The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-06-25
Both thc ahorc mentioned medIclnes aro
LONG TINE CONVICTs.
With What They Amuse Themselves
In Prison.

In GrlbOu.
AS a warder OF Dartmoor once
said to the writer, You get all
kinds up here" Convicts are not
all the abandoned ruffians which they
are so often described to be. And
one of the best proofs OF this Is the
widespread love of animals that ex-
lists among them. 1t is no uncommon
thing to find during severe weather
that prisoners are saving crumbs
from their bread to feed the birds
with. And such an act Is real self
denial, for big. burly man. who has
been hard at work all day In Port
land quarry or upon Dartmoor farm,
does not find his rations any more
than he can comfortably consume.
You will always find few convicts
In every big prison who appear to
possess peculiar power over ami
mails There was man up at Park
hurst few years ago, who seemed
to be able to charm birds. Spar
rows would come into his cell at any
time, perch on his head and feed out
out Of his hands. And yet this man
was serving a fifteen-year sentence
for crime so brutal that one can
not here even mention its nature.
Talking of birds In prison cells.
pretty story comes from Stockholm.
A convict serving long sentence in
the State prison at Stockholm, man
aged to tame a pair of robins 90
completely that the confijing little
redbreasts not only came in and
out of his cell constantly, but actual
ly built there. When he saw what
was happening, the convict asked TO
be allowed to see the governor, and
implored him to order that the birds
should be left alone. The governor
| granted the request and he certainly
never had reason to regret his ac-
ton. The convict, previously sui
len md dangerous, became the most
| tractable man In the prison. He
| took the keenest delight In watching
| the visitors hatch out four young
| ones and these in turn he tanned un-
til they would come to him at whis-
tie. Gradually the convict's charac-
ter chaLged entirely, and two years
after the first visit of the robins he
was eleased on tickot-of-leave.
Thore was an amusing scene one
| day in January, 1908, in an Isle OF
Wight train. Four grown men were
seen on their hands and knees in a
| third-class carriage, apparently hunt
| lag vigorously for something. In
| curing what was the matter the
guard found that the object of their
| search was a mouse. The men were
! releared prisoners from Parkhurst,
and the mouse had escaped from one
| of tlem. Fortunately its owner man
aged to recapture it unhurt, and
| when Ee had done so, he carefully
replaced it inside his cap. He said
| tn, the little creature had been his
| constant friend and companion for
! two years past. and ii had become
| so tame that 1t would sit in his open
! hand and eat the crumbs with which
| he feu it. He could not bear to
leave his pet behind in the prison
and so was taking 1t with him.
An elderly "lifer" at Dartmoor, a
farmer by profession, has an amaz-
| ing way with animals. There is
large flock of sheep belonging to the
prison and these are the old fellows
| special care. When lambs are left
motherless he feeds them so care
fully that he seldom loses one, and
1t is a pretty sight to watch the
lambs following him about. The
far collies are also attached to the
prisoner and he loves his charges so
well that he has lost all wish for
| liberty.