Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-15
CONVICTS' DUMB SHOW.

Remarkable Powers of secret Conn
municatiOn Possessed by Jail birds.
From Casselis Saturday Journal
A former governor of the Jail at Armley
near Leeds, once caused well-conducted
prisoner, but an old jailbird, to exhibit his
powers as weight gauger in the presence
of the writer. The man gave to minute
fractions Of an ounce the weights of vari-
GUS objects in the office that he handled
and in regard to prison rations, Intentional
ly short in weight, that were brought in,
his judgment was simply wonderful The
writer afterward independently tried the
powers of man 'out on license" and he
was just as clever in gauging weight where
provisions were concerned. None but those
VINO nave to deal regularly with old prison
birds know what fine Observation-Disclosures
the word pantomime In its better sense of
dumb show"-are to be found among the
Grass; indeed: the most modern and pro-
gressive of all our prison governors declares
tnat no Glass; not even the professional the
atricai one, possesses greater powers of
dumb show than does that consisting of
regular 1aflbirds, and he adds that ali the
accomplished habitual thieves that he had
met were admirable actors Long practice
and the necessities Of the case have no
doubt given this power of dumb show pref
W generally to old convicts, but there are
many cases in which a man cannot onIy
convey to another a few sentences but
whole histories, 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 sub
ject, says: "Old jailbirds can defy the
vigilance of all the warders in Europe,
with mouths half open, they can speak to
a companion hard by with absolute impuni-
ty, the lips and lower jaws never even be-
ing moved. If the companion fails to hear
ne indicates the fact by putting his finger
into INTO one ear as though it were itching
Inelr dumb alphabet Is marvelously COM
plete. A prisoner wants to say that some
one is dead-he spells the name on his fin
gers, then rests his head upon his hands and
stamps on the ground; So-and-so. is dead
ana buried. Some one is imprisoned for so
many years, and this is conveyed from one
prisoner to another by the former putting
as many ringers as correspond to the years
across his ear-the man has got. saw three
ear; Tor months similar sign is made on
the mouth. Coughs and sneezes of differ
ent Kinds indicate all manner of distinct
.hings. One well5known cough means
celved letter; he locks at the palm of one
hand and pretendse to scribbe with the
other Ii he has gpt a newspaper-prison-
ers 90 receive such things sometimes, 1 can
assure you've pretends to be reading the
PAIN or the hand very intently He pre-
tends to whip to Indicate that he has been
logged; he puts his hand on his stomach
~ uSho'e siort di1oWancs; he has written
a letter, so he pretends I'd write on his hand
and then to throw the words into the air"
ana thus it goes through the entire
chapter, absolutely genuine dumb show
Where no code has been agreed upon be-
forehand, telling whole histories.
large bark from Liverpool called the
doomed, was in 1892 while trading, wreck
ed on one of the smaller islands of the Pa
cine great number of sayaees who
seemed quite friendly. surrounded the ship
wrecked men; but none Of the latter knew
scrap or language that the natives could
understand But one of the crew a middle
aged man known as Mac, the conyict''@
ne was man who had turned over a new
leaf-intimated to the captain that he could
make the natives understand anything"
and he actually succeeded in making nnI,-
munlcatlon easy on every subject required.
solely by means of signs and acting. The
captain or the Diomed was the writer's in
Iormant, and he gave a second similar in
stance that was told to him by another
shipmaster