Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-03-28
FoReERIEs COMMITTED IN JAN
California Convict Whose Career -,
Crime Did Not End In Prison

A California Convict Whose Career =,
Crime Did Not End In Prison.
BY some strange accident there Ia,
been discovered in San Quentin prison
crime as odd and uncommon as any thai
Gaboliau's fertile brain ever evolved
In the ordinary prisons it is usually
presumed that once a criminal has been
secure v lod red within the walls n,
career Of crime is ended for at least tbA
term Of his incarceration. While this /,
not entirely true of the California paDi-
tentitry. it has heretofore managed Ia
keep most Of its occupants from the
commission Of felonies Of which other
prisoners were the victims.
+, remained for Convict G. r. Bach
ran. however, to distinguish himself in
way that no imlbirl before him ever
did, and by such ingenious Improvement
Of the opp7re anities offered him as To
mark San Quentin as one of the most
uncommon prisons in the world There
is a great deal Of managerial method in
the administration of affair at San
Quentin Of the kind that carping critics
call red tape Among the many forms
which are vigorously carried out is that
of having envelopes, which are intended
to carry communications to the deputy
warden, printed with his name and tids
in full upon the face.
When anything of importance had 10
be communicated to the deputy it was
invariably inuusted to a convict to In
sure it safe delivery.
Bachman, who is serving a long term
for arson; Failing, a life convict, and
"Fat Jack" liiley, who has about forty
years penalty to pay for felonious ~
sault, all had access to the deputy war
den's mail These three prisoners en-
joyed the privilege of reading all these
important communications addressed 70
the deputy warden whenever it suited
them to do so. and all because of those
imposing and official looking printed
envelopes.
A supply Of the envelopes was easily
purchasable. Whenever there was
letter intgusted to a convict messenger it
fell into The hands Of one Of the trio. Il
was quietly taken aside, the envelope
torn open, the contents read and noted
and provided these critical readers found
nothing objectionable in the letter it wa
placed in one Of the extra envelopes and
delivered in due form.
In his mill that is to say the deputy
warden's portion Of it, Bachman one day
discovered that an old man. William
Phelps by name, who is serving Life
term for murder, had several hundred
dollars on deposit in the wardens hands
Bachman had been spending his money
( in royal, spendthrift way, and found
his exchequer in low ebb Here was I
chance to recoup, and to play stroh
worthy of his genius and opportunities.
! He gained the confidence Of the oh
man, told him he had influential friends
and promised to get him pardoned. Their
/ the clever tirebug sent for a lawyer and
told him of the case and interested him
/ in Phelps Later on Bachman gave tds
I lawyer an order on the warden for ;
( considerable sum of money, with Phelps
! signature attached, and also a note Of
approval bearing an officers signature.
The order was taken to the warden
who wrote q check for the amount, and
was about to give it to the lawyer when
an officer standing by suggested that it
would be wise to send for Phelps and
see if it was all right The officer wa
not suspicious, but simply familiar with
/ his surroundings.
Phelps was sent for and denied eveI
having written the order 1t was eI
amined AMI found to be a forgery Then
the officer who had approved the order
was summoned, and deaied as emphat
ically that he had signed the note Of ap
proval. This was also found to be S
forgery.
A little further investigation was sug
gested, and, although rather unprece
dented, was carried out, and it wa.
found that Bachman was the author Of
both of the foTgeIies.-San Francise
Examiner