The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-01
WOMEN IN KINGS CO.. JAIL.
STORIES THEY TELL or WHAT
RROUGBT THEM THERE.
Nary Rorden's curious Tale OF = Jtitsd
suitor's WsvenEe-Forgerr to Save =
nuAbAnA rrom Drink.

4ol. short term $40, women ~, out even
while the writer was In the building one woman
and four or Ave men were added to this num-
her. There is caste among prisoners es among
all other folk. Kings county'S penitontiary has
It's aris,ocracy, its middle, and Its lower class
prisoners Those favored by the Warden and
by the keepers do not Escape the Jealousy or
their less fortunate neighbors. The belief maj
there is favoritism may have no better basis In
fact than that some OF the United States pris-
oners, who are 10 there for evading the Revenue
laws, wrecking national banks, using the
United States malls fer illegal purposes. or some
such onense-educated men. who can make
their laoor OF more value To Kings county by
being kept in the oflces than by being sent to
tho manufacturing departments-nre given
positions at bookkeeping.
People behind prison walls generally deserve
to be there, and are seldom Ill treated while
they are there; hence, any great amount of
sympathy for them Ia u waste OF good material.
There are persons who cannot witness suffering
without feeling pity even when they we'll know
that the suffering is the result OF = knowing
violation OF some law or order. II cuts deeply
into ones sympathies to see q mother with an
infant cooling aud smiling In her arms and to be
told that tho baby was born In the prison and
that the mother has another child OF less than
two years in the penitentiary with her. This is
the case Of Mary Miller, now In the Kings
county penitentiary ut Flatbush with her baby
As pretty. as fat, as dimpled . baby as 1t would
have been had 1t been born before its mother
was committeeman her two-year-old girl
Mary Miller Ia q delicate looking woman. thin
nearly to cancellation. She does not look as II
she had the strength TO do very hard work.
Whom she was asked what brought her to the
peniteptiary. she replied with y trembling lip.
but . bitter expression: Tho formal charge
against me was forgery In the second degree"
Pressed . little to talk moro freely and to try to
believe that the one who was speaking to her
wished her we'll, the tears sprang to her eyes
and abe said, "Oh. l Am here because / am such
q depraved, wicked woman. ! suppose" When
urged not to talk in that way. she said!
Whats the good? ! forged several checks;
only one OF them did I succeed in getting the
cash on. That wal n check for $3.50, and $40 of
that amount ! returned. My husband was In
business at tho time. Upon those cold facts
am here. and everybody will say l deserve to be
here. What's the good of telling people that
my husband drank, that he did not bring his
money TO his family. that 1 had been slick nigh
unto death. that I had my little girl, now only
two years old. and knew that l should soon DO
the mother of another; that trouble. sickness.
and q drunken husband had made mo crazy,
despera,s2 Nobody will mako ANY allowance
for these things. They think mo q shrcwd.
btuhEt Ohhe oSoua = SAD0Ays
LIE, 1t 90 at that"
Docs your husband stll drink ~
"Yes, he was here last Sunday. and be was
certainly considerably under the influence OF
liquor"
when do you 60 outf"
I'm March,"
And will you 20 back to your husband whom
you are free /"
sYss; what can l dot have these two little
children. have not q dollar or u friend in the
world. Ny husband knew absolutely nothing
about my attempts to forge q check. Aside
from the fact that his drinking brought me TO
do what l did. he is perfectly guiltless"
WAS there any special use TO which you
wanted to put this money ~
Yes; my Idea was to get enough together TO
20 away from here. l thought that II / could
separate my husband from his companions with
whom he drank could reform him. But, again,
what's the good of talking about that7 Nobody
will believe me. Even my own family has
turned against mo-"
Gould any of your family have helped you
financially 7"
None of those that are here could. My
father, who 10 in Central America, could have
helped me, but l did not want him to know about
my husband drinking"
That Ii the story Mary Miller has to tell of
herself.
Mrs. Annie Murray was sentenced by Judge
Tiehe to spend 100 days in the Kings county
penitentiary or pay q hne of 500 for shoplift-
ing. Tho article stolen was . leather belt of less
than one dollar In value. Mrs. Murray says that
she has @ daughter who Is on tho operate stage
and q son OF 12 years who 10 with frienda. Ac-
cordinG to her story she was made use of to
build up the reputation of an ambitious young
detective. She cannot tell how 1t was that she
came TO take the belt. She had bought q pock-
etbook. somebody else had bought tho belt
She took both packREes. But why. she asks,
was she not allowed to pay for the bolt and
end the matter. aa che would no doubt have
been permitted to do had she been the wife or
daughter of q rich man instead Of q poor dress.
There arc three colored women in tho peni.
pension under, false pretence. Tho most re-
markable OF these women is Annie Borden,
statss prisoner, coming from Portsmouth, a' Va.
She 10 AZ years old. but does not look It. In spite
St ies ff asr ' iuns: :a AZ. Is st By e9 a %sr9 e., l 5os good
have doubts about her living out her term OF
mpris9nment; She e ,all and gaunt. but by NO
but she 10 q useful woman In tho psnitentiary,
shs keep. track q tho Laundry M takes com:
prison until the Last bit Of it is wbisted away 10
best woman in The prison. There are Ave cliI.
ureu IN II poultNntlAIy. j 10 u RTekt source OF
comfort TO Annie. who loves all these little
babies impartially, that III you secs any Of our
babies out on dc lawn You don't see dem In any
prison close: Dey's tist - vol dressed a. any
ehillun in FlAtbush., Dey little close has ruff
fea and 'broidery on dem. And's made wild hom-
stitohin' Jos like any, othsr bAby's close. Dey
hain't no priaoners. dem babies Amt. If dey
hain't no cloth OF do right kind to make dero
dresses with ! sees dat we git IT."
eginO q tall. thin coIored wooan, not too black,
dreNsed in tho blue Jeans OF the prison, with q
white bandannA tied round her wool. standing
before yo9. She walks with q tragic leonine
mAu's revenge against q woman who would not
marry him. AA q work Of fiction, II II DO fiction.
Il 10 not 70 BIO dsspised. This 10 how Annie
tells III:
out Of q pension. and for that I'm in here for
fve years: But that sip't so. Use here for |.
not been in Portsmouth for eighteen or nine
teen years. / never had q. penny from Cow
ment in my life. But dey's people here In dis
prison dst'G DRAWN money from dov'msnt
right straight along. can trnthfully say that
of liquor In my whole life. never stole nothin'.