Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1906-01-18
A CONNECTS ROM nee.
ODD WAY IN WHICH A LEE PRISONER
WON HIS FREEDOM.

The story Of the Contradiction OF
the Ola StatebOuAe mt AIAany-Th
Price of GENIUS Who saw and
Gvasped His Opportunity.
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 1t has stood for years, the finest
example OF pure Dorlc architecture in
this country, on the easterly side of Ea-
gle street, between Pine and Steuben
streets, It's walls and partitions all Of
solid stone, very much as IL its halls,
rooms and stairs had been carved out
within huge block of marble
It WAS completed In 1912, costing the
state about $35O,O0O 1t is built entirely
OF Sing Sing marble, quarried and cut
within the prison walls.
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 department.
Il Ina spirit of economy it was decided
to have as much AZ possible of the
york done by the prisoners from the
material found within the prison walls
at Sing Sing, fairly good material, too,
but not the best as 1t is a soft marble,
40 evidenced by the wear which now
shows so plainly in the steps and by the
crumbling Of soma 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
on another, and SO on until the whole
was assembled In the completed build
4 Ing.
TO accomplish this detailed plan
system Of marking the stones was nee
essary. The plans were carefully made
and system OF marking elabOrately
laid out by the architect i'll charge, who
found in the prison at Sing Sing 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
quarrying stone. So, following the
spirit of economy referred to above. the
plans in 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.
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-
/ ton commenced In accordance with the
plans and system Of marking original
6ly furnished With the very first stone
there was trouble 1t not only did not
dt the place, but none 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 togeth-
er by II had no relation whatever to
each other
Tie bewildered architect hardly knew
whether he was candidate for the
asylum or possibly for Sing Sing. How
over, a careful verifcation Of his plans
and his marking system proved their
correctness, and the blame fell square
" upon the civil engineer, the life pris-
oner. He was questioned, taken severe
B " to task and roundly rated for his In
competence and threatened and abused.
He met 1t all calmly. 1T looks to me
& Ike mighty good joke on you fellows.
anyway 1t II the best joke / have heard
since 1 came to Sing Sing"
"A to their continued ttliirs.ts Is he said !:
What can you do to Q life prison
or
Finally. IL answer to the abuse and
slurs as to his capabilities as an en-
/. s1nser, he said he had changed the
plans both In dimension and shape
where they had diverged from purity
OF style and the system Of marking
No had changed altogether, but If they
could hnd some one who understood
Ais system the building would 50 up
complete and perfect, excelling the
original plan But, !" he added, with q