New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-20
TALES OF TRAGEDY
AT SING SING

Catholics cot was a tiny hthograpn
OF the first man who suffered. Next
10 il was pillow made Of flags they
give away with the cigarettes. Then
there would be copy Of Alfred Henry
Lewis's "Wolfville" stories. and bot
tie OF ink with q penholder slsntlng
from II. ! remember that ink bottle,
for lust a little while before ! had
seen man sitting on the edge Of his
cot writing a letter for negro who
couldn't write himself.
There was famous wiretapper
thers. another convict sent up when
big banking concern smashed an
Italian arrested in sensational taxi
cab robbery, and man called 30. n.
Bill who said:
I've been IN prison IN four states
] don't mean 10 say that's 10 my credit.
The reason ] say u IS because ] want
20 tell YOU ! never saw a warden like
this man Osborne before, or a prison
where convictS were regarded as men.
! was long in the dormitory. 4 lot
Of Us lay on cots, and ! listened, most
IL. I didn't want 20 talk. OF course,
all the conversation was about prisons,
prisons. prisons what had been done
and what was going on. and what was
going 10 be done some day.
There were terrible. narrowing
stories Of the old regime. OF the cool
ers where men spent days and nights
of torment. Tales Of cruelty by
screws how they beat men. smashed
the backs Of their heads with rifles
kicked them and otherwise broke them
on the wheel OF prison Justice These
we're the stories the prisoners told. /
didn't get the guards side Of It.
Guard Makes Confession.
Only once I chatted with a guard.
when a man who has been twenty-four
wears in the prison service came 10 my
cell. the first night. There are no com
plants against Sing Sing guards now
because the rule under Osborne prohlb-
its any cruelty. And ! don't say these
men were ever cruel don't know that
. they were. ] wanted 70 get their view
point. but Just didn't have time. TINS
q one. with a gray mustache and rather
kindly face. said through the cell bars:
Q Il never did want 70 be hard on the
q men. Do you suppose j. was any pleas
% ure 20 me? Take il yourself. Isn't II
s easier 20 get on with man IN friend
0 IL spirit than an unfriendly one But
o. / had TO have my position. needed 1t.
4 And the pressure always came from
4 higher Up. had a family to support
] and needed my Job. Yet the very fact
D that had wife and children al home
q made me remember These men had
o. wives and children. too. on the out
side I've always remembered. Ana
e I'm thankful for the chance 20 treat
e. them as we're trying to treat them
now
% As listened 10 stories told by pris-
X oners ! thought how hopeless u would
be ever 10 try 10 get it down through
the medium OF unsympathetc type
writer keys. Each tale was interesting.
Many were big. dramatic. Some were
epic Think Of a man in dark cell
70 tearing three buttons from his under
4 wear-the screws" took his outer
: clothes when he was thrust into the
dark tossing them into the black
ness and then spending hours trying 10
o find them. No man rants 10 30 mad.
J And this was one mans aid for 4
. blurrinc brain. Another thing he did
{ was 20 20 back 10 his schoolhouse days
/ and drag boy poems out OF his head.
e The Dark Cell.
e "Casabianca was a hard one" he told
me. Il got il. word after word like a
man climbing a rope hand over hand.
EXCEPT that ! slipped back and got
stuck ell e~time. OF course, ] knew
The boy stood on the burning deck,
whence all but him had fed but |
couldn't remember much more. Finally
/ worked out The fame that lit the
, wreck but | couldn't get that
missing word. ] worked and worked on
70 it, II was about eight or nine days ]
e suppose. before | got it. Battles.
c That's what it was. And then | got
< back Locksley Hall and some other
20 ones"
e That is only part OF what this man,
g who has plumbed the depths OF prison
5 bitterness. told me. lie vas only one
e Of the story tellcrs. cant remember
p them all. But think Of him. A crack
8 "peterman." or safeblower Of the
- highest daring and with a record on
@ the prison books all red and black,
T. coming to be what ! now believe he il,
4 is little short of marvellous. And yet
- perhaps, not So marvellous after all.
r He might have been as he is a long
time ago.
o We we're discussing old days in the
knit shop. when turning your head
e from your work meant thirty days in
Q the dark cell.
e That's where they used 10 put the
9 tough guys" said one man. ain the
+ knit shop.
y A man named Bill not 90. X. Bill
10 but another Bill, spoke up:
There's no such thing as a tough
r guy" he said. mo such thing II a
3. man was raised from a kid in the
right way. there never would be =
tough guy. There wouldn't be any
gunner. or people like that. Environ
y ment's what they call it. That's VIVA
& men need-the right kind Of environ
10 ment'
e This man was in prison when the
z new movement started. lie had made
}. plans 10 escape, go 10 MS old home
e take mis- child TO the Pacific Coast, re
turn East. get" two men and Their
commit suicide. so he'd never 20 bach
10 prison. He didn't tell me this
Another man did. And, after lookinf
Al Bill. could see he was Just the
lind Of a man VINO would sit dowr
and make such plan as coldly as m
architect lines out blueprint.
You ought 10 see this man and talS
with him. A member o. the Brooklyn
CITY Club was so impressed that he
said he would put him 20 work the
minute he got out Of prison. He's q
man all through.
/ remained in the dormitory until
after Q o'clock. ! didn't want 10 leave
then, but / had 10 go 10 my sleeping
place with the Auburn boys' They
are CHARTERED just outside the main
dormitory in 3 wslled-off place in the
hall. The wall" by the way, is paint