Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-20
THE BOGUS AGENT OF PATTI.
Prison Life of Benson at Portsmouth
and Elsewhere.
THE OFFICIALS AFRAID OF HIM.
How the Sbrcwd Swindler Made Mis-.
cradle the Lives OF His Keepers
His Attempted Crcnhation--A
Radical Revolution.

PORTSMOUTH, Jan " New YORK Hcr-
aid Cable-Special to the BEE. The news
Of Bensons arrest in the United States was
received by the prison authorities here with
this comment: "rhank heaven his offcnse
was not one to bring him back here" This
induced the Herald correspondent TO inter-
view veteran warden, whose name cannot
be mentioned, whose, instead OF writing a
diary like Inspector Byrnes, memories
events in kind of of peripatetic cycopeda
for the home Office His recollcctions have
reduced to a narrative and these Bensonana
may serve as guides to the keepers who may
hereafter have this remarkable convict in
charge.
Upon the 9th Of April, 1857, at the central
criminal court, London, he was sentenced to
fifteen years penal servitude. After serving
his probationary period at Pcntonville he
was, being Hebrew, sent to Portsmouth in
June, 1873 to complete his sentence. In May,
1888 however, he had proved such a trouble
some prisoner that he was sent to Darmoor,
where he remained until entitled to his ticket
Of leave. During his Imprisonment Benson
was at no time a favOrite
among the prison authorities. He vas
always regarded with suspicion and kept
under rigorous surveillance. There was
never any Likelihood of his trying to escape,
but the officers could never be sure he was
not Matching mischief such az to cause
anxiety and annoyance. He first came under
notice during the FrancoGerman war, when
he obtained 81 600 from the lord mayor of
London ostcnsiby for the relief of sufferers
from the bombardment of the Chateau d I'm
He was arrested Immediately and sentenced
to fifteen months.
Soon after his arrival at Newgate he broke
up his cell furniture which he set on fire ana
then sat on the flames, apparently with
view TO- suicide. BY the time the fire was
discovered Benson had sustained such njur-
les as to produce permanent lamencss. His
father whose Offices were in the Faubourg
st. Honore occupied a prominent position in
Paris. Sufficient influence was brought to
bear on the home Office so that before the
fifteen months had expired, Benson was lib
Grated
Then he developed those greater schemes
of fraud which ended in his being sentenced
to penal servitude. He took up his residence
in the Isle of Wight and passed himself off as
Count Posino. He started the Isle of Wight
journal. The newspaper still exists, but he
made many enemies by the personal char
actcr of his articles. 1t was at this time he
made the acquaintance of William Kerr, with
concocted. Kerr was in the habit
Of supplying him with the matter and
Benson edited the sporting paper through
which the frauds were worked. The suspi-
cions of the police were aroused and Inspector
Clark frequently visited Shankln in the in
terests of Scotland Yard. Benson then re
moved 20 London, where the turf frauds were
maturcd. Benson, hearing that Kerr had d-
vulged the secrets of the conspiracy, protfered
himself as queens evidence, but though he
was allowed to appear in the witness box the
home Office consistently refused to
reconsider his case or grant him
special privileges. On the other
hand Kerr was treated with marked leniency.
When the case was concluded he was re-
moved to Chatham and allowed to work out
his marks. Further he was allowed to make
ten marks a day, whereas ordinarily the best
conducted convict can make no more than
eight, and thus every six days of his mpris-
onnent counted as ten. The rough and dan
gerous plan of breaking out of his cell was
the only means that Benson did not
employ to secure his liberty. There was one
long struggle between him and the authori-
ties. First he was granted ticket of leave.
There are some convicts who work as CON
scientiously as if they were on piece work.
Benson was never one of those. His lame
ness was always valid excuse for avoiding
laborous work, consequently the authorities
made u tailor of him, but he never got beyond
the patching stage. At length he obtained ad-
mission to the hospital, and in his memorials
to the home Office adroitly magnitied the i'm
portance of this event to show that his health
was being permanently injured by continuous
confinement but the home Office was obdurate.
grounds and carried his point to the farthest
limit After staying in bed over two hundred
days he was naturally weakened and his COM
plexion grew deathly pale. knowing as he
did the great powers vested in the hands
of medical officers in recommending for re-
mission of sentence or discharge, he
pressed hls case with great asslduity, but
the medical officers We're convinced he was
feignng, and when he saw no chance of sue
cess in this direction he got out of bed and
soon regained his strength. Benson's own
warden had no more difficulty with him than
any other. While there was never a show
ing of violence. the principal officers he so
harrasscd that, no matter at what prison
he was, the officials were always glad to have
him removed, for If he was not complaing o (
sickness he was forever making formal
complaints to the governor or memoralizing
the home Office His verbal complaints were
artfully proliX, and so purposey ambigu-
Gus that it wa? often difficult TO discover his
grievance, while his written memorials are
quoted as evidence of the best dicton and
best penmanship that ever emanated from q
convict in prison. But with such suspicion
was he always regarded, that no officer
from the governor to the Youngest warden
would ever speak to him or be spoken to by
him except in the presence of witnesses.
But, while he was n thorn in the side of the
officials, he was the admiration of his fellow
prisoners, by whom he was looked upon as a
polished blade, and as soon rs he entered the
prison his black, flashing eyes, long, thick
eye-lashes and swarthy complexion drew
upon him the regard of his brother convicts,
80 that the freemasonry among prisoners by
means of which one man can communicate
with another, he brought To perfection
and he had code of signs made by eyes,
ears mouth and hands which was only un-
derstood by his cohfederates. He thus was
enabled to keep himself informed of all that
was going on in the prison, He somehow so
fascinated the other convicts that all We're
ready to serve MIN at the risk of infringing
the prison rules, yet iG would never lose self