The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1902-12-06
THE WARDEN'S KIDS.


CONVICT heuIeW hTTlfeu AT Tue stoto
prison In company with a bad record.
When arrested for robbery, he had
stabbed an officer; while waiting trial
he bad broken Jail; when sentenced be
had tried to assault the judge; as the
uons were fastened on his wrists and
ankles preliminary to his journey be
had sworn to kill any official Of the
prison who attempted to rush" him.
In addition to his record, which would
count against him on the prison books,
he had the look and bearing of an OBJ
stinate, dangerous man. II any proofs
were needed that he meant to make
trouble, he furnished them himself as
he stood in the warden's Office during
the recording Of his pedigree. After
sulkily answering a few questions he
burst out with:
Look here, now, but they got the
wrong man. I am not guilty, and 1
don't propose to creep and crawl to no
n If you start In to be rough with
me, you'll find me a bad man."
"And let me say to you" replied the
warden, that II you give me any trou-
BILE I'll have the hide logged or your
backr
Renfew had been sentenced for if
teen years. With never a day of good
time" to his credtt-with only black
marks showing against his name-with
q punishment more or less severe two
or three times per week, he earned the
reputation of being the bad man of the
prison. In the course of a year, as
shown by the prison records, he had
not done an hours work. He had pass
ed fully half the time in the dark cells,
and his outbreaks and whippings al
up to thirty or more. 1t was after
looking over this record that the ward
en- went to the convict's cell and said:
"Renfew, / am tired Of the way
things are going. I am here to run this
prison according to rules, and you have
either got to come to time or III make
a jabbering idiot Of you. You give me
more trouble than all the other men put
together"
Listen to me-" calmly replied the
convict IT "a not guilty of the rob-
berry. and my arrest and conviction
were a blunder. I told you so the day !
entered here. but you sneered at me. Il
hate you. and you hate me. I'll do all
I can to keep you In hot water. And as
for your threats and punishments, /
defy you"
A week later Renfew headed q mu-
tiny that was quickly suppressed. and
then 1t was whispered about the prison
that he was bodybuilding up his life
under punishment. This was not true,
however, though he was close to
deaths door when the warden's hand
was stayed He was sent to the hospi-
tai with a spark of life left, and it was
three long months before he could limp
about. His ugliness and obstinacy
came back as he grew better. but the
doctor shielded him and carried him
along until one day there was such a
fragrant breach Of discipline that it had
to be officially reported. That meant a
new punishment on top Of the half
healed scars, but when the guards
came to take him from the room Rem
few was not to be found. He had in
some manne passed out of the prison
with a crowd of visitors. There was a
hue and cry at once. and the warden
was among those who took up the
chase. The convict had only half an
hours start, but luck was with him.
They beat up the town and its SUBJ
urbs in vain. Fifty men covered the
roads and traversed the fields, but the
fugitive seemed to have taken wings.
A fortnight before the escape the
warden had sent his two motherless
children to pass a few weeks in the
country with an aunt. On the morning
Of the second day of the search be
drove out on this road and at high noon
was within a mile Of his little ones
His horse had fallen lame, and he was
proceeding slowly and missing no op-
portunity to make inquiries when a
great dog overlook and passed him
with a growl. The animal was finging
its head about and foaming at the
mouth. and there vas no doubt of 1t
being a case of hydrophobia.
The warden stopped the horse and
stood up in his buggy and looked. Be
tween him and the farmhouse were
two children playing by the roadside
his Bob and Susie. The mad dog had
passed him, but would it pass the chill
dren without infiicting a deadly bite?
The nan tried to cry out. but he was
~voiceless. He thought to leap down
and run after the dog, but he seemed
helpless to move. The mad beast was
within a dozen rods of the children and
had swerved from his straight course
to attack them when a man who had
been hiding in the rank weeds of the
ditch scrambled up on to the road. He
was facing the dog, and he hadn't five
seconds to understand the situation. 1t
must have come to him like a flash,
for be shouted to the children to run
and turned as the dog sprang upon
him. They went down and rolled over
ard over together, and by and by the
warden shook or his chains and sprang
down and ran forward. The struggle
was over when he reached the spot.
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