davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27
FEADING AND TAIL PIECE OF
G r1IRA&H F"
20 % So

great hopper. The evvernor chanced 10
pay an official visit to San Quentin
one day, and the prison bard insisted
on an audience.
L don't want to talk with you,
the governor said. II am familiar
with all the ins and outs of your case.
Six hundred citizens have petitioned
me to commute your sentence, and l
have refused to grant the petition. /
cannot see that l am justified in COM
muting your sentence TO life impris-
onment."
The prison bard rose to his full
hefght and stretched out his right
hand in a crude but eloquent gesture.
Look here. governor" he said. I'm
not asking you 10 commute my SEN
tence! If I've got to swing, I'll swing
that's all. But l want to explain
things to you. You say you know all
the ins and outs of my case l don't
believe you do, and I'm going to show
you"
And the prison bard proceeded to
show the governor. The man in the
black and white stripes talked con-
tinuously. earnestly. eloquently, for ex-
actly one hour and is minutes and then
strobe out to his guards and marched
back to his cell. He says today that
after delivering that spiel he didn't
SeA 2 AlNNh N-AoN oPPNAth. LIE lldh
had his say.
Days came and went and the gov
ernor made no move. The prison bard
was marched up to the death chamber
with its wooden bars and its encircling
wire mesh. The gallows was waiting
for him in the next room. He couldn' t
see it from his cell, but he knew that
1t was there. What he could see was
the narrow door through which the
condemned man walks preparatory to
ascending the 13 steps leading to the
scaffold.
The prison bard was treated hand
somely, he says, while q tenant Of
the death chamber. He got everything
reasonable that he asked for, and pos
sessed his soul in patience. Then up
came the prison barber and the prison
bard got a haircut and shave That
looked like the beginning of the end
The next day he would be taken out
and marched through the narrow door
and up the 13 steps and
But after the barber came the gov
ernor's reprieve. That speech of ex-
actly one hour and Is minutes bad done
some good after all. The death SEN
tence was commuted to Imprisonment
for life; and it was then that the prison
bard became a poet in fact. He wrote
his first poem and liked it, and then
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27
Photo by 2.RF Ford

In large divisions of stripes OF the dif.
ferent varieties. In rows about 20
inches apart Tho sowing or planting
Is done by four horse machine, which
drops four rows at q time. In the
months when the eastern grower has to
shovel snow the California scotsman
has the pleasure OF seeing his plants
well above ground and possessing a
great vitality, due to tho mildness Of
the climate When the blooms come
there is no wet weather 70 spoil them,
and with the planting OF the later
blooming varieties the western culti-
vator may be both curing and growing
at the same time. These climatic condi-
tions also form one Of the chief reasons
why the European market IL 30 good
customer for the California seed Sweet
peas are not irrigAred, but are culti-
waited with q four row oultivator.
which straddles the plants without
cutting out any. This cultivation is
kept up until the plants entirely cover
the ground, when the weeds are hoed
out by hand.
The division OF plants number about
150 named varieties. and between the
various colors are planted seed lettuce
In rows covering spaces perhaps 80 feet
wide, which make a frill of green
around and through tho blossoms The
lettuce plants also are intended to pre-
vent the mixing or hvbridization AZ the
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

chilling back board to be used to sup
port the condemned man who gets
weak kneed at the last moment. He
shows. to the fraction of the inch how
far man of a given size and weight
Will drop And an injudicious question
will elicit full details of ali the ex-
ecutions that have taken place at San
Quentin since 1893.
1t is in describing the uses of the
death chamber, however that the
prison bard reaches his climax of en-
thusiasm. The location of the prison.
er's cot. the position of the guards. the
normal and abnormal sconduct of con-
demned men-all these are thoroughly
and realistically elucidated He indi-
Gates certain lead pencil scribblings on
the 1ath bars of the apartment-the last
written words of several men who dur
ing the last few years have thus en-
pioyed their few moments of waiting
ere walking through the narrow door
and up the 3 steps. One of the panels
bears an incoherent prayer to the
savior of men; another blazons the fact
that the condemned man gave his last
thought to his old friend and pal
Here prisoner has written. AN in
nocent man dies today; there is a
sketch of a fluffy haired ard amply pro-
portioned chorus girl-drawn. mind
you. just seven minutes before the
black cap was pulled over the artists
face. -
Is it in the daily exploiting of these
dread scenes that the prison bard finds
inspiration for his lays2 Who can tell?
If you makes a favorable impression on
the prison bard he will present YOU
with a copy of his poems-a little
booklet printed on the hectograph in
green, red and purple. 1t is his book,
all of it, He has written the poems, he
has printed" them, he had drawn the
illustrations; and the illustrations, be
1t said in passing, are not the least re-
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

