The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-03-12
BIG TOM, CONVICT.

q hope OF his ever being free man
again. They meant that he was tech
nioally guilty. He had sought to save a
woman from beating ut the hands Of
her husband and in the struggle and
excitement he had struck blow which
caused the death of the man. 1t was
accident, in O sense, but it was also
manslaughter. No man who is man
will stand by and see woman beaten,
and yet if he interferes he must take
his chances with the law. Big Tom, as
the convict was sometimes referred to,
was, like most big men, a child in his
gentleness and good nature. He did not
complain, but he grieved. He thought
Of the years and years which must drag
away before the prison doors would open
to him, and he moved about like a
weak, old man. The prison officials felt
pity for the man, but convict is a con-
vict, and all must be treated alike-all
who show obedience to the rules They
sized him up as childlike and good ma
tured, and yet they said to each other as
they talked Of him:
"Look out for Big Tom He will
break loose some day and do some des
perate thing"
They thought it would come during
the first six months of his term-then
during the second-then they almost
became afraid of him. Men who are
slow to anger-who go on grieving,
brooding and bearing mental burden
for weeks and months are devils when
the climax comes.
Big Tom had the management of the
trip hammer in the machine shop. Had
they put him in the shoe shop or tailor
shop he would have rebelled at once.
His place was beside the biggest piece
of machinery in the shops, two pieces
of machinery, as it were-Tom and
Trip. Day by day and week by week
and month by month, as the ponderous
hammer rose and fell and its blows
shook the very earth for yards around,
making the convict smile and look
proud, the guards had an eye ON him
and kept saying to each other:
at u4Il come. It is only delayed.
When he breaks loose, he will kill some
one and have to be killed in turn.
Nearly half of the second year had
passed, and the giant convict had never
even sulked, when one day there came
into the shop as sightseers husband,
wife and little Girl or years old.
Children are seldom seen in prisons,
aud it is rare thing that they are
taken into the shops in the yards. II
any one in that prison knew that
conyict 1880 had a daughter-a faiI
haired, handsome child, who could only
walk alone when the jury pronounced
his verdict Of "guilty"-he had for
gotten the fact. His wife had visited
him as often as visitors were allowed
but the child had never been seen with
in the grim walls. Knowing that hel
husband had killed man by accident
| the wife could bear to see him wearing
the horrible stripes of a convict, but tC
let the child look upon him, to gaze il
wonder at the iron bars, to ask why al
those men were there, thousand timei
mol And so this was the first child Biz
Tom had seen since the heavy doors shu
him in. Father, mother and child came
close to him and gazed at the ponderou
hammer with wondering eyes. YoI
would have argued that the sight of tn,
child would have softened the convict
heart and brought tears to his eyes, bu
it did not. 1t brought a feeling of mad
ness, Of desperation. of frenzy. To sav'
woman from a brutal beating at tn,
hands of a drunken, worthless thing no
fit to be classed with men he had strucl
a blow
A jury had called it murder in tn
second degree, and he was here in pris
on ON a sentence almost never ending
He had been wronged, and the knowl
edge Of it fired his heart and brough
the long expected outbreak. With sud
den cry which startled every one in tn
noisy shop Big Tom made spring for
ward, seized the child in his arms, ant
there was shout of defiance on his lip
as he held her at arms length an,
glared about him. The mother of tn
child gasped for breath and staggeret
back to the wall and sank down. Tn
father stood staring, as if struck dumb
but presently held ont his hands in 81
lent supplication. Big Tom glowere
and muttered in reply. He was a con
vict, childless father. He was dea
: to his child--she was dead to him. ii
could not make another fathers hear
ache and throb and grieve as his did
but he would secure revenge.
After muttering he was silent N
, one cried out. Guards and convicts wer
seemingly stupefled There was the huI
! of machinery, but not of voices. Cor
! victs turned from forge and anvil an
bench and lathe and held their breatt
The two shop guards leaned forward
their chairs and looked and looked, bl
! they did not move or cry out.
4 "What will he do with the ohildY"
, The two men working at the trt
Z hammer with Big Tom had fallen bacl
He had control of the machinery whiC
worked it, The answer TO the questiC
could be- read in his eyes. Men hi
: wronged him under cover Of the lay
!. He had beeiI deprived of liberty,
4 graded aud disgsaoed. Death were mo
!, inerciful than such sentence as hi
and Ia dying he wopld secure reveng
A piece OF iron had been left under g
% hammer. There was heard the sound
crash crash crash as the masa Of ir