New Britain herald., 1930-03-01


 pails 10 empty out their uncatcr food.
 For breakfast we would get bak- ed potatoes and gravy, bread and coffee; or some Cereal-oatmeal on some days, cornflakes on another and so on-bread and coffee. The milk on the cereal. by the way, was always of the Substitute" variety.
 For dinner there would be lima beans, bacon, bread and water; or kidney beans. bread and water: or navy beans, bread and water; or kidney stew, bread and water; or turnips, bread and water. I don't mean we had our choice of these dishes. It would be one thing one day, another the next.
 For supper there would be, prob ably, dried peaches or apples or prunes, and bread and tea.
 