wrote some more. He has been writ
ing off and on ever since.
Perhaps you wonder how he finds
time TO write. Well. his duties are not
strenuous He has charge of several
rooms in one of the prison buildings,
including the death chamber and the
apartment where the executions take
place Not the least congenial of his
tasks is TO explain the workings of the
gallows to visitors.
1t was here. within the shadow so to
speak of the neatly painted scaffold
that / first met the prison bard. He
didn't look bit like the conventional
poet He wasn't wearing Oxford ties
and velvet coat. and his hair was not
noticeably long and wavy. And-at first
he didn't talk like poet; his mon
ologue resembled the 'spiels" one hears
at church fairs and outside dime mu-
seums.
This here, gentlemen. is the scaf-
fold. You'll observe that there are
Just l3 steps leading up. Hope you
amt superstitious. Most of us fellers
are superstitious cause it was 13 men
judge and jury-that sent us up. Now.
if you'll stand right where you are I'll
show you how the trap works. Sup
posin' there's going to be an execution
right now. The prisoner comes out
through that door and up the steps
count 'em, 1S-and lands right here on
the trap. Here's where the warden
stands; the turnkey here, the priest or
minister here. II the feller doesn't
want to make speech they get busy
right off The turnkey takes the black
cap-here it is-pulis it right over the
feller's head-just like this-lifts his
arm. and the three men inside there
cut the strings. The trap works like
this"
The lengthy lecture, of which this
is brief excerpt, is an illustrated lee
ture. The prison. bard leaves nothing
TO the imagination. He has the black
cap handy, and at the right psychology
ical moment jerks it over his own head.
His heels come together, his arms fall
rigidly by his sides. 1t is the nearest
thing to a real execution one ever,
wants to see.
The prison bard talks for perhaps 10
minutes before he really warns up to
his work. He gets enthusiastic over
the grewsome rope and explains how
the fatal knot is tied. He points. with
genuine satisfaction, to the half dozen
or so ropes that are in process OF
stretching and confesses, with manifest
disapproval that there are no exacu-
tions billed for several weeks to come.
be dilates on the uses of a blood
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27
By Alfred Dezendorf

TT MILE of sweet peas! An eastern
grower can scarcely picture to
himself such a vast stretch OF
bloom, but in q California val
ley the clean, pure air that comes
up from the rot far distant sea Is
laden with pcrfumed incense from moro
than mile OF the blossoms Surely
the elysian fields could not be more
beautiful than this great sheet of color
set in the midst Of yellow grain fields
Think of it one may. but he cannot
realize the foral wonder until he comes
TO California and allows both eyes and
nostrils TO drink in the sight. While
The florist Of the east is thinking out
a scheme for the better protection OF
his pet blossoms under glass, the $50
acres that in the lano of the afternoon"
hold these unthinkable myriads of flow
ers are growing in the open air toward
the glorious perfection OF the spring.
Then come undulating ranks of bloom
stretching far as the vision can carry,
mile Of soft harmoniously woven
color. broken often by royal puppies
dLQ scarlet IlCner IMAM lne looms OF
the orient ccuId produce. 1t is hard
20 find words suitable to describe the
beauty that greets the eye OF the Wis
itor upon the sweet pea seed farm OF
John Bodger g. Sons, IL miles from Los
Angeles. and hard by the appropriately
named little hamlet OF Gardena, on the
way TO Redondo beach. One wonders
70 what unknown land the fairy car
lssr may lead as he gazes out over the
nrnense reach of blossoms. This spring
IN the time when the May days fade
into June. when the show was at its
best. an enterprising railway company
seized upon the natural wonder as an
excuse TO carry more passengers and
make many Of them say reminiscently:
''whe9ever I get the perfume OF the
sweet peas It takes me back To-"
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

