Evening star., 1901-12-07

steady employment. The three grades are
distinguished by stripes that run longitu-
dlnally around their uniforms, the first
grade showing the zebra marks. the sec
ond the same. except that the stripes are
in pairs, and in the third grade they are
trebled.
First Bath and Shave.
On entering the prison a man is made to
bathe, is shaved has his hair cropped close.
and these marks are not to be changed until
he is nearly ready to go out, when he is
allowed to grow whiskers or any other
sort of facial adornment or concealment,
that there may be no convict stamp on him
when he leaves. He also has little money
coming to him-a matter of few dollars
or few cents, according as he has been
good or bad or as his term has been long
or short. The state allowance to each is
but cent and half day, or three cents
at the most, according to the earnings of
his department, but If he is riotous or dis
obedient and must be put into a dark cell
ne loses fifty cents for each day so con-
fined.
While in the states custody he must not
write to or receive visits from any other
person who is or has been criminal, nor
can an eX-convict write to him or visit the
prison. AS to convict associations it is de-
structiye of the notion that there is hon
or among thieves to learn that many of
them will "give way on one another when
they discover old pals and prison mates in
the shops.
Betray Former Pals.
For instance, man who has given his
pedigree to the warden and has soIemnly
sworn that he has never been put into
prison before may be confronted in the
shoe shop or carpenter shop by a man who
once helped him to break into a house This
older resident will not unlikely report the
history of the new conner to the keepers
and the new man will be assigned to harder
work and worse associates in the other
grades, or he may be handcuffed to some
member of a party of emigrants and for
Warded to Auburn or Dannemora The OBJ
Ject of thus revealing the new comer's
identity: Oh, anything; jealousy, old
grudges, fear of encounters fear of expo-
sure, hope of reward.
AS prisoner advances in the confidence
OF his officers his chances for promotion to
sort Jobs increase. He becomes a run
her. He goes outside the walls on errands
Cells Locked in Two Ways.
On quitting the shops at evening the COM
panies are marched silently across the
yards and through the corridors, where they
draw their rations, and SO to their cells.
Each man closes his door behind him and a
keeper follows locking it with a key. When
company of fifty has entered there Ia a
harsh clang of metal and the long bar that
falls across the tops of the cell doors has
been thrown into place. With this bar,
~ oUO 1eel lOIS, across the doors
man could leave his cell even were it nm
locked. To let in one belated clerk or run
ner the bar must be lifted, but nobody can
then escape as each cell Is locked with a
Key The LOO cells are locked in eight
minutes.
Eight-Hour System.
The hours for work in Sing Sing are only
eight in the day, but the turnout whistle
blows at half-past 6. Breakfast is at 6:45:
work begins at 80 and lasts till II 80: din
ner is ready at noon and over at haf-past
II; work Is then resumed till 4:3O The
homeward march begins at 4:45 and all ex-
cept tew clerks are in and locked up at
5:3O. There is double count after lock-
Ing, each man standing at his door till the
keepers have gone by. OF keepers and
guards there are ninety, their work being
arranged in shifts, the night men going
on at $50 pm. and remaining on duty
TIL $50 next morning, when the day men
take their places In twelve glass win
dowed turrets on the walls stand twelve
guards with loaded rifles in their hands
ready to shoot at moments notice. The
corridor guards at night do not carry guns.
but revolvers, and the keepers who 90
among the men at their work grasp thick
canes The guards on the walls are dis
missed as soon as the prisoners are in for
the night.
OF all days of the week Sundays and holi-
Gays are most dreaded, for then the con-
victs are locked into their cells. and when
holiday directly follows Sunday IT
means that man will be locked in with
out work or exercise for more than sixty
hours, save for such liberty as he has in
chapel Sunday services are fixed for $50
am, and the locking in is at IL, when the
men take their dinners with them. The
first two or three nights of incarceration
are usually the worst for prisoner. He
is restless and nervous and usually asks
for tobacco Every prisoner has mod
crate allowance of the weed. which he can
smoke or give to a cell mate, as he pleases.
for seventy-five of these wretched little
crevices are double-bedded. The prisoner
a week. which he may smoke in nine
The poisonous cigarette Is not permitted
because of its suffocating stink, and cigars