Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1921-12-30

| Eugene V. DeDS was mouel pflS-
oner during his confinement in the
Federal penitentiary in Atlanta, and
his obedience to prison rules and kind
ness to fellow inmates won the respect
of one and gratitude and devotion OF
| the other. In connection with his re-
cent pardon the following article by
Charles P. Sweeney, staff correspon-
dent of The New York World, written
some time prior to his release, is of
special interest:
From one who has just emerged
from the Federal penitentiary in At
lanta after serving year, The World
received a dramatic account of the
prison life of Eugene V. Debs.
The Worlds informant is Thomas
Welsh, a soldier of the Irish Repub-
lican army, who was imprisoned for
carrying a letter across the ocean in
violation of the Trading With the
Enemy Act.
Finest Man l Ever Met"
Welsh is not Socialist He is a
Catholic and an Irish patriot. Before
entering Atlanta Debs was onlv
name to him. Today Welsh said to
this correspondent:
"Mr Debs is the finest man | ever
met in my life. He has done more
good in Atlanta than hundred chap
lains could do and he is the finest
Christian | know, even if he doesn't
go to church"
Welsh's story comrleteS the picture
of Debs drawn by The World in an
interview with the Socialist leader on
Oct. 3, 1920. That interview had to
do with Debs, the untamed revolution
ist and candidate for the presidency.
What The World today learned from
Welsh is the first detailed picture of
Debs, the prisoner, in his daily life
among $500 fellow convicts.
This World reporter knows Welsh
to be reliable and level-headed per-
son. The remarkable story Welsh
told proceeds, condensed:
Debs is the towering personality of
Atlanta prison. He is the only
"Mister" among the 1900 convicts.
Any one heard by other prisoners ad-
dressing him in any other fashion
would suffer for it. Two moonshiners
addressed Debs as "Gene" in the
prison yard one day. Four other
prisoners grabbed them, saying:
"Who the hell do you think you're
talking to? It's Mr.. Debs in your
mouth, see ?-MISTER DEBS" And
the moonshiners ever after employed
that salutation.
Why this Difference to Debs, the
Socialist? It is because he has re-
fused every privilege offered to him
that was denied to other prisoners;
because he is the real spiritual coun--
sellor of the best and the worst OF
his fellow-prisoners; because he has
had the courage to go to the front on
questions involving all of his fellows,
and because around him has been
built in their minds a tradition of
real manhood that has inspired the
conversion of what were regarded as
| lincorrigible "bad men" into model
prisoners.
Didn't Go to the "HOle"
A guard caught Debs one day speak
ing to another prisoner working in
the yard-a violation of the rules. He
reported Debs to the then Deputy
Warden, Gregory, who ordered Debs
sent to the "hole," a solitary confine-
ment cell. The report "Debs has been
sent to the hole" flew around the
penitentiary. Zerbst, the then warden,
heard it. He called Gregory to him
and said: Don't you know that II
that man went to the hole these men
would pull this prison down brick by
brick? Hereafter all reports about
| Debs come to me. He is MY prison
er." Debs did not go to the hole.
When delicacies have come for
Debs he has refused them because
other prisoners could not receive
similar kindensses. But at Christmas
time last year he received all that was
sent to him because at that season
| all prisoners receive what is sent to
them. Debs took everything and then
distributed virtually all of his own
gifts among those who received none.
The rest he gave away in daily doles
for two weeks to the patients in the
prison hospital.
Despite all reports to the contrary,
Debs is treated exactly as any other
prisoner-gets the same food; obeys
| the same rules. He gets up at 6:15;
eats breakfast of cereal. dry bread,
and black coffee; cleans up his room
(the state of his health causes him to
live in the hospital, where he has a
room, with an iron bed, an iron table
and a chair, walks for an hour in
space 20 by 100 yards; undergoes in
spection daily; eats lunch of beans
or stew and dry bread; walks for an
other hour; returns to his room; eats
supper of beans, or bologna, sau-
sage or frankfurters and dry bread
and black coffee, and returns to his
room for the night. He has felt
keenly the prison regulation that de-
nies prisoners a bath except once a
week, for he was accustomes to a
daily bath.
He was sixty-eight years old one
week ago last Friday For that event
an average of $50 letters and tele-
grams from all over the country ar
rived to wish him well.
|