New-York tribune., 1898-12-25
At Eagle and State sts.

| for pardon grow less and men naturally have
| more hope In that direction than the convicts In
| the other classes. 1t Is the intention OF the
| prison authorities TO keep all men, at sing
| Sing, all Il men at Auburn and the c men and
the confirmed criminals and bad men. VINO
| make up the d class. at DannemOra
One day the musical captain sent reQues'
to Warden Sage to the effect that he wished 70
| make a verbal communication. The next Gay
| the Warden went to the shop had the man
called from his work and asked him what no
wanted and surprised to hear that ne wan
| dissatisfied with his work, and wanted )op
| which required less physical exertion. lnsteat
Of making a prompt refusal. as the Warde9
was tempted to do. he argued with the man
| and told him that he ought to be well satiSheo
with his place. The convicts face flushed, ano
one could see that he had to restrain hmsei
| to keep from talking back" This was noticed,
| and in going out or the shop the Warden told
| the man in charge to look about for anothes
head man. that the poet had shown that he was
not safe man
This bappened few minutes before the noon
hour and the in the various shops were
already forming to march to the mess hall In
less than five minutes the large paved yard
resounded with that strange sound which is
of striped beings from all directions tow
ard the mess hall Before the first Of the column
had entered the hall d cry of Fire" arose from
the shop in which the warden had spoken to the
poet convict
A PRISON FIRE.
It time Of dreadful anxiety for the
Warden and the guard and the few visitors who
stood at the hospital door watching the grew
same parade There were thirteen hundred des-
perate men. guarded by hancful OF officials
and within a few feet of them a building was
rapidly being destroyed by fire. One concerted
! rush on the part OF the convicts might over
| power the guards. and in the confusion many
of the convicts could gain their freedom But
the discipline OF the prison showed itself at that
time. and only one man in all the throng OF
c0nvicts made the least sign or motion TO leave
the lOckstep parade. sharp word from the
Uniformed guard brought him back into line
| and company after company wound through the
usual paths and into the mess hall Once in
the hall the Warden slammed and bolted the
doors. and then the prison force devoted itself
| to the task Of cxtnguishing the fire.
When ii was all over Mr.. Sage sent a messen-
ger for the, poet prisoner All the other conyicts
were allowed to remain in the mess hall. AS
soon as he reached the Wardens office he was
asked. why did you set the place on fire.?
The bluntness of the question: the assurance
with which ii was put, seemed to disarm him.
and before he fully realized what he was doing
he had confessed that he had fired the shop.
While his company forming and on his
way back from the spot where he had spoken
to the Warden. he had stopped for a moment
and empted the contents Of a can containing
a volatile miXture, used for cleaning cloth. upon
a bundle Of rags and had then thrown a lighted
match on the pile. He knew that the men
would be in the yard before the fire gained
much headway. ami he believed that the con-
fusion which would follow the discovery of tho
fire would not only divert suspicion. but might
result IN a wholesale prison delivery.
That night h meditated over the britleness
of human plans in dark cell. and the next
day found himself reduced from class
man to low man in the ID class The first
draft Of men for Dannemora included the poet.
His contributions have become a part Of the
prison literature and at the Christmas concert
some Of his former companions will think OF
him when they sing:
For I wish you all a Merry Christmas and
also Happy New Year