Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-04-18
A Well Laid Plot,


such conditions of inspection that the
idea of convict slipping through the
fingers of such system would seem on
its face ridiculous. The men are
marched in from the prison yard in
groups, each with his hand on the 9th
er's shoulder, in the shufIling prison
lock-step. AS the groups pass through
the portals of the great dormitory they
file off in different squads to the res
pective tiers of cells where they be-
long. Here they are lined up,each one
before his allotted cell, and when they
step inside the combination lock, fast
ening a whole row of cells at one turn
of the key, is thrown. and the men are
bottled for the night, says the new
York World.
After the locking up comes inspec-
tion. 1t is not enough to see the men
go into the cells. They must be seen,
each one erect, ready for inspection
and Identification. To this end the
prisoner as soon as the lock is thrown
is required to stand at attention in
front of his cell door until the guard
has passed and tailed him.
Convict James Miller, who occupied
cell No. $50 on gallery No. 4, saw
through this elaborate system a hole.
The idea would have been hopeless had
he not been what is called mailman"
which is convict who keeps the gal
leries clean and looks after the beds.
and who does not have to march in
lock-step with the rest He must en-
ter his cell, however, when the others
do and stand erect before his cell door
and be inspected by the guard after he
is locked in.
The weak spot which Miller discov-
cred in the system was that there eX-
listed acertain laxity in allowing the
hallmen to go and come from the
house where the bedding is kept in an
other part of the prison. The hallmen
do not have to get a pass to go to the
bedding room and do not have to re-
port when they get back.
Miller planned to make an excuse to
change a pillow on cot, and thus go
to the bedding room. He decided to do
this few minutes before the men filed
in to be put into their cells. In the
shuttle he hoped he would not be miss
ed, and would be in the bedding room
with easy access to the yard and walls.
There would still be the cell inspection
Instead of the striped figure and we'll
known features % Convict Miller
standing before the cell door, the
guard would only see vacancy and in
stantly an alarm would be given.
Miller decided he must have some
sort of a representative to take his
place at the cell door when the inspec.
tior was made, and he decided to man
ufacture a dummy. The dummy mus
have a head and what was hardest
of all, the head must have features
that sufficiently resembled those OF
Convict Miller to deceive a guard
standing not more tnan two feet away
To solve this difficulty Miller hit up
on the device of making plaster OF
paris mast of his own face, and to dc
this he set about getting some plaster
of paris. This was not so very diff
cult. The article is kept in the jobbing
room and several convicts have access
to it. One of these Miller took into
his confidence to a certain extent and
soon had several pounds of the mater
ial He knew he must have grease on
his race when he applied the plaster
and thfs he obtained by getting vase
line from the apothecary shop from
time to time on various preteXts and
carefully boarding it.
When all was ready he mixed the
plaster of paris in his cell wash-kettle
with water and worked it to about the
proper consistency. Then he pressed
bis creased face down into the mass
leaving a well-defined mold. Next he
scraped the vaseline from L.s face, and
with that and what he had left greas-
ed the mold itself. Into this he press
ed more moistened plaster of paris
and when he lifted the cast away the
result was a perfect reproduction OF
the features of Convict Miller.
1t was, of course, of CHASTITY white
color, and Miller got number of col
ored pencils. He had only gone so faI
as to make large black pupils for the
eyes when his plan was discovered and
his work of months was undone.
Miller had not the remotest suspic-
ion that anything was wrong up to the
moment the blow fell. Early one eve
ming Warden Sage suddenly sent for
him to come to the prison office.
Miller" said the Warden, "do you
know anything about blacksmithing?"
mo, sir" said Miller.
Nor anything about iron work."
mo, sir"
"Oh," said the Warden, indifferently,
81 didn't know but you did. It's of no
That's ALL"
So Miller, bewildered, was conduct
ed to mis- cell, and when he went to
look for his precious face cast it and
all his other treasures had vanished.
Just how Warden Sage got his hint OF
what Miller was at is prison secret.
Miller was sentenced from New York
city a year ago by Judge Fitzgerald to
12 years and six months for robbery
in the first degree. He has been trans