The Washington times., 1912-06-30
TWENTY-FIVE MEN
I AWAIT EXECUTION
I IN SINGLE PRISON
Capacity of Death House at
d. Sing Sing Is Greatly
H., Overtaxed.

NEW YORK. uJne 3o.-Three murder
ers will be executed in the dea,h house
At Sing Sing on July 8. They are
Giuseppe Ciprell who was sentenced
to death February 2S. 1911; George Will
Hams colored, vino was received at
Sing Sing November q, of last year,
and Zanta santa, who was senten need
last Dnccmber in conn seton with the
murder of Mrs. Harry Hall at Croton
Lake, for which murder four others
Were sentenced a. the same time
There arc twenty-five murderers in
the death house in Sing Sing just now,
the largest nunber of condemned men
ever kept at that institution at any
one time. 10 provide Cor them Warden
Kennedy has been compelled to con-
strict two annexics One is next to the
death house proper, and hero the COM
partnlcnts used usually as coolers"
have been turned into condemned cells.
Three others hav9 been pui!t next door
to the office OF Principal Keeper Con-
nsaghton. or the "P. k" as he is bet
ter known among the convicts. Manu-
rice Lustis. a medical student. who was
convicted in this city two years ago
fer poisoning his young wife. is the
dean of the death mouse dwellers. His
y
Whitman's Speed Fills Cuts.
There are only three homicide cases
awaiting trial in the Tombs Just now.
This Is thu smallest number of murder
cases ever on hand ut this time of the
year. District Attorney whitman Is
highly pleased because Of the excellent
record made BY his staff In clearing up
! the homicide calendars. This accounts,
in part, for the fact that Sing Sing. OH
the other hand. is lust now housing the
higheat number Of murderers in it's his
tory, and who are awaiting the electric
chair.
Tho mon under the senterce Of death
have very few visitors. The law pre-
rscribes that they can see only their
nearest relatives and their counsel. OF
course the prison chaplains have ac-
cess to the prisoners at sill times.
When a prisoner in the death house
in front Of the cells occupied by the
ether condemned men. the caller sits
In front Of steel wire screen and
between him and the cell sits guard
or keeper. In that way it Is impos-
sible for callers to pass anything to Il
When Raffaele Cascone was an in
mate of the death house some years
ago it was noticed that every once in a
while he would be more or less under
the influence of liquor. Just how this
came about is told here for the first
time One of the keepers reported to
,"P. k Connaughton one day that
!Cascone was "as drunk as a lord
Impossible" said Connaughton, "un-
less one of the keepers passes the
whisky in to the condemned man."
Mystery In the Case.
Connaughton went to the death house
and had Cascone taken out of his cell
and searched. Then the cell was
searched, but no signs of whisky or
other intoxicants could be discovered
1t was puzzling The records showed
Cascone had had no visitor in nearly
a week. Cascone declared that he had
not tasted whisky since he came to the
prison. He acknowledged. though, that
he would not mind getting a good drink
from somewhere.
A month passed by, and again it was
found that Cascone had as fine a jag
I'm the death house as was ever accu-
sent for, and again prisoner and cell
were searched. The same result. The
prison physician was called, and he
pronounced that Cascone was unmis-
takably surely drunk. Not until Cas-
cone accumulated two more jags did
the secret accidentally leap out.
Source of the Supply.
mere 10 d DdlHIOOli dl Ouc ciiu VI Jlc
death house. Once week each con-
: demned man Is taken from his cell and
marched to the bathroom, and there he
takes his bath. After that he changes
+ his clothes There is a radiator in this
bathroom.
! A relative of Cascone, a woman,
/ would visit him at regular intervals.
/ While waiting for the screens to be
pulled down in front of the cells Of
the other men confined in the death
house she would slip into the bath
! room and throw a skin filled with
. whiskey behind the radiator. Then she
would walk into the cell house and sit
! next to the screen and converse with
Cascone, telling him in Italian, which
the keeper did not understand, that she
had deposited whiskey behind the radi-
ator. At the end of the week, when
Cascone would take his bath. he would
find the whiskey there and either drink
It right in the bath or manage to get 1t
to his cell.
The search Of the bathroom vas not
made until it has been figured out that
Cascones drunks always occurred after
he had taken his bath. OF course, the
woman was never permitted after that
TO see her relative Nobody has had
jag" in the death house since.
Cascone. freed by the court Of ap-