Arizona republican., 1920-11-02

gan to serve his life sentence in Sing Sing prison for the murder of his wife. | Chapin was one of the best-known | American newspaper men. and his crime two years ago caused a tremen- dous sensation, He always maintained l that he was involved in financial diff l culties at the time he killed his wife, | and that he had intended to commit | suicide after that, but lost his nerve.
 
 N E. A. Staff Special
 NEW YORK, Oct. 25.-Spirit mes sages he says he received from his wife through other persons, telling him she has forgiven him for murdering her. bring no consolation to Charles F. Chapin.
 There are no criminal classes
 Only the writing of his book, Charles F. Chapins Story" just pub lished saved the author from madness.
 These and other remarkable state ments were made by the former city editor of the New York Evening World in the course of the first interview he has given since he began serving a life sentence in Sing Sing for uxori- eide
 The interviewer began by asking Chapin how man accustomed to giv ing orders and having them obeyed had adapted himself to the dull routine of a convicts life.
 Book Saves Him t.When | came here two years ago I was a wreck" said Chapin calmly. T thought I would surely wind up in 1 mad house. But I managed to pull 1 together by occupying my mind with 1 the writing of my book. I can't tell l you how much the work of preparing i that volume meant to me. You see, had no notes at all and I had to de- pend entirely upon my memory This meant all kinds of concentration on matters of the dim and almost forgot ten past and by devoting my mind to these matters I began to forget my troubles. It was work, and this work alone, that saved me from stark, raving lunacy.'
 Chapin does not believe in the existence of distinct criminal types.
 "I find," his view IS, 'that the
 criminal classes are just average
 human beings, many of whom never had much Of chance to be
 anything different.
 If you took a trainload of men iron
 the subway and dressed them in oui prison togs, you couldn't tell them iron
 us. If you put us in their clothing you couldn't tell us from them Gu } prison population is made up of mel from almost every walk in life. Ther ! are bankers and lawyers and clergy men, college men and illiterates, am there are butchers and bakers an ? candlestick makers; then there ar r just ordinary thieves and gangster and gunmen. There is lot of goo in most of them.
 No Interest In It 'sHas the wave of spiritualisn tha 7 is sweeping the country touched tn , prisons? I don't think so. I haven ! noticed any interest in it. As for m some of my dearest friends have oi s fered me consolation in the form { , spiritualistic messages they claim have received. the trend of the com
 munications being that my crime hs been forgiven These friends, knoy ! are sincere. and yet I find no comfo U in the messages they bring me.
 "Perhaps the reason is that years of newspaper work have made me ' hopeIessly matter of-fact. And
 maybe the reason IS that these Y messages are merely another form
 of sympathy: and few prisoners, l 'f you know, want sympathy. l know d don't.
 m @Not having my own sympathy, = don't want that of others. The r .I view of my book that l liked best Wi " one in which the critic said that a pc ' son could read the story through wit ir out feeling that the author was invi ee ing pity. I liked that.
 Invited to New York d "I had an experience recently co ~ tinued Chapin, that may interest yo =. had read about a New York special ,ts who advocated the substitution ,d laborator.as for prisons. don't qui 70 agree with some of the doctors idle o, and I wrote him a letter asking a f' 'is questions. He invited me to come er New York and talk the matter ol na with his. I replied that, as the soc S. season was at it's height in Sing Sil Ks I did not think could get away.
 "Ana now" said Chapin, risii
 Come with me and I'll show you - home of The Sing Sing Bulletin. lI signaIled for a guard who walked !
 hind him as he led the way to office of the prison paper which
 edits. A cheerful little office it is . Some office, what?" came iron
 the now broadly smiling boss Q
 the paper. He seemed positiVei,
 happy as he sat down at his desI ut and cast a hasty glance at som IT. copy that was awaiting his atten ne ton. And why shouldn't he be m Wasn't he Editor Chapin ono " more?
 m You know" said the editor, IT. funny how I can lose myself in h' sit for hours at a stretch and for ,' h9 everything except the work of gett ne m out the paper And sometimes l tn % %en, I'm back in the city-room of my pa tl ~ in New York. At times I'm pre- -4 t late and the keeper in charge of ter cell block, failing to find me in od cell during the course of his nj Tas check-up, comes to the Bulletin or in and yells in, Are you there, MT. r in tor?" and MT. Editor shouts back, lev betl' and resumes his enjoyable | for of preparing copy for the printers ted Fond of New Job
 eyes. I'm mighty fond of the jot re- running the Bulletin. and the men me seem glad to have me do it. and respect that was shown me whe .ent was running the city-room of tier New York paper was no greater | as the respect the boys show me h' inc and no one objects to being respect The don't mind saying that it makes iin feel darned good to hear the men en- all sides shout Hello, Mir. Editor!' The walk the recreation grounds. ne -o--
 on CHARGED S1s.15 FOR SHOESHil rled SEATTL LE-Leslie Murray, bootb ere, here. charged S1S15 for a shoesh lefe Revenue officers arrested him. St
 shine and moonshine at that price soi they
 do HER COSTUME CAUSES DEA' oIeI RICHMOND. Ind.-Miss Myrtle ll llle de. IS. tried on her ,Hallowe'en D. .te costume to show it to her two l brothers. Sparks from burnt cork
 was using to blac6en her face set n to it, and she was burned to death