Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-01-22
a CON VICT' S ROM ANCE

| "a con. VICT'S ROM ANCE
ODD WAY IN WHICH A LIFE PRISONER
WON HIS FREEDOM.
The Story of the Construction Of
the Old statehouse Mt Albany-,che
Price of . Genius who Saw ana
Grasped His opportunity.2 M
Is Vouched for by the late Henry Smith,
who said he learned the fact through
being speaker Of the assembly, there is
an interesting bit of history connected
with the old statehouse at Albany,
where it has stood for years, the finest
example of pure Doric architecture in
this country, on the easterly side Of Ea-
gle street, between Pine and steuben
streets, its walls and partitions all Of
solid stone, very much as If its halls,
rooms and stairs had been carved out
within a huge block Of marble.
1t was completed in 1912, costing the
state about $3.50, 900. It is built entirely
Of Sing Sing marble, GUARDED and cut
within the prison wallis.
The old capitol being Inadequate to
accommodate the increasing business
Of the state, this additional building
/ was planned and built and is still used
/ for the offices Of the state comptroller,
| the state engineer and surveyor and the
state banking departm lent.
/ In spirit Of economy it was decided
| to have as much as possible Of the
work done by the prisoners from the
material found within the prison wallis
at Sing Sing, fairly good material. too,
but not the best, as it is a soft marble.
as evidenced by the wear which now
shows so plainly in the steps and by the
crum bling of some of the stones from
exposure to the weather. All the mate
rial was cut to completion within the
walls Of the prison under such plans
that when shipped to Albany there
would be no further work necessary
except practically to lay one stone up
son another, and so on until the whole
was assembled in the completed build
ing.
To accomplish this detailed plan a
system Of marking the stones was nee.
essary. The plans were carefully made
and system Of marking deliberately
laid out by the architect in charge, who
found in the prison at Sing Sing a life
prisoner whose record showed him to
be an engineer Of the highest ability
and who seemed as competent as any
man in the country to carry out the
| work to be done in the prison, and nat
urally he was not unwilling to follow
his chosen profession in preference to
doing the manual labor Of cutting or
quarrylng stone. So, following the
spirit Of economy referred to above, the
plans Id detail and the system Of mark.
Ing were turned over to him and the
/ whole work at that end given over to
his full superintendent and absolute
CONTROL S
In due time the stones In their vari-
| Gus shapes and sizes and in quantity
| for the whole building were delivered
| In Albany and the work OF construc-
tion commenced In accordance with the
plans and system Of marking original
lily furnished With the, very first stone
there was trouble II not only did not
fit the place, but zone Of the stones
marked to adjoin It fitted 1t, and, fur
| ther, 1t did not seem ever intended for
the place the number indicated. In
vestigation brought out that the stones
| were not Of the sizes or shapes speci-
fed and shown on the plans, and, as to
the system Of marking, 1t was quite
! evident that the stones brought togeths
Ser by It had no relation whatever TO
each other.
The bewiidered architect hardly knew
whether be was q candi date for the
asylum or possibly for Sing Sing How
over, careful verification Of his plans
and his marking system proved their
correctness, and the blame fell square
ii upon the civil engineer, the life pris-
Eoner. He was questioned, taken severe
Nv to task ard roundly rated for his In
competence and threatened and abused.
He met IL AL calmly. ut looks to me
like d mighty good joke on you fellows.
Anyway II Ii the best joke / have heard
since came To- Sing Sing.
AS to their continued threats he said:
what can you do to q lie prison
Eer7'
Finally, in answer to the abuae and
slurs as to his capabilities as an en-
gineer, he said he had changed the
plans both ID dimension ard shape
where they had diverged from purity
Of style, and tho system OF marking
he had changed altogether. but IL they
could ind some one who understood
his system the building would 30 up
complete and perfect sxcelling the
original plan But, e he added witIa
grin, you can probably get ont new
stone good deal quicker than yen
can work out my system :,
Then the stats officials said i win
take you to Albany and force you 10
put up the uiiding. r
He said, Il,
They pointed ont the advantage Of
daSrs ~, a if1a nv FIR q <ir4o a,