The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1888-11-21
A CHILD OF 60 YEARS.
Released After a Generation in
The States Prison.
Friends Take Care Of Him and show
Him About His Old Haunts-
.sThank God. I'm Freer'
New York Mail aud Express.

New 1ork MAIL 4uQ E1p1S<>-
Nv very chains and grew friends,
30 much q long communion tencs
70 make rs what We are. even
Reclaimed my freedom with a sigh
So Byron wrote 10 the prisoner
chained 1000 feet above the -massy
waters of Lake Lemanv in the stone
dungeons of Chillon. But there is a
sparely built, gray-haired. kindly
faced old man walking the streets OF
this city who has known more of close
confinement than that which made
gray. but not with years" the hair
of the prisoner of Chilion." And his
close communication with his cell did
not make him love it.
For 50 years this gray-haired old
man was buried. For 80 years he saw
nothing but the faces Of his jailers and
fellow convicts and aggravating views
of the clear, blue sky and the broad
Hudson as it sweeps the shores OF
Sing Sing. For nearly 80 years he
slept in an apartment one foot longer
and one foot deeper than grave. But
the extra foot of depth did not bring
with it what the prisoner wanted
total oblivion-and his sleep was less
restful than that of the dead, whom
jailers cannot disturb. For 81 years
he went the weary rounds OF prison
life without the pleasure of shaking IN
friendship the hand of fellow-man
untainted by crime. For 50 years he
had been dead TO the world he once
had known, and for 50 years he had
worn the brand of murderer
on his brow, though murderer he
never was. Attacked at night
when not sober by three ruff
fans he fought back with the weapon
nearest at hand, and killed two of
them. A corener's jury acquitted
man in this city with something like
vote of thanks not many months ago
for killing a man in about the same
manner But Michael German was
not acquitted, Twelve men decided
that he was guilty of murder, and
with all due and hideous formality he
was sentenced to death. Later his SEN
tence was changed to imprisonment
for life, and in 1855. just as October
was closing, Michael German, rosy
checked young Irishman, q years
old, became prisoner 'for the rest OF
his natural life," and in 0ctoper, 1888,
the same Irishman, now old, gray
haired and feeble. is free.
"No one knows" he said to-day in a
fearful voice, what / passed through
in those years that wore striped
suit and was a felon. Why, / thought
| would be mad with Joy when took
off the stripes and put on this suit. '
And the old man gazed proudly at the
neat brown suit, the first he has worn
for a generation that does not remind
him of convict cell.
HOW 1T SEEMS TO BE FREE.
at is all so strange" the old man
said, Ito see no bars, no keepers, no
striped suits: to be allowed to eat with
a knife and fork; to sleep in COM
Portable room. and to be free to come
and go as / will. Why, man, it is like
| a dream"
But this old man has no yearning to
return to the prison that he occupied
so long. He does not, like ByTon's
prisoner, regain "his freedom with a
sigh" and he will not, like the old
German whom Dickens had made
| famous, insist on remaining in prison
after he is free to leave it. He has an
Irishman's love for freedom, and as he
wanders about and sees the changes
that have taken place since he entered
his living grave, his most frequent ex-
clamation is:
THANK God I'm Free
There is a vein of sadness running
through it, too. He came from Sing
Sing to find none who knew him save
two faithful friends who had played
with him at the village school at Lagan
so wears ago. His father and mother
died when he had been but few years
in prison. His two brothers were
killed while fighting for the Union in
the late war. The Judge before whom
he was tried and by whom he was
sentenced is dead; the lawyers who
prosecuted and the counsel who de-
Tended him are dead, and the govern
or who committed his sentence is also
dead. OF all the officials of his day in
Brooklyn but one is living Mayor
German, since his release. has been
going about the city in an
almost dazed condition. He was
prepared, he says, to see changes.
but not such changes as have taken
he feels as though he "had been born
again" In his prison up over the
Hudson he heard little that was going
on in the world outside. He heard in
a general way of the war when il was
raging. and he heard from time 10
time of other affairs of moment. But
it was only in a vague way, and he
went on at his daily task of file-cutting
and atfan1nl 20 thn Eftlo tarf
chapel, doing his duty so well that in
all the years OF his prison life he was
not once reprimanded. The world
outside was nothing to man confined
for life
The old MANIFOLD Mike" as he
likes to be ealled-is not much given
TO talking, especially of his prison
life"
when | put on that prison dress |
can't tell YOU how | felt" he said in
his simple way. ~ thought it was
for life, and didn't want that life to
be long. What | thought at night
when lay in my cell don't know,
thought of so many things. 1t is a
terrible thing To he shut up month
after month and year after year and
to go on until You die. ! grew used
to it after a while. but never could
come to like it. 1t isn't natural. |
was well treated by every one. and |
tried always 10 do my duty by the
officials of the prison. | think ! did
it. And they were very kind 10 me
when | was leaving. and-and ] I'm free
once more, thank God.
BEGINNING LIFE OVER AGAIN.
Mikes friends go with him every
where, and many friendly laughs are
had at his surprise when shown some
Of the changes that have taken place.