The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-29
CONNECTS DUMB SHOW.

TFrom CasselFs Saturday Journal
A former governor Of the jail at Arm
ley near Leeds once caused a Well-con-
Quoted prisoner, but an old jailbird, to
exhibit his powers as a weight gauger
in the presence of the writer. The man
gave to minute fractions of an ounce
the weights of various objects in the
office that he handled, and in regard TO
prison rations, Intentionally snort IN
weight, that were brought IN, his Juog-
ment was simply wonderful. The writer
afterward independently tried the pow
erS of a man "0ut on license, and ne
was just as clever in gauging weight
where provisions were concerned. None
but those who have to deal regularly
with the old prison birds know what
fine notwithstanding the word pam
tomime in it's better sense of dumb
shoW"--are to be found among the class;
indeed, the most modern and progress
Sive of all our prison governors declares
that class, not even the professional
theatrical one, possesses greater powers
of dumb show than does that consisting
of regular jailbirdS and he adds that all
the accomplished habitua1 thieves that
he had met were admirable actors
Long practice and the necessities Of the
case have no doubt given this power of
dumb show pretty generally to old con-
victs, but there are many cases in which
a man can not only convey to another
a few sentences, but whole histories,
given the time, by the minutest signs,
either during church service or working
preventing this has even been found
A prison chaplain of vast experience,
who was consulted by the writer on this
subject, SAYS: "Old jailbirdS can defy
the vigilance of all the Warders in Eu-
rope With mouths half open. they
can speak to a, companion hard by with
absolute impunity, the lips and lower
jaws never even being moved If the
companion fails to hear he indicates the
fact by putting his finger into one ear
as though it were itching. Their dumb
1rol,sa ,1afa
prisoner wants to say that some one is
dead-he spells the name on his fin
gers, then rests his head upon his hands
and stamps the ground: SO-and-SO
prisoned for so many years, and this is
conveyed from one prisoner to another
by the former putting as many fingers
as correspond to the years across mis-
ear-the man has got, say three ear
for months a similar sign is made on
the mouth. Coughs and sneezes Of diff
ferent kinds indicate all manner Of dis
tinct things. One well known cough
means listen The prisoner who gives
it has received a letter; he looks at the
palm of one hand and pretends to scrAJ-
bic with the other If he has got a
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. do receive such
things sometimes, I can assure you-he
pretends to be reading the palm Of the
hand very lntently- He pretendS to
whip to indicate that he has been fog
ged he puts his hand on his stomach
to denote short allowance; he has writ
ten q IelLSts SO ne pFetelQS TO write on
his hand and then throw the words into
the air. And thus it goes on through
the entire chapter, absolutely genuine
dumb show, where no code has been
agreed upon beforehand, telling whole
histories.
A large bark from Liverpool, called
the DiOmed, was in 1892, while trading,
wrecked on one of the smaller islands,
of the Pacific. A great number of saw
ages, who seemed quite friendly, sur
rounded the shipwrecked men; but
none of the latter knew a scrap of
language that the natives could under
stand. But one of the crew, q middle
aged man known as Mac, the convict
he was a man who had turned over
a new leaf-intimated to the captain
that he could make the natives under
stand anything" and he actually sue
ceeded in making communication easy
on every subject required, solely by
means of signs and acting. The cap
tain of the Diomed was the writer's in
formant, and he gave q second similar
instance that was told to him by an
other shipmaster.