The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-01-25
The Communications Between
the Ccny cts.
Between
ARE UNABLE TO FIND IT OUT
The Silent system Is Powerl IS TO Put a
stop TO the Circul tioh of News
aiu the Pri on.

III the great gray SlOue structure call
ed Sing Sing there are always from 1900
to 1000 convicts, men who have commit
ted every known crime. These are the
pick of the criminal population of New
York city. There are novices among
them but the atmosphere there is so
heavily charged with the knowledge of
experienced crime, that before they
leave, the novices know nearly all the
tricks of the craft.
Silence is supposed to reign supreme
in Sing Sing. A convict is forbidden to
converse with another If his lips move
he is at once bounced upon by the
watchful guard and placed in solitary
confinement. 1t may jeopardize his
good conduct" record and force him to
serve many months, or perhaps years,
of confinement, which he might escape.
For this simple reason few convicts are
detected in the act of talking or con-
veying information in any way.
Yet they do talk, and talk, often too.
But how they do it is a mystery which
the officials of every large prison the
world over would like to solve In Paris
and in London, where the discipline,
perhaps, is even stricter than in Sing
Sing, the convicts have a system of ex-
changing information. Keepers who
have been among convicts many years
have endeavored to discover the trick.
but without result.
Principal Keeper Connaughton has
been employed in Sing Sing for 30 years.
He went there young man and now his
hair is snow white. lie has intelligence,
and besides takes more than official in
terest in the convicts. He is continual
ly studying them and knows more about
them than the average man would ever
dream existed. He has won the friend
ship, such as it is, of innumerable con-
victs, but great as his experience and
knowledge are, he has never been able
to fathom their system of communica-
lion.
Not only do the convcts manage to
exchange news. but they do other
things. For insta zee a man who had
been confined for 20 years left the prison
on his release whistling one Of the latest
comic opera airs. How he managed to
pick up the tune and retain the notes in
his memory would puzzle a Philadel-
phia lawyer.
HOW NEWS TRAVELS.
If there were a presidential election
today every convict in Sing Sing would
know who was elected the first thing to-
morrow morning, and just how the diff
ferent states stood. Every important
news event which happens the world
over they know about, yet to read a
newspaper or to be caught with one is
a serious offense. When a noted pris-
oner arrives, like a murderer doomed to
the death chair, every convict knows
all about it before the clerk has fin
ished taking his pedigree. Yet the con-
victs are separated in a dozen large
buildings. News travels incredibly fast
there and so silently that the vigilance
Of the keepers count for naught. It
seems to soak in through the stone
walls and make its presence felt, only
to the unfOrtunates.
Each convict knows the criminal his
tory Of the others. He knows all the
bad men," the men who would not hest
tate a second to commit murder, if pro-
voked, even within the stone walls Of
the prison. Yet there is no talking.
And there is no talking with the fin
gers. When a convict is walking across
the prison yard he keeps his arms fold
ed across his breast. When he is idle
in the work shop for minute or two
he keeps his arms folded.
If1E Sl1ENI > STEM.
1t is not due to lack of vigilance that
the men are able to communicate with
each other. The silent system is enforc-
ed as carefully as it is possible to en-
force it in an institution where the pris-
oners are not kept in solitary confne-
ment. When the men are in the work
shops or in the yards they are almost
constantly under the eyes of the guards.
I, r..l,f 4
the lock step, each squad looking like
dirty gray caterpillar as it swings
across the yard and each man in that
squad facing the same way There is
not an instant when the men are un-
watched, and 1t is difficult to explain
how they communicate. OF course
some Of the tricks have been discovered,
but these are only resorted to when par
ticular convicts wish to converse.
A COMMON RUSE.
The fake fight is a common trick
Two convicts without a word Of warn
ing will spring at each other like en-
ragged tigers, and clutching one another
around the neck will roll over the
ground in a perfect frenzy of rage.
Blows and kicks will be dealt with ter
rife force. but all the time valuable
words will be exchanged. Genuine
fights of this kind are of common occur
renee, and so faithfully are the fake
fights carried out that it is difficult to
distinguish the false from the real.
Criminals who were bitter enemies in
the outside world often meet the first
time within the confines of Sing Sing.
and when they come together a fierce.
if short, fight is bound to come off. That
accounts for the number of genuine
fights