The record-union., 1899-07-22
CoNvICTs' DUMB-sHow.
Remarkable Powers Of Secret Com
municatiou hx Them.


A former governor of the Jail at Arm
ley, near Leeds. once caused we'll 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 short in
weight, that were brought in, his judg
ment was simply wonderful. The
writer afterward Independently tried
the powers of a man "out on license"
and he was just as clever in gauging
weight where provisions were concern
ed. None but those who have to deal
regularly with old prison birds know
what fine notwithstanding the word
pantomime 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 declare
that no class, not even the professional
theatrical one, possesses greater pow
ers of dumb-show than does that con-
sisting of regular jailbirds, and he adds
that all the accomplished habitual
thieves that he has met were admirable
actors. Long practice and the necessi-
ties of the case have no doubt given
this power of dumb show pretty gen.
orally to old convicts. 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 hours or at exer-
else, and no plan for preventing this
has ever 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 companion hard by with abb
solute 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 alphabet is marvelously complete.
A 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 on the ground. So-and-so
is dead and buried. Some one is i'm
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 his
ear-the man has got, say, three ear;
for months similar sign is made on
the mouth. Coughs and sneezes of diff
ferent kinds indicate all manner of dis
tinct things One we'll known cough
means listen The prisoner who gives
it has received a letter: he looks at the
palm of one hand and pretends to scrib
bic with the other. If he has got a
newspaper-prisoners do receive such
things some times. can assure you
he pretends to be reading the palm of
the hand very intently. 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 a letter, so he pretends to write
on his hand and then to throw the
words into the air." And thus it goes
on through the entire chapter, abso-
lutely 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 trad
ing, wrecked on one of the smaller ISL
ands of the Pacific A great number
of savages, who seemed quite friendly
surrounded the shipwrecked men; but
none of the latter knew scrap of Ian
guage that the natives could UNDER