The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-12
How Prisoners Manage
Their Communications.
Some Persistent Office-Seek-
ers of BygOne Years.
A Veteran Smoker Sounds the
Praises Of the Briarw0od Pipe.

According 20 an authority Oh penai III
st!tutlons and their management pris-
oncrs make every conceivable effort to
hold intercourse with each other, If only
10 relieve the silence and solitude, intoler-
able To neusons of their class. who have
NOT suffic lent cultivation of mind To
sulply thm with food for thought
Knocking on the walls of separation be-
tween the ce lis. scratching sentences ON
the sides of the baths on the bottoms OF
the tins used for their Cruel, and many
other devices OF an equally Inadequate
Kind are instantly discovered and stopped
by the officers. The chapel is perhaps the
most favorable ground for enabling them
TO make tLeir presence known 20 friends
or acquaintance who have been incarcer-
ated az an earlier or later period than
themselves. The male and female pris-
oners are, of course, rigidly separated
durinfr the services. Generally "a high
wooden partition di yides the portion of
the chapel each Is TO occupy, but that
does not deter them from the communl-
cations they especially desire 10 hold with
those of tive opposite sax.
In singing the hymns, they often try
10 introduce words of their own, or make
very peculiar responses, which can be
understood over the wall A male pris-
oner will be afflicted with a very bad
cough, which iIr measured attacks makes
known TO the laly friend on the other side
that he is in ''qlod, but he is seldom
oppressed by this bronchial malady on
more than one occasion, since the warden
informs him that, as his cough Is so dis
trcssing, he is TO remain In his cell and
not be exposed 10 the air of the chapel
until he il better, cure FOR his com
plaint which Is at once perfectly COM
plete On the female side of the partition,
/, woman permitted 10 take her infant,
born i'm prison, to the chapel with her,
pinches the unfortunate waif until its
shrill yells reveal her proximity 10 its
father, attentively listening through the
wall.
Recently the warden of county prison
was greatly perplexed by the discovery
that the female criminals in his charge
managed in some mysterious manner to
ascertain the presence OF every individual
man on the other, side of the imperyious
dividing barrier. l-6ne of the Women HI
advertently let drop the fact that she had
recognized her husband, whose presence
there must have, under the rules, been
entirely unknown To her. None of the
officers could account for this unpermittod |
knowledge which was found 10 be shared |
by all the other women. AT last "A
very careful examination of the chapel |
furnished an explanation OF the mystery
Although strictly divided, as already |
stated, both the male and female prisoners |
faced the altar in their seats, and over il |
had been fixed very large brass cross, |
so highly polished AS 10 form a very good /
mirror. In this clear surface the women /
saw the reflection Of every man as he /
passed 10 his place, and had enjoyed the 1
spectacle with immunity until wife, |
much Interested in the appearance Of her |
spouse, had made AN imprudent remark
70 one OF the officers that revealed the |
fact The brass cross instantly disappeared
and the blank wall behind IL no longer |
tells any secrets.
President Adams was the first chief
To go into Office as "a party leader
and on party Issues. 1t was during his |
term OF service that the hunt for office be-
came particularly hot and, as "a deliver
into the musty past says, Philadelphia
was then the possessor of a number Of cit
liens who Were willing to serve the coun-
Try at reasonable compensation. Freder- |
lex Mublenbcrg, for instance, wanted TO |
be the treasurer of the mint, and he took
pains TO explain 10 the president that "a |
series OF misfOrtuncs To son -in-law of |
mine occasioned by French captures have |
affected ine very materially, and being, at
present out of public employment L have
poth leisure and inclination TO attend TO |
tho duties of this or any other Office you |
may think fit TO honor me with, whilst |
~ tiiC sltilt tliDt ~ NOuitl ulIOfu me some 1
aid in a situation have never been accus-
toned to. -
Apparently Office was Office with Mr..
whatever its title, for after
waiting some months he changed his |
purse and became AN applicant for the |
Philadelphia collectorship, but was will
ing tn accept either tho naval officers |
berth or the surveyors position. Nearly
three years later, having failed in all his
applications, he appealed 10 President
Jefferson in like manner, attributing his
III success with Adams To the hostility Of |
Oliver Nolcott Another Quaker City | ,
politician conspicuous at that day, was
fhc clever but crratic revenue commits ,
sloner, Trench Coke He was turned
,ut OF Office during President Adams
term on charges OF political treachery TO {
the administration. He came back To I
Jefferson with u plea that the world
sees me yet unprovided for, yet unre-
stored, my old Office held by him who
,xtrudcd me, the best branch Of IL given
- another. He wanted that place or
equally as good, as the latter !