The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-20

OF it, II freed: and it ism t because they
haven't been punished sufficiently for
their crimes, for there is no such thing
as punishment if twenty or thirty years
in prison doesn't constitute it. 1t is be-
cause they have been forgotten in all
these years, and the very people who
| threw UP their hands in horror at the
! time Of their crimes would be unable to
remember anything about them now.
1t is to these long term and life men
that the invention Of the mysterious sys-
tenn of communication between prison
ers in large prisons is credited. No one
has ever been able to penetrate this
mystery. Even men like Connaughton,
Whose experience and knowledge of pris-
ons and prisoners is greater than that Of
any living man, have never been able to
understand it, A piece of news can
travel from one end of Sing Sing prison
to the other in from fifteen minutes to
half an hour, and that, too, at night
when the men are locked in their cells
| and cannot even see one another With
Watchful keepers all around them on
the alert for the slightest signs of COM
municatlon, piece of news can go the
rounds. How it is done nobody knows
! but the prisoners themselves, and they'd
cut out their tongues before they'd tell
| Newspapers do not reach the prisoners,
visitors can only speak to them in the
| presence of keepers and by special per-
mission, and the keepers themselves
| give them no news. Yet the morning
after the last presidential election in
1896 every prisoner in Sing Sing prison
knew that William Mckinley had been
| elected. Every prisoner knew almost
as soon as the outside world when Fitz-
simmons whipped Corbett, and even the
| result of so recent an event as the JEFF
feries-Fitzsmmons fight was known all
over the prison the day following the
fight. There are many ways, of course,
in which the news might get into the
prison, but the means employed by the
convict who first hears it in transmit
ting it to his companions is the thing
that has never been explained. That
the system was devised by long-term
or life man. and has been steadily i'm
proved by others, is the general belief of
the keepers.
Vincent Cody, life prisoner, has been
in Sing Sing longer than any other con-
Wet now there He was a good-looking,
athletic young man of twenty-eght
years when he first donned stripes; he is
sixty now, pale, gray and rather thin,
but withal healthy, happy, contented
man. He has marched out to break
fast and work, to the lockstep, every
morning for thirty-two years, and in
again to supper and bed at night
When one gets permission to talk to him
he is found to be courteous, mild-man-
nered man. He has worked at every
thing in the prison in his time, inciden-
tally learning half dozen trades. He is
mailman now, which means that he
patrols the prison corridors by day,
keeping, them clean, and doing such odd
Jobs as the keepers direct. 1t is almost
impossible to look at Cody to-day and
imagine such an inoffensve old man as
the central figure in one of the most
brutal and unprovol1ed murders that
ever took place in this, city. Yet it was
for such crime that Cody was sent to
Sing Sing prison for life.
In 1867 he was one of the widest
young men in the lower east side of the
city. He led a crowd of young roughs
who frequented a saloon at II Jefferson
street, and weren't particular how they
treated strangers who dropped in So
Der, Cody was pretty decent man of
his grade, although inclined to believe
that the world owed him a living.
Drunk, he was a dangerous man, and
even his associates We're careful not to
cross him. 1t was in a drunken fight
that he killed his man.
A young man named John r. Iivings-
ton, known as Professor" Livingston,
had a slight acquaintance with Cody
and his crowd. He went into the Jeffer-
son street saloon with Cody and some
others on the night of April IS, 1867. At
ter several rounds of drinks Cody sug-
gested that they throw dice to see who
should pay for another round. Cody's
particular crony, a man named Allen.
was the victim. On the next throw
Cody was the victim. Cody was ugly
and accused Livingston of cheating.
Livingston wishing to avoid trouble,
left the table and walked over to the
bar Cody repeated his assertion,
whereupon Livingston turned around
and called him liar. He started to
leave the saloon, but Allen and Cody |
headed him off. Cody struck him and /.
Allen grabbed him by the throat and !
backed him into a corner between a wall |
and an icebox, where he was powerless |
to move. One Of Cody's friends called
out;
Look out, Win, he's got gum
"Oh, he has, eh?" said Cody: well, 4
here's another" and whipping out his
own revolver he put it against Livings-
toms head and pulled the trigger, send .
ing a ball through Livingston's brain.
killing him instantly The murder was
one of the most cowardly that ever took
place in this city, for not only was the
victim wedged in where he couldn't
move, but Allen had him by the throat
when the fatal shot was fired.
1t is hard to look at Cody now and be-
ieve that this mild-mannered old man
is the same man who committed such
brutal murder. He has no friends anx-
Gus to try to get pardon for him
Out in the Sing Sing bucket house. go
ng quietly about his duties day by day,
me may find life prisoner who is even
llder than Cody, although he didn't get
nto prison until Cody had been there for
our years. William Kelly was sent to
Sing Sing on May 10. 1871, for crime
inspired by desire for revenge, as we'll
Is by hope of profit. Kelly is as conf
lent of q pardon to-day as he ever was,
Ind often talks with his keepers about