The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05
BOY PRAYS IN PRISON PEN
LITTLE SALVATORE NEVER HAD
BEEN IN TROUBLE BEFORE.

Cosiwi TIED the Harrib,o Crime Of Playing
baseball IN the street-YOung Old
OHeuders Told HIN he would Be Eaten
Alive ny Hats In the Hoase Of Refuge
Those old offenders whose faces are 20
familiar In the pen room OF the Childrenh
Court haven't got much use for boys who
CRY their eyes out before they go down
Stairs 10 learn their fate. Nor can they
even stand for lads who give way TO tears
after they eet q long term In the Protectory
or House OF Refuge. unleas the crying spell
Ia a sstali' TO work On the sympathies OF
the Judge or the policemen. You have to 10
| game ana take your medicine without finch
ing 10 command any respect up there. So
that Il why Salvatore Foblano. q years old,
In the clutches Of the law for the first time
In his life and sobhing a. II his heart would
break, heard no words Of solacs or comfort
from those oldtimsrs. Instead, he was
az object Of acorn, sitting there In q far cor
ner OF the pan, his face wet with tears and
his httle fralDa trembling like q leaf.
The sltuation was terrifying. II was the
first time In his life that Salvatore, over hero
from sunny Italy only four months. found
blmaetf In such q terrible plight, n hour
II blL1J noun no IGCOuutN1 Wv SNShh- hoSNAhh
10 70 his arrest and incarceration and M
dsred why. He remembered having bsen
playing that American gane-bassbsl-
la Elisabeth street, whon suddenly one OF
| the lads ysllsd out something that sounded
like Cheese il, de COP and all hands ran to
the corner and darted up Houston street.
He thought 1t stranps that the whole team
| should run for b~asee-cateher. pitcher and
4 A. "a A. .l.A-- I.,t .. - kaa lofa to
| learn about the game he Just stuck IL out in
oentrefsld, as he had been told to by DinlCy
Morello, the captain. and there be was when
a big policeman nabbsd him.
Salvatore couldn't realize for the life
Of him what It all meant, and even when
he ~as taken 70 the Mulberry street police
station he couldn't understand. The Italian
cleaner In the station house got his name
and age. but the lad couldn't remember
the number OF the tenement where he lived.
and the police unable 70 notify. his parents.
sHey, 'yuh Wop,' said Smoker Kelly TO
an Italian boy gitting beside him, tell dat
little 0inny dat he's agoin' ter git life, got-
ever hes il fer: an II yuh doesn't III buSt
Every day those youngsters review their
oaaes with one another and speculate on
their chances Of being sent away OF oct
free, and whens lad is ushered into the pen
room and. says be decent know what they
WITH Suspicion. The oidtimsrs know full
well that the ~innocents seldom find them
selves IN ths tolls, and when they do drop
they carry on. like 0 scared 'a.gon.' So
snicker; vho Likes to pa on al the case
tried. grew Disguised Al Salvstore's grief
and fear, and etraightway he started 10
have the lad know what q terrible fate
.TsIi AT blubberin' kid dat dere amt no
chanct o. I'm beatin' it, Smoker COM
manded Of Luigi PogF, FAN tell I'm dat he's
agoin', W. ter de Ksf' were do ratsu eat
rLuiG interpreted what Smoker told him,
the fear that poassssed hiu, shook all over.
eyes with bis shirt sleeve and then com
niitted an unpardonable act-that is, un:
IrSS r. S. 70 sh sSs G fsll tt On Il. t ne s'lp snsi
uhmindful Of all the lads around him.
started TO pray. They had never eeen
anything IKE II before in the pen room,
and while II was known that many boys
bad Prs g.x thai sSss 's sSys T SSe 70 s' Isa sb = s en-.
know what they were doing. Very often
boys, sesmdngly wrapped deep ip thought
were onerinE up prayers that they would
got out OF this ecrape or that, and promising
LfIAI UGNOI 0AAlh NOaAo WV L9Ai /
grace, but II would be too dseraosful 70
have the other lads zee that they were 90
weak kneed. Salvatore. however, knew
not nor cared what the other lads thought;
he vac going 70 be eaten by the rats In the
terrible Ref-Luid who had been there
told hint and bis only hope wac IN prayer.
And then those hardened old timers,
ranging from to- 10 yeare Of age,
started In abusing little Salvatore. He
knew not what they said, but be could
tell that they were teunting him by their
snlokering ADD their looks Of ecorn, Now
and again Luigi. who even had nc sympathy
for the lad, interpreted, the slurring re-
marks and ,inyective and blAsphemy that
Smoker and the rest let loose. But Sal
ystore kept on pTAytRs and d, he was on biz
ready for down stairs; get In line And
willis they marched from the pen room
lips moved In prayer and he
kept up his applications.
eeaiyatoreN Fobiano 70 the bar q blue
coat called out, and the lad, with q terrible
fear In his heart, was led from the dark
hallway into the bright court room. The
policeman who had arrested him wa on
the bridge talking 10 the Judge, explaining
that he had been up on charges for not
arrestlng the ball players on bis post. and
he had TO arrest one 70 mako an example
Of him. Salvatore wa found guilty, but
with a reprimand. The interpreter had
70 tell him several times that he was free
before the lad GOULD realize his happiness,
and when the truth finally dawned on him
he made q dash from the court room like
mad and disappsarsd down Third avenue
o. a run.