The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-12
"Are those geese or ducks?"

"Are those geese or ducks?"
That was a question asked by man &C
years old in Lansing, Kan, last Sunday.
1t was Arthur Winner. Winner and Nc
Mutt were the two most famous prisoners
IN the Kansas penitentiary.
These men were liberated Sunday, after
an incarceration extending over twenty
years.
At 5 o'clock Sunday morning Warden
Chase unlocked their cells. He took Win
her and McNutt to the prison barber shop,
Rnd after they were shaved gave them two
government suits. which did not fit
Rt all, Winner who worked ia the
prison shoe shop had brought two pairs OF
patent-leather shoes. The men put these
on. With the highly Japanned and s,yl-
ishly pointed foot-gear and the ridicul-
ousIy cheap and awkward clothes. they,
in company with ex Senator o. Ii. Bentley
OF this city. stepped outside the great stone
walls
For twenty years they had seen neither,
tree, shrub, bird, flower, grass nor domes-
tic animal. Two of Warden Chase
daughters met just outside the door aud
presented them with two beautiful flowers.
Several trustees approached them beam
ing and presented them with bouquets
as they went down the path.
BOTH MEN GO WILD,
Tears were in both mems eyes.
See" cried Winner, the more demon
strative Of the two: There is town
There was no town here when [ went in !"
THAT is Lansing" said Mr.. Bentley.
Lets not go there" said Winner ~
want 10 go over to those woods"
McNutt agreed, aud they went over to a
thicket by the roadside. The two came
across a cow.
is that a cow?' said Winner, hesitat-
ingly. Don't go on. Let me look at il. !"
And he circled around the bovine much
as man examines lion In Bsrnum's.
Then be approached her timorously,
and laid his hand on her buck This
he SAID, lis the only cow l have seen In
twenty years"
DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE.
A little later they met flock of geese.
'Look!' said Winner again. "Tell me,
really do not know, are those geese or
ducks?"
He was told they were geese and be tried
winner" said McNutt moment later.
what is that scent? Do you smell it?"
Yes 1t must come from those flowers"
Both men descended upon an elderberry
bush and stripped it of its blossoms. They
were like two children. They picked
every flower they saw and ca rried il with
them.
See here" said Winner ''here is a good
Did milkweed. How green and beautiful
tt is" Aud he plucked it and added 1t TO
his armful of variegated vegetation.
Arthur" said McNutt, very slowly
and deliberately; do you notice how queer
IL is to talk loudly? How queer the words
Gomez
Il wonder if l could sing. guess not"
said Winner. And he did not try.
Both men curiously felt the bark of
every tree they came upon. Finally, with
hair Cd hfs-f. wit
and flowers, they went 10 the hotel in
Lansing. Mr.. Bentley had "a breakfast
waiting them. Winner drank three cups
Of coffee.
"How nice it is," he said, "to have
sugar in your coffee. And cream, tool
Think CT thatr'
WAS USED TO BUTTER.
How does the butter strike your"
asked Mr.. Bentley.
"Oh weilr' said Winner. 81 am used to
that. We had butter every Fourth of
july"
After the two men had eaten everything
in sight they were shown to their room
aud there put on tailor made suits which
had been ordered for them and white
linen shirts. collars aud ties.
They had eaten at the prison early in
the morning. again at the no
tel at 9 o'clock and at IL o'clock
10 another feast. prepared by Mrs. W. Z.
Winner, the wife of The Kansas City Cap
itallst and Winners brother. This was "A
great banquet and both men ate yor-
aciously.
They had never tasted ice cream and
frosting on the cake excited their curios-
lty beyond measure.
IL WAS here that Senator Bentley pro-
posed that they all go back to the pris on
and attend the services III the chapel.
MCNUTT WOULD NOT GO.
mo" said McNut,, in quiet, deter
mined mauner, II am out of those walls.
! shall never go back"
''No, No." he said petulantly a little
later when the party tried coaxing. Il
shall never go back. Neyer,'
And McNutt did not go back
Later in the day the whole party went
10 Kansas City. The long Imprisonment
had duiled the mems minds. They asked
1 bout everything they saw. NcNutt
nnted TO know what grape vines were.
When they reached Kansas City they
beth began to place things that they had
Tsat about In the newspapers
McNutt could not distinguish be-
tween cable and electric car. He in
sisted on trying both, ana finally got il
into his head which WAS which. i
la the evening they went 10 park and
Neither had read about this in the papers
and We're greatly excited over it. They
also insisted on stopping and examining
every high building closely.
HAD MOVED \ CENTURY.
''Iu these twenty years." said McNutt,
effectively. 1.-The world has moved along
= century"
Again he said. rs he noticed the
women and children moving about freely
under the trees. sit is not the peniten-
tiary mind SO much. l. is the restraint.
This air is tree and l cannot breathe
enough of it,
NcNutt's case is really the sadGer of the
two. Winners folks are wealthy, among
the most wealthy in Kansas City, and he
went at once TO their palatial home. where
he was received with open arms McNutt
has no one To whom 10 90. His old mother
stlil lives In Nova Scotia and is very poor
Ills wife is married to another man
and lives somewhere il Missouri. Winner
was nineteen when he went TO the peni-