The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-10-18
Convict Scheme.

lCopyti9hf, lWF, by T.. G. Eastment.]
A rich man coveted a certain piece OF
ground belonging to a poor man. He
wanted the land to get the poor man
out OF his neighborhood. The poor
man refused to sell, and In Ills anger
and chagrin the rich man made a fe-
lonious assault. This was squarely
proved, and, although with his money
he made a great fight of 1t. he was sent
to our prison for two years. If he had
come like other prisoners. 1t would
have been better for him, but he came
In a defiant spirit, began kicking at
once and In q day almost had all the
officials down on him. When he refus-
ed to work OF abide by the rules and
regulations, he was punished, and there
was war between him and the warden
for long months. There was sufficient
outside influence to secure his pardon
after fourteen months, and the man
left the prison vowlng vengeance.
He determined to get revenge for
what he called his indignities. In pris-
On he had but one friend, and that was
the doctor. He made friends with the
doctor because he lent the latter mon
ey. 1t was no secret in the prison that
the doctor was given to drink. There
were occasions when he was drunk for
two or three days at q time. AS a rule,
such q man would soon have been
fired, but In this case he was a friend
Of the governor Of the state and had a
political pull. When too much under
the influence o rink to attend to bust
ness, his place vas taken temporarily
by a doctor from town. We got to
know this substitute, of course, and he
was allowed to pass everywhere, the
same as the regular man. 1t was on
this substitute that the rich man work
ed after his release. The town doctor
was in ~pecuniary difficulties and was
offered $1,000 to carry certain plans
through. What he did was to work
upon the weakness of the prison doc
tor and keep him drunk more than
half the time for three months. None
az ne had the least susniciop that onv-
thing wrong was going on. Conyiets
were treated In the hospital, In their
cells and tho sphst,tuta moda sanitary
inspection Of the kitchen and other de-
m rtmants He made friends with
furn,,avs and with n~risoners and was
voted n good fellow
n tool him tbrae months n narfect
b,s mans and but for ! littla slim he
Womb have brought ahout tba bieaast
m,,tinv ora tba orootost nr,son daliy.
orv on rocora We tben bod in tha
nr,son over 600 convIcts and nearly
IN ware i,fars Amono tbo othora
uera robbers BURGLARS md generally
democratic characters-men who would
not bos,tota a moment 10 toke ufa 70
81 havond tho bars We were short
handed ana avarv official had n eyer.
cisa The utmost vigilance Ono dav in
AZ cha,r .hon 7 nnlled ! care,ass nr,s.
mar hack from a saw that would have
certainlv indicted n fatal ininrv In
rot,rn ror th,s when ba had racovarod
y,,om bio ecora ba .skad m snaok a
fow words 10 me IN nrivate tbat NIGHT
: menaood n ~ that ho was tal,an
from bis col, and bro,,oht 70 NV room
7 Ala rot onttc,nata tbat tho ,ntervtaw
would amount ~ mrcb In anv nr,son
tharo ora olroys q certain ppmhar ~
corvicta ,oot,ne n Give something
or-or Gov tha,r ou,r hot+or,nont and
their information Is seldom worth
bao1,ro
TING ma had not baen talking to
mo eve minutes wban I feIt nv hair
irving n stona on and The snbsti.
trto doctor hoS NOT onIv Ind false
revs made 10 The several wicker hut
Ma r,onnad a 1-gonoroi h with
M aonr;ot. NJ ono e,po,a convict
hod haon Iorf ort Tb,sa who ind a.
arst rssnsad 20 ,o,n wore forced in Inv
hotno to,d that thew would he killed
rha ravo,+ r,os ~ +ota r,aoa nov.
morr,na 90 tbe mon rose from tbe
h-roar,as+ +ob,as - march into The
vards ana ~ tbe sbons FIftv reyoly
80 h.d Nan sm,scIed IN For the ron.
s,,o.s 80 ~ Ioader yroa ! highway
rnaor = ,ong sentence THE ON.
LAS ,rara - ho sbot ,iown or locked
~ ~ conv,cts ware n res,me 4
o,t,,on o,oth,ro s,orea away and what
~. non,I 10 sound wss e he evenly
S,v,dad Tha nr,son was then to he
Ara ana tba aoo mon n scatter.
49, = nossass,on ~ nc n~orticnlors
90, csn ha,jeve 7 ,ost mo time IN mott.
s,,ne Az wardor No n trrn bestirred
h,ms.,s rha conv,cts MAJ been locl,ed
p-lSo -.