New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-06
MEN HE MADE
RAISE GLASSES
TO TOM BROWN
Osborne Dinner Guest Of
Is "EX-COnS" at Park
Avenue Hotel.
EVERY ONE PRESENT
NOW A JOB HOLDER
Applause. as Warden Speaks Of
Prison and Its Ideals, Sole
Demonstration OF Evening.

Twenty-Five cX-couvicts got back" n,
their warden las: night Twenty
men who did their bit in Sing Sing re
venged themselves on the man who had
held supreme authority over them dur
ms their imprisonment. The revenge
was dinner at the Park Avenue Hotel
and the man on whom it was wreaked
was Thomas Mott Osborne, alias tom
Brown"
1t is a new picture in the annals OF
American prisons, this of one-time
convicts striving IN do the honor to
their jailor that they in their hearts
felt for him. 1t was private party
this dinner of Tom Browns, but be-
cause they were friends OF the warden
his boys some of them gray haired
men broadened their family circle
sufficiently to admit a few guests.
These were Judge William II. Wad-
hams, DR.. l.. Stagg Within, chairman
of the executive committee of the Ma
tionsl Commission on Prisons and
Prison Labor; Adolph Lewisohn, presi-
dent Of the rommission, and J. d.
Sears. secretary Of the Young Mems
Republican Club.
There was no formality at the din
ner, nor in the impromptu addresses
that followed. 1t would have been
hard 10 guess that most of the men
who sat about the small tables, chat
ting and laughing together, had once
had a number instead OF name and
hole in wall for home. The gather
ing had more the appearance OF class
reunion in honor of some beloved col
lege professor than a meeting OF cx-
convicts with their warden.
Show Him They've Come Back.
Perhaps the men felt this. All Of
them had won, or were winning, their
way back. To watch the way their
eyes sought time and again the big
gray-haired figure at one end OF the
chamber was to realize that they knew
where the credit was due.
II was hard TO imagine them con-
victs. II was hard TO put this slight,
lean-faced chap with the tortoise smell
goggles in the gray uniform and be-
hind the gray walls Of the prison up
the Hudson. II was hard TO think that
the white hair of the strong-featured
man at his side may have lost its color
between the damp walls Of Sing sing.
There were a few men from Auburn
there, too, for if the men of Sing sing
feel a filial pride in Tom Brown. the
alumni of the other penitentiary have
a frsternal affection for him. II was
al Auburn that Tom Brown done his
bit" That is his alma mater
There was a little pathos in the pct
ure. 1t was the thought that these
men. each the author OF at least one
crime. were winning back, and wanted
the warden TO see that they were .
credit to him. None OF their names
will be mentioned here. All OF them
have Jobs. ard each OF them has earned
the right TO forget the past.
And if at times face wet blank ior
a moment, and its owner seemed TO sip
suddenly into deep thought, II was not
10 be wondered at. 1t Is far cry from
the private dining room of g New ora
hotel. with the swift moving waters
the ciatter crockery and tn clstaht
strains of the orchestra, 10 sing SlHg
and the tramp of the guard IN the cor
ridor.
Men Show Their Pride.
Only once did they throw aside the
genial reserve they had worn al
through the meal. 1t was when the war
den finished his talk. Then fierce hand
claiming broke forth, and was contin-
ued for a moment or more after ne
resumed his seat. That was the only
demonstration of the evening;
II was a quiet, rambling talk he gave
them. At first it sounded strange TO
hear him refer TO this man and that
in the reminiscence of some prison IN
cident. 1t seemed as though the man
would vince, or look ashamed. ne
didn't The men who came from sing
sing and made good have a pride IN
that fact, a pride in the place they
helped the warden make better, pride
I'm the thought that outside they have
come back, for themselves and Tor ON
Brown.
Until midnight. and after, the gath
ering continued. Mr.. Lewissohn spoke
as did Judge Wadhams. AT late houI
the men were still firm in announcing
they would remain until they were
boosted out"
"For as long as we stay here" one
Of them said with q chuckle, eve have
an Al alibi."
The others laughed at the reference
to the dark times of their common
past. Thomas Mott Osborne had made
them proud OF being ex-convicts.
Prison Board Tables
Move for Investigation
.o,;or - ;nyag,;oa,a SING Sing