The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-01-29
A CONVICT'S ROMANCE
ODD WAY IN wN'CH A LIFT PRISONER
WON HIS FREEDJM.

The story of The Construction oi
thc old stHtchOust ut Albauy-The
Price of IA Genius Who saw and
Grnspcd His Opportunity.
Nouched FOR by the late Henry Smith,
who said hc learned the fact through
being speaker Of tile assembly, there Is
an 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 casterly side Of Ea-
gle street, between Pine and Stcuben
streets, It's walls and partitions all OF
solid stone, very much as IL It's halls,
rooms and stairs had been carved out
within IA huge block Of marble
II was completed in 1912. costing the
state about S3J0,oOo. 1t is built entirely
of Sing Sing marble. quarrled and cut
within the prison walls
The old capitol being Inadequate to
accommodate a." Increasing business
Of the state. this additional building
was planned and built aud is still used
for the Offices of Inc state comptroller.
the state engineer ana surveyor and the
state bauE!nr tcV"r.acat
In spirit OF economy it was decided
to have as much az possible OF the
work done by the prisoners from the
material found within the prison walls
at Sing Sing, fairly good material, too,
but not the best. a. ii IS a soft marble,
as evidenced bv The wear which now
shows so plainly in the steps and by the
crumbling Of some of the stones from
exposure 10 the weather. All the mate
rial was cut 70 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
ing.
TO accomplish this detailed plan n
system of marking the stones was nee
cssary The plans were carefully made
and a system of marking deliberately
laid ont by the architect in charge, who
found in the prison at Sing Sing u fc
prisoner whose record showed hirl to
be an engineer of the highest al.,ity
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 i'm detail and the system Of mark
ing were turned over to him and the
whole work at that end given over TO
his full superntcndcnce and absolute
control.
In due time the stones in their vari
GUS shapes and sizes and in quantity
for the whole building We're delivered
in Albany and the work of construc-
tlon commenced in accordance with the
plans and system of marking original
ly furnished with the very first stone
there was trouble. 1t not only did not
tit the place. but none Of the stones
marked to adloin It fitted It, and. fur
tner. ii did not seem ever intended for
the place the number indicated. In
vestlgation brought out that the stones
were not of the sizes or shapes speci-
.',e -, 80 ,n,ri.ina - ,,no nrito
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w h,' g hod No roIotton rbataver to
eucl o'ie',
me peM ''''i''' "''''',e, '..','.,".' g." n,o
whe'ner lie was ea,uuan a.''ia., ~, ~
asylum vi PoSs"'i! lo' 'I'"7 - 80, ',,,,,
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ana MS l'"rNlhs S!SteiI ' p,on'" son - ".'
correc'n'sS' ""u '.e u'N ,,,, no., ,,,.,s
" upon 'ne WV -,
oher' ne was q"es',oueu, aINe" ,a. W., ~
~ 10 TASK anu rou'u'y ~ '1' t'''a,i
cohile'enoe ""u ..It -. -, ,,,a
ne met IT al '"''"' S.,,,,,.''
IKE nlisn,S sooi JoHo on ,oan',