Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-02-23
DoDeEs OF OLD JAILBIRDs.
Tricks by Which They Seek to Make
Easier Their Time In Prison.

ordinary prisons to essay to convince
their jailers that they are insane and
ought to be transferred to that GRIM
inal iunatic asylum.
The most effective way of doing this
is for a prisoner to make himself so
extremely troublesome that his GUS
todians have every reason not merely
to opine that he is cracked but to
heartily wish him in Broadmoor or
anywhere else where they are not, and
the law abiding world has no concep-
ton of the trouble q convict can cause
the staff of a prison where he is lodg-
ed without actually committing a
breach of the prison rules.
A once successful dodge Of this kind
it is rather threadbare now-was to
evince a fear of being poisoned. to re-
fuse all food and drink unless tasted
by a warder in the presence of the
dodger. The prisoner would invent a
plausible story of how his friends put
him away in order to possess them
selves of his fabulous fortune and had
threatened to bribe some one in the
prison to convey deadly poison to his
food. He would tell this tale to every
one who would listen and doggedly
refuse his food for days together. Of
ten. indeed, until he was rendered so
Ill as to be sent to the infirmary, where
he would frantically refuse both food
and physic unless it were poured down
his throat or tasted by the doctor
Consequently he would become so Ill
that the authorities were predisposed
to deem him fit subject for Broad
moor, especially as the contingency OF
the prisoner dying or starvation arous-
ed those Immediately responsible for
his wellbeing to the fact that there is
no arguing, as the corpse speaks for
itself" Thus, If a man happened to
have, as so many habitual criminals
have, a streak Of insanity in his brair
1t was not unlikely he was transferred
to Broadmoor when he was no mad
der-very likely, much saner-than
thousands Of other men who never put
their heads within an asylum at all.
This dodge is, Of course, capable of
immense variation, and, redressed' 1t
is still being played in our penal es-
tablishments. Some convicts, having
Broadmoor In distant views and the
prison infirmary in the immediate
foreground will suddenly develop pas
sio~s for swallowing the most extra
ordinary trifies. One man will evince
a maniacal taste for swallowing small
stones, a trick certain prisoner car
ried so far that when he was operated
on he was found to contain more than
four pounds of stones. Another pris-
oner will sacrifice his nightly comfort
by gradually eating up his mattress.
Blankets and clothing are also absorb
ed in the same manner. But such
lodges as these generally miscarry
and scarcely ever lead to Broadmoor
The more discreet prisoners prefer to
qualify for the asylum by less heroic
measures.
Kleptomaniacs in prison are not
common, but prisoners sentenced for
series Of pretty thefts will some
times continue their practice il jail in
order to lead the authorities to think
they ought not to be treated like COM
mon felons, but removed to Broad
moor. Wormwood Scrubbs prison was
once very much troubled by an aggra-
waited case of the kind.
The man had pleaded kleptomania at
his trial. but all in vain, and five years
was the sentence passed upon him.
He had not been long in Wormwood
Scrubs when all sorts of unconsid-
cred trihes began to disappear In the
most mysterious manner. For long
time the identity of the thief was un-
suspected. But one day prisoner en-
ployed in the printing room lost a but
ton off his trousers, and the thief, who
worked in the same department, offer
ed to let him have another. But II
proved to be the Identical button that
had been lost, and thereupon the thief
fell under suspicion. which was, OF
course, the object Of his noble offer.
On his cell being searched most ex-
traordinary collection Of articles was
found in his mattress. The list OF
items would fill half a column, but the
most common things were buttons.
nails, scraps of soap rags and frag-
ments of wood At one fell swoop, In
deed, everything that had been missed
during the months past was recovered.
Of hoinO cpnt IN
Broadmoor, was punished, but never
theless he resumed his practice. and
he continued his thefts and secreting
them unit! he was transferred to Port
land in the usual course, when he
suddenly and completely reformed.
In addition to Broadmoor, and much
more accessible, there is the infirmary,
into which experienced prisoners will
contrive to get despite their enjoyment
Of the most robust health. The dodge
by which they secure this form of
holiday, or relief from the ordinary
routine of prison life, is called fetch
ing the farm" the farm being the
prison name for the infirmary.
Mere sham sicknesses are useless for
this purpose, and a prisoner has to re-
sort to some more or less heroic meas
ure to secure his holiday. One such
dodger is to set up blood poisoning by
scratching the flesh Of an arm or leg
with a surreptitiously obtained rusty
nail. A certain prisoner at Penton-
vile did this so successfully that it be-
came necessary to have his leg ampu-
tated A similar but less drastic
dodge Is to make a wound on a limb
and keep it open until it become so
bad as to fetch the farm."-London