Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-01-21
A CONVIC'TS ROMANCE
ODD WAY IN WHICH A LIFE PRISONER
WON Ills FREEDOM.

Vouched for by the late Henry Smith
who said he learned the fact through
being speaker of The assembly, there is
au interesting bit of history connected
with The old statehouSe at Albany,
where ii has stood for years. the finest
example OF pure Doric architecture in
this country. on the eaSterly side OF En-
gle street. between Pine and Steuben
streets. its walls and partitions all OF
solid stone, very much as IL Its halls,
rooms and stairs had been carved out
within Il huge block of marble.
1t WAS completed in 1912. costing the
stale about S350,000. IL is built entirely
of Sing Sing marble quarrIed and cut
within the prison walls.
The old capitol being inadequate ia
accommodate tile increasag 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 department.
In Il spirit OF economyIt was decided
TO have as much as possible of the
work done by the prisoners from the
material found within The prison walls
ut Sing Sing, fairly good material, too.
but moi the best, as it Is n soft marble,
as evidenced by the wear which now
shows so plainly in the steps and by the
crumblihg OF some of the stones from
exposure to the weather All the mate.
ria! was cut To completion within the
wallis of the prison under such plans
that when shipped to Albany there
would be no further work necessary
except practically 10 lay one stone up.
on another. and so on until the whole
was assembled in the completed build
ing.
10 accomplish this detailed plan
system of marking the stones was nee
essary. The plans were carefully made
and system of marking deliberately
laid out by the architect i'll charge. who
found in the prison at Sing Sing life
prisoner whose record showed him to
he an engineer of the highest ability
and who seemed as competent as any
man in the country TO carry out the
work 10 De done in the prison. and nat
urally lie was not unwilling TO follow
his chosen profession in preference to
doing the manual labor Of cutting or
quarrying stone. So. following the
| spirit or economy referred 10 above. the
! plans i'll detail and The system of mark
| ing were turned over 10 him and the
! whole work at that end given over to
his full superintendent and absolute
control
In due time the stones in their vari-
Gus shapes aud sizes and in quantity
| for the whole building were delivered
| in Albany and the work Of construc-
ton commenced In accordance with the
| plans and system of marking original
| ~ furnished With the very first stone
there was trouble 1t not only did not
| fit the place. but none of the stones
| marked 10 adjoin ii fitted It, and, fur
| thcr, it did not seem ever intended for
the place the number indicated. In.
vestigaton brought out that the stones
were not of the sizes or shapes Spcci-
| fed and Shown on the plans, and, as 10
the system of marking. it was quite
| evident that the stones brought togeth-
| or by il had no relation whatever to
| each other.
The bewidercd architect hardly knew
| whether lie was candidate for the
asylum or possibly for Sing Sing. How
over, q careful veritication of his plans
and his marking system proved their
| correctness, and the blame fell square
ly upon the civil engineer, the life pris
| Oner. He was questioned, taken severe
! ~ to task and roundly rated for his in
competence and threatened and abused
! He met it all calmly. 1T looks TO me
like Il mighty good joke Oh you fellows.
Anyway it is the best joke l have heard
since | came TO Sing Sing
AS TO their continued threats he said:
"What can you do TO life prison
er!v
| Finally, in answer TO the abuse and
| Slurs as 10 his capabilities as an en-
| ginecr, he said he had changed the
| plans both in dimension and shape
I where they had divcrged from purity
of style, and the system of marking
he had changed altogether, but il they
could find some one who understood
his system the building would so up
complete and perfect, excelllnS the
original plan. But" he added, with Il
grin, you can probably get out new
stone good deal quicker than you
can work out my system"
Then the state officials said, I'VE will
take you TO Albany and force you TO
put up the building"
He said, NO"
They pointed out the advantage OF
life in Albany for time in preference
10 Sing Sing.
He said. NO"
They tried to bargain with him.
He Said. Secure my pardon and |
| will stand by you until the building Is