The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-11

MOURNS OLD
Who Made Life Agreeable to
Him in the raSt.

+ Herald prints the following by James L
Ford:
The "lifer'-wearing a stripe, Tor n
was serving his first ternl-stood az tn
door Of his ee.i, smoking the cigar tina
the warden had glen him as a finale t,
his Christmas dinner, and talked de
sponoentiy about the hard conditions o.
life behind iron bars. Still in the prime
of life, so far as age is concerned, with
the white predominating in his close
cropped hair and his face marked indeli
bly, with the sallow of prison life ,thi:
man who had killed his friend in a fl
of jealousy while still in his teens, con.
trasted his fellow prisoners of today wI,l
those he had known in previous years
and deplored sadly the deterioration in
criminal society.
Il often read in papers and magazines
about how the swell society of New York
isn't what it used to be" said the 'lifer.
as he thoughtfully puffed his cigar. Well
you may laugh when l tell you but So
ciety here has been steadily running down
since l was first put away. 1 suppose
you think that were all alike here. But
L can tell you that while / was eating
my Christmas dinner with nothing bdCter
than couple OF petty larceny grafters
some Italian laborers that were too handy
with their knives and some short term
darkies for company, I got to thinking
of the men 1 had seen at these Christmas
dinners in years past. and it almost made
me cry
For a moment the man with the single
stripe puffed at his cigar. while his
thoughts travelled back across twenty
five dreary and hopeless years.
Il suppose he said at first. that when
you write story for your paper about
the convicts' Christmas dinner-I knew
that was your lay the minute I set eyes
On you-you'll draw a picture of a pris-
oner wipins his eyes with the back of
his hand and talking about the good old
days at home, wher he had turkey and
mince pie at the family Christmas din
ner. Well my familys dead and gone
long ago and what goes on in other
families doesn't interest me, but the So
ciety inside these walls is something that
does interest me, and as I've probably got
twenty or thirty years more to stay here
it makes me sick to see the way that
crime gets lower and lower with every
rev batch of prisoners.
why, we've got eleven hundred men
here now under lock and key and not ten
in the whole lot of any distinction what
ever. Today, at the dinner table, 1 rub
bed elbows with a fellow that stole
red wagon from butcher so as to raise
enough money to get drunk. He's a third
term man, too, and / suppose when his
time expires he won't be away six months
before We'll see him back here again
That's nice company, isn't it, for a man
that's eaten his Christmas dinner along
bill Brockway"
DO you really mean to tell me that
you've found agreeable society here?"
said the visitor. in whose mind the con-
vict's words had started an entirely new
train of thought
Il should rather think So" said the
man in the cell. "A big swindler is almost
If he wasn't nobody would give him
chance to do any swindling Then in the
palmy days OF bank burgling there was
an aristocracy of crime, consisting of
men who pulled off jobs that required
nerve and brains.
We used 20 have lots of high toned
bank presidents and cashiers here. too
men who robbed from the inside-but
we don't seem 10 get so many
Of hon -
can tell me. Don't they steal any more
down in Wall street? or are they too
shrewd to be caught?"
The problem was too abstruse and diff
cult for the visitor to answer, and in a
few minutes the .lifer'' continued
Did you ever hear of the two Hopes.
Jimmie and Johnny Well Jimmie
who was the father. was like that fell
low Moriarty that Sherlock Holmes tried
to do Up. At the time he was engineering
some of the biggest jobs the country has
ever known neither the Pinkertons nor
the Central Office men knew what he
looked like. 1t was he that planned the
Bank robbery-to which crime
owe the pleasure of my acquaintance
with him-and when | tell you that they
were laying pipes for it and studying the
years before they pulled of the Job you
an understand that it was a pretty SER
Gus undertaking. and one that could only
be carried out by men OF first class cali
pre-.
Abe Coakley, who was here a few
rears ago for taking mans roll on a
street car. was taken into the scheme
because ne looked enough like the janitor
o wear his clothes and take his place
On Sunday morning.
Then there was little Joe Elliott. who
helped steal the Gainsborough and was
he husband OF Kate Castie;on. the ac-
ress. he wss an English crook. and a
lever little fellow 10 talk TO. Another
nan in their class was Mark Shinburn.
Who s. doing time now somewhere up IN
New Hampshire. Shinburn made a lot
n money here about the time OF the civil
var and went over 10 Germany % live
ie bought a castle on the Rhine and
lived Ike a nobieman. associa,iug with
III the nobs of the neighborhood and
pending his money like water.
Hold on" interrupted the visitor. I've
always understood that prisoners weren't
allowed 10 talk. How can you fipd out
whether these men were entertaining or
:ot when you can't exchange q word
With them
OF course. were not allowed 20 talk.
'ut how can they prevent Us from swap
ing few ideas now and then. Go into
he dining room when were all at dinner
md you'll bear kind of subdued nu--
nur that doesn't belong to the rafting Of
snives and forks Every man is look
Nc straight at his plate, and his Jaws