The Washington times., 1924-05-10

they asked me Q lot Of questions.
and / got sick Of answering them.
and said, Here, you know per.
fectly well I'm not crazy, 80 what's
the use Of all this bunk?"
Ed and I were both fools to do
what we did. Anybody is a fool
to do such things. But that's not
being crazy.
Besides, where is It any better
to be locked up in a BOBBY hatch
than In q JAM What good would
1t OF done me to try, to put over
The next day. Judge Martin
that's the Judge who was going to
sentence us-came to the Jail to
rec me himself. He IL as hard as
nails. but Ill say this for him, he
acted on the level. I guess he came
TO make sure the doctors were right.
He didn't try to soft-Soap me into
anything. He talked straight talk.
and was polite ana called me Mrs.
Cooney.
Good Night for Us."
But when he went away, I knew
as well as I know this minute that
IL was good night for US and that
he was going to stick US fer the
limit because he figured It was
coming to us.
Then was the first time I got.
to thinking about what It would
lie like afterward All tails looked
alike to me. And thought maybe
they'd just stick me back in this
same cell. ana that anyway, ia get
the chance to read a lot Of maya.
zines.
But I got to asking about It. and
found out what simp was. There
was woman in the ward that had
done time. When we were out in
the jail yard for exercise, I asked
her all about it.
She said, "Dearie. how old ara
your"
And I said, Past twenty"
And she said, well, they'll send
you to Auburn. That's where I
was. At that. youIl be better off
than II they put you in a reforTna.
tory. People don't know 1t, but it's
30. Believe me, we know It. In
refCrmatory. they whip you. And
they chain you up like q dog-not
all the time, but for punishment.
They can't get away with that in
a real prison. All they can do at
Auburn II you cut up Is to put you
in a dark cell on bread and water,
or douse you with the cold shower"
But she told me a lot Of other
stuff about Auburn that made me
see for the first time what I was
up against-ugly clothes, uglier
than I'd ever had to wear when I
was poorest, cotton stockings, heavy
shoeS-up at half past six o'clock
summer and winter, and work,
work, work, till your arms and legs
ached.
said, What kind Of work?''
And she said, "Well, dearie. what
did you do before you started to
stick 'em up?"
Put Her in Laundry.
And I said, II worked in q laun-
And she said, ''WelI, II they know
that, they'll put you In the laun-
dry"
threw back my head and
laughed and laughed until she
thought was crazy, IL the doctors
didn't. And q matron came run.
ming and said, Celia, whatever Is
the natter" And I couldn't stop
laughing, and then I started cry
ing like a fool.
Say, amt that q joke? Back
to what I hated most, back to ach-
ing feet and wet steam and the
mangle.
On top of It, later I found out
they were going to send Ed to Sing
Sing, and that Ia never see him
again, not for years, until we both
got out again.
I've talked about losing my
nerve. Believe me, lost my nerve
then. sent for Warden Honeck.
There'll never be anybody more de-
cent than him. I said, mr.. Honeck,
got to see Ed. Please let me
see Ed"
He let me see him, and he went
away and turned his back while we
talked. / Rugged Ed and cried and
cried, and said, ED, we got to do
something. 1 can't bear It."
They let us SEND for the lawyer.
We saw him together Ed saw the
fix / was In, and said, Here, I'll
take IL all. I'll take life. I'll take
anything. Only You got to get her
out OF this. For Gods sake, please
get her out"
The lawyer did what he could,
and came back, and said. "It's too
late"
That's the answer. It's too late.
It's easy to be sorry and figure out
how wrong you were, when every
things too late.
THE END.
Copyright, 1924. BY King Features
Syndicate, InO.)