Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-08-12
LIFE PRISONERS HAPPY
They are Buoyed Up With the Hone OF
Ultimate Pardon

The composure OF the life prisoner -
one. Of the many mysteries OF prison life
IL is difficult 10 understand how such
men can go through the routine of work
smiling and happy, and apparently at
peace with the world. Nothing. seems
more horrible 10 the observant visitor /,
large prison than the life OF lis III.
mates. For the first time he realizes not
only how long year is. but how long a
daE Is, especially day unhroken by
anything unusual. Yet Il more placid
apparently contented lot OF men than M
HE prisoners in large prisons il would b.
difficult to find
The effect OF prison life on the life man
is in such contrast TO that on the convict
with whom the law has dealt more ncr-
cifully that one becomes more and NOR,
amazed as he observes it. Sing Sing prs
TN furnishes as many if not more. Illus
trattons. OF these peculiarilies as any
prison in the country The man who
comes there with Il five. ten or iiftern
year sentence To serve. be he a man ex-
perienced in prison life or new, to it, en-.
ters on his enforced stay within four
walls in ferment of nervousness. II
takes weeks, sometimes months. To whip
MIN into shape and then his agitation IS
only suppressed. and he is u man who
must be constantly watched. not I've
lonS.term men rarely take a chance OF
losing their commutation-but because he
Is likely u make a mental or physical
wreck of himself.
man donS his stripes he begins to look
forward 10 the day of his release. Ii
may be twelve, it may be fifteen years
away. but he knows the very day Of the
week on which il will come, and knows
almost to the minute when he will be
summoned TO the warden's office 10 re.
ceive his civilians clothing and the few
dollars his years Of toll have earned for
him. and to be told that he is free. lie
doesn't have a happy moment until that
day rolls around.
The yDV convict
time is one of the interesting things
about prison. Few of them have calen-
dars on which 10 mark off the days; they
carry ii in their heads, and there isn't
case known at Sing Sing prison where
man lost track of his count. \ keeper a
Sing Sing prison recently explained this
peculiarly of the prlS DnerS 10 a diStin-
guished visitor. The visitor was incredu-
ous.
ASK any man in this room how long
he has got to serve. said the keeper.
The visitor was in the shoe shop. III"
put the question to n convict.
Three years and thirteen days" said
the prisoner without looking up.
Seven years and twenty-seven days,
\ dozen other convicts answered with
equal promp;ness. They knew to the
very day when they would be released.
1t is the last year of a mans term tina:
is the hardest for him to bear. Towards,
the end he becomes unusually nervous.
He fears that he may involuntarily com
nit some infraction that will lose HIM
the three or four years he has shaved off
of his term by exemplary conduct. Then
again, the end so near but Vet 4 year
off. makes that year almost unbearable.
There is today in Sing Sing prison
young man who has served all but one
year of ten years sentence for arson.
He is handsome chap and is the Beau
Brumme of the prison. He keeps his
striped coat and trousers neatly pressed,
wears silk shirts and calf shoes. which
his family-said to be we'll 10 do-send TO
him. and does his daily work in the
principal keepers office. He Went
convict's life up to short time ago;
when a man was needed who could
attend to books. Now that his long
sentence is nearing an end his condition
is pitifu. Every evening as the sun goes
down. he goes out of the principal keep
ers Office in the courtyard and stands
goes out of sight over the horizon he
goes back to the principal keepers room,
puts on his hat. selects a book from the
small library and with a pleasant good
til 10 o'clock. when lights go out. There
is little danger of this young man ever
finding his way into prison again. once
he regains his freedom.
With the life men all is different.
Whether it's because most of them have
just managed to escape death or from
some other reason. they are a remark
ably philosophical lot. They came to the
ural, but they become more and more re-
signed to their fates as the days roll by.
In Sing Sing prison, where today some
twenty men are serving life sentences.
they are The best prisoners i'll the place
They have no communication to earn by
good behavior. yet they give little or no
trouble. They rarely get downcast and
cry out against their fateS. On the con-
trary they are good natured about il.
The only explanation of their failure to
rinp away from the very hopelessness of
their condition is that they al hope 10 he
principal Keeper ConnaughtOn. whose
twenty-five years of service OF Sing Sing
has given him a rare knowledge of Grim
inals and their peculiarities. the belief
that he will ultimately be par,ioned =
deep rooted in the mind of every lif'
prisoner. There is a man in Sing Sins:
| imprisonment there on Oct. 49, 1861. Dur
ing all this time there hasn't been an in
cident on which this man could reason