Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-10-21

They were grim years, those three
years during which Mary Turner serv-
ed her sentence in Burnsing. There
was no time off for good behavior. The
girl learned soon that the favor OF
those set in authority over her could
only be won at cost against which
her every maidenly instinct revolted
So she went through the inferno OF
days and nights in dreariness Of suf-
fering that was deadly. Naturally the
life there was altogether an evil thing
There was the material Ill ever pres
ent in the round of wear!some physi-
cal toil-the coarse, distasteful food;
the hard narrow couch; the constant,
gnawing irksomeness Of Imprisonment,
away from light and air, away from
all that makes life worth while.
The best evidence Of the fact that
Mary Turner's soul was not fatally
soiled must be found in the fact that
still at the expiration Of her sentence
she was fully resolved to live straight,
as the saying is which she had quoted
to Glider. This, too. in the face OF
sure knowledge as to the difficulties
that would beset the effort and in the
face Of the temptations offered to fol-
low an easier path.
There was, for example. Aggie Lynch
a fellow convict, with whom she had
slight degree of acquaintance, nothing
more. This young woman, criminal
by training, offered allurements Of IL
legitimate employment in the outer
world when they should be free. Mary
endured the companionship with this
prisoner because a sixth sense pro-
Gained the fact that here was one un-
moral rather than immoral, and the
difference Is mighty. ..
For that reason Aggie Lynch was
not actively offensive, as were most OF
the others. She was a dainty little
blond. with baby face. in which were
set two light blue eyes Of sort to
widen often in demure wonder over
most things in surprising and naugh-
ty world. She has been convicted or
blackmail, and she had made no pre-
tense even Of innocence. Instead, she
was inclined to boast over her ability
to bamboozle men at her will. She
was a natural actress Of the ingenue
role, and in that pose she could un-
failingly beguile the heart Of the wis
est of worldly men.
She had been reared in a criminal
family which must excuse much. Long
ago she had lost track Of her father.
Her mother she had never known. Her
one relation was a brother Of high
standing as a pickpocket. One princi-
pal reason of her success in leading on
men to make fools Of themselves over
her, to their everlasting regret after
ward, lay in the fact that in spite of
all the gross Irregularities Of her life
she remained chaste.
The girl saw in Mary Turner the
possibilities of ladylike personality
that might mean much financial profit
in the devious ways Of which she was
a mistress. With the frankness char
acteristic Of her, she proceedd to paint
glowing pictures of a future shared to
the undoing of ardent and fatuous
swains. Mary Turner listened with
curiosity, but she was in no wise NOV
ed to follow such life, even though II
did not necessitate anything worse
than fraudulent playing at love. So,
she steadfastly continued her refusals.
She would live straight.
You will find that you are up
against an awful FROST" Aggie would
declare brutally.
Mary found the prophecy true. Back
in New York she experienced a pow
erty more ravaging than any she had
known in those five lean years Of her
working In the store. She had been
absolutely penniless for two days, and
without food through the gnawing
hours, when she found employment in
milliner's shop. Followed a blessed
interval in which she worked content
edly, happy over the meager stipend,
since it served to give her shelter and
food honestly earned.
The police informed Mary's employ
er concerning her record as a convict,
and she was at once discharged. The
unfortunate victim of the law came
perilously close to despair then. Yet,
her spirit triumphed, and again she
persevered in that resolve to live
straight. She found a cheap position
in cheap shop, only to be again per-
secuted by the police, so that she
speedily lost the place.
A third time she obtained work and
there, after a little, she told her en-
ployer, a candy manufacturer in a
small way, the truth as to her having
been in prison. The man had a kind
ly heart and he ran little risk so he
allowed her to remain. When the po.
lice called his attention to the girls
criminal record he paid no heed to
their advice against retaining her SER
vices. The police brought pressure to
bear on the man. They even called in
the assistance of Edward Glider him.
self. who obligingly wrote very Sc
we're letter to the girls employer. In
the end, though unwillingly enough,
he dismissed Mary from his service.
1t was then that despair did come
upon the girl. She had tried with all
the strength Of her to live straight.
Yet. despite her innocence. the world
would not let her live according to her
own conscience. 1t demanded that she
be the criminal 1t had branded her-if
she were to live at al. She still walk
ed the streets falteringly. seeking some
place, but her heart was gone from
the quest. Came an hour when she
thought Of the river and was glad.
So she went through the long
stretch Of i'll lighted streets. crossed
some railroad tracks to a pier. over
which she hurried to the far end
where it projected out to the fiercer
currents of the Hudson. There. with
out giving herself a moments pause
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