The Washington herald., 1918-08-30
By DMc

New York, Aug. 29.-Men who settle
down in the death house at Sing Sing.
like stricken animals, to await their
fate have found a new way to be-
guile the slow horror of hopeless
hours. For years they could only sit
and brood in the condemned cells,
staring out into a black abyss.
Summer corrodes into the ravishing
panoply of autumn; fall whitens into
months of cold and spring comes
across the hills with kisses OF sun
light and amorous flushes OF rain
but IL all means nothing TO the prison
ers who sit taut waiting for the day
they will go through the little Green
Door.
The little green door is the entrance
to the CHASTITY white room where
stands the terror of terrors-the chair.
Its parts are heavy Jennings OF oak.
riyeted and screwed together. its
strong legs fastened to the floor with
teeth and claws OF steel. 1t bites into
the marrow of men with fangs OF fire.
II is the faldstool OF bloody human
Justice, the prayer-chair Of mans
vengeance upon man.
Now the prisoners OF the death
house are playing checkers. II is
a slow tedious process but il takes
troubled minds off of the day they
must expiate their crimes. The keep
er gets out two sets of checkers and
two boards. A set is passed between
the bars to one contestant, the second
to the other. The players cannot
see each other.
The checker boards are lettered
across the top according to the
squares. A B c d. etc. Down the
sides they are numbered 3 and 80
on. Each convict player takes his
board. sets out his own pieces and
those OF his opponent and is ready.
A dozen players take part, six on
each side. each player provided with
board and pieces to follow the play.
The hours are put to flight.
Edward H. Smith. a newspap per man.
who Is writing the inside story of
Charles n. Stielow's eighteen months
in the Death House. learned that
Stielow was the only man who could
not play checkers. His simple mind
could not grasp the details OF the
game. And what was worse than
this was the fact that Stieiow could
not read nor write. And yet this
innocent man-now pardoned-lived
all this while among the handful of
living dead men In the great stone
prisons heart.
The war is teaching everybody new
conservation tricks daily. Broadway
has Just seen the birth Of the new
war edition. popular song. The idea
comes dipping from the publishing
house of Leo Feist, the dean Of Tin
AIlax. r1AnfflaE
war edition Is Just half the size OF
the regular two-page size II elm
mates the necessity of sending popu-
most distant points and will, II Is
100000 pounds to 1000. 200 pounds of
paper aSyear for Uncle Sam.
Only a handful of fans are on hand
at the Polo Grounds TO be in at the
death Of the great national game.
Even the sporting pages are showing
lack OF interest in baseball as a
sport and are devoting their columns
TO other athletic endeavors- Down
In Herald and Times Square, where
traffic was clogged every night about
the bulletin boards, only a few stand
around now TO watch the scores II
is evident that the game must drift
for awhile and no one doubts but
what it will survive. But Just now
the fans have deserted the game.
There is more serious business than
winning pennants. There seems to
be only one world series, and that
is being played on the other side.
The blow falls not only heavily on
Harry Stevens. who for years has
served peanuts, pop corn and pop to
the fans. Stevens has made a huge
fortune out Of his concession. but
now his income is gone c'est lie
guerrei