The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-24

upliG Dy pluGl Ol w tIutll hotlSSt NllC takes that means of rewarding a we'll behaved inmate, and the privilege is more highly appreciated than gift of money would be. On the night before his discharge the prisoner is locked up as usual and receives his evening meal in his cell. At nine o'clock the lights are turned out, but the men who are to be discharged on the next day are usu- ally awake long after the other cell oc- cupants have gone to sleep.
 As rule the last night in prison is as Wakeful as the first. The first is full of anguish, remorse, homesickness; the last with it's visions of freedom, home, friends and the uncertainty as to what will await him Ion the outside makes the hours years, and in many instances a dose of bromide is prescribed by the prison physician for the men who are about to go out.
 At last the dawn breaks on the last day, and the prison "bit' is nearly done. As precautionary measure, to prevent the man who goes out from bearing letters or messages from fel- loW-convicts, he Is not allowed to leave his cell on his last day until the other conVlcts have been marched away to their work, and from behind the iron cell door he sees the line form; sees the striped figures linked closely one to the other moving away like a great gray and black reptile, and hears the half shuff1e, half-step echo through the vaulted corridors, while he nibbles at the breakfast which has been brought to the cell. But "hootleg coffee" and ntHpr nriCOn Hn1inoniac box l1ct tbni, charms, and the man stands close to the cell door with bundles all ready. The bundles contain such trifes and trin- kets as may have ornamented his cell, and the prison property, which must be turned over to the officials before he may leave the place. Excitement, ner- vousness and stif1ed emotion are writ ten on every feature of the man.
 At last the supreme moment has come, and blue-coated keeper goes to the cell door and calls the name of the inmate. He steps out into the corridor. At the same moment men in other parts of the prison are going through the same form, and the little band is gath cred into company at the door.
 One morning recently an official who was not connected with the prison ac- companied a keeper in his way to libe- rate some men whose terms expired that day. One of the convicts, as he stepped from his cell, shrank back and turned pale when he saw a stranger with the keeper, and cast steathy glances at the man whenever he could. The keerer explained that the convict had undoubtedly committed crime be- sides the one for which he had served, and he feared that the stranger was an officer come to arrest him.
 That happens frequently" said the officer, "and it is a pitiful sight to see a man all keyed up for the outside with possibly years of service behind him
 taken into custody on the prison threshold. A man must be made of
 iron to take such a dose without a struggle
 When the graduating class, each man with his bundle under his arm is brought together a keeper gives the command "Forward!" sharp and dis
 tinct and the men march toward tke
 prison yard, and when this point is
 reached they are ordered to "close up,
 and then for the last time-until they
 return to the Hotel Sage-the uni formed men march in the hated lock,
 step to the room where years before perhaps, they were stripped of their cit izens' garments and robbed in the uni
 form of shame. If they served less
 than five years the recent graduates , saw the some convict in the apartment who helped them at the time of theil initiation. Then he stood by as eacf man was weighed, and then he selected from closet near at hand a uniform for the new prisoners. He had been ir the clothing business and knew at g
 glance what size garment a man re
 quired, and if he made wrong selec. tion it did not matter, for size or two
 one way or the other made little differ. ence to the first-day convicts, although later on many of the wearers of stripes
 develop tastes for style and become
 particular as to the fit of their gar
 ments.
 Now the convict stood at the scale; once more while the men weighed, ant
 received the clothes which the gradu
 ates were ordered to take off. H.
 stored them away in the closets ready | to be handed to the new men who come with the regularity of the day to tak' the places of those who have "dont their bit" Every article of clothing i
 removed from the men, and then the!
 receive new garments from head t. foot. The underwear is of a superior |quality, and the clothes, to all appear i ances, far above the average ready |. made kind
 There is popular belief that tn garments which convicts wear whel , they come to prison are kept for then .until they are released, but it is not ; | fact. Garments of any value are mad over and are given to departing guests but in most cases they are converted } into scrap and used like other rags. Clothed in garments of American cit , lizens, with boiled shirts, neat neckties } well-f1tting coats and comfortable over , icoats, no one would recognize the mel as they came from the state shop wher , the transformation had been made l As they walked out the men who stil , wore the stripes, and whose dutie 1 brought them near to the departin; , linen, looked wistfully at them, and tn , keepers pretended net to see when tn 3 linen waved a parting salute to the poo 5 fellows whose days would not come fo 7 tyears, and who might never pass be } 'yond the prison gate. As the littl s lparty reached the yard once more : stern command, "Halt!'' brought tn f men to a realization of the fact tha