Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-20

exhaustion, ne sank into the chair, There he sat,
conscious and intelligent, but slouching, dsor,
ganized, and indifferent.
The chairman turned sharply TO the guard.
why did you Inanacle this man" he demanded,
when he is evidently 40 weak, and when none Of
the others were manacledY
why sir" stammered the guard, "surely you
know who this man is: he is the most dangerous
and desperate---"
eve know all about that Remove his man.
acles"
The guard obeyed The chairman turned to the
convict and in kindly manner said, "Do you
know who we are?"
The convict got himself together a little and
looked steadily at the chairman, mo" he re.
Piled after pause. His manner was direct, and
his voice was deep though hoarse.
we are the State Prison Directors. We have
heard OF your case, and we want you to tell US
the whole truth about IT,"
The couvicts mind worked slowly. and Il was
some time before he could comprehend the ex.
PLANTATION and request. When he had accomplish
ed that task he said, very slowly, ''I suppose you
want me to make complaint, sir"
"Hes-if you have any to make"
The convict was getting himself in hand He
Strengthened, and gazed at the chairman with a
peculiar intensity. Then firmly and clearly he
answered, I've no complaint to make
The two men sat looking at each other in ST.
lence, and as they looked bridge of human sym.
pathy was slowly reared between them The
chairman rose, passed around an intervening
on his gaunt shoulder. There was n tenderness
in his voice that few men had ever heard there
table, went up to the convict, and laid hand
"I know" said he, "that you are a patient
and uncomplaining man, or we should have heard
from you long ago. In asking you to make a
statement l am merely asking for your help to
right wrong. If wrong has been done. Leave
your own wishes entirely out of consideration, If
~
intention desire either to give you relief or to
make your case harder for you. There are fifteen
hundred human beings in this prison, and they
are under absolute control of one man. If a seri-
Gus wrong is practiced upon one, it may be upon
Others. / ask you in the name of common hu-
manity, and as one man of another, to put us in
the way of working Justice in this prison. If you
have the instincts of man within you, you will
comply with my request. Speak out, therefore,
like man, and have no fear of anything"
The convict was touched and stung He looked
up steadily into the chairman's face, and firmly
said, There is nothing in this world that fear" !"
Then he hung his head, and presently he raised
it and added, II will tell you all about it,"
At that moment he shifted his position 30 as to.
bring the beam of light perpendicularly across
his face and chest, and it seemed to split him in
twain He saw it, and feasted his gaze upon IL
it lay upon his breast. After a time he thus
proceeded, speaking very slowly and in a strange
ly monotonous voice:
81 sent up for twenty years for killing a
man. | hadn't been criminal; killed him with
out thinking, for he had robbed me and wronaed
me- | came here thirteen years ago had
trouble at frst--it CALLED me to be convict; but
got over that, because the warden that was here
then understood me and was kind to me, and he
made me of the best men in the prison.
don't say this to make you think I'm complain
ing about the present warden, or that he didn't
treat me kindly; I can take care of myself with
him. I am not making any complaint. | ask no
mans favor, and fear no mans power"
"That is all right Proceed"
"After the warden had made a good man out
of me I worked faithfully, Sir; I did everything
they told me to do; I worked willingly and like
slave. 1t did good to work, and worked
hard. / never violated any of the rules after |
was broken in. And then the law was passed
giving credits to the men for good conduct My
term was twenty years. but did so well that my
credits piled up, and after I had been here ten
years | could begin to see my way out There
were only about three years left. And, sir T
worked faithfully to make those years good
knew that if I did anything against the rules
should lose my credits and have to stay nearly
ten years longer. | knew all about that, SIR I
never forgot it. I wanted to be free man again,
and ] planned to go away somewhere and make
the fight all over,-to be man in the world once
more"
"We know all about your record in the prison.
Proceed"
"Well, it was this way. You know they were
doing some heavy work in the quarries and on
the grades and they wanted the strongest men
in the prison. There weren't very many; there
never are very many strong in prison And
was one of 'em that they put on the heavy
work, and 1 did it faithfully. They used to pay
the men for extra work,-not pay em money,
but the value of money in candles tobacco, extra
clothes, and things like that. l loved to work.
and loved to work extra and so did some OF the
other men. On Saturdays the men who had done
extra work would fall in and go up to the cap
tain Of the guard, and he would give to each man
what was coming to him. He had it all down in
book, and when would come up and call
for what was due him the captain would give it
to him, whatever he wanted that the rules al
lowed