The Washington times., 1919-06-01

| across the room and, and when a sec
| ond blow threatened to put him out
| of his misery and send him into eteT-
nifty, budding pulled out a revolver
! he CHANGED to have in his hip pocket
and fired.
The uncle fell dead. budding was
/ taken to Jail. Then the trial came.
The whole town was divided, for AMI
against him The jury refused to be-
lieve the man when he pleaded self
defense. His uncle was too infl l.
entail a man in the community, and
his death must be avenged.
Years In Prison.
For a while it looked as if budding
would be given a verdict of death
for murder in the first degree. But
even that jury couldn't overlook the
many extenuating circumstances and
he was sentenced to FIVE years in
the Moundsville, West Virginia, prison.
That one word, guilty" was the
decree Of fate which separated him
once and for all from the world in
which he had lived up to that time.
His friends gave him black looks, re-
fusing to know him, and his family
turned from him He was a convict.
a murderer, and no one, not even the
woman who until then had been a
loving. devoted wife, had a place in
their hearts for a man who had taken
another's life.
So on his way to prison he went,
leaving behind him happiness, sue
| cess, home, friends, life itself-and
plunging into the dark, hopeless re-
cesses of hell of confinement
Il know not" DR.. budding said yes
terday as he, his voice growing husky
I L.
! feelings, ~ know not whether laws
be right or wrong but in my heart
was not a criminal. / was a nor
NAL adult with the strength and fraiI-
ties of the rest of mankind.
II was sent 70 prison to pay for my
| deed with five years. But when the
! five years were completed the bill
was not yet paid. Instead, I had to
| continue to pay in the struggle l had
! tc make to gain position once more
/ in decent society,"
| But when the prison gates opened
/ before him the very creak of their
/ hinges seemed to cry out to him:
! You'll be back" But budding, in
his heart of hearts conscious of his
! innocence, entered the prison with
/ the idea of helping his unfortunate,
crime-ridden mates.
Rid Prison of GrafterS.
His tale of his watchfulness over
the other men, how he rid the prison of
the grafters, how he was instru
mental in abolishing the terrible
! whipping post, is a story in itself,
which DIT. budding has promised to
tell in his book.
They were taking food away from
the patients in the hospital and SELL
ing it to the prisoners" relates DR..
budding. Eggs, milk, beef, bacon,
and fruit that should have gone to the
patients were constantly sold by the
attendants. They tried to bride me,
and 1 refused to be bribed. Grad
ualIy, however. the matter came to
the attention of the warden and the
grating was stopped.
budding never forgot TO help the
other prisoners in every way he
could. He relates:
There was the case OF old Sandy
Ficklen. a colored man who lay dy
ing W tn tuberculosis. / went to him
and said, 'San1y, Invent you some
people to write to- He said. Yes, bu,
can't write l said, I'll write them
q letter if you want me to- l did. Sew
eral days later a letter came from
his mother. ] read il to him just half
an hour before he died, happy to have
heard from her, whom he had for
gotten and neglected"
Assigned to Hospital.
Later budding, who in tho bright
days had studied medicine was as
signed 10 the hospital.
After l had been there five or six
days" he says, some attendants
came in carrying man on a stretch
,eT He was unconscious. He had
been whipped almost to death. asked
what tire trouble was, whercupon an
other prisoner whispered to me that
had better keep quiet and mind my
own business.
He had been beaten in the tower
There they bound a man to whip him,
fastening his hands and his feet to-
gether. This man was whipped until
Il seemed there was no skin left from
~" middle Of his back down to his
knees.
The whippings were regularly pre-
scribed. a man would be sentenced
10 five or ten lashes, but when he was
given the sentence of five lashes he
usually got fifty, and when given ten
they dashed him a hundred times. 1