Evening star., 1915-07-18

spirit and in acts. And to put down the
spirit of rebellion they were punished
in a manner that melted them to further
mutinies. 1t was the kind of discipline
that breeds only sullenness. desire to
get even and blind hate.
In those days. that is, within the last
three years, Sing Sing was a sink. The
crimes committed inside its walls were
far worse than those that brought men
there. They were crimes that are un-
mentionable, that can exist only in dark
ness, that led men in rage and self-dfs-
gust to murder. and then to suicide.
From other causes, chiefly from despair
and inability to endure punishments
that were in reality tortures. many
suicides, the outside world never learned,
but they averaged from one to two
month. Last week an old inmate told
me he had four times heard the screams
of the convicts when they saw the body
of one of their number shoot past the
cells as it fell from the top tier to the
stones below.
In those days every one in the prison
was at the mercy Of spies and stool
pigeons. Everybody suspected every
body, everybody feared treachery. keep
ers took money from the prisoners for
smuggling in morphine and whisky, and
then claimed credit for finding 1t on
them. To get favors or advancement
prisoners betrayed other prisoners, keep
ers set traps for other keepers. The
superintendent OF prisons had his spies,
the warden and the p K. had their stool
pigeons. In the eyes of the public
"trusties'' were prisoners. who. because
of exemplary conduct. deserved the con-
fdence of the warden. and for that rea-
son received special privileges. OF some
of them that was true. but as rule
trusty was convict who betrayed other
convicts. When there was nothing to
betray he framed" them. I knew a pris-
oner sentenced to twenty years. For
good conduct he had earned an honor
star and two bars. which means that
for seven years no charge of miscon-
duct had been brought against him. For
his good conduct he was entitled to GER
tain privileges. and the time he must
remain in prison was shortened.
One of his privileges was that every
three months from home he might re-
ceive box of cooked food. The con-
vict could neither read nor write, and,
knowing this. a keeper who wanted
promotion planned to frame" him. He
brought the convict a paper and told
him it was letter asking his family
to send him his box of cooked food.
But 1t also asked that in the box they
should conceal roll of bills. The con-
vict signed the letter with his mark.
When the box arrived the keeper dis
covered" the roll of bills and trf-
umphantly laid them before the war
den. He received his promotion, and
the convict lost his honor marks. That
is, in order that the keeper might get
a raise of IS a month he condemned the
prison. / heard the convict tell the
story totJohn s. Kennedy. Father CASH
in and Principal Keeper Connaughton:
He had told 1t to other wardens. but
without result. Mr.. Kennedy, however.
brought the case before the board of
parole, and the man was set free. What
happened to the keeper does not mat
ter. He will get his" AS some one
has said, God does not pay his debts
every Saturday night"
The story illustrates the kind Of men
who In those days existed among the
keepers. There were prisoners of the
same kind.
A few years since a prisoner asked to
speak to me. saying. which later turned
out not to be true. that we had been
together in some theatrical enterprise.
In those days you could talk to a pris-
oner only in the presence of keeper,
but when the keeper led mo to this
prisoner he left u.s. The prisoner con-
Quoted me to a little room behind the
one that Is now the Office of the Mutual
Welfare League. A keeper was seated
in it, reading a newspaper. The con-
vict said, II want this room," and meek
ly. without a word. the keeper folded
his paper and walked out. knew then
that the man to whom I was talking
was some one higher up" in the pris-
on's invisible government, that he was