The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-12
PRISONERS 1T HOME
RECEIVED THE MEMBERS OF THE
LEGISLATJRE AT THE STATE
PENITENTIARY.
SKETCHES or A SHORT VISIT
BRIEF CHATS WITH SOME OF THE
MEN KNOWN In ST.
PAUL.
NOTABLE CoNvIcTs PICKED OUT.
An Exciting Episode Furnished by
MeiG@s-TaIl< With Hull, FIeury,
Btixt and Others.

Inc HIeHlpeTS OF the legislature, ac-
cempanied by their ladies and other
| friends, visited the state prison at Still
water yesterday, and as Editor John
| Lynch, of the Prison Mirror. very ant
ly put it, the lawbreakers were lat
| home" to receive the lawmakers. AL
! though the weather was not especially
propitious, the st. Paul & Duluth spe-
cial, which pulled out of the union de-
pot at 10 o'clock. bore to the Prison
City nearly 800 persons. The train was
in charge of the veteran conductor,
| Tommy" Leonard" who took down
and brought back his passengers in the
| cleVerest fashion, without the slightest
/ incident to mar the days pleasure.
| The visitors We're received at the prison
| by President O'Brien and Messrs. Ed
win Dunn, John F. Norrish, f. w. Tenn
! pie and M. 0. Hall, members of the
board AT this time, most of the con-
Viets were hard at work in the shops.
| but hardly before the visitors had in
spected the big prison the signal was
given for the men to quit work and
! prepare for lunch. Over 500 men. rep
resenting employees from about TWENTY
fVe departments, filed in in platoons
! accompanied by guards, from the shOps
! INTO the main entrance Of what is
/ known as the cell house. In a very
! short time the men had washed for
! dinner, and filed into the two dining
| rooms for the first and second grade
! conVlcts, respectively, where there had
/ peen placed generous portions of sub
/ stantial wholesome food, consisting
OF meat, vegetables and a generous
slice of fresh bread
In each of these two sections sat
about 200 men, some half dozen mus
! GUAR negroes being seated by them
! serves IN the rear. A dozen StalWart
! guards stationed themselves around
the tables. Prominent among the sec
olld grade men, was the long smooth
| ShaNen countenance OF eX-Pastor t
! I. Hall, who is doing time for wife
| poisoning. Meiggs, one of the Mer-
chant S National bank robbers, with his
bald head and bull dog countenance.
ana several other convicts from ST
Paul, OF lesser note. In the down
STAIRS dining room sat Sam Baltimore.
the burly negro, who is serving out a
sentence for having brutality beaten a
cClored woman in this city. and Ham
Hong, the Brainerd highbinder. com
mitted for twenty-five years for muir
derlng, with a pal, one Of his own
countryGnen.
FOUR WOMEN THERE.
The woman's department, of which
MISS Mary Mckinney is the matron.
was visited by a large number of the
legislators and their friends There
are but four women at present commit
tea, three of whom are doing short
terms for minor offenses. The fourth.
admitted to the prison yesterday, is
Mrs. Prayer Of Brainerd, convicted for
the murder of the boy Maxwell. a son
OF the man with whom she was living.
Mrs Prayer, who is anything but at
tractlVe in appearance, has told sew
eral conflicting stories about the crime
and yesterday stOutIy maintained her
innocence and said that her convic-
ton was the result of an unfair trial
at Brainerd. She believed that if She
mad had competent lawyer and q
jury, she would never have been con-
Victed
After an illness in the prison hospi-
tai Tor seven weeks, Rev. J. c.. Hull
the st. Paul minister, for having
poisoned his wife, has been assigned at
MS own request, to the big indoor
Wcodshed, where he was found yester-
Gay industriouSly engaged with saw
and buck. He wears his hair pompa-
dour, and with his side whfskers and
clerical garb gone, looks like a gawky
schO0lboy. lie was clad in prison garb
and wore checked flannel earmarls.
Asked il he had anything to say, he
replied: II have nothing to saw to the
press. l viii stay here six years.
was certainly misrepresented by some
OF the papers. l did not make any con-
fession, and / am not guilty of any,
thing. | might have something to saw.
but it would not be printed in the Twin
CITY papers. l was i'll, and asked to
be sent out here, and am not working
because l have to-"
MEIGGS GLAD TO TALK.
J: J. Meiggs, one of the quartette,
which, including Fleury, whose sen
sational break occasioned some ex-
element yesterday. is doing time for
the hold UP Of the Merchants bank
messenger, is a unique character. Aged
considerably since his term began, he
still retains the sharp, shifting look of
the cor" man beneath a pair of beet
ling brows. Otherwise he has the ap-
pearance of a rustic, save for a wicked
set look about the jaw. He seemed
glad to be afforded an opportunity 10
set himself right a chance which he
said he had not thus far been accord
ed.
Il wish to maintain my innocence"
he said. 81 have been here for more
than three years now and have to serve
in all eight years. The men with whom
L was convicted were Tom FIeury,
James Howard and Ben Miller / knew
none of them. l have my books here
which will show I have lived in Cali
fornia for forty years, l have held two
offices there, deputy marshal and depD-
ty constable. / met Mr.. Fleury at one
OF your picnics, / think at White Bear
lake. l got to know him and was
interested in him. but we never were
implicated in that bank job"
Mr.. Meiggs then went into a lengthy
history of his acquaintance with I
Fleury, but dwelt on the innocence Of /
both and his inability to get fairly I
understood.
YOUNGER BROTHERS, TOO.
The Younger brothers, of quiet retiring ma
lures, from their long term of Imprisonment /
ard experience with the visiting public have /
lost much Of their old-time attraction for |
visitors, although from their easy manner the |
peeple-and especially the lades-did not |
hesitate to greet and shake hands with them
James Younger, now 40 years old stood in !
the door of his cell and extended his pale /
hand, soft from lack Of actual work to those |
who knew who he He is the prison !
postmaster and librarian and said with con- !
siderable ZeSt that there were $500 volumes in
the library and that nearly IS per cent of /
the prisoners were in the habit of reading |
them. He greeted the newspaper men with !
some show Of pleasure, adding that he felt |
that they were his friends. His brother Cole |
Younger, No. 699, is the head nurse in the |
hospital department which is quite cornpIete /
This man, although big and hearty looking, !
IS sald 70 De as soft and gentle as a woman !