The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-07-25
New and Amazing Serial Describes Ont
Mans Long But Losing Battle
for Freedom
for Freedom

transferred against his will, after
having been definitely sentenced
to Sing Sing by the courts, felt
aggrieved and unjustly dealt
with.
I began to realize very early
that life at Sing Sing was going
to be a continual round of har-
assment. turmoil and impotency
to relieve the suffering of fellow
beings. with sad scenes between
husbands and wives, fathers and
children, sons and mothers of
daily occurrence. The place was
like a boiling pot-like the
witches cauldron in Macbeth"
And new victims for the chair
would arrive with sickenihg fire.
quency..
The first two chair" victims
under Osborne were Cinnamon.
Lee Dock and Eng Hing. Former
wardens had held executions a
few minutes after midnight on
Monday mornings-the law giving
the warden the right to inflict
the death penalty at any time
during a specified week, begin
ming at midnight Sunday.
Execution Time Changed
BY holding executions in the
- tho
gruesome lob" was disposed Of
early in the week. Osborne
changed the time of executions
to a. m. Friday He would
have made it Saturday, but de-
cided it were better to have a
day of grace for the consumnaa-
ton of matters in the event
of any slip or accident. Con-
demned men were thereby given
four extra days of life under his
dmiriistration-and while there
is life there, is always hope. The
death house contained twenty-four
cells, and these cells were nearly
always all occupied.
The most prominent of the
condemned men at that time was
Charles Becker, a lieutenant of
police in New York city, who had
been convicted of implication in
the, murder of Herman Rosenthal,
noted gambler.
AS 1 learned inside facts about
this case, as well as details of
some of the other cases, I be-
came miserable. Becker had been
a policeman all his life, and ]
had not much love or sympathy
for policemen, as a class. / do
not mean to create the inpreR
sion that I believe police un-
necessary, nor that there are not
some square and manly police
men. But / know from personal
experience and from cases had
authenticated that police methods
in general were cruel and in
human, and that the majority
of policemen lose sight entirely
of the fact that they are sup
posed to be public servants, not
autocratic ty-ants The majority
of prisoners hold this viewpoint,
and well they may.
Ordinarily, when a policeman
gets into the meshes Of the law
prisoners rejoice at his down
fall and hope he will "get the
limit" The prisoners at Sing
Sing were no exception. Yet
found that the majority of the
Sing Sing prisoners, many of
whom had been in close touch
with the New York underworld
and its devious ramifications,
believed Becker to be the victim
of a cold blooded, diabolical frame
up, and entirely innocent Of hav-
ing instigated the murder of
Rosenthal.
Four men had already been
executed at Sing Sing for that
murder, one Of whom the under
world habitues declared positively
had been innocent. Becker was
to be the fifth, and he was like
wise looked upon as a goat"
to be sacrificed on the bloody
altar of political ambition. Becker
was a fwell-buiIt, intelligent man
of forty-five, and protested his
innocence vehemently at all times.
Practically all of the prison of
ficiais, including the warden. be-
lieved him.
The case weighed more or less
heavily on everybody's mind; es-
pec.ally on those days when brave
little Mrs. Becker came up to the
prison to see her doomed husband.
/ kept imbibing more and more
freely from my private carboy of
sherry 70 help get my mind eff
these things.
TO Be Continued Tomorrow