The sun., 1894-05-06
IN CELLS AND PENITENCE.
STRANGE RELIGIOUS AWAKENING
kMORG CONFLICTS ar SIEG SING.

|
A spoutsseous Mov.m-ut Ar,s,se v-ith Csr.
| tsiu OF the Better Hnfar-sd Frtsousrs-
| stieat Meettuer, Prayer st Cou-sa
Hou~, snd Hap'isns-Snvinss Tor HIbies.
There IL q revival going on In Sing Sing
| prison which IL as unlike the numerous re-
,ivsls OF the last few months as the conditions
Of life in the prison arc unlike those In the
| world outside. There have been no eloquent
| evanRelists. no sin RlnR evangelists. no women
| evanEelists no mass meetings. and none OF
| the enthusiastic scenes which characterize
| the camp meetings and revivals which the
Methodsts have been holding each sum
mer for the last sixty years In the town Of
| Sing Sing. Prison discipline would prevent
such features. and the work has been done 20
quietly that Head Keeper Copnaughton snS
the under keepers will tell you that they know
| OF no such revival.
| II began soon after New Years Of last year.
| Its growth Is marked By special quarterly ser
| vices. and It's present magnitude is Indicated
| By a special service held on Easter Sunday.
| It happened that the Rev. J. c. s. Wells Of
| the Episcopal Chur,h was made prison chap
| lain early In 1893. Ills dutics brought him In
| contact with most OF the prisoners and among
them he noticed there we're certain ones who
enjoyed the confidence OF the keepers and the
almost universal respect OF their fellow prls-
oners. They were looked up to. These men.
some OF them. seemed to be In prison from
what might be called hard luck or unfortu-
| nate circumstances rather than from delib-
crate or almost habltual wrongdoing. Some
OF these prisoners. Mr.. WELLS found. had been
and were still members OF churches.
Mr.. Wells did not talk too much to the pris-
oners. and after a while some OF them got we'll
acquainted with him. There is q little bex
which hangs Just outside the cha plains oflce
In one Of the gray stone buildings, and into
this box prisoners are In the habit OF dropping
communications when they have something to
cay to the chaplain. some OF these men
dropped notes In the chaplain's box. and SUBJ
sequently some OF them seemed to want to get
back to where they wore before they got into
trouble.
Some OF the men talked with Mr.. wellls-Mr.
WELLS has learned that It is quite as we'll to
let the men talk to the cha plain instead OF TAX
ing the initiative him self-and In the course OF
two months so many prisoners had talke ed with
him that on Easter last year he celebrated
com m union with the men. There were four
teen men at the service. and In addition one
man was baptized. That was possibly tho frst
time that Protestant com munion service has
been celebrated in a prison. The men got sc-
auainted with each other at that service. and
the noxt day three OF them. finding that they
worked in the same shop. got together in one
corner and organized a daily noon meeting
for prayer and Bible reading.
The next day a similar meeting was held.
and soon the m en- bership OF this noon meeting
increased to nine.
Every once in q while Mr.. WELLS found other
wished to be admitted to membership in this
Odd church which practically was forming.
H @ IL a.S S ss OF sS 81
prisoners. for he knew there were many who
s"s sGad Of aS s@n ff the
pull" with the chaplain or a reputation for
good conduct is thought to be quite factor in
shall be shortened. New converts were found
frequently. The men adopted the idea Of the
these meetings were, being held, some OF the
prisoners lid clerical work and being in an en-
closure by themselves found 1t easy to ho.d the
Most OF the work done By the prisoners is
%orninS. morn and when that is finished they wash
for dinner. The inter al between washing and
i ina and IN this % L ia S no, i@possibie that they
were aided by the guards. some OF whom had
being engaged Ia another part Of the shop
In July another prisoner was baptized. and
October. ffu iiity.three prisoners were % present
before Christina: hiiy:soven men were present
As the mum bers Increased Mr.. WELLS found
that nearly all ,he dsnominations were repre-
tionsIists and Methodists and EpiseopaIisns
and Baptists. Then there were some mem bers
not NJ tea care ret to nam name any Of the prisoners who had
Joined the movement, IL was learned from an
authoritative source that Weeks and the WE'LL
was Albert IL smith from Brookiyn. who was
admitted to Plymouth Church after his con-
yiction The Rev. Albert II. Vedder. a Preshy-
terian minister. took much interest 10 the
work. and found opportunity to do good deal
for some OF the men.
All the prisoners could not meet for the noon
service and some one proposed union PRAYER
put out at 81 O'Clock. and Il was decided that at
that moment when the men were going TO
sleep for the night. each one should mars
out. and every night the union PRAYER meeting
has been held. each man. In his own cell and
separated from all the others. psusing few
some OF the mon were not so familiar with
the Bible as they wanted to be; The prison
furnishes Bible to every man that wants one.
was a certain Bible with a concordance In It
which some Of the prisoners wanted, and to
get that they saved the pittAnce which they
cen cent? e' Sf the % net prot ' which tSsr WORK Sss D
helped to create each day. This per cent.
amounts In the cases OF some men TO as much
as three cents day, The men saved thelr
the Bibles
The largest service since the revival began
was held this last Easter sunday. At about
were going and coming from their church SER
vices. ninety five OF the prisoners. every one
wearing the distinctive prison clothes. left
and walked slowly toward the chapel. It was
cold and cloudy. hut the me did not have to
walk so far TO their church as people in the
number Of guards near By. Mr. WELLS met the
men. and. after haptizing nine. com m union
was celebrated for the fourth time In the prison