The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-19
RIP VAN WRINKLE
SEES SALT LAKE
Energies From Forced SecIusior
of Twenty Years.
FIRST RIDE ON TROLLEY CAR
PRISONER IN PENITENTIARY
DESCRIBES EXPERIENCES.

z,
he experienced the novel sensation of
riding in an electric car. He is serv-
ing a life sentence in the penitentiary
for a murder committed in 1888.
The occasion of his new experience
was his initial visit to the city and
county building. He had never before
seen that attractive and much admired
piece of architecture until his car
rounded the corner and started north
on state street. and the tall. grace
ful tower of the massive stone struc-
ture was TO be seen above the sur
rounding houses and tree tops
Ever since the joint building was
erected some years ago, Williams has
listened with delight almost daily TO
the soft, mellow tones of the chimes as
the breezes waited them across the
city TO the southern outskirts.
Just as he entered the grounds sur
rounding the building the chimes in
the quadrangle tower rang out on the
frosty air of the morning $50 o'clock.
Although Williams had heard from
arar those same bells ring out that
hour many times before, it was not
case of distance lending enchant-
ment." and he involuntarily slowed his
pace as he walked up the gravel path,
that the grinding of the pebbles under
musical sound, and cause him to lose
one vibration of the intonations of the
bells which hang suspended so far
above the city.
Goes to Seek Freedom.
When the last note of the chimes
had been carried away oni the breezes,
and the hands of the great clock be-
gan to traverse the circular face of
the four-sided clock again, Williams
quiekened his pace once more. For he
had a most important mission within
the confines of the great building
which he was about to enter. The out
"a come of the visit meant everything to
him: it meant his freedom. his resto-
ration to citizenship. and his permits
SION to once more enter the fight Of
life, and for the second time since his
birth become one of the actors upon
the human stage of existence.
IT was with eyes filed with wonder
ment and admiration that he assembled
the stone steps leading up to the east
eTu entrance Of the building. With a
Insulating step, and a constant en-.
deavor to avoid the attention Of peO-
pie passing in and out, Williams walked
TO the elevator. and nervously awaited
the carriage to take him to the third
floor of the building.
First Ride on Elevator.
It was the first time in his life that
Williams had ever ridden in any other
elevator than those used in a mine
An electrical hoist" was almost as
novel to him as an electric car FIX
cept for the sensation of being carried
rapidly upward without any apparent
means of elevation, the sensation was
a new one to him.
When the third floor was reached
Williams and his companion entered
the supreme court suite of rooms and
were lost to view to those who hap
pened to be in the corridor at that par
ticular moment.
No one noticed the man as he sat
in the electric car: he did not attract
attention as he aHghted at the joint
building. walked across the grounds
and entered the stone structure: he
received no more than a casual glance
from those he passed as he went over
TO the elevator. and was not addressed
with CHEEKY salutation as he rode
in the elevator and no one wished
him success as he entered the supreme
court
And why? Because no one recognized
him; no one, with the exception Of his
companion. knew who he was. Had he
been recognized people would have
turned around the second time. for
Thomas Williams is a prisoner at the
penitentiary who is serving a life sen
tence for the killing of Hutchings, a
fellow miner in the Mammoth mine in
the Tintic district
That was almost twenty years ago.
And Friday was the first time in all
those long years that he had ever been
outside the prison reservation; the first
time he had mingled with humanity ex-
cepting his fellow prisoners within the
heavy brown walls of that institution.
Has applied For Pardon
Thomas Williams was invited to visit
the joint building. A member of the
supreme bench, who was not familiar
with his version of the incident which
resulted in his being sentenced to life
servitude, wanted to hear his side of
the case Williams had made applica-
ton to the state board of paTdOnS and
t. be better enabled to pass upon his
case the justice in question wanted to
converse with him. He did not have
the time to visit the man at the peni-
Tertiary. and requested Warden Dow to
bring Williams up to his apartments in
the joint building.
Four hours later Williams had re-
turned TO the prison In that brief pc
riod of time he had experienced what
was to him the novel and pleasing SEN
sation Of walking the streets of Salt
Lake. seeing life once again and
breathing the same air that others do
which is not contaminated by the
stripes and ironclad regulations
In those short four hours williams
had an opportunity TO realize more
keenlv than ever before what a sweet
thing freedom is, what a wearing thing
incarceration IS. and how thankful peo-
ple ought to be who are not subject TO
the fnexorable laws of a penal institu-
ttion.
Tells of His Sensations.
Il cannot explain to you the sensa-
ton Of riding in an electric car for the
first time" said Williams. when talking
about his visit to the joint building
"Of course il was novel. / have seen
the cars from a window in the prison
as they round the corner 10 ascend
the grade to the gate. but ! never tried
TO imagine what the sensation was 20
ride in one OF them.
1T was with feeling Of mixed ap.
pTehension and fear that 1 stepped upon
the car: / did not know what to expect.
or lust how 10 act when we got started.
I was like man who comes to the city
for the first time from the country; I
was akin 10 old Rip Van Wrinkle; only
with him he had slept. while I have
existed here, seeing the advances Of
habitation and civilization, and not be-