The Washington herald., 1913-12-14

were dragged out raving IKE maniacs.
There was an awful stiffness In the death
house just before those scenes and
long after the, cries had ceased to echo
through the corridor"
Should those fateful appeals fail there
are three wives who will take leave OF
the Rosenthal murderers. There is Mrs.
Louis Rosenberg, the gay wife Of Lefty
Louie" There is blond little Mrs. Lillian
Horowltz. still mere girl, who has been
working in department store to earn
little money to buy her husband. "Gyp
the Blood" few comforts. Finally.
there Is Becier's noble wife, q New York
school teacher still on duty, whose lot
has attracted the sympathy of all. and
who has born Becker q child since he
went into the death house. The puny in
FAINT soon died.
Kind to Doomed Comrades.
When an appeal is denied there is
mystery in the death house about the
new date of the now quite hopeless
prisoners taking OF. No verbal an
nouncement is made to him, but one
Saturday, no stepping from his weekly
bath, the fortunate one," as his COM
rades call him, is ordered into a new
cell
Here" wrote Roland B. Molineux.
'he receives everything new-new bed
ding, new clothes from head to foot.
and his knicknacks, pipe. tobacco.
boxes, books, and the package of let
ters from home. ragged and blurred
from reading and rereading-after all
have been carefully searched. But he
knows that he has received something
else-his unuttered notice that one
week from the following Monday he
Will be moved again. No questions are
ever asked; he has seen 1t all before.
But should he ask, the only reply
would be: 7 don't know"
Here come in some of the curious
and precise death house customs. The
comrade for whom '"The Little Green
Door will swing open a week hence
is distinguished above all others. So
far as they can manage 1t he Is to
have his own way in everything,
promptly and without argument. II he
asks for a song or a story. or wants to
play checkers-by the calling out sys-
tem-there Is instant acquiescence. All
qusrrels are completely forgotten.
Every comrade presses delicacies upon
him.
During all that last week the death
watch" shared by two keepers, sits in
front of his cage every night. Mean
while he and his comrades endure that
greatest torture of all-the parting
with dear ones.
Gives Away Trihes.
For the last night the unwritten code
prescribes everything. At midnight q
keeper stops before each Of the other
occupied cells distributing the tobacco,
pipes, and other tribes belonging to the
comrade who Is about to go, who calls
l.
Keep that to remember me by" And
each recipient answers:
Thank you" The colloquy ends thus,
in each instance:
''Good-by. 1 hope you have luck and
get out"
THANK you. Good-by and God bless
you"
OF these responses Molineux wrote:
They are now as they were ten years
ago; they will be the same twenty years
from now"
There is no sleep for anyone. But
there is no more talk. They hear him
tearing up letters from his family and
friends, resolutely after one last read
ing.
Long before the dawn they can family
hear, or feel. the vibrations of the dynamo
that is being made ready to supply the
death current. Presently they hear soft
footsteps, the priests coming, and the
of Latin. The drawing OF the
cell curtains follows.
Molineux lay fat on his cell floor and
looked under the curtain. He says:
st saw the priest bless and kiss him;
hold up the cross before his eyes; bid
him have faith, and then back out of
the cell. He who was soon to be 1t,
followed Then I heard the procession
raDfdlv into the NEXT rOOnn
Bang said the hungry little door as II
closed
Then all wait in silence. Nothing hap
pens for a few minutes. The brilliant
electric lights suddenly grow dim for a
1t is the DETECTING OF the death
current. Another murder has been ap-
peased.