The Helena independent., 1893-12-23
WOMAN CLOSELY YELLED.
4 Mysterious Female Stranger Who
Comes se Sing Sing
Prison.
livery Two Months Regularly She
Makes Her Appearance at
the Cato.
and watches the Line OF Passing
Prisoners.

and watches the Line OF Passing
Prisoners.
Sing Sing prison has hysrer10us wom-
m visitor, but that il not remarkable,
because seven-eighths of the visitors to
the convicts there are women. They all
have burdens of sorrow to bear, but rarely
Of their own making, and they come and
60, year in and year out, to see loved ones
whom the world does not love and has put
behind bars. The gray prison walls hold
wives, sweethearts md sisters.
Many romance brought to q tragic
climax by the merciless hand Of the law
II suggested by these untirng visitors.
Even the ubiquitous hackmen who infest
the Sing Sing railway strtion seem to ap-
preciate this, for when these unhappy ones
nlight from the trains and look unensily
and self consciously about the drivers real
tze intuitivcly the nature Of their errand
and treat them with q Difference rarely
met with in their class. They approach
respectfully ,and in subdued tones say kind
~, "To the prison, madamr" Or, Fright
this way to the prison"
About one visitos f;'T IL there any mys-
terry. Others give their names and 20 to
sec some convict who is known to the keep
ers. This one goes veiled, and no one
knows who it is she goes to see.
A tall, 1.-the, graceful woman, attired
all in black and wearing a heavy black
veil, occupied the seat in a car directly in
front of and opposite that occupied by q
World reporter one Saturday recently.
She was uneasy and restless, though not
obstrusively SO. She carried herself with
the fine reserve of a woman of breeding
accustomed to do just such things. Some
times she would look anXiously about the
car, as IL in fear of being recognized,
though with her veil recognition, even by
IN intimate friend, would clearly have
been impossible
An old time hackman at the Sing Sing
station approached her as she alighted.
She got into his ramshackle conveyance as
II she had been in it before, and it ratified
up the hill and over the stony road along
the bluff to the prison few hundred yards
In advance of the equally noisy convey.
ance of The World man.
1t was the hour az which tho convicts, ]
having finished their evening meal in the
great feeding hall-it would raise the
ghost OF Brillat Savarin to call 1t dining
room-4march in loakstep to- their cells
in long single files. They come through
the stone tagged prison yard with a
steady, machinelike shuttle of their heavy
prison Shoes Keepers stand about with
heavy sticks in their hands.
Near the entrance to the lohg granite
building containing the tiers of cells are
two great open boxes of bread. Zach
striped miserable reaches out and takes q
piece with his left hand as he passes.
Slung on the right arm of each is an iron
slop pail, on which is painted the prison.
er's number. The shuttle of the slowly NOV
ing line continues for perhaps 90 minutes,
at the end of which time each of the l 300
has, with his supper in one hand and his
slop pail in the other, been locked in his
cell.
The woman had been shown to the yard
and stood, keeper by her side, under t.-e
portico of the inhospitable looking hospi-
tai building. The long lines of convicts
marched toward her and turned not 10
feet from where she stood and marched
past the breadbox into the building. She
supported herself with one daintily gloved
hand against the stone wall, and leaning
forward in an attitude of eager interest
faced down the approaching line.
She tapped the payementI impatiently
from time to time with the toe of her neat
boot
Some one in that, long line riyeted her
attention., but there We're hundreds there,
and the veil prevented any one from seeing
which striped one 1t was. -. XII g.
The prisoners nll turned away their
heads as they passed the woman, ". Was it
prison rule that prompted this, or a
sense of shame that has survived harden
ing crime? Not one did otherwise. Many
faces flushed, and If any one in that line
recognized the trim figure and graceful
pose of the strange woman he could never
be detected by the flush, for flushed faces
were too numerous
When the last man of the last line, n
negro on crutches, who killed policeman
on Wall street, had disappeared In the
door, the woman was escorted out by the
keeper. She thanked Principal Keeper
Connaughton for his courtesy, which, to
all visitors, men and women, is always
the same. Her voice was pleasant, and
there were no tears indicated in it. Her
manner indicated nothing in particular,
and certainly not grief. She was driven
away to the station and returned to New
York.
two months. Sometimes the interval be-
tween them is longer, and sometimes, but
seldom, she misses one
She has been coming for nearly three
years, and her visits are always ut the
same hour She secs all the prisoners in
their lockstep march, and no one connect
ed with the prison knows her name. No
one in the prison has ever seen her face.
There are two ways of accounting for
the periodical visits of this mysterious un-
known. She either loves or hates, with
greater love or greater hate than ordi-
nary, some one of the Sing Sing convicts.
Perhaps it is love that impels her to re-
main veiled and thus to spare the object
of her affections humiliation and shame
unrequited love perhaps lends her to con-
ceal her face. Possibly her hate of some
one in that long line of erring men derives
a certain pleasure from the sight of him
in the moment of his disgrace.
Who can tell why she hides her facep
Is it because of love or hate9-New York
World.
After tho Grip. take Hoods Fnrsaparills to