The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-05-15
ED MEN HOPE.
Never Discouraged Until tho Worry La
Moment at Their Agony.

~~-- E
Never discouraged Until tito worry Last
Moment Of Their Agony.
"A vIsitor 70 the prison Al Sing Sing 70.
marked bsfors Principal Keeper C~onnaugh-
ION the other day that II he were In Carlyle
Harris position he would much rather die
q once than have his sentence commuted
10 imprispnment for lie. In a moment tho
big, handsome md usually ~reticent Official
turned on this thcorizing peraon and said.
Nc may hin 10 now, but X you were
whore Harris 10 you would not. have
honrd . lot OF people talk that way who
wsrs In no danger Of death. but IN nv
nineteen years. experisnoe. during which l
have known the feelings OF nbont 100 con-
demned murderers. have yet to seo ono
who. when tho awful tins approached md
the shadow OF death fell upon him. did not
long for life on any terms. even hunger.
hard work and o cell. tell you u 70 my
experience that the post wrote oven moro
wisely than he knew whom he said:
Hope springs eternal in the human breast.
1T la conceivable that a man, II he had
NO time for real reflection, might of hand
choose death to lifc imprisonment; but
when he has had time to think hs begins to
reason and then to hope. He thinks OF
death. and even though no may bslisve IN
nothing. no breads tho great nnknown. In
his own way he reasons ~ Hamlet did 10
to
What dreams may come
When We have shutfied off this mortal coil,
and he admits, with = shudder. that It 10 all
unknown and 30 dreadful. n 30 he longs
for a little rcspits from the long. endless
The ills he knows rather than death and the
things that he knows not of. Then he
thinks TO himself: II I can get my SON
tence com mute ! mny In a few years got out.
Something mny turn up which will induce
the governor to pardon mo. ! may hive an
nome deed OF bravery which will b ing me
favorably to his notice. My friends will
work for ms, luck will favor me. Yes.
give me life. sweet life. on any termsv
And so the poor wretch, who maj have be-
gun by being almost reconciled to his fate
comes at last to long and hope for and even
expeot life.
when the final moment has come and
he has to face the inevitable he may do 1t
camely, but even at that moment IL he
should see the smallest glimmsr Of a hope
for a Communication to life imprisonment.
you would sec ali his stoicism give way and
thcn you would really learn how q man can
long for life. Carlyle Harris 10 like the
rest OF them. All human nature must be
the same in its underlying motives. and he
lonRsd for a commutntion. perhaps, more
strongly than others because he has creator
IntclllReOC6 LQ0U OtU6C CTlmlVdlUs
~"Some men any, too. that II they knew
that they had 10 die they would rather die
at once than get a feprieve or have a long
period elapse between sentence and execu-
ton. These people are also mistaken. for
the same reason that the condemned muir
derer would rather have imprisonment for
life than death. He hopes for something
TO turn up. We are all Micnwbers when it
comes to the point. We hope always for
the impossible.
"Another curious thing / have noticed 10
that not a life prisoner has ever come here
who did not think himself much more for
tunate than men sentenced for twenty
years. For n long tine I did not unde.-
stand why, but l at last discovered that it
was because the very severity Of their SEN
tence made them hope the more. They had
no set period to look forward to whea lib
erty would be theirs again, so they set a
period for Themselves and that was always
'to-morrow.' This tomorrow for them
may mean next week. next month or year,
or when a new governor is elected. But
they all look forward and hope.
'tstranrs to say. I have discovered that
this hope il we'll founded. l have taken the
trouble TO compile tho statistics Of Sing
Sing aud other Ameriean prisons, and I
have found that NOT only do moro twentv
prisoners, but that fully 30 per cent less OF
the latter serve the equivalent of a twenty
year term than do those who are originally
sentenced to twenty year ternis."
but that would tend to show" inter
rupted one Of his hearers. "thAt there 10
more sympathy, for murdsrers than for
smaller criminals. such AZ burglars and
embezzlers."
"Thnt is exactly what 1t elbows" replied
the big keeper. and he smiled rather cynic-
ally % he bit the end of q cigar and started
toward his home.