The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-25
PRISON
To HIS LIBERTY
F. c. Sims Receives Permission
to Remain in Penitentiary.
HIS SENTENCE HAS EXPIRED
FRIENDLESS, he WOULD RATH-
Err STAY WHERE HE IS.

remain within the confines of the
state penitentiary reservation. sub
servient TO the stringent rules and reg
ulations of that penal institution. than
to avail himself of his citizenship and
again enter upon the busy stage of hui
man existence.
From Governor II. NJ. Wells and
! Warden Dow, Sims has received per-
mission to remain in the state peni-
Tertiary. although his term of servi-
tude has expired. To him the outer
world with which he has not mingled
for more than eleven years. has no
charms: there are no friends or rela-
( tiVes 10 welcome him back IN freedom.
And for those reasons. besides others,
the aged man prefers to make the
/ grimmed-walled penal institute his
home. instead of going beyond the lin
its of the prison reservation and max
ing another home for himself among
strangers.
An Unprecedented Request.
Sims was sentenced to the state pen
itentiary for twenty years. That was
back in 1892. His excellent prison rec
ord. in conjunction With the usual time
allowance for good behavior, so reduced
his sentence that his term expired the
to leave the prison, he appealed TO the
governor and warden TO be permitted
10 remain.
1t was the first request of its kind in
the history Of the institution, and al
though a very unique one, ii was grant
ed. There was no good reason why it
should be denied. it was argued, and
the aged convict was informed that he
could remain.
And there he is today, looking after
the chickens and ducks belonging 10
the penitentiary which roam around
portion of the prison reservation a
free man, with money IN the Ddnk,
Sims never leaves the enclosure, wears
the earb of convict and conforms
strictly to the rigid rules and reSula-
lions of the institution
Utterly Ignores His Freedom
/ Although it has been more than
eleven years since he has been up
town: in spite Of the fact that he has
l,never ridden upon an electric car in
his life: does not know, from personal
observation. what vast changes have
been made in the city since he first en-
tered the penitenUaTy- and although
he has the right 10 board any Of the
Fears which leave the prison gate about
feveTy half hour. ne does not avail
himself of the opportunity 70 mingle
with the world
He considers that privilege as
naught, while all around him are men,
wearing the same garb as he does.
who, if they could, would give half
their lives yet to live if they could
avail themselves of the privileges
which he ignores.
Sims is an old man now The hard
life he led out of doors in his younger
I days and the COunJer-effeCt Of close
confinement in the Denitentiary for
/ more than eleven years, have told upon
his physical strength He is broken
down in health through rheumatism,
and old age has dulled the acuteness
of his ears until it rs with difficulty
that he understands what is said to
him unless one speaks above the
/ average tone of voice.
His Homestead Taken From Him.
At the time Sims was charged with
the crime of which he was convicted
he lived on A fOrtv-acre homestead in
Provo valley near Heber city. Ac-
| cOrding to his story he had but two
/ months longer to live upon the land
until he would receive Il patent for II
But that pleasure was denied him. He
was arrested, tried twice and finally
convicted, and given twenty years.
He says that Immediately after his
arrest one of his sOEs took Up the
homestead in his own name, and after
getting a patent to il, sold il. So all
| the years of labor spent upon the land
prOfted the father nothing.
Another of his sons. named William,
was killed in the Daly-West mine dis
asteT- An attorney effected comprO-
= mise with the company for Sims, where
! Ey he received $1,000 in cash for his
sons death Fifty dollars of that he
, gave the attorney The remainder,
/ $3.50, he divided in half, putting one por-
ton IN the bank TO MS own credit,
where it now remains and giving the
other half to a GaUghtery who had been
divorced from her husband and was
compelled to support herself and a
family of small children.
Declares He Is Innocent.
? ct gave her the money said Sims
yesterday. because she needed it more
? than I did and because I wanted to
= do what I thought was right. 1 have
I always tried to do what is right in
? this world I have never knowingly
= done any one an injustice. l am in
] nOcent of the crime for which l was
5 sent here. God knows am
T The old mans lips trembleG as he ut
! tered the solemn oath. and with eyes
2 which showed traces Of tears. ne looked
Y appeahngly into the face of The Her
. aid representative to see II he could
= | not read there a mute expression Of
e confidence in what he said.
{ ! It is evident that the anguish OF
2 thought over the injustice which Sims
= claims has been done him by sending
= him to the state penitentiary. has done
e as much. if not more, than the effects
Of advancing age to break him down
= physically. as well as. in spirits.
r When asked why ne did not leave the
= penitentiary, the Old man said, his
s voice shaken with emotion and his eyes
n a little bedimmed with tears:
No Friends Nor Home
''I have no home. I had once, but it
{ was taken from me- have no one TO
T go to; 4 am too old and too feeble 20
: ! work hard now. What have I d pres
: ent to leave here E0r2"
And the panied expression which
: passed over his face when he concluded
n his remark, spoken in broken English
: showed that the man is thoroughly
broken in spirits. as well as in health
= At an advanced age. when he needs the
tender care of a wife or devoted daugh-
r ter, he has no one to turn to.
q 1t is a cold, cold world Sims looks
out upon; the institution which the
:. average man shuns as though it were
. an evil spirit is to him a home SO
D cheerful and pleasant that he prefers
it, with its stigma and rigid rules and
= regulations, to- the sweet freedom with