Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-07-19

his heart-the hospital orderlies knew
that; for once or twice when he had
been i'll and thrown into contact with
sufferers sicker than himself, his
gentleness and patience knew no
bounds. The choicest morsels of his
rough food were always laid aside for
them: his voice as he read aloud to
them was actually musical; and
through the long night vigils he was
the watcher who sat and whispered
soothing words, or moistened lips that
had grown hard and dry with suffer-
ing. His cell was a model of neatness;
not a mark could be detected on its
snowy walls; no bed was ever so
neatly folded as his, no tins so brightly
secured. In person he was scrupulous-
ly clean, and he seemed take pride in
the respectability OF his appearance.
In the workshop-he was a broom
maker-his work was generally per-
formed more neatly and more quickly
than by any of the gang. One one oc-
casion, when a keeper had been. ter
ribly wounded and well nigh killed by
mob of mutinous prisoners, Murton
had stood boldly up in defense of the
officer, and had been severely wounded
himself for his pains. In spite of
many such good qualities, his uncer-
tain temper, Respondent moods, and
blind unreasoning ferocity, kept him in
perpetual trouble, and at the time
I write of he was certainly the ''bad
man" of the prison. Now, it was a fit
of sullen, perverse Obstinacy; now, a
fiat refusal to perform his workroom
task; again, a refusal to obey some
simple rule at other times cheerfully
obeyed; and still again, a savage at
tack upon a fellow-prisoner or keeper.
He was strange creature, Joseph Muir
ton, with a strange history, as you
shall hear.
was informed one morning by the
librarian, also a prisoner, that a mall
was to be logged that day for an as
sault upon one of the officers. l have
already confessed that was young,
and a curious desire to witness such
scene, although clearly no part of my
duty, came over me. TO acquaint the
governor of my desire was but a mat
ter of form; and ten minutes before the
big bell tOlled twelve, was in the
courtyard, where the triangles used
for whippings were already raised.
Five minutes later, the prisoners were
marched in to the goose step. and shut
fling along, with furtive glances, took
their places, forming three sides of
square. 1 was told afterwards that
their presence there was not only for
examples sake, but in order that there
oh hr -, hot dc,
to excess of punishment. The keep
ers, in full force and heavily armed,
were of course present; and as the clock
struck, the, governor and surgeon ap-
peared. Two of the keepers, both old
soldiers and adopts in the use of the
''cat," stepped up to the triangles with
their tOrturing little instruments and
next moment, stripped to the waist,
but with coat hanging loosely over
his shoulders, came the victim, Joseph
Murton. Where was his boosted
strength, i'll temper, mad ferOcity
He walked as gently as child, and
half-smile fickered on his lips as he
held his hands out to be bound. l am
not going to describe that mornings
work, as l still remember it it was
the only fflogging l ever saw, and 1
wish had never seen it, for even now
it makes me shudder to recall it. A
hundred lashes was the sentence, and
hundred lashes means a million tor
lures to the flesh, and agOnies to the soul
of any man. But Joseph Murton took
his logging without a murmur or
groan, although his face grew deadly
xuIN nd ic hi
bled. He laughed yes, he actually
laughed out loud when he was united,
and put on his coat himself, although
hardly able to move, so bruised and
lacerated was his back; but as he
passed the keeper who reported him
and caused his stripes, there came an
angry CLEAN into his eyes and a quiv-
er into his nostrils that spoke no good;
and it was well on all sides that he
was hurried away before further mis-
chief was done, for the devil in the
man was reused and knew no cringing.
He was sent t0 the hospital to have
his wounds healed, and it was there
l first made his acquaintance.
L made a point of visiting all the
Protestant prisoners regularly in their
cells, and as Murton had described
himself as an Episcopalian at his ad-
mission, 1 had repeatedly tried to hold
some conversation with him; but all in
vain. In spite of the friendliest adj
vances on my part, he preserved a
sullen silence, and would invariably
turn his back on me if l approached
his cell. On one occasion, when he
had evidently heard my voice in his
neighborhood and expected a visit,
found neat paper notice hanging on
his bars with the following inscription:
Cell No. 26S-4th September, 1S-.
Book peddlers. insurance agents, clergy
men, and other nuisances, not needed
to-day"