The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-10-03

| to give him a much larger wage he
wanted to pat Skinny to the test.
Day after day he proved his worth,
and his wages were increased accord
| ingly, so that at the end of a few
years he was in position to marry.
! Wherever he has worked he has prov
| ed faithful and has given every salts
! faction to his employers. He is at
! present holding a position of respon-
sibility, is married and has two fine
| young daughters. He has lived an up
| right life for fifteen years.
! Then there was the case of Tom,
who had served two short terms in
| Sing Sing prior to 1889. Upon the
| evening of the day of his second dis
F., charge from Sing Sing Tom, wander
! ing down the Bowery, met two Of his
| friends, who invited him into one of
| the saloons to have a drink. After
| their third or fourth drink they were
! placed under arrest by detectives from
! headquarters, who charged them with
| a robbery committed that very day.
His Innocence of No Avail.
Tom protested his innocence, saying
| that he was not the man, that be had
| only just come from Sing Sing, and in
| fact did not have time to do job of
| that kind. Despite his denials be was
| locked up, for, unfortunately, Toms
| appearance tailed almost exactly with
| the description of the missing third of
| the three men who had done the rob
! berry.
On the day of trial the other two
men pleaded guilty and received f1f-
| teen year sentences, at the same time
| affirming that Tom had no part in the
robbery. Tom again protested his in
| nocence saying that he had not com
mitted the crime, that he had done
nothing for which he should have been
arrested He declined to take a plea
and decided to stand trial On his
record he was found guilty in short
order, and as he put the county to the
expense of a trial he was sentenced
to twenty years in prison. He went
| back to Sing Sing soured and sullen
and with desire in his heart to get
| even with society for the wrong 1t
!
that he would get even when he came
! out.
How we'll | remember the many
| talks I have had with Tom, and how
at times it seemed as though nothing
that might be said would move him,
but at last God working in His own
mysterious way saw fit to change his
| h. nd
evil incIinations back of him and came
out of prison a saved man.
Twelve Years Of Upright Life.
| It is now twelve years since Tom
left prison. He is holding a good
position in one Of the towns of Penn
| sylvania. We hear from him fire.
uuent1y and the burden of his letters
to us is that he thanks God that the
Volunteer Prison league came into his
| life. and now he has wished that he
had hardened earlier to the godiv
| counsel and wise precepts
John c. was liberated in 1907, hav-
ing come under the operation Of the
parole law which permitted life pris-
oners who had served twenty years
be paroled For twenty-seven years
John had been an inmate of Sing Sing
prison and for many years Of that
| time hope and John were strangers,
We went into that prison carrying
a message of hope to such poor souls
as he. and it was with gladness that
he received the message, and he has
told US now he hoped and prayed that
the time would come when he would
secure his release, and thanks to the
wise measures instituted by our law
makers he was one of the first who
came under the operation of the
,'hfer'' parole law. He now holds a
position of trust and responsibility in
one of the largest corporation in New
York city
/ Forty-seven Years In Prison.
Another example, and this one IS
eighty-three years old He was, !
think, the dean of the prisoners OF
this state. for he had spent forty-seven
years Of his life in the prison. In Dan
nemora every one knew old Frank
He 900 was beneficiary of the life
mems parole Law, for he is now much
bent and at times somewhat feeble
VA h,,z dc So