class textbook under the classification
OF prison idyIs":
BALTIMORE slim
In the dust Of a cell corner hidden.
Where shadows grow dim on the wall.
Comes ever from whistle call.
Where no light from the grating can faIs-
Remote and unheeded By all.
: ~ BALTIMORE SLIM.
In the old paImy days. ante bellum.
When the .sstur'' didn't come bound In vellur.
And every mans faillngs were known;
When they each had lay Of their own.
A plant and a pipe and dream;
Fer those hours idyllic had down.
Then slim" and his gang reigned supreme.
Where now is that sad dog residing
Who erstwhtle dubbed the real thinxP
No doubt that some sheriff conhding
Is holding him over TIL spring. 4
His memories the old gang stin ring,
1nougn ~ nistSrys tory pages s5Sw % "a aim as,,
BALTIMoRE SLIM
The prison bard is very human-hs
takes a simple, childlike pride In his
verses. "Oh, just rattle 1t or" he
explains when querfed concerning his
methods OF work. And L get a lot
Of fun out OF 1t, too" The man in
stripes flushed like q sophomore when
his lines were praised. 1t was very
hard indeed to conceive that he was
a man filing a life sentence. a man
who had spent a night IN the chamber
Of death and who was saved by q very
small margin from climbing the thir
teen steps OF the cold green scaRold.
Unlike most poets who don't wear
stripes. the prison bard Is not trou-
blesome man. He has not the tncen-
tive Of keeping his "coppers." for. be-
ing IN for life, he gets no "coppers" to
keep; but he Is docile and obligtng.
He Is a splendid detective" Warden
Hoyle declares. "and proves OF untold
assistance to. the guards. Yes, he's
happy-as happy. dare say, an any
man here can be. and he holds that the
finest man IN California today Is the
governor who commuted his sentence"
The prison bard Is not yet 30 years
old and he bears his age lightly. There
is a sag to his lower lip and In his
clear blue eyes turks the peculiar look
OF the man who has stood face 70 face
with death; but for his suit OF black
and white stripes one would never con-
clude that he Is what he is-or rather,
what he has been.
He has humor of his own, too. On
the last page Of his little book OF
poems is a sketch OF the prison door
with this legend standing out thereons
Abandon hope all ye who enter hereSt
And directly beneath 1t IS the follow
ing publishers note: "As gratitude
is a lively sense OF favors to come I
am grateful when you accept one OF
these books"
The bus for Greenbrae was waiting
and the interview had to end.
"Goodby." 1 said, I'm very glad to
have met YOU"
Thank you, sir" replied the prison
bard. its very good of YOU
The words were stiff and conven-
tional but there was nothing stin
and conventional about the tones In
which they were uttered or in the part
ing contact of his hand and mine.
And as the bus whirled us along the
bay shore. these lines sung themselves
over and over again in my brain
Who laughs in lockstep and when
Chance obtains
Makes music with his chains.
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

For the thin. white hands-life's mystery told
Lie crossed In marble sleep;
l stretch out my own for clasp OF old,
But the empty air Is so strangely cold,
And vigil alone l keep.
1t is highland winter has come once more
Asinging it's somber song;
While voice comes back from the other shore
Through the grated bars of my prison door,
And the night is lone and long.
In Destiny one may detect the rum
bic OF the jute mill and the vision OF
700 convicts working away at their
tasks; in Winter" the prison bard
gives us a bit of the atmosphere of
the nights when evening falls all too
soon and cold wind from the western
ocean means its monody along the pris-
on walls. In the following significant
lines we find expressed the. views of
the prisoner-not necessarily life
timer'-who is advised to mend his
ways:
What reform you suggest; Say. Billy.
Don't pass us that package OF hope:
Would you pin your faith q conVic-7
Can you wash out these stripes with soap?
1t may be the act of heather
To laugh in the face OF his fate
But you can't break into kingdom
Whose populsce guard every gate.
The following ballad might enter a
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

