New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-12
John Boehmann, Record Termer, Simple Stranger in
New Word-Spent Months in Cell for Attempted
Escape-Cofee Here Good He Says, Reviewing
Dazzling Day.

He survived the elevator. but only after
an eager:
ais there anything to stop this if the
rope breaks ?"
Rich food after twenty years Of
prison food doesn't do mans stom-
| ach any good. and therefore the lunch
was simple. But Boehmann would have
| said il was ambrosial if he had known
what the word meant. Three French
rolls disappeared in rapid succession
! before the soup came.
, 81 just can't help it." he explained.
| "They taste like cake TO me-"
The German waiter, who had worked
in the Ritz in London and the Adlon
in Berlin, didn't know Boehmann was
an "ex-con." John Watched the other
people az they ate. And he never made
faux pas. He even got away sue
cessfully with some asparagus dressed
with Hollandaise sauce. Lamb chops,
with French fried potatoes, some jel-
lied soup and an eclair and coffee were
the rest of the meal
~ can't realize I'm here I'm afraid
it's going to turn into that pork and
beans" remarked John.
When the lunch was through he rode
/ to Seventy Street on the elevat
/ ed road to call on some people he
knew. He was as proud as a little
! boy when he walked off the moving
/ stairway at Thirty-third Street without
a misstep. But ali the same. as soon
as the rafting train started he caught
his companions arm and whispered
/ quite pleadingly:
you won't leave me until | get on
! the train tonight, will you? You know
| couldn't find my way without you"
Lost in World of Dreams.
There was a little visit at the Seven
ty-second Street house, and then Boek-
mann was whirled through the subway
TO Ninety-sixth Street to see another
man, who knew him even before he
was sent to prison, in 1895. That
over he rode down Central Park West
in a streetcar. 1t made MIN feel easier,
he said, than in the subway.
Don't you think the women look
queer in these funny clothes they wear
now ?" his companion asked him.
well well, why? | don't think I've
noticed them yet There's so much
else" replied the simple stranger in
a new world.
During a drive down Fifth Avenue
he was as delighted as a little girl
with new doll.
some of those fellows up there could
come down here for a day like I've
, had" he said. And then ne paused
: NO, it wouldn't be a good thing. 1t
would be so terrible to have to 90
back again he added.
He recognized the names of big
buildings he had heard, great firms
some one had mentioned in his pres
ence -Tiffany's, the Public Library.
Cornelius Vanderbilts' house. The
Waldorf was an awful puzzler. II was
always popping up in such unexpected
places, just as il IL was mounted on a
merry go-round. Sometimes he thought
he had seen a building before, when, as
a matter Of fact, it had been built years
after he went TO Sing Sing. The man
was in world Of dreams.
On the same principle that Bich food
would do Boehmann small good, too
much sightseeing would have dazed
him utterly. So, after the drive, there
vas only one other thing the same
thing all the sightseers do-the Wool
worth Building.
The naive adventurer strained and
stretched his neck as he peered at the
soaring white tower. He didn't care
whether the crowd watched him or not
That was the refreshing thing about
Boehmann. His entire unaffectedness
mLde the jaded New Workers who talked
with him not only marvel at him. but
made them share somewhat in his iov.
Inside the old postoCice he asked,
This is the entrance to the subway,
isn't it?"
At 6 o'clock in the a ernoon he had
had enough
81 couldn't spend the night here.
couldn't sleep a wink" he said. Pm
going out into the country"
So he went back to Ossining not 10
. the prison, br. 10 stay all night in
mans home in the village. Just be-
fore he walked through the gate to
has train at the Grand Central Station
} he said the.station was "a great. big
city somebody asked him what he
liked best in New York.
Il can't think. | can't remember
But that was fine coffee they had at
that Motel, wasn't it?" he answered.
Boehmann has been in Sing Sing
longer than any one else. except one
man who was sentenced TO the chair
and who was then committed to life