The San Francisco call., 1897-10-17
MURDERERS GET
OFFICERS FOOD
Regulation Prison Fare
Not High Enough
for Them.
Condemned Men in San
Quentin Live on the Fat
of the Land.
The Story That Durrant is Break
ing Down Is Denied From
the PenItentiary.
Special Dispatch toTHE CALI


SAN QUENTIN PRISON, CAL, Oct. 16.
Strange as may appear. it is nevertheless
a fact, that The condem ned murderers oc-
cupying cells in Murderers Row are being
fed a thousand times better than the
horde of striped convicts within the walls
OF the States greatest penitentiary at San
Quentin. In other words 10 commit an
atrocious murder and be sentenced to San
Quentin means 10 receive meals served
from the ''outside" dining-room where the
officers and euarjs dine, while TO commit
an ordinary crime such as highway rob-
berry, or any felony, and be incarcera ted
within the walls of the big penal institu-
lion means 10 receive only the ordinary
common food served in the "inslde" din
ing-room, where the convicts eat from tin
| plates the coarse food that keeps body and
| soul together.
| This state of affairs is nothing more nor
| less than putting premium upon muir
der and assassination, and has been in
operation ever since Theodore Durrant,
! the tendish murderer of Blanche Lamont.
was received MT the penitentiary. Until
the advent OF Durrant the murderers were
| fed as thew deserved-from the dining
room and kitchen, where the other crlm.
inals received their food-but with Dur
rant there came mighty change, and the
! food mat common prisoner was COM
PEELED to eat would not do for high-class
/ criminals. Those who have taken the liie
of fellow creatures must have better; so
the order was issued that in the future the
miserable tiends in Murderers' Row should
be fed from the officers mess.
Such is the startling condition at the
San Quentin penitentiary to-day, and
eight of the coldest- b CODED murderers
. h..t hat nrf mi ,oI L. -
the State of California are being fed in a
royal manner from the kitchen which sup
plies the dainty morsels which tickle the
palates of the officers.
There are ten murderers under sentence
of death within the penitentiary, and
eight of them are confined in Murderers'
| Row. These are the men who eat the be st
the State can produce, and they are
| Theodore DCrrant, who murdered two
! girls III San Francisco; Benjamin Hill,
who ended his wife's life III Oakland !;
Harvey Allender, who fouIly assasslnated
his sweetheart and a man in San Jose
Joseph j. Ebanks, WHO killed two old
people for no reason whatever and
/ Chaves, Searcy, Fellows and Miller, four
! conv cted murderers, whose cases are now
! on appeal.
There are over 1860 con victs in San
! Quentin, and out OF this mum Der the eight
| murderers, whose deeds have horrltied
/ liberty are dear. are the ones selected 10
receive the better food served from the
officers dining-room.
The prison authorities at San Quentin
offer no explanation why these murder
ers are treated better than the numerous
other convicts who are confined in the
penitentiary.
at has only been in vogue since Dur.
rant came" is the reply 10 the inquiries
why such a show of partiality should be
made. When the young medical student
came TO the penitentiary the order was
given to serve the condemned men from
the officers mess and not from the con-
victs kitchen. as was the case here ofore.
Like many other things at San Quentin
this also is mystery.
The report that Theodore Durrant has
| broken down in his cell and given up all
hope. published in San Francisco even
ing paper, is without the slightest truth.
The prisoner has the me defiant air that
he has main tanned from the first and,
while be is little saucy at times, he is
we'll behaved and hopeful. He refuses to
see newspaper reporters and will not talk
with any one save his attorneys and par
ents in regard 10 his affairs.