The Portland daily press., 1899-07-29
LIFE pREsoyERs.
rhsy Are Much Happier than Men with
Definite Sentences.
(From the New York sun.Y

one Of the many mysteries Of prisnn life.
Il Is difficult t, uneerstand how such
men can 60 through the routine OF work
smiling and happy and apparently 81
peace with the world. Nothing seems
more horrible to the observant visitor &C
q large prison than the life Of It's inmates.
For the fret time he realizes not only how
]ong year is. but how long day Is, es-
pecially a day unbroken by any thing I'M
usual. Yet mora placid. apparently con.
tented. lot Of men than the ife prisoners
in large prisons 1t would be difficult to
find.
Ire effect of prison life on the life m an
is in such contrast to that on the convict
with whom the Law has dealt more meroi-
fully that one becomes more and more
amazed rs he observes ii. Sing Sing
prison furnishes as many II not more
illustrations of these peculiarities as any
prison In tbs country. The man who
90 mes there with n 0, 10 or l5.year sen.
tence to serve. he he a man experienced in
prison life or new to 1t, enters on his en-
forced stay within four walls In ferment
OF nervousness. 1t takes weeks, some-
times months, to whip him into shape,
and then his agitation is only suppressed
and he Is man who must be- constantly
watched, not because he Is likely to make
trouble-for iong-tsrm men rarely take a
chance Of losing their commutation-bnt
because he IL likely to make mental or
physical wreck OF himself.
From the day that limitsd sentence
r. ~ a.
look forward TO the day of his release. 1t
may be IL, IL may be 10 years away. but
he knows the very day OF the week on
which it will come. and knows almost to
the minute when he will be summoned TO
the warden's office TO receive his civil
ian's clothing and the few dollars his
years OF toll have earned for him, and to
be told that he Is free. He doesn't have
a happy moment until that day rolls
around.
The way the convict figures out bis
time is one OF the interesting things about
prison. Few Of them have calendars on
which to mark off tss DAYS; they carry 1t
In their heads. and there isn't q case
known at Sing Sing prison where a man
lost track Of his count. A keeper ut Sing
Sing prison recently explained this re-
culiarity OF the prisoners TO distin-
guished visitor. The visitor WAS incred-
ulous.
task any man In this room how long
he has got to serve" said the keeper.
The visitor was In the shoe-snop. He
put the question to a con Wet
s'Three years aud Is days." said the
prisoner without looking up.
Seven years and 81 days" said an
other.
dozen other conviots answered with
equal promptness They knew to the
very day when they would be released.
1t Is the last year OF nuns term that
is the hardest Tor him to bear. Toward
the end he becomes unusually nervous.
He fears that he may invoiuntirily COM
the three or four years he has shaved of
Of bis term by exemplary conduct. Then
sgsiD, the end SO near, but yet a year of,
Iuakes that year almost unbearable.
There is to-day In Sing Sing prison a
young man who has served all but one
year Of i0.years' sentence for arson. He
Is u handsome chap and is the Bean
Brummel OF the prison. He keeps his
striped coat and trousers neatly press d,
wears silk shirts ami calf shoes. which his
family-said to be well to do-send to
him, and does his daily work In the prin-
cipal keepers office. be went through all
the drudgery OF the common convict's
life up to short time a9o, when q man
was neeied who could attend to books.
Now that his long sentence is nearing an
ing SO the sun goes down he goes ous OF
the principal Keepers Office into the court
yard and stands watching the day disap-
pear. As the sun goes out OF sight over
the horizon he goes back to the principal
keepers room, puts on his hat, selects
book from the small library, and with u
pleasant good-night goes to his cell. where
he reads until 10 o'clock, when lights 90
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 remarkably
philosophical lot. They come to the jail
desponde1t over the future, as is natural,
but they become more and more resigned
to their fates as the days roll by. In
Sing Sing prison. where today some 20
men are serving life sentences they are
tie best prisoners In the place. They have
no communication &c. earn by good behavior
yet they give little or no trouble. They
rarely get downcast and cry out against
their fates. On the contrary, they ars
Rood-natured about 1t. The only explaua-
tion of their failure so pine away from
the very hopeleasness of their condition is
that they all hope to be pardoned sooner
or later. According TO Principal Keeper
Connaughton, whose 90 years OF service
at Sing Sing has given him q rare knowl-
edge of.;criminals and their peculiarities.
the belief that he will ultimately be par
donsd is deep rootsd in the mind of every
life prisoner. There Is man In Sing
Sing prison today who began his term Of
life imprisonment there on October Is,
1861. During all this time there hasn't
been an incident on which this man could
reasonably base the hope of pardon.
Yet there hasn't been a minute in all
these 80 years when this man has lost
hope. He believes today that he will be
freed some day, and II is this belief that
has buoyed him up all these years and
made model prisoner of him. II you
told this man that there was no hope
for him, that he would die In the prison -
as he probably willard succeeded in
convincing him that you spoke the truth.
1t would probably kill him. If 1t didn't,
1t would make him insane.
All the other life men are like that
man, firm in the belief that they will one
day walk out Of the prison free men.
The chances OF the majority OF them ever
realizing their hopes are small. It isn't
because 1t would menace society TO turn
them loose, for most of them are men
fsrnt han In, frtA a