The Topeka state journal., 1899-07-04
CONYICTS' DUMB-SHOW.

EFrom Cassells Saturday Journal
A former governor of the jail at
ATmley, near Leeds, once caused a well
conducted prisoner, but an old jailbird,
to exhibit his powers as a. weight gau-
ger 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 re-
gard to prison rations, Intentionally
short in weight, that were brought in,
his judgment was simply wonderful.
The writer afterward Independently
tried the powers of man "Out on Ii
cense," and he was just as clever in
gauging weight where provisions were
concerned. None but those who have to
deal regularly with old prison-birds
know what fine using
the word pantOmime in its better sense
OF "dump-show'-are to be found
among the class, indeed, the most mod
ern and progressive Of all our prison
governors declares that no class, not
even the professional theatrical one,
possesses greater powers of dumb-shOw
than does that consisting OF regular
jaubirds, and he adds that all the ac-
cOmpHshed habitual thieves that he has
met were admirable actors. Long prac-
tice and the necessities of the case
have no doubt given this power of
dunn mb-ShOW pretty generally to old con-
Victs, but there are many cases in
which a man can not only convey to
another few sentences, but whole his
tories, given the time, by the minutest
signs, either during church service or
working hours or at exercise, 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 Eur
ope. With mouths half open, they can
speak to a companion hard by with alb
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 COM
plete. A prisoner wants to say that
some one is dead-he spells the name
on his fingers, then rests his head upon
his hands and stamps on the ground;
SO-and-so is dead and buried. Some
one is imprisoned 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 a similar
sign is made on the mouth. Coughs
and sneezes of different kinds indicate
all manner OF distinct things. One well
known cough means listen The pris-
| oner who gives it has received a let
| ter. he looks at the palm of one hand
and pretends to scribble with the other.
If he has got a Wspaper-prisOners
do receive such things sometimes, l 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 hOgged; he puts his hand on
his stomach to denote short allowance;
| he has written 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, alb
sOlutely 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 shipwreczed men; but none
of the latter knew a scrap of language
that the natives could understand. But
one Of the crew, 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 understand any
| thing" and he actually succeeded in
making communication easy on every
subject required, solely by means Of
signs and acting. The captain of the
Diomed was the writer's informant,
| and he gave a second similar instance
! that was told to him by another ship
ma SfPT