Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-20
~ The Making Of Man q

Apart from weakness, is your health soodY
asked the chairman.
"oh, It's good enough" YEARLY answered the
convict sometimes the twisting comes on, but
when wake up after it I'm al right
The prison surgeon under the chairman's direc
tion, put his ear to the convicts chest. and then
went over and whispered 10 the chairman.
~ thought So" said that gentleman. Nov
take this man to the hospital. Put him to bed
where the sun will shine on him, and give him
the most nourishine food"
The convict, giving no heed 10 this, shambled
out with guard and the surgeon.
The warden sat alone in the prison office with
No. 14,20s. That he at last should have been
brought face to face, and alone, with the man
whom he had determined to kill, perplexed the
convict He was not mansced; the door was lock
ed. and the key lay on the table between the two
men. Three weeks in the hospital had proven
beneficial but a deathly pallor was still in his
face.
"The action Of the directors three weeks ago."
said the warden, made my resignation necessary.
have awaited the appointment Of my successor,
who is now in charge. leave the prison today.
In the mean time, have something to tell you
that will interest you. A few days ago a man
who was discharged from the prison last year read
what the papers have published recently about
your case, and he has written to me confessing
that it was he who got your tobacco from the
captain Of the guard. His name is Salter and he
extra, and when he came up again and called for
yours the captain, thinking 1t was you, gave IL
to him. There was no intention on the captains
part to rob you"
The convict gasped and leaned forward eager
ly.
Until the receipt Of this letter." resumed the
warden, II had opposed the movement which had
been started for your PARDON but when this
letter came recommended your pardon, and it
has been granted. Besides you have a serious
heart trouble. So you are now discharged from
the prison"
The convict stared, and leaned back speech
less. His eyes shone with strange, CLASSY exr
preston, and his white teeth glistened ominously
between his parted lips. Yet certain painful
softness tempered the iron in his face.
"The stage will leave for the station in four
hours" continued the warden, You have made
certain threats against my life." The warden
paused; then, in a voice that slightly wavered
from emotion, he continued: Il shall not permit
your intentions in that regard--for care nothing
about them--to prevent me from dischargng
duty which, as from to another, owe
you. I have treated you with cruelty the
enormity Of which now comprehend. I thought
I was right. My fatal mistake was in not under
standing your nature. l misconstrued your con-
duct from the beginning, and in doing so | have
laid upon my conscience burden which will
embitter the remaining years Of my life. ! would
do anything in my power if it were not too late
to atone for the wrong | have done you, H.
before | sent you to the dungeon, L could have
understood the wrong and foreseen its conse
quences, would cheerfully have taken my own
life rather than raised hand against you The
lives Of us both have been wrecked; but your
suffering is in the past-mine is present, and will
cease only with my life For my life is curse,
and prefer not to keep it."
With that the warden, very pale, but with
a clear purpose in his face, took loaded revolver
from drawer and laid it before the convict
"Now is your chance" he said quietly: mo
one can hinder you.
The convict gasped and shrank away from the
weapon as from viper
| mot yet-not yet" he whispered, in agony
| The two men sat and regarded each other with
!; out the movement of muscle.
care you afraid to do itg asked the warden.
A momentary light flashed in the convict's
eyes.
"No!" he gasped; you know am not. But
can't-not yet-not yet"
The convict, whose ehastly pallor, CLASSY eyes,
and cleaning teeth sat like mask of death upon
his face, staggered to his feet.
''You have done it at last! you have broken
nv spirit. A human word has done what the
dungeon and the whip could not do. 1t
twists inside of me now. L could be your
slave for that human word" Tears streamed
from his eyes. ''I can't help crying. I'm only
baby, after all-and thought I was man."
He reeled, and the warden caught him and
seated him in the chair He took the convicts
hand in his and felt a firm, true pressure there.
The convict's eyes rolled vacantly. A spasm Of
pan caused him to rise his free hand to his chest;
: his thin. pnarled fngers-made shapeless by long
} use in the slit of the dungeon door-cutched
: automatically at his shirt A faint, hard smile
wrinked his wan face, displaying the cleaning
teeth more freely.
"That human word" he whspered-"if you had
spoken it long ago--if-but it's al-it's all right
now. I'll go-I'll go to work-tomorrow."
There was a slightly frmer pressure of the hand
| that held the warden's; then it relaxed. The
fingers which clutched the shirt slipped away, and
the hand dropped to his side. The weary head
sank back and rested on the chair; the strange,
hard smile still sat upon the marble face, and
| a dead mans CLASSY eyes and cleaning teeth
were upturned toward the ceiling.