Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-10-23
AN INGENIOUS CONVICT.
His Remarkable Work Performed
While in Prison.
He Seeks Diversion in Untried Fields
of Employment and Makes Him
self Useful to His
Keepers.

In little cell on the second tier of
one of the dormitories in the Maryland
penitentiary, Tobias f. Hudson has
passed nearly nine years of his life. Cut
off from intercourse with his fellow
men, nothing meets his view as he
gazes from his grated window but the
brick walls of dormitory and workshop.
On June 26, 1888, Hudson was convict
ed in Hagerstown of stealing two
horses from George Stonebraker, and
was sentenced to thirteen years i'm
prisonment. He says he was not guilty
of the charge, but that fate and the tes-
timony were against him, and he is only
waiting for his release to collect evil
dence to clear his name.
When first convicted, says the Balti-
more Sun, he was dazed, and continu-
ally brooded over his condition, but he
gradually realized that occupation was
the best means of diverting his
thoughts. Before he was sent to the
penitentiary he met with an accident
which rendered his left arm almost use
less, but with his right hand, assisted
as far as possible by the crippled mem
Der, he accomplished more than many
able-bodied men having their liberty
ever accomplished. By working over
time he earned little sums of money
with which he bought material for oc-
cupatiOn when his tasks were finished.
He brought into use his knowledge of
clock-making, and soon his little cell
began to show the result of his labor.
From the marble works in the prison
yard he procured bits of various colored
marbles which he fashioned into minia-
ture monuments, which he skillfully
carved and polished, and into which
he set little clocks. From smaller
pieces of marble, onyx, bits of stalag-
mite and lava, he made crosses, watch
chain pendants, ETC., neatly set in
frames of gold plate.
He found he could not work all the
time, and he commenced to purchase
books, which he eagerly read. He was
careful in his selections, and one corner
of bis cell is filled with nearly two hun
dred volumes, including histories of the
principal nations and books of refer
ence.
A short time ago, when electric light
wires were beng placed in the prison,
he became interested in electricity and
purchased a few standard works upon
that subject. The result was the. con-
struction of half dozen different cleo
trio appliances, including burglar
alarm which he has just completed for
Warden Weyler's bedroom. He also
made a curious-loolzing clock, which
adorns the walls of his cell. The dial
is semicircle of white marble, with
twelve at each corner, and the other
hours marked along the arc. 1t has
one hour-hand, and two minute-hands
set opposite each other, so that both are
seen only at noon and at midnight. The
seconds are marked on a separate cir
cular dial by hand that moves from
right to left By an arrangement of the
mechanism spring that would run an
ordinary clock twenty-four hours will
run his clock fifty-six hours.
The man is constantly seeking diver
sion in new and untried fields of work,
and when prisoner escaped from cell
in the prison yard by hammering on the
paddock which fastened his cell door
until the bolts dropped back and the
lock opened, Hudson determined to in
vent a paddock that would preclude
future escapes in like manner. The re-
suit was the production of lock which
seems to be all that he claims for it, be-
ing so arranged that hammering on it
drives the bolts deeper into their fast
cping He exhibited model of his lock
to Warden Weyler, who was so much
pleased that he showed it to the board
of visitors, and they at once adopted it
for use in the prison. Castings for the
locks were made in the prison foundry,
a lathe was purchased and set up in
Hudson's cell, and he was relieved of
all other tasks so that his entire time
could be occupied in the manufacture of
locks. In a short time they will be
used in all the dormitories of the pris-
on. The locks are neatly finished with
brass rivets and key-holes, and to all
appearance might have come out of
some factory.
Hudson has always been an exem-
plary prisoner, and is entitled to TWEEN
ty-six months Communication of time.
He will therefore be released April S,
1894.