The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1894-08-09
THE WOMAN IN BLACK.
SHE FREQUENTLY VISITS SING
SING PRISON.
A Mysterious Woman Whose hePea.e"
visits 20 the Famous Penal AhstA1u
zion Have Excited Interest as TO Her
Identity.

ton Have Exc1ted interest az ="
Identity. lc
Sing Sing Prison has mysterl- o
ous woman visitor, but that is not
remarkable, because seven-elghts tt
Of the visitors to the convicts there t,
are women. They all have bur
dens of sorrow to bear, but rarely e
Of their own making, and they come h
and 90 year in and year out, to see v
beloved ones whom the world does s
not love and has put behind bars.
The gray prison walls hold all that
is dear in life to these dear moth
ers. wives, sweethearts and sisters;
The husband who has committed
crime that his wife may have lux
urious surroundings usually re-
tains the affections of that wife,
even when he dons stripes and IS
close cropped. The professional
burglar often is model family
man and does not sever his family
ties when he "does time. The
. man who kills his fellow man tor
: the affections of woman and IS
5 having the penalty for that crime
has surely right to expect that
Y that woman will care enough for
: him TO remember and visit him
while he is the servant OF the state
d Then there is mothers love,
g never failing, never even waverlng
e in it's unassailable constancy, and
n that accounts for one-half the
n visitors to the Sing Sing convlcts.
r. Thirteen hundred men are con-
q fined at Sing Sing, and the army
l. Of women-sad women who are sad
n. because of the thirteen hundred
IS must easily equal the convlcts III
y number.
he MANY a romance brought to a
IN tragic climax by the merciless hand
l of the law is suggested by these
&c nntiring visitors. Even the ublq-
ed uitous hackmen who infest the
Sing Sing railway station seems t(
ne appreciate this, for when these
on unhappy ones alight from tn.
no trains and look measily and self
OF consciously about, the drivers real
rs ize intuitively the nature OF thel
to GRAND and treat them with
art diferance rarely met with in thel
lef class. They approach respectful
and in subdued tones say kindly
not ssTo the prison MADAME" or, high
81 this way to the prison.
lall About one visitor only, is the1
any mystery Others give the.
eef names and go to see some convl'
ro- WHO'S known to the keepers. Th
'm- one goes yelled, and no one know
all who it is she goes to see.
ney A tall, 1.-the, graceful woman,
MS tired all in black and wearing
e a heavy black veil, occupied Sc
am car directly in front OF and opp
oat e site that Of the writer recently.
r OF She was uneasy and restles
and thonoh not obtrusively SO; s
me carried herself with the tine
stem serve of a woman of breeding
ap- customed to do such things. Son
ldg- times she would look anxious
you; about the car, as if in fear OF bel
Will recognized, though with her V
you recognition, even by an lntlm'
me me friend, would have been clea
s1ble IN old time hackman at the 81
Nay Sing station approached her as
pom a1;g6ted. She got into his re
onI, shackle conveyance as IL siie !
a a been in it before, and 1t rattleo
q the the hill and over the stony +
a'loh along the bluff to the prison, a
49, hundred yards in advance OF
carts equally noisy conveyance OF
e not equoiiS
n 1n, It was the hour at which
1he convicts. having finished e
IS re- evening meal in the great tee'
muir halt would raise the gho!s
very, Rr;llat Savarin to call 1t DIN
e. IL room-march in lock-step to t
Happy Apply cells, in long, single files. !
nus come through the stone HaS
'on OF prison yard with steady, macf
MOTH f;te shuttle of their heavy pr
% the sboes Keepers stand about
It fur SHOES. HIop IN their hands.
bust heaVy a aI a,+rance to the
court Dy 'iiI ,;la;no containing
lity it grahiUe aoiis are two great
boxes of bread. Each striped
all cradle reaches out and ia
ntence e!aoio ~ I;e, loft hand AS he
. of ex- piece o Mlv.i i' on the RIGHT ar
,ording ses: oiun ;ron slop-pail on v
GU will each - al 4 tha nr;soner's nu1
to have Is Is, palh.o mo 0'' of The SLOWLY m
lose ny line continues for perhaps u