The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-08


 works was often disturbed and de- layed because of general conditions and an occasional happening like dining room riot, so was my writing interfered with in as many If not more ways.
 The crime wave of 1912-13 was also productive of various convictions, among which were five for murder m the first degree, and they called for the death penalty.
 Up to that time in that prison no special place had been built separate from the regular cell houses in which to keep condemned murderers. and the location of Murderers' Row had been changed from where I had been of the tiers In that new cell house where I was then first assistant to the custodian.
 I Learn Not To Look.
 Beginning with May, 1912. those five men doomed to die were brought up from the county jails one by one and confined on that GlSmaI ana lso- lated tier.
 Unlike the practice that obtained when Dutch Charley and l were un- der the death sentence, whereby we were allowed to take exercise out on the ground of an inner court, those men would pc released from tnelT cells-by means of lever bar worked iron, the office, and would walk up and down that corridor for an hour each day. I was the only tlme-sen- fence prisouer with whom they were permitted to talk-because l was the only one they ever say there-aho the talk was supposed to be confined to matters pertaining to thelr ousi ness with that office, such as settlns supplies. But that rule was not eH- forced very strictly and the result was that I became rather well ac- uualnted with ali five.
 One by one, as their respective days came round, they were lea out +o die. Four of them had choose to be shot. and one-with an expressed desire to put the authorities to as much trouble as possible-had chosen to be hanged, which necessltated the building of d scaffold.
 From all this l learned one thing: for my peace of mind 1t were better that | did not get acquainted with men confined there prior to their ex- ecution. For days after each execu- tion I would be so depressed that 1t was a trying task to do even the institutional work. There was not 4 man of the five that did not have many likable traits; ] believed, ana still believe, that they were worth
 To hear from time to time the volley of rifles that told of the sneeding of & human soul-situation of that kind stood truly upon the side of detriment to any creative work. There were, too, other con dltions that interfered greatly with my progress.
 A New Danger.
 Inasmuch as I was, in way, io with the office on the one side ana the prisoners on the other, was oftimes between the devil and the deep blue sea While a great many of the prisoners did not like me be- cause of my inclination not to follow the beaten trails of convict hfe' they liked the guards and officials great zeal less. Because of that they would a1Droach my desk and break my tiain of thought many times during the day when, by taking four steps in another direction, they might have told their troubles to the officer on duty.
 Then there was one practice in that prison which was at once pro ducttve of q standing nuisance an9 great danger. It was the practice of permitting so-called harmless in sane prisoners to run at large Wlln othere prisoners. This came near end ing me.
 CHAPTER 32
 The first insane man that ever came within scope of thought after my imprisonment began was. according to the records in the case, a man of some education who had been a deep water seaman for years. He had been both great reader and a traveller.
 His first outbreak came about o'clock one evening. It was that hour after all the inmates had quietude, the only sounds being, an occasional cough, or the rustling sound of newspaper being unfolded, or a slight stirring and half-muftied noise of some fellow preparing his bed
 The man did not utter a single sound of any kind in preparation for his high-C call to action; he merely broke forth with more of a startling effect than would have been pro- duced by a keen clap of thunder without cloud in sight.
 Save him! Save him. Save him For Gods sake save my boy!" came it maniacal screams on an ascend ing scale I'll give a billion dol lars to the man who will save. my son from that burning ship! Fave kim! Save! Save him. And if you don't save him, may the souls of the seven thousand departed gods of Asia come swarming forth and pour out tl cir vials of wrath upon your heads. What! What, o ye generatiel of vipersi You won't save my son? An, very well then-very well. My soul and spirit shall not always strive with men. Ye shall weep and howl and gnash your teeth and pray for ere breath as from the heights of Olympus, but I shall hear ye not and 1 shall condemn you to lake burning with birthstone for a quad rillion years and day! And nine hundred and ninety-nine million de- mons from down under the sea shall arise and point at you the finger Of scorn in that awful day of judgment, so sayeth the Lord-and l, Manasses, the son of Ezekias, am his prophet! He Is rtaken 3woy. a Q
 Again and again the man went over that whole rigamarole. The guard telephoned to the deputy war den and they removed the insane fel- low from his cell without trouble and took him to a place of isolation in another building until few days later, when he was committe to the asylum.
 None of the insane prisoners who were wont to make frequent calls upon me at my desk near the head of the stairs later on had so rapid a flow of language as this one, but some were suffering from forms of dementia that were as pronounced as his.
 One of them in particular had oc- casional periods when he was as dan gerous a lunatic as one might care to meet. l met him at the foot of a stairway on the occasion Of his worst rampage prior to hfa com mitment to the insane asylum. For the brief time it lasted that was one of the most trying experiences Of my sometimes adventurous life.
 Many insane will manifest a pe- culiar cunning in some respects, yet tfr,a hat, ts1t