Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-17


chamber. But now the condemned cell is
within a few feet Of the fatal drop. Out
side this cell, narrow door was opened
from the corridor. and I entered a small
room, with a vaulted ceiling. and a long
beam running the entire length Of the
room. There was no furniture IN the room,
and no .coloring save the doors which were
black. This was the execution room. In
the center Of the floor was long white
chalk line. 1t was the dividing line be-
tween time and eternity, for the man who
stands with pointed toes touching its white
outline before the floor beneath him drops,
and he crashes TO his death.
When I passed into the exercise yard I
saw many groups Of convicts and among
them famous criminals and murderers who
were 60 stay there for the rest OF their
natural lives. It may be here explained
that long-term and life convicts are better
treated and have more privileges than men
In for short terms. There Is a sort OF a
social ladder in Mountjoy. The life pris-
oner won't notice or even associate with
the Individual who is the kings guest for
the short period Of a year or two. In the
women's exercise yards we were forced
20 beat hasty retreat. owing 70 the
choice language OF the inmates. This is
the only department Of Mountjoy that
the rule Of silence cannot be enforced
Penal servitude and all the hardships OF
prison discipline have no effect whatever
on the tongues Of the women who must
reside there. Among these prisoners were
three women murderesses whose sentences
had Just been committed from death tc
life Imprisonment. one OF them was max.
ing soup in the kitchen when the governor
Of 10 bap nj tp11 ma "a
the crime she had committed.-the murder
Of her husband, in which she was assisted
by her mother. who was also in the same
prison with her.
The Yearning Eyes.
But, after ALL these unfortunate men
and women. no matter what their crimes
may have been. are to be pitied. They
are forever shut out from sunshine, friends
and liberty. There was not a face in that
prison of the many that I saw that did
not have a yearning look in the eyes.
| Perhaps It was the sight Of face from
the outside world that brought the yearn-
| ing into the eyes of these imprisoned
creatures. There is no escape from an
! Irish prison save through help from the
/ official on the inside It was by means OF
1 such aid that the famous Lynchehaun
| made his remarkable escape from prison
| in ireland a few years ago and reached
| this country The British government
made a determined and costly effort be-
| fore the United States courts to have the
/ fugitive returned, but failed.
! The lives of men and women confined
| in a pentientiary may be made n little
easier and robbed somewhat of severity
! II the man who has charge Of them bC
humane and thoughtful The governor o.
! Mountjoy seemed to me TO be a kind man
| He is much interested in everything tina
| tends to the reformation and uplifting o.
| a prisoner from crime and vice. There #
! a school under his own personal super
vision, and also a library, where the con
! victs may obtain even the latest novels
! But very few prisoners take the oppor
thnity of trying TO better their lives, ever
II that betterment takes place in so un
favorable a place as a prison.
When my visit was over 1t was with {
| sense of relief that L saw the great gait
roll back, and / stood outside once more
with Gods sunshine about me and tn,
memory of the lives 1 had just left behind
The huge gates slammed there was the
click of a steel lock, and 1 walked away
while a thousand longing eyes, full o
| yearning seemed to peer at me from thu
walls and windows of Mountioy convic
prison. VtCOR Il. NOONAN.