The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-18
IN TOMbS LINES ALL
MEET,0NSAMEL LEVEL
Visitors of All Glasses Wait
Their Turn for Admission
HAVE COMMON BOUND
Believe In Innocence of Friends.
Mistake or Malice, They Think,
Put Father or Husband In
the Jail
HAVE COMMON BOUND
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
The daily lineup OF visitors outside
the Tombs has been particularly in
evidence since the new regulation made
by Commissioner Whitney of the de-
partment of corrections. Formerly vis-
itors were obliged to go to his office
In East Twentieth street for per-
fare Now they go to the Tombs di-
rectly and are admitted on passes is
sued by Warden Fallon.
There are now more than 500 pris-
oners in the Tombs, and most of them
have friends or relatives to visit them.
The line of visitors begins to form at
I o'clock and by 8. when the doors are
opened, 1t often extends far down
Franklin street.
The process of questioning and
searching each visitor is slow and it
is sometimes late in the morning be-
fore everybody can get inside. On cold
mornings men and women in thin
clothing stand and shiver. But even
women with babies in their arms can
only walt for their turn. For the most
part they approve the change, however.
because 1t saves them the additional
dime that it costs to get to Twentieth
street.
Ninety per cent of the persons in
the line are women. Here is young
girl in tawdry finery whose hard face
and cheerless smile indicate her class.
She has come to see her fellow" Be-
hind her stands a tall woman dressed
in black, a veil drawn tightly over her
face, her bearing and clothing indi-
eating that she has been bred in a re-
fined home. She is there, perhaps. to
see her husband who has gone wrong
Another woman dressed in black-an
old woman with tears coursing down
her face-has come to see her son.
All Sorts and Conditions
The last week has seen in the line
The Wife of promoter, reared in
refinement and accustomed to every
luxury.
The wife of politician who at one
time neld city office.
The sister of a banker a woman of
education who has been of the greatest
assistance to her brother in his fight
for liberty.
The girl of an East Side thug and
A woman said to be the fiancee of a
real estate operator whose deals have
gone worng.
All the visitors believe that their rel
atives are innocent, the victim of an
enemy's malice.
AS Tom Meehan, the veteran gate
man al the Tombs, put it:
Sure. they all believe that every
body but their own friend is guilty.
have let a good many hundred women
into this place and | never yet found
one who did not insist that 1t was all
mistake and that her husband or
brother or son would be out in a few
days. Every one of them believes the
lawyer when he says that everything
Will be all right as soon as there is
chance to present the case in court
Then one day they find the man no
longer here. There are heartrending
sighs when woman finds that her
scoundrel of husband has gone up
the river"
A Mothers Devotion
Said a little woman in a black to
reporter for the world:
Il like the new way because now I
can always count on getting to see
Willie. l can only spare one day a
week, and if l don't get in he is awfully
disappointed. You see l have to make
a living for myself since thew put Will
lie In here, and it takes a lot of scrub
bing to earn 81 or IS. When 1 had to
go up to the other place they some
times kept me waiting around for my
ticket and when finally got down herS
it was too late. And then I could not
come again for another week.
Now on the day that | take off l get
here early in the morning and I get in
as soon as the doors are opened. They
are good to me- too, inside and / have
nice, long visit with my boy. What |
have | got in the bundle? Oh. just |
some things that the boy likes"
She half opened it to show jar Of
jelly and some tempting chickens sand |
wiches--the only real good meal that |
Willie had had that week.
Willie never done nothing wrong
always the best boy In the world
brought me his money every Saturday |
night and treated me fine. He had /
some trouble with the man for whom |
he worked and left. Soon after this |
somebody stole some money off the
storekeeper and he accused Willie. The
police arrested him, and said that they
found key to the store in his pocket.
Willie never had the key TO that store
at all, and 1 know he never took no
money.
Il got a lawyer, though, that I paid
$25 to. what / saved, and he says when
gave him the money he would get
Willie out alright and prve that he
Willie out alright and prove that he l.
be home with me again In a few days"
What the old woman doesn't know is
the police say they have a dead sure" II
case against Willie, who Is said to be
one of the cleverest thieves In the city.
The wife Of a man said to be a gun
man and at one time to have been a
procurer of women was even more posi-
tive in her expressions of faith In her
husband.
"Jim do that shooting? Not on your
life Why Jim never had a gun In his
hand He is one Of the best men that
ever lived. l have lived with him now
for IA years, and I guess I know that
he aint no gunman, and that he never
had nothin' to do with other women
either. Do you think a woman could
live with a man for IA years and not
know whether he was good or not?
why, we've got two children that
l. Of