Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1912-10-04

get their jobs by favor Of their dis
trict leader. A job in the Tombs IL
not measured by the salary 1t brings.
but by the opportunities for graft At
tachcd to it. 1t is a good deal like q
police captaincy or a police inspector
ship. There IL graft in pretty nearly
everything connected with the Tombs.
No prison in America has such an un-
savory reputation In that respect.
This graft and corruption has been ex-
posed time and again. 1t fills many
pages in book written by ono OF
the former chaplains of the Tombs. It
is so well known among the denizens
of the underworld that liquor. NOR
phine. cocaine and other drugs may
eb obtained freely by prisoners there.
that It fs hardly worth mentioning.
It Is related by former Tombs Chap
lain J. ]. Munro that when a certain
politician was boss of the City prison.
as the Tombs is called, murderers, ~
soon as they gave their pedigree at
the desk, were marched to the war
denis Office. where they were pri-
vately catechized to know whether
any steerer of the prison had been
giving them any information about
lawyers, and then informed it was not
necessary for them to go to court in
order to get counsel; that he would,
out of the goodness OF his heart,
look after their interests and assign
a lawyer to them. Two or three shy
ster firms had the murder cases dur
ing this warden's regime. They got
$500 head, which was the amount
OF money allowed by the state for
the defense of every murderer. less
one-half. which went to the grating
warden. Out of this grew a rule that
Is more or less observed now, that no
prisoner in the Tombs can change his
attorney without the consent Of the
court.
Searching" Merely Farce.
The way in which Forsbrey. the
murderer who fed. got the acid and
the saws-and perhaps the dynamite
that were found on him two days
before his escape indicates tho laxity
with which the system of scarching
visitors to the Tombs is conducted.
1t il asserted that IL q prisoner 10 at
all influential or has fair bit OF
money at his disposal the searching
is very perfunctory. Unless the OBJ
ject is a fairly good-sized one Or 10
carelessly concealed there is = good
chance of its getting past. This
brings one back again to the per.
sonal element in the conduct Of the
Tombs. The personal equation IL OF
just al much importance in the run.
ming of prison as it is in caring for
the safety OF a railroad train.
The man who has job in the
Tombs, or on Blackwelrs island, or
Wards island. or in any of the other
penal institution. Is under certain
strong obligations to his political
boss. There are gentlemen employed
In the Tombs from the First assem-
bly, district. II they had not gone on
the excursion OF the Huron club to
Witzels grove the day prior to Fors-
breys escape it would have been on
account of illness. That is the only
excuse they could have offered to &C.
count for their absence from that
function. But lot of them went
practically all that owed allegiance
to the downtown Tammany crowd.
They were busy all day long on the
outing entertaining their friends. 1t
is declared these people we're tired
and dangerous at night after they
got back and resumed their duties at
the Tombs. Among them was a night
keeper. who should have been punch.
ing the time clock every hour. but he
slumbered. Night Warden Jones. who
had charge OF the Jail in the hours
OF darkness, is said to have awak--
ened him again and again. A gong
rings in the wardsn's Office when the