle enclosed by the
outer walls of the prison. Long. heavily
barred windows in thu outer walls reach
from the ground to the roof on two sides,
on the other two the walls are blank.
CheerlesS, cold and forbidding are the
whitewashe1 walls, the red brick floors
and the grated cells Odors of damp straw
and of cheap and not over-clean food in
process of cooking make the atmosphere
sitting. Here and there guard lounges
idly In the halls, and every now and then
squad Of pale-visaged, closely-cropped
man, out of whose faces have gone all
traces of manlineSS, moves with the shuf-
fling locked step" across the corridors,
marshalle1 by guard who directs every
movement by shrill whistles.
Outside in long. low sheds, ranged along
both sides of yard paved with co5ble-
stones, other gangs of similar pale-faced
unm anne1-looking men, wearing the same
hideous, striped garb are laboring un-
in absolute silence under the eyes
OF stern taSkmasterS.
OF what are all these men thinking in |
their enforced silence! Surely they think |
the tongue may be trammeled but who |
Will essay to bind the thoughts. Are they !
thinking of home-of wives perhaps, of |
children, of friends low and vile as them
selves, of past exploits, of future plans, of |
any OF the countless millions of things of |
which men think when free to talk and act |
IS they please! Doubtless they are. Who |
an limit the range of their thoughts; who
an begin to picture the visions which float
'efore the minds eye of these men ; they
oil in silence through the long hours!
carts are breaking here, but who cares!
Who recks of the mild tumult going on in
many a mind as thoughts bitter. heart
breaking, desperate, float back and forth.
The lives here are full of tragedy
Who knows, for instance, that the indi-
-idual whose identity is lost to all but
himself and the prison records in the
prison, No. 80, ,3I9, " is thinking as he labors
# a balmy summernight under the shadow
II grand trees, of the perfume of roses of
song and a resolution: Yet such thoughts
IRE ever present with him. his sole conSola-
ion amid thu horrors of his surroundings,
lis only relief from the monotony Of his
laily existence. To-day he is thinking of
hem thinking especially of the resolution
hat he would do something to take away
he reproach from the sad eyes that he
eelS are constantly watching him. The
Iull, unceasing toll by day, the horror of
hs scant, dream haunted slumber by
light, have taken away from him much of
he energy which naturally belongs to
nen of his temperament and physique, but
lis thoughts to-day arouse in him some
hing of the old temper-the old aggres-
i've spirit
He has heard somethingl In that mys-
erious way in which the dwellers in
NriSOnS rvhoro rn Gnaooh IL al |
possessed of information from the outside
world as well as from their own dreary
world indoors. and make plots and concoct
he has learned of a proposed
nlemte. For days and weeks plot for
Using has been Matching among these
miserable creatures. They know it may
mean certain death to some of them, in
;reased misery to the many, escape only
10 few. Yet they plan. In the utter
lreariness of their lives any thing that
promises changs is welcome. Besides,
here is the chance of success for few, and
ZACH hopes to be one of that few, and
furthermore there is desire for revenge.
No. 2,3l9" has heard all the details of the
dot. He has not been party to it other
wise, but he has been trusted by the con-
piratorS He knows on whom vengeance
5 to be wreaked-that the warden of tha
prison is doomed, and that the rising only
waits favorable opportunity to make
hat detested officer victim of the ven
,eance of the conspirators. The warden
las been a hard taskmaster, relentless,
ruel model tyrant with capacity far
,eyond any who preceded him in this insti-
ution for cruel punisbsnents and unneces-
airy severity. Whatever else may be done
lis life is to be sacriiced-that is settled !
No. 2,31y' knows of this determination,
md has himself reached one. He would
lot be human if he did not wish to see the
Using successful, as far as the escape of
nma nf his mnapinnS iS h,f |
e is determined that if he can prevent it
murder shall not be done. He means to ,
ave the tyrant's life, even at the risk of
lis own, and by preventing the consumma- !
ion of the convicts' vengeance save some
L the other lives which would necessarily
ay the forfeit of the carrying out of their {
lans. This is to be his reparation-this ,
lis opportunity. To reason with these ,
nen he knows is useless; he will not inform
n them, his only plan is to save the I
warden at the moment Of the rising. 1t
will be desperate undertaking, and the
oSt-his own life. If he should not lose it
n the effort, the inevitable revenge OF his S
omrades, who will deem him a traitor. 7
makes his speedy death a certainty. Yet 9
e secs in this an opportunity to save life :
an opportunity to make reparation. He l
will embrace it. He has nerved himself to /
he task before him, and to-day he feels a
hat the hour of trial is at hand.
The afternoon OF the short winter day is !.
Taning, and a storm is evidently coming ]
p for 1t is growing dark in the shops. Is c
some intuitive sense of impending
rouble that causes the guards in the shop /
D pay more than usual attention to the =
onvictS, or is it that they have just begun I
D notice that something has changed in t
he room within few minutes! Half an n
our a 90 the sounds of labor alone broke l.
be stiffness. Now the rattle of the ham-
hers and the clink of steel are interrupted e
4 their regularity, and in the intervals a i
roning sound, something akin to the hum b
{ a schoo[room, only less pronounced is +
card, punctlated every now and again 8
nth kissing sound. Looking around on L
be busy groups not a lip is seen to move t