New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-03
SINCLAIR HAULED STONE
AND WROTE A POEM
Author of "The JUNGLE Lost
Three Pounds During His
WorkhouSe Term.
PRISON NUMBER WAS 1857
Wore Stripes and Was Given
Two Baths-Fasted During
Imprisonment-Will War
on Delaware Blue Laws.
By Telegra ph 10 The Tribune. !

in the New Castle County Workhouse
for violating the Sunday blue law. were
released at 8 o'clock this afternoon.
Sinclair and all Of his compatriots
spent seven hours to-day working In
the prison stone quarry. They labored
as hard as the forty other white and
negro convicts, and the socialist author
had lots to say after his liberation in
condemnirg the Jail He and his fol-
lowers went back to the colony at Arden
this evening, where they we're greeted
as heroes.
THE Jungle" lay on the stone floor of
a steel cell without a blanket. His
friend. Berkley Tobey, occupied the sole
cot Sinclair did not close his eyes
The surroundings and the means OF
the other 337 prisoners inspired Sinclair
promptly to compose an appropriate
poem. This morning. while changing his
garb for prison stripes. he secretly ap-
proprlsted pencil and a piece OF paper
from the desk of Warden Crawford, and
between the many loads Of stone that he
dumped from a wheelbarrow into stone
crusher, and when the guards were not
looking, he wrote the words, a line at a
time.
The lines are appropriate 10 the night
i'm iail. and are entitled THE Menag
erie"
| The presence Of what Sinclair called
| foul vermin' on the cot that his cell
mate and single tax companion. Toby.
occupied suggested the circus-like name
The poem reads:
THE MENAGER1E."
oh. como We lords and ladies Of the realm.
Come from your couohes soft your perfumed
Come watch With me throughout the weary
Here there are sounds 10 thrln your jaded
nerves
such as the cave men your for.fathers, heard
| Crouching IN forest I'm prmeval night.
| Here tier on tier in steel-barr.d cages psnt.
| The beast ye breed and hunt throughout the
world
Hark to that snore---som. beast that slum-
| bers deep
Hsrk to that rosr-some beast that dream,
Hsrk TO nat mosn--sons besst that wake.
| and weeps.
And there in sudden stiffness mark the
some beast that rssps his vsrrnin haunted
hide,
oh, come. ye lords and ladies Of the realm:
| Come keep the watch with me-this show Is
Behold the source Of all your-ioy and pride.
Thes. beasts ye harnes. fact and set TO draw
/ II is their blood ye shed 70 make your feast;
! II is their tresdmill that moves all your
! world.
Oh, come We lords and ladie. keep the watch:
| Come sit and think how II will be with you
! When God shall send His flaming angel down
| And break these bars-so hath He done OF
So doeth He TO lords and ladies' grand
| And 10 see these beasts TO raven in your
streets
| Sinclair did not eat or drink during his
| Incarceration. He declared the food was
too vile and that he was afraid Of the
water. The first thing he did after
reaching Wilmington was to drink a
large bottle of spring water. Don Ste
phens. son of Frank Stephens. millionaire
| founder of the Arden colony, and Fred
| Steinline, who were in the prison party,
! likewise tasted. Sinclair laughed when
he narrated his work I'm the prison
| quarry.
Il wheeled one hundred Wheelbarrows
of stone to the crusher. Ny companions
old likewise. Aside from thinking of the
| poem that | wrote when the guards were
not on the job, my thoughts were on a
prospective feast of spring water and ice
cream We had two baths, one this
morning early and another just before
we departed. My prison number was 49,
81"
He lost three pounds while lncarcer-
ated. He weighed 14212 pounds when
he entered the place and 1892 pounds
when he departed
This" lie explained, was due to the
fasting"
A number of times while talking with
this for playing tennis on Sunday. 1t
makes me feel like blowing up some one
with a bomb" He did not say who
that some one" might be. The work
house has a sweatshop that beats any
in New York a mile" he said THE
never see the sky. Their faces are COW
cred with boils. and there is every evil
dence of tuberculosis"
BY the sweatshop the author Of THE
Jungle" referred to the clothing manu-
factory in the prison, where a large ma
jority Of the convicts are employed. The
trustees Of the workhouse have a con-
tract with q New York firm for the out
put.
Sinclair declared he was in earnest
about making general enforcement of
the Sunday blue laws in Wilmington, es-
peclally at the Wilmington Country
Club. where golf is the Sunday pastime.
Federal Judge George Gray. incidentally.
Is president OF this organization. The
author would not say when he intended
to begin the crusade
All of the ten single takers viewed
their Imprisonment as an experience.
although some Of them nursed sore
hands as the result o. their labor in the
stone quarry OF the workhouse. Sinclair
said that the work on "the stonepile did
not blister my hands. because | was
,, used 10 playing baseball and tennis"
Professor Joseph CARROLL. Of the
Northeast Manual Training School, Phil
adelphia, one Of those imprisoned. car
ried away with him the plug OF tobacco
which is allotted daily To prisoners. and
he declared he was going to frame it,
George Brown, the dissatisfied member
Of the colony. who brought about the
prosecutions, expressed himself Tonight
as satisfied with the entire proceedings.