The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-22
Prison Baby
Born in Cell Nearly Two Years
Ago and Knows No Other Home.

The New York Herald says: L is safe
to say that no baby in the world occupies
or ever did occupy q stranger position
| than that Of Charles Edward Mason Six
| months before he was born grave sena-
tors Of a great state held long confer
| eDces as TO how they would receive the
tiny bundle Of humanity when it should
| open its innocent eyes upon this wicked
world The governor was worried even
more than the senator's as he pored over
dusty and musty tones in search of a
precedent not to be found in all the
volumes OF legal lore stored away in the
state house. Besides the mother, only
enc woman stood waiting on the TIRES
hold Of the world with any real anxiety
to greet the baby. This woman was the
Iove-hungry murderess in cell No. 2.
Babies are always troublesome things.
Even the most ordinary Of them max
havoc in the best regulated household
Having no home TO turn topsy-turvey,
| the state baby more emphaticaIly marked
| his entry by throwing the entire common
wealth of New Jersey into mild con-
sternation. What to do with him gov
erlOr and senator know not, for there
was no law on the statute books whereby
they could lock up a gUtltless child in
state prison; there was no law that en-
powered them 10 take him from the arms
OF his convict mother, serving a three
years sentence for grand larceny, nor
could they throw him on the mercy Of
the charitable Observation-Disclosures
the mercy of the authorities as a pauper
There was no law by which that parent
might be released Finally the mother
was taken from the prison to a near
by Florence mission a day or two before
the great event Then the reluctant but
helpless state returned the mother to her
fated cell and permitted her to take the
baby with her II could do nothing else
And so it came to pass that Charles
Edward Mason, born in shadow OF the
grim walls OF the New Jersey state pris-
on, at Trenton, on Angus :, 1898, was,
by permission Of the governor Of New
Jersey carried into that colony Of Grim
inals at the age Of six weeks and IS re
tanned there. a prisoner to this day.
The baby prisoner, for prisoner ne vir-
tuaIly is, Is just tweuty-three moplhs
old. His entire life has been spent in
side the walls Of the institution. Only
once has he ever been carried outside the
grim portals. and that was two weeks
ago, when they weared him from his
mothers breast and compensated him for
the hardship by giving him one hours
drive. Every night Of his life since he
was six weeks old has been in cell No.
6. He sleeps on the prison cot with his
mother and he is caressed and fOndIed
by mattresses and Magdalens and thieves
most Of them the worst of their type
The saying that the prisoner loves his
chains fits Charles Mason's case. Except
on the most mentioned occasions he has
stead lastly refused TO be carried out
side the prison yard. To his baby vision
the grim sandstone walls enclose para
disc The wonen's wing opens into a
court Of greensward running riot with
flowers, and here is where the solitary
child amuses himself
No son or daughter OF a king receives
more alteration than does this Legitimate
son Of Annie Mason, the confirmed thief
He is a despot over an empire numbering
more than a thousand souls. The best
endeavor OF the hand and brain of every
one OF his usbjects is his. When an Or
der is sent to the shoe factory for a pair
Of shoes for Charlie there is a scramble
among the convicts to see who shall
have the making OF them. And the wo-
an convicts, how they bend over their
work when It is a garment for Charlie
and how they strain their eyes out to
make tiny stitchesi Dainty clothes and
trinkets and toys are Charlie Mason's
in abunHA, &C.
The matrons and convicts alike take
prid. IN dressing the pretty child ike
a peacock, and on Sundays, when he is
carried into the prison chapel resplen6ent
in lace trimmed frock ard berunIed petit
coats. the thrill OF pleasure that runs
through the congregation is convincing
to the outsider thai woman is woman
after all. even though she be a convict. I
One of the most beautiful OF the many
picturesque phases of the prison baby's !
life is when he holds his daily receptions /
10 the Trenton children. The main cor /
ridor or entrance hall is the little kings !
riding academy. Astrida ''grandpapa's" |
walking stick he races from end to end, /
back and forth. his gurgling laughter I
through all the vast iabyrinthine /
passages beyond. At the end, OF this cor /
-idor, and looking out into Cass street, !
IS a dismal, heavy iron grating. Here I
the neighborhood children gather TO catch /
I glimpse OF Charlie.
On fine days the street IS blocked with
children and baby carriages, for Charlie
goes into rsptures when small sister
wheels her baby charge up close to the
grating so ne can put his little hands
outside the grating and stroke its soft
ace. No emperor at his Ievee receives
homage as a matter OF course tha nthis
title prison despot. He presses his
small face between the bars, and his vis-
tors Chamber Up onto the coping and
'ecefve a prodigaIity Of kisses and cares
ies
What convenient things these bars
ire anyway" thinks the baby king. TO
.oubt. They serve two pu-pcses-they
ire Just the thing for playing peek-a-boo
nd they help me preserve NJ dignity
That Annie Mason once looked as her
,eautiful child does now IS undenis5ie-
There is the ghost % the same tender
-iolet eyes and the same expression
bout the brow and temples There :
he same strangely shaped hand OF the
ably only larger ard harder grown The
heck bones a. prctruding and there Is q
abby preponde-ance OF muscle about the
heeks and the lower Jaw, which. when
he face is IN repose. falls weakly. Tna
Mouth IS sensitive ana the lips (Which
srvously and when the face loses al
era5laace to that Of the child.
The mothers voice and dictlon are her
cost pleasing characteristics. The one
: sole AMI weu Eaodu,ated and The other
onciss and pure she has been q good
ui1ator Of her social superto1rS
Her baby in one arm and q piece %
ewing rrI,,r over the other. 81 walked I