markable feature of the volume
The title page is impressive. It's pic
torial decorations represent two con-
victs with ball and chain fastened to
their ankles, and between them a draw
ing of an eye with the legend. "The
eye that never sleeps That" the
prison bard explains. lis the PinkertoK
eye. On another page are San Quen-
tin types. drawn from life" The forger,
the gaspipe thug, the counterfeiter and
others are all here. Opposite is a draw
ing that recalls the work of one of my
early teachers, an ambitious and con-
ventionally impossible combination of
red. green and purple flowers and a
bird that never was on sea or land.
Every page has its headpiece and its
tailpiece-now a vista of prison walls,
now figure in stripes sitting with his
head in his hands, now a skeleton talon
grasping a bone.
But the verses themselves what can
be said of them? Forgetting their
crudeness, their lack of polish and
restraint, We are drawn to them in
manacie like clutch. They grip, and
grip hard, because, there is man be-
hind them, a man who has sinned and
suffered and thought and felt An oc-
caslonal buoyancy of spirit and light
ness of heart CLEANS 10 them, but for
the most part their tone is sad and
despondent. The following are fair
specimens of the contents of the little
volume:
DESTINY
Carder. rover. spinner and LOOM
convicts weaving the threads of doom,
Hour by hour for Hfs. maybe,
Weaving the web of destiny.
A stood nv his IIfes fair task
man. Gods holy image and mask
He threads the shuttle and starts the loom
weaving the fabric of his DOOM
Inch by inch, both in calm and strife
piO mr..
All fair and good as the cloth should he
Woven by human destiny
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

enough to visit the sweet pea farm in
the blossoming season drove through
Kaleidoscope masses OF color ana
picked great bouquets to carry away
with them without descending from
the wagons. which were halted while
the men threw into them great arms
full of blossom laden plants. Even the
Spanish boys who drove the teams
caught the spirit of the festival and
garlanded the horses necks with the
varicolored blooms. Never had artists
so marvelously shaded a horizon from
which to paint. From the tint OF the
sea she'll to the passionate red OF the
rose. from mauve to maroon. the blue
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

He stanza here quoted mas
strike you as only passable
verse; probably that's all it is.
There is certainly more unusual
poetry in the world, but 1 greatly
doubt If there is another such poet
During the few years 1 have been
walking this earth I have met perhaps
more than my just share of the men and
women who make verses which some
times turn out to be real poems; but
not one Of them proved to be half so
interesting q personality as a man
whose hand I gripped over in Marin
county a few weeks ago. The man
lives in Marin county for the excellent
reason that the laws of the state of
California viii not permit him to live
anywhere else, and he is not going TO
change his domicile during the rest
OF his life. The man wears the black
and white stripes of the San Quentin
prison, and he is what is technically
called a life timer" And he is the
poet who wrote Prison Verse"
His name? I don't intend to tell
you his name. Not that IT makes much
difference, to be sure, for life timers"
don't particularly care for what people
think OF them; and besides, this convict
mas inscribed both his name and his
prison number on his book. But it will
sufice for US to call him the prison
bard. That. after all, is the distinction
he most Graves.
There are poets and poets. Some Of
them have led quiet, uneventful, happy
lives; others have been among the tenn
pest tossed OF life. Some have while
yet children, lisped in numbers. for the
numbers came; others have developed
only IN their later years. The prison
bard is among the children OF the muses.
who have had considerable excitement
In their careers and who didn't write
doggerel on their school states Twen-
ty-five years ago he was not writing
poetry. 1t is quite immaterial TO con-
slider just what he was doing The
essential fact is that some u years
ago the prison bard fell into the
clutches Of the long arm of the law
He had a trial-severa1 trials-12 of
his peers found him guilty as charged,
and a judge sentenced him to be
hanged by the neck until he be dead.
And there was no poetry in that.
The prison bard didn't like the idea
OF hanging. A good many of his friends
didn't like the idea, either. Six hun
dred Of them affixed their names to
petition to have the sentence com
muted. and laid the petition before the
governor Of California. And the gov
ernOr refused to grant the wished for
reprieve. He saw no reason why the
sentence Of death should not~be carried
out. He declined to interfere.
Certainly, things looked black enough
TO the prison bard. But. like all poets
even embryonic poets-he was a
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

