The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-13

lie is LDDkfn& better IMAM ne ever Ul0
in the Topeka jail He seems to be
stronger and heartier and his face is
not so bloodless and pale.
When the Topeka crowd was shown
through the tailor shop after dinner
Coulter was working near the door,
standing UP to a table and sewing with
a needle and thread on a piece OF black
cloth lie looked up and smiled at
those he knew, but he conformed to the
rules of the place by not uttering a.
word or making a. sound.
The officials say that Coulter is one
of their best prisoners
81 am getting along all right here"
he said afterWard to the reporter -and
I am learning q trade. I have twenty
one years to stay and I shall come out
a better man."
what about your conviction2'
"Wen. the shot was done accidental
but I guess circumstances were against
The 10 year old boy has been in the
penitentiary since March His shooting
through the head Of the farmer boy
Edward lllston, on Ioneiy road seven
miles southeast of Topeka ON the aft
eruOOn of October il. 1880 his escape
with the team and wagon and capture
two weeks afterWard in valley rails,
his home, the trial and conviction of
murder in the second degree and Judge
EaZen's sentence to p years at hard
labor are of too recent occurrence TO
demand repetition.
Few Topeka people have forgotten
Rev. John l.. LOngdOn. the Methodist
pastor VINO was DLO4S NJ 10 s--eLA--t by
the Social Purity league He had wife
i'm another town. but lived in South To-
peka. for sometime with another Woln-
an and her daughter He was sent to
the penitentiary on December 81, 1894,
for criminal behavior. the complaining
witness being the daughter
At the penitentiary Rev. 14r. Long
don is regarded as an intelligent man.
He is a good prayer and ne takes
prominent part in Sunday devotional
exercises He expects to be pardOned.
Longdon is clerk Of the coal shaft
He goes about LeavenWorth i'm his con-
Wet clothes taking orders for coal and
collecting bills. lit is a trusty position
and they say the preacher is a good
A number Of the Topeka prisoners
viii say farewell to the big prison this
fall
The first one to leave viii be the Ne
gro. Dennis Thompson His time eX-
pires October p. but he viii leave the
usual ten days before Thompson was
q years Of age when he went into the
penitentary, October 10, 1889, for nine
year term for assault with intent to
kill. He is one of the dremen for the
stationary engines inside the prison,
and is q sort of a half trusty-
a. most Intelligent colored man is
VIM. Fisher, who viii again make his
bow to the outside world on November
5, after nine years OF oDscullty- FlSher
sings in the choir and teaches a class
i'm the school, which is conducted on
Sundays. He is with the jobbing
after the penitentiary grounds.
Fishers alias is Il. Clark lie was "a
years old when he was sent up in July,
1889, for burglary in the second de-
James 0din holds down the easy but
~Ot lucrative position OF gate tender.
He viii be liberated November 2. odln
is another one Of those colored bur
glars. being but Is when ne was locked
in on November Is, 1891
The Negro. Bert Parker. one of the
was only 19 when he Went to the penl-
tertiary on October Is, 1889 for assault
with intent to commit murder lie
works in the mines and viii gain his
liberty on January 3l, 1887
The rest of the Topeka prisoners viii
not become free SO soon
wv. I'll. Young went to Lansing for bur
glary on February 4. 1893. and if he
doesn't make any bad breaks his seven
years sentence viii be completed by
October g, 1898. Young labors in the
shops.
A penitentiary hit has been made by
Andrew and Arthur Ransom on ac-
count of their singing. and they add
materially to the melody or the convict
choir. The former broke into a AIissOu-
ri Pacific freight car in the South To-
pela yards one night. and went to the
penitentiary on October n. 1898, for it,
and he is working i'm the mines.
Arthur Ransom Joined him last year
for burglary He is q Kitchen me-
chanic" in the prison.
Right at the head is where the no.
torious Mary Marshall, colored, stands
ia the WOmen's department. She went
in June I'll. 1895, for highway robbery
She snatched $50 in bills from man rs
hand in January when he came out of
q store near third street and Kansas
avenue.
OF the hfty-four Shawnee county con
Victs thirteen were taken there w ed
nesday by Sheriff Kepley. three by
him at the last term of the district
court and fourteen were left there by
cember. So there are twenty-four who
have been there more than year
Some Of the most desperate criminals
that Topeka has contributed to the
states prison were among those taken
this week
Charles Rote and William Doyle both
of whom aided in Bill Vests escape,
We're handcufad together. al new and
severe pair Of handouts was put upon
them. and 1T was we'll it SO happened,
for they had a key which would have
unlocked the old. They did not give
up hope until almost within the peni-
Tertiary walls. Then q guard in the
sheriff's party saw them making last
attempt to unlock the handouts. and
they threw the key away.
Had these two men been given the
least show they would have tried to
heat the bullets of the Sheriff and his
five DEPUTIES.
Another man who was vel watched
was Henry Sneed, who tried to kill
May I'd wards He made no move to
get away, however. other than to
scheme with Pote and Doyla. He was
handcuffed to- the big country fellow
Tan7as Shrover. who stole a watch of
Silver Lake man.
The prison ers jOked and tried to keep
up their spirits on the way over. Each
one had on a pretty bouquet which
friends had brought to the Jail for
them. and these lent a sorry appear
arCe of gayety to their battered
clothes until Lansing was rec ched
when the flowers were all discarded.
H. r. Gaines. sentenced to a year for
killing Albert Cruger started out i'm