The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-08

In an instant / was on my feet. The
negro at my side pulled me down.
"Doan want yoah 'lasses?" he asked.
l pushed II over 10 him.
hies, smudged them on the table. and
Forgotten" Feeling.
Showed into the cell for the night.
felt that | was forgotten by all the
world. The cell was In reality a stone
vault four by eight feet II had no
window The only ventilation came
from the barred door that opened on
the closed corridor. There were two
straw ticks on wooden shelves. These
were the hunks. Another man shared
the fetid hole with me.
The cells we're entirely without sani-
tary equipment. On Saturday night the
men were locked up and kept In this
morning. Two men sleeping. breathing,
tramping about in a walled space four
by eight for IS hours turn that closet
into a hell. 1t Ia no longer air that
fills the place, but a reeking stencil.
When the first Monday morning came
decided 10 move l had been placed
in the transfer office. Few prisoners
are qualified TO act rs clerks. / was
given this office position the day after
my arrival. II was my business to keep
n check on all the men, to tabulate
all transfers from one cell to another
and 70 check up on all releases. Not
an official nor a clerk could leave the
cd for.
There was me cell block called the
Bankers Row" 1t was fitted up for
the privileged convicts. These high H.
nanciers were gentlemen. They had not
held up trains and, at the risk Of life
a nd 1iNnh gAnhhaA tha ufat a 80 tIyanNxg ne
forty thousand dollars.
They had sat In well furnished Of
fices and lolled in easy chairs while
they did their thieying. They were
polite about It when they filched the
funds intrusted to them by laborers.
1mall investors, working girls.
They ground hundreds Of struggling
careful to conceal the blood stains.
They had pilfered in millions.
They were entitled to consideration.
They got II.
Cells in bankers row were neat par
lOrs compared to the vaults In the l.
had mirrors, a curtain on the door and
a carpet or the floor. One Of the ex-
elusive convicts was discharged, /
transferred myself into his cell,
Dislikes Horsethief.
, When ! appeared In the select prom
enade in the morning my hickory shirt
called for comment. The bankers were
all prison clerks, They were permitted
10 wear white shirts. An elegant,
pursy faced. corpulent bundle of South
ern gentIlity accosted me. His bank
had tailed for $4,000, 900.
Good morning, sab. You are a
bankah, ! presumed"
Yes" answered.
"National7" He a merely interest
ed in a colleague.
sNot particularly. | robbed any and
all Of them. You are an embeEsler?"
The magnate from New orleans sput-
tered out his surprised disgust. His
neat face was crimson with resentment
Il am heah."
Yes, sab; so am l." I answered,
"T think there must be a mistake"
He walked off h~aughtily.
80 do l. | An going back with the
horsethieves, where I'll be among
gentlemen"
Return to Range, Is Order.
My departure was more preciptous
than I had planned. A jealous con-
Wet Switched" The deputy warden
who transferred your he asked,
"The transfer clerk" answered,
Lucky for me the deputy was in a
good humor.
What for7"
"A good bed, q carpet, some clean
arr
THESE rooms are for bankers he
informed me.
I'm q banker
mot their sort. They didn't terrify
with a gun. You go back to your own
range. They might steal what you've
got"
So l went back tony hole. l had