Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-04-07

train.
He has also invented detachable
toe-cork for a horseshoe. Some Of
the prison officers have investigated
these patents and are organizing a
stock company to manufacture them
al put them on the market.
Convict No. 1899 is three
timer" and at present is the warden's
cook "Jim," as he Is called, has a
genius for mechanics and has invent
ed a mechanism by which a railroad
switch can be opened and closed
from the engine. He has given this in
vention years of study and believes
that when his time Is up he will be
able to realize on the time he has
spent thinking it over"
Convict No. 1888, when on the out
side and in a mood to work, was a
lather by profession. He has invent
ed an automatic lathe carrier, into
which bundles Of laths are fed and
automatically placed in position for
mailing, which is done by automatic
hammers operated by air.
Jim" has five terms in the Kansas
penitentiary to his credit and has
served an aggregate Of Is years. He
charges his criminal record up to the
fact that he has been q wanderer al
most from childhood. Like all the
rest he too, wants another chance.
Convict No. 4461 has served four
terms-ten years in all-and Is a very
clever electrician. He has invented
combined machine which Is motor.
dynamo, alternator step-up, step
down, high and low tension trans
former, all in one.
Convict No. 3467 has invented a
rather unique clothesrack, one Of
which is in use in the warden's resi-
dence. This is his first time in pris-
on, but he has already had two paroles
and has violated both Of them.
Convict No. 1929 is serving to Il
years for a statutory offense. He has
invented a vacuum street-sweeper
and an acetylene gas machine, both
of which look practical and appear to
be improvements upon existing inven-
tions Of like character.
John Doe, No. 10, is an engineer,
carpenter and plumber. He is serv-
ing one to seven years for grand
larceny, and is wanted at Fort Mad
ison as a parole violater from that
institution. John Doe" like many
other prison names, is assumed for
the purpose of concealing his identity.
He puts in spare time making violins.
He has made eight or nine and has
sold several at fair prices; and several
are used by the prison orchestra.
Convict No. 1881 is the man who
built the new prison twine plant. He
Is an expert bricklayer and builder.
There was only one other bricklayer
in the penitentiary besides No. 1881.
This man took unframed convicts,
put them on the job and made brick
layers Of them. The two buildings
are each 260 feet long and 45 feet
wide, with buttressed walls and ce-
ment floors. Beneath the cement
floors there is a complicated network
of conduits for ventilation and heat
ing. All this work was done under
the direction Of No. 1851; and the
state architect told the writer not
long ago that 1851 had built better
and cleaner walls than one would get
on the outside from a contractor.
No. 1851 has served five years Of a
10 to 21-year sentence for bank rob-
berry, and the Federal authorities are
waiting for him at the door with q
charge Of postoffice robbery.
This man is not only good brick
layer and builder, but he is an expert
and typewriter, and last
summer, after working all day In the
hot sun, would go to the record
clerks office after supper and get out
that officers correspondence. He has
now been transferred to the medical
where he has worked so
hard in nursing sick prisoners recent
ly that the warden sent him out to a
little house on the hill overlooking
the Missouri river to rest and recoupe-
rate.
No. 1851 has served five terms in
different penitentiaries, although he
is now only 80 years old. 1t Is not
too late for him to renounce his GRIM
inal career and become useful citi-
zen. He says that he Is done, and
the prison authorities believe that he
means it. No. 1851 is one Of that
type of men who take pride in doing
we'll and excellent in whatever they
do, whether 1t be bank robbery or
some honorable occupation.
II this man should go out and
make good it would be a great vindi-
cation for the parole system. The
state can probably arrange with the
Federal authorities to dismiss its case
against him. What would the reader
do If possessed Of the power to give
or refuse this man a parole?
Another remarkable prisoner Is
Convict No. 1923. After serving ten
years for killing a joint-keeper In
Atchison, Ike was paroled the other
day and will take a position as nurse
in big hospital. During all the ten
years Of his servitude Ike has nursed
the sick prisoners, dressed their
wounds and acquired considerable
skill as a surgeon in the performance
of minor operations. The parole clerk
first heard Of Ike through ex-convicts
who remembered his kindness and
came to the governors office to re-
1uest that something be done for him.
Governor Stubbs had commuted the
sentence Of Ike's pal from life to Is
years with good time off. The pal
had influential friends. likes only
friends were ex-convicts. When the
matter was called to Governor
Hodges's attention, he commuted
[ke's sentence to Is years with good
lime off and recently signed a parole
'or him.
When the writer told No. 1923 that
t,o sTa11 thQ L