The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-05
By HAYDEN CHURCH

ideas on eertain matters, and it only needed for that vein to be tapped to bring it to the surface The strange part, of course, is that 1t did not intrude itself into his important studies. or detraet from the value of his literary researches.
 He drew his pension as an officer who served in the Civil war, and his name was kept on the roll in his own country otherwise there would have been considf eTable difficulty about his return to the United States after having been confined in Broadmoor. as Americans lose their citizenship after 8 continuous absence of five years, or by misdemeanor abroad,
 "I have talked to him about the work he was doing for Dr. Murray's dictionary but the most he would admit was that pr. Murray was pleased to consider his part as being of some value.
 "Dr. Murray came down on a special visit tG him just before his return to the states in April. 1910, to bid him adieu.
 q trust your article, added to what may be able to tell you. will do some thing towards disabusing the public mind concerning Broadmeor and it's inmates. " ho are popularly supposed to be lost beyond reclamation, and thought of only with a shudder. You have at least shown that some good thing can como out of Broadmoor
 "Dr Minor is by no means the only one vho has contributed to the outside world from within those walls, and used his zen in the interests of his fellow men at home and abroad, albeit the source Of emanation was little guessed even to this daay, In other ways also there are in- mates who take pleasure in helping others both within and without those walls but Eunfortupately it is only the morbid and sensational side of that institution that finds it's way into print
 When I met the writer of the forege- inG, one of my first questions was as to the nature of the special privileges enjoyed by pr. Minor at Broadmoor. and accorded to no other patient within it's walls,
 "As a patient possessed of means" he replied, 4Dr. Minor was a resident of B block, which is reserved for the better class of prisoners, and is known col : loqrially throughout the institution as the
 swell block
 "Block B, among other things. is tho only section of Broadmoor in which patients are allowed to have private rooms, and pr. Minor is the only in- mate that have ever known who was allowed two of these. They were on the top or dormitery floor of the block and consisted of living room foyer- looking the tennis court1, where he slept. and day room where he worked and had his meals. The second of tuSSe IOoiisp WHGle HS CdfTfeQ OH HIS nowfamous work for Sir James Mur- ray (and also dabbled in his favorite pastime of water color painting) was on the other side of the building, only a few steps along the corridor from the doetor's sleeping room, and over looked the cricket ground and as charming landscape as one could wish to see. This famous institutiop stands in the center of a rural district and close to what may be described as the military district, Sandhurst, Clay bury, the famous training college for staff officers and Aldershot being with in the few miles.
 "Dr. Minors workroem was, as one would have expected, lined on every side with books, the choicest of which were contained in large glass book case (the only space in the wall not oco upied by them was that reserved for the fire plaea1, and his painting im- piements, together with finished and unfinished canvases were also in evi- dence. "He was connoisseur, among other things, of rare first editions which he collected and was in continual earre- spondence with dealers in such. Thus we come to another of his privileges which lay in the fact that his cerre- spondenee was uncensored by the prison authorities, an exemption which was, lelieve, unique in hisscase. He kept we'll abreast of periodic literature, talk 1 inE in, among many other publications, heth the SneetatoF and the American Outlook which he deyoured as soon as it arrived. I remember he was keenly interested in the life of Booker T Washington which ran through Its pages, particularly so. perhaps. as he had known, it seemed, at least one of the characters mentioned therein.
 Like other prisoners of means at Broadmoor,' he continued, "Dr. Minor was permitted to have a servant wha brought him his meals and kept his rooms in order. This servant was, ot course, one of the other prisoners, ameng whom the position of 'flunkey- ing for the dootor was a much coveted ore, bringing in, as it did, half a crown week. which was considerably more than could be earned by means of the other different kinds of work which the inmates of Broadmoor are encour- aged to do. These Include tailoring. boot mending. book binding, various forms of work on the Broadmoor es- tate, which comprises 400 or 500 acres, and carpentry. In the carpenter shop by the way, the patients make their own ooffinsl
 "The rate of pay is generally 2d (4 cents) an hour. of which the work CT receives one-eighth, the balance go- inG to the Institution as against his
 keep Thus worker who earned, say. 1a shillings and fourpenee fef about ss, 40l for feur and g half days work, would receive one and eightpence l4o cents). or rather would have this amount credited to him. On the bal- ance acquired in this way, patients can draw whenever they please and twice monthly they receive what Is esllad 'requisition sheet by means of which they can order any little luxuries for which they have mind such as tobacco, tea and coffee, or the like"
 take while he was in Rreadneor?'
 ''Very extraordinary ones. FTe still be- iiaved himself subject tn persecution both by the evil one and the Irish, but in spite of the latter fact, euriously enough, he never showed any antipathY to any of the Irish men who were among the other 650-odd patients. The story went that. at his own expense, he had layer of zinc placed under the flooring Of his living room, to prevent the evil spirits from coming up from below and making away with him, and he always kept a bowl of water in whichever of his two rooms he might be. on the theory that evil spirits will not cross water. But it was at night that Dr. Minors strangest fancies took hold of him. Bedtime at Broadmoor comes at 7:30 and at few minutes to 8 o'clock the principal makes a round of the building to see to 1t that every patient Is safely between the sheets. Dr. Minor used to declare with the ut- most conviction that. shortly after the principal had made his round several att tendants fat the instigatian of the au- thorities). would invade his room and