The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-08-11

Joseph Staples, the pioneer lumberman of
the st. CrOix died at his home in this city last
Saturday, aged 81 years. He had resided in Still
water continuously since 1S4S This section of
country was wilderness when he came to it,
1t is sweet to hear the voices of birds about
the prison, but there would be no grief here if
old tabby should throttle that hooking old jay
that sets up his prOfane cav, cav, cawing at the
break of day every morning Sundays included.
The second grade caps are now being manu-
featured in Mr.. Bordwell's gents furnishing es-
Enlistment" They are of gray-back checked
goods and are similar in shape to the first grade
caps The suits will be of the same style of
goods.
The following is copied from an old delivery
ticket picked up in the yard the other day. 1t
seems to be an order for something: ''Mr Sui
Ivan make Aut of Thresher 35 90 DrOm kapt 10
49, Drom kapt and Baton jOrn for Same.' The
signature is entirely obliterated.
The Schulenburg Boeckler Lumber COM
pany's large saw mill, situated about half mile
above the prison, was almost totally destroyed by
fire early last Friday morning. 1t is thought to
have been set on fire by a stroke of lightning
The light of the fire showed plainly in the prison
Rev. Father M. E. Murphy. for many years
our Catholic chaplain, is spending few weeks in
the city. There are many within the walls who
would be pleased to have peep at his pleasant
features He has been in Europe during the
past year, but is now located at West Superior,
Wis.
OF the fifteen men who subscribed the CAPT
tai on which THE PRISON MIRROR was started,
only four remain in the prison, and one of these
goes out soon. OF the eleven departed ones
three or four are in their graves, one is in Ger
man prison, one in prison in neighbOrng state,
and the rest save one, have been lost track of.
On September %, 1854, the first two cOnvicts
began doing their Bit" in this prison. They
came from Ramsey Co. The one having the hon
or (?) of appearing on the records as Number /,
was sentenced to eighteen months, had pimples
on his face and scar on thumb of left hand
He escaped April g. 1885, and has not been heard
from since. He wouldn't know old Battle HOl-
low now.
Did you see that fellow. hustling about the
prison last Friday wearing rather hOrsey suit
of clothes? Well, that was the Deputys runner
in new second grade suit The suit had been
made up for inspection by the Board of Managers,
and the runner was put inside of them simply
to show them off to the best possible effect-a
compliment to his shape. 1t is said that chlOrO-
form had to be administered before they could
get the suit away from him.
Almost any phenomenon is susceptible of
explanation in some manner, and so it is with
many other things. There is prison rule
against prisoners having their hands in their
pockets unnecessarily. This rule seemed to us
simply arbitrary, a despOtic invasion of natural
rights, until friend explained that the rule was
for the purpose of training the boys to keep their
hands out of their own pockets while in prison
that they might not fall into the error of getting
them into other peoples pockets out of prison.
The boys found big rat in the big wire trap
in the cellar. They took the rat trap and the rat
out in the back yard. One boy got the old cat
that kills hundreds of rats every night, in her
sleep. The old cat saw the rat and she looked at
it savagely. After going around the trap many
times trying to get the rat, she turned her back
to the trap to ask the boys to let her at the rat
But before she had time to speak, the rat stuck
his SnOut through the wires of the trap and took
hold of the cats hind leg. The boys got the old
cat away from the bad rat and she ran into the
cellar to catch some more dream-rats. MORAL:
The boys smashed the old rat with club.
"A photo-artist was around last Thursday
with his "cOncertina' taking views of the prison.
We felt very much crushed because our estab-
lishment was given the cold and clammy gO-by,
but we speedily recovered from that squelched
feeling on realizing that he, and not we. was the
loser. Had he called, we would have opened up
to his inspection all the Offices mysteries, in
trigue and other journalistic paraphernalia from
the petrified owls to our ingrowing toenail; we
would have posed in persOnifcation of every
great editor while in state of eruption that has
SlaShed with shears and swashed with paste
brush from Dana to Beersheba. We would have
been more Obliging than this, we would have
made favorable mention in THE MIRROR of
his pictures, which would have made them cele-
brated throughout the world as the first works
OF Nineteenth century art. No, it is not THE
MIRROR that has suffered
Minnesota's Prison Wardens.