Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-10-01

to give him a much larger wage he
wanted to put Skinny to the test.
Day after day he proved his worth
and his wages were increased accord
ingly, so that at the end OF few
years he was in a 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
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 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 he had
only just come from Sing Sing, and in
fact did not have time to do job of
that kind. Despite his denials he 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 yeaI 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
n,jtted the crime, that he had done
nothing for which he should have been
arrested. He declined to take plea
and decided to stand trial On MS
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 heartSto get
even with society for the wrong II
had done him and deternNnation
that he would get even when ne came
out.
How well remember the many
talks I have had with Tom, and now
ar times it seemed as though nothing
that might be said would move him.
but AFT last God working in His own
mysterious way saw fit to change MS
heart. Tor, put the evil desires and
evil incIinations back Of him and came
out of prison saved man
Twelve Years of Upright Life.
If IS now twelve years since Tom
lat nrison. He is holding a good
nooition in one of the towns of Penn
evlvania. We hear from him ire
o,,entlv and the burden of his letters
- nc is that he thanks God that the
Volunteer Prison league came into MS
life and now he has wished that ne
bad hardened earlier TO the gouly
counsel and wise precepts-
Tobn c. was liberated in 1897, hav-
mo come under the operation OF the
noroIa law which permitted life prls-
ors who had served twenty years
"a whose conduct had been good 10
raroled For twenty-seven years
Iohp had been an inmate of Sing Sing
.i-a, and for many years OF that
80 hone and John were strangers
We went into that prison carrying
massage of hope to such poor sous
&c he and it was with gladness tnat
- roceived the message, and he mas
VA 10 ne now he hoped and prayed that
~ 49, time would come when he wouio
~ his release. and thanks to the
20 Pc measures instituted by our law
VS. ors he was one of the first VINO
nl'.e under the operation OF the
. go paroIe law. He now holds
me Of trust and responsibility in
p po9't Of the largest corporation IN New
York city. ,.;
Another example. and this one - :
,xstv.tbree years old. He was,
els tba dean of the prisoners OF
t this,- Stare for he had spent forty-seven
uaars of his life in the prison. IN Dan'
so+aors every one knew old franK
ne 80 vas a beneficiary of the hfs
80 naroIe law, for he Is now mucn
han. and at times somewhat lesDie