Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-12-01
(oOpyrgnl IgO0, By G W D!Ansaam company '
CHAPTER XIII.


eeSted district an imposing edifice
OF gray stone, medieval in its STYLE OF
architecture, lowered high above all
the surrounding dingy Offices and
SquaHd tenements It's massive con.
struction, steep walls, pointed turrets
raised parapets and long, narrow. slit
Ike windows, heavily barred. gave it
the aspect OF feudal fortress incon-
sruously set down plumb in the midst
OF twentieth century New York. The
dull roar of Broadway hummed a
couple of blocks away; in the distance
loomed the lofty, graceful spans of
Brooklyn bridge, iammed with its Oh
posing streams of busy interurban
traffic The adjacent streets were
filled with the din OF hurrying crowds
the rattle of vehicles, the cries of ven
doris. the clang of street cars. the ughl
ugh! of speeding automobiles. The &C.
tive, pulsating life of the metropolis
surged like a rising flood about the
tall gray walls yet there was no re-.
Spouse within. Grim, silent. sinister.
the city prison, popularity known as
the TOmbs," seemed to have nothing
in common with the daily activities of
the big town in which. notwithstand
ing, it unhappily played an important
part.
The present prison Is a vastly diff
ferent place to the old jail from
which it got its melancholy cognomen
To day there is not the slightest justi-
fication for the lugubrious epithet an.
piled to it. but in the old days, when
mans inhumanity to man was less a
form of speech than a cold. merciless
fact the "Tombs" described an intol.
cradle and disgraceful condition fairly
accurately. Formerly the cells in
which the unfortunate prisoners were
confined while awaiting trial were sit
uated deep under ground and had nei-
Their light nor ventilation. A man
might be guiltless of the offense with
which he was charged, yet while
awaiting an opportunity to prove his
Innocence he was condemned to spend
days, sometimes months. in what was
little better than a grave. Literally,
he was buried alive party of for
eigners visiting the prison one day
were startled at seeing human beings
confined in such holes They look
like tombs," cried some one New
York was amused at the sinRularly
appropriate appellatiVe and It haa
stuck to the prison ever since.
pAtf
with them. AS man becomes more
civilized he treats the lawbreaker
with more humanity. Probably soci
ETY. will always need it's prisoners
but as we become more enlightened
We insist on treating our criminals
more from the physiological and psy.
Geological standpoints than in the
cruel, brutal, harbarous manner of the
dark ages. In other words the sociol
ogist insists that the lawbreaker has
greater need of the physician than he
has of the jailer
To-day the city prison is a tomb
In name only. 1t is admirably con.
structed commodious, well ventilated
The cells are large and we'll lighted
with comfortable cots and all the
modern sanitary arrangements There
are roomy corridors for daily exercise
and luxurious shower baths can be OBJ.
tanned free for the asking. There are
chapels for the religiously inclined
and library for the studious. The
food is wholesome and well prepared
In q Ioron oil Ii 10
situated on the top floor. Carping
critics have, indeed, declared the
Tombs to be too luxurious declaring
that habitual criminals enjoy a stay
at the prison and actually commit
crime so that they may enjoy some oil
It's hotel-like comforts.
1t was with a sinking heart and a
dull, gnawing sense of apprehension
that Annie descended from a south
bound Madison avenue car in Center
street and approached the small por
tai under the forbidding gray walls
She had visited a prison once before
when her father died She remem
bered the depressing ride in the train
to Sing Sing, the formidable steel
doors and .,onderous bolts, the narrow
cells, each with its involuntary occu
pant in degrading stripes and closely
cropped hair and the uniformed
guards armed with rifles. She remem
bered how her mother wept and how
she had wondered why they kept hei
poor dada in such an ugly place. Tt
think that after all these years she
was again to go through a similar ex
perience
She had nerved herself for the or
deal. Anxious as she was to see How
ard and learn from his Inns all that
| had happened, she feared that she
would never be able to see him behind
the bars without breaking down Yet
she must be strong so she could worl
to set him free. SO much had hap
pened In the last two days. It seemed
a month since the police had sent fol-
her at midnight to hurry down to tbs
Astruria, yet 1t was only two day.
ago. The morning following her try