The Anaconda standard., 1895-12-23
OUTWIT THE GUARDS
Criminals Have Secret Methods of
Communicating With Outsiders.
VIA UNDERGROUND LETTERS
Prison Authorities Unable to Ex-
plain How All Kinds of News
Travels Among the
Prisoners.

TTOfn tne new 1Ork sun.
1t would seem to be almost certain
that DR.. Meyer. since his incarcera-
ton In Sing Sing prison. has been able
to send underground" letters to his
wife. And he is by no means the first
desperate criminal confined within
those gray stone walls who has found
IL possible to plot with the outside
world. 1t is asserted that DR.. Meyer.
in his smuggled letters, gave his ac-
complies directions how to get the de-
sired insurance on the proposed VIC
TINS life and carry out the rest of the
plan to poison him. Several masons
ana other citizen mechanics have been
employed inside the prison walls dur
ing the summer, and 1t is suspected
that they may. innocently or other
wise. have afforded him the means Of
communication with the outside world
DR.. Meyer handed letter addressed
to his wife and written In German to the
prison chaplain not long ago to mail.
An II he said that on a certain day he
would send her an underground" let
ter in which he would give the pre-
scription" to be used. This letter made
II very clear that he had been plotting
another crime and Warden Sage or
dered that his cell be searched The
keeDer found there letters and memo
randa that were considered damaging
evidence against him of another MUIR
der proposed for the sake of the life
insurance that his accomplices might
receive.
DR.. Meyers underground" letters
were probably not a very great sur
prise to the keepers, and yet Sing
Sing prison is one of the show places
for men in this country who are in
terested in penology. 1t is pointed out,
along with the Elmira reformatory, as
a model institution of its kind, and
probably II is. aside from its accommo-
dations. which are disgraceful. "Un-
derground" letters are no reflection on
the discipline of Sing Sing, and any
man who has been connected with
prison management will say that these
things are one Of the mysteries of pris-
on life.
They almost indicate that the war
den or the keepers are neglecting their
duties. Such communications are pos
sible in every big prison in the world
Prison officials say that II is impos-
sible to prevent them altogether, and
Sing Sing claims to have fewer such
leaks than any other big institution in
the world News of Importance cir
culates among the convicts almost as
rapidly as 1t does in the outside
world. There are in this prison about
1.5OO or 1.600 convicts, men of all
grades of intelligence, from the bank
cashier and the clever bunco steerer
down to the sot who in alcoholic frenzy
committed a crime. The silent system
is enforced as carefully as II is possi-
bic to enforce 1t in an institution
where prisoners are not kept in soli-
tary confinement. When the men are
in the workshops or the yards they are
almost constantly under the eyes of
the guards. They march to and from
their work in the lock step, each squad
looking like dirty gray caterpiller
as II swings across the yard, and each
man in that squad facing the same
way. III the lips of a Convict are seen
to move as IL communicating with an
other. the guard is down upon him in
1iny. Notwithstanding all precau-
tions. the men do communicate with
one another. The news of the result
OF presidential election, for instance,
Is known to every man in Sing Sing
on the morning following, and curl
ously enough it is of intense interest
to all OF the convicts. If these men are
kept in as nearly solitary confinement
as the delapidated and overcrowded
condition of the building will permit,
and If the silent system is enforced,
and If the guards are watched, how
does such information circulate so
quickly?
The prison officials say they don't
know. They do know many of the
tricks of the convicts, tricks that are
handed down by one man to another.
and some of them explain in part how
news may travel among men in prison,
but there are many cases where they
can find no reasonable explanation.
AND In instances where the prisoners
have held communication with the
outside world through other than the
regular channels the keepers are even
more at sea. What has been generally
accepted as most extraordinary in
stance of this sort occurred in 1898,
when Pallister and Roehl made their
from
the guard Is most strict. These two
condemned men had received no spe-
cial favors from the prison manage
ment. They were constantly under OBJ
servation. and they were in that part
of the prison where the watch is most
strict. They were carefully searched
and. so far as the guards knew, they
held no communication with any but
those permitted by the prison regula-
tions. One stormy night they made
their escape, and II was sensational
and. so far as the prison authorities
were concerned Ii was a success. Two
bodies were found in the Hudson river
two days later. and they were identi-
fed as the bodies of Pallister and
Roehl In the opinion of the men who
knew something about the prison their
escape was the result of a prearranged
plan. and ii included not only the two
most conspicuous actors in IL, but their
circumstances pointed to outside aid,
and. in order that such outside assist
ance might be effective. Pallister and
Roehl must have communicated their
plans to the men who assisted them.
No clue has ever been discovered as TO
how this was done. This is only one
instance of many where under
ground" letters have done their work
This faculty of communication is of
the most value to the convict and the
greatest worry to the guards in plan
ming escapes.
Il have heard long-term men," said
Principal Keeper Connaughton. who
has served as an officer in Sing Sing
for many years. directly after their
release. walk away from the prison
whistling or singing the popular airs
of the day. The convicts are not al
lowed to whistle. and much less to
sing these songs. so how did these men
pick them up? / have seen a good
deal of prisoners. but there are some
things of that kind that I have never
been able TO exDlain TO my own salts