Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-28

Tor us bOtn grOteSQue nOrrlDle uedIns,
Lrain-breaking punishments In this
world and the next, Then, overcome
once more by the intensity Of his UNI
satisfied desire for the drug that had
long been his master, he would moan
and plead and weep for morphine. At
times delusions would seize his brain.
BY the hour he would rave Of beauti-
full cities and wonderfully fair women
and pleasant pastimes. Majestic lines
Of poetry would flow from his fevered
lips to end in shrek of agony as his
quivering, knotted muscles all but tore
his nerves apart. Again the weird
morphine fantasies would take hold of
him and rush of horrible grotesque
ribaldries would foul the air.
At times he dozed, moaning in agony
even in his sleep. Three times a day
we offered him food, and once or twice
he took a little water, but the one
thing onlJ he craved, the one thing he
hungered and thirsted for was NOR
phine, and that Davis would not let him
have, though all the while it lay there
almost within his reach where he
could see it.
And still he defied us.
But after forty-eight hours of this
terrible torture nature would be; put
off no longer. She demanded rest.
Young had sunk into troubled, un-
easy sleep about seven in the morn
ing. Davis and I, having spelled each
other as guards during the night, sat
talking about our prisoner. hap
pened to remark that it was pity that
capital punishment could not remove
such criminals as Young from the
earth. The inspector, In spite Of the
rigorous way he had kept up the tor
ture, seemed to have strong sympathy
for Young. "-a :.
II don't believe in capital punish
ment at ALL" he said explosively.
Our whole system is wrong. 1t took
us a good many centuries to discover
that insane persons didn't need prisons
but doctoring. They just cant help
being criminals. Stand behind line
Of prisoners as they march in to break
fast in the penitenttary. Not one Of
them will have normal head. Is that
their fault? It Is the fault of society.
It's our fault. This poor devil here,
his father drug flend and his mother
drinking herself into insanity, what
chance did he have? Yet who knows,
some day this marvellous new surgery
may be able to take the children of
even such parents as his were, re-
shape their skulls and make them hon
est useful citizens"
There was stir on the couch and
Young opened his eyes. The fire Of
the drug-madness and the look of hate
seemed to have vanished.
Il give up" he said. "I cans stand
the strain any longer. I'll tell you any
thing you want to know"
He spoke quietly and calmly. Yet
there was something in his voice that
rang true I felt that this time he
meant what he said. Apparently Davis
too, realized that at last Young's spirit
was broken Without hesitation, he
seized the hypodermic syringe and
plunged it into Young's arm. The
prisoner breathed a long sigh OF re-
lief The color came back into his
face and strength to his voice. His
muscles stopped twitching.
Now" said Davis gently, where
are the yellow letters hfd?'
"In tin-box under fiat stone near
the spring." Young replied.
(Which stone?"'
cts the third from the spring COM
ing this way"
| Davis was up like shot and out the
door, reappearing quickly with an
ordinary document box.
T "And the Parrish papers-where are
they?" he asked sharply.
"They are in the box, too" said
Young YEARLY, MAY | have another
shot?"
Davis studied his face and felt his
pulse and then reached for the syringe.
"Where's the key?" he asked as he
finished administering the morphine.
I'm my left trousers pocket" Young
answered alphabetically.
Quickly Davis possessed himself of
the key and opened the box. In the
| top tray were perhaps fifty letters,
typewriter on yellow paper, with a
blank left for the name to be filed in.
! Without stopping to read the letters,
which seemed to be all after the same
form, Davis lifted the tray. In the bot
tom of the box was typewriter list
| of names and bulky sealed legal
envelope, marked on the outside
("Papers in the Parrish case.
Here, Kent" said Davis, handing
me the envelope, take charge OF these
and give them to Miss Louise or Miss
Katharine. You're entitled to that"
Joyfuily slowed the envelope in my
breast pocket, my heart bounding at
the thought of the relief the sight of
the package would bring to the Parrish
family. But as yet the whole affair
was a blind puzzle to me and waited
eagerly for further developments.
| "Now, Young" said the inspector,
tell me all about your scheme"
IF the damn thieves hadn't been
such towards as to 60 and kill them
selves said Young with a glow of
enthusiasm, II would have been a
millionaire within year. Read one
OF the letters and you can see for
yourself just how good the scheme
was"
Lifting the topmost sheet the in