Ten acres are devoted to special hy-
pr1dlzing, or evolving new varieties, by
nand pollenation. Each season adds
many new named varieties to the al
ready long list, although It takes about
three years to tell whether a strain"
isstrua Some few OF the blossoms are
Grown under glass. such as the Count
ess spencer, which. reaches q size of
three inches across. The Bodger farm
has developed four new varieties this
year among the large picotted orchid
nowerinS type. The dwarf or Cupid
sweet peas also are grown. both the
double white and the bush variety.
The people who were fortunate
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

sweet pea. although Il u = sslf.pollsn-
ating flower, with blossom 90 tightly
closed that the humble bees and hum
ming birds are the only visitors by
which 1t IL crosspo1lenixed or hybrid
ized- The lettuce is grown for seed
also, and chiefly for tho colder coun-
tries, north Germany. Canada and Scot
land
AS soon as the plants come into
hover. and throughout the season OF
bloom. which lasts from six to seven
weeks. from 10 to so japanese are en-
pioyed among the blossoms In rogue
ing or pulling out all or oolors or
sports and undesirable mixed colors.s
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

of the sky and the blue OF indigo the
white of the pearl and the green white
of the fOaming breaker-each hue was
represented in a riot of color. and
above them sang the mOcking bird and
the meadow lark. The mind can not
conceive of a more brilliant picture
than that presented by a mile or sweet
peas in blossom: and here the moisturS|
brought TO them by the sea breezes
and the fOgs deepens their rich oOlors
The life of all this beauty from the
flower. to finish is about two months
although the blooming period. covering
all varieties. early and late. lasts about
six months. The seed harvest begins
about the LIST OF June. The first move
is to cut them. which is done with ma
chinery. as in gathering any grain
crop. The low and Cupid varieties are
cut with a bean cutter and the vine
and bush varieties are cut with a head
er and dumped in piles. in which con-
ditiOn they remain for few days TO
dry. They are then hauled IN larger
piles and left in order that the seed
may harden for thrashing and are then
stacked in five ton stacks The grea.
thrasEing machine is hauled to the
stack and does it's work. then the ma
chine is cleaned and moves on TO an
other stack. After the thrashine
process IS over the seed Is taken to
again cleaned. running over mills wfrh
rollers To take out the adobe soil which
aceumulatcs in the vines
Then the seeds are ready 70 ha
shipped il carload lots. packed in two
oushel seamless sacks. The seed tra,5a
is critical one. both In this country
and Europe. and the great aim of m
grower Is to supply seed that Is true
10 the variety whose name il bears. Tba
annual output Of sweet pea seed from
the Bodger farm is about 125 tons for
wnlen market is found in nearly All
OF me states and In many foreign coun-
tries Not more than 5000 pounds az.
Sotc west OF the Rocky mountains. Al
though Germany. which buys six car-
loads annually. is perhaps the la--ost
foreign purchaser. Great Britain 49,
traha ard New Zealand also buy larra
shipments The weight of carload -
sweet pea seed is $4,000 pounds. Tba
entire Bodger ranch comprises 7oo
acres. ana many other KINDS OF seeds
are grown upon it also: but. its most
atIractive section is that co7Rca ~
mile of sweet peaA "
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27

But 10. the rabric is broken. torn:
A stain on the page Of life Is horn.
The weaver fails in his humble task,
The sullied page doth censure ask.
Could not the cafder have been untyHe?
The rover. perhaps. an end ran through.
Did say that the spinner erred1
All, no-the cloths the witness heard
A man steps down from beside life's task
A man In dishonor's fatal mask
While another threads the same life loom.
Weaving the warp and weft OF DOOM
Carder, rover, spinner and loom
Convicts weaving the weft OF doom
Hour by hour, for life, maybe.
Weaving the web OF destiny.
WINTER
1t is night-drear winter has come again,
A-singng its somber song:
And 1t seems a sob OF infinite pain,
That rlingles and drifts with the fog and the
rain,
wall Of measureless wrong.
The San Francisco call., 1908-09-27
By Will Scarlet

Re-g Strides CHEEKY chap i'll luck
nliIultcred knows.
A-sngfng sfs iic goes:
Think vou Tho future has NJ
Gifts 40 bring
To who still can sing:
Who laughs in iock-step and when
Chance obtains.
Makes music with his chains?
From Prison Verse"