The Republican journal., 1908-04-23
NEWS OF THE STATE PRISON.
Some Stray Glimpsss of Thoma ston's In
teresting, Well-Managed Institution.
Rockland Courier Gazette.

teresting, Well Managed Institution
| Rockland Courier Gazette.
In the Thomaston State prison at the
present time is the unusually large num-
Der of 23S convicts, including 30 who
are serving Il life sentence. 10 women
and those unfortunates who are not
only paying the pelalt. of crime but
suffering from disordered minds.
| Included in the last-named class is
Neal d. Brooks, who was committed
| for rape, and who on the 10th of Janu-
airy murdered another insane convict
by the name of Edward NJ. Smith. The
grand jury may make some disposition
| of the case, but it is believed by the
| prison officials that his earthly penance
will not be of many years duration in
any event.
In the various industrial departments
of the prison, where the men do the
hard labor portion of their sentence.
matters are very busy at the present
time. Particularly is this true of the
harness department, where 1t is lmpos-
sible to keep abreast of the orders.
One of Warden Norton's first acts was
to expend $1,000 in the improvement of
room in many respects The broom
shop is being operated 10 hours day
and having a weekly output of about
900 dozen. Recently the prison received
six car loads of broom corn. The wood
shop has been turning out some fine
chairs this winter Working patiently
in his accustomed corner one finds
Samuel d. Haynes, who appears nowise
cast down because the council has late
ly refused his fourth petition for par
don. Haynes is most expert wood
worker and takes "a great degree OF
pride in all that he does. The years
that have ensued since the writer last
saw him have left their impress, but III
vigor and keennesS of intellect he is
still a young man.
Having brought the shops to a high
standard Warden Norton is filled with
regret that the prison cannot branch
out upon an agricultural line in the
scale that he would like. On leased
ground last summer he did some re-
markedly successful gardening. The
harvest included 5000 ears of corn and
5000 cucumbers. Twenty barrels of the
cucumbers were sailed down. Every
now and then the warden causes a.
batch to be soaked out and they are
served with the Saturday night beans.
In no other way could the prison afford
this interesting item III the prison bill
of fare. From one acre OF land the
warden raised sos bushels of as hand
some potatoes as one would care to look
upon. With luck like that, and the skill
which it implies, small wonder that
Warden Norton yearnS to be a farmer.
The old prison quarry which was
drained only after an expensive sewer
had been constructed, is now converted
into a bayfield, which yields surpris-
ingly abundant crop. Magician Norton
appears to find it only necessary to
wave an imaginary wand and two
spears of grass spring up where only
stagnant water fiouriShed before. Look
ing toward this quarry from the plat
form of the carriage shop ones atten-
ton is called to the site OF the old gal
lows where men went to their awful
death before the State abandoned the
hideousnesS of capital punishment.
Thriving among the workshops, the
storerooms and the stables are some 40
cats, short-haired, shaggy, black, white,
maltese and mixed. Il don't know
what we would do without them," re-
marked the warden to a Courier Ga
zette reporter "When came here the
prison was becoming over-run with
rats, but today rodents stand very
small show" The cats are fed with the
same regularity as the prisoners, have
names of their own and appear to know
where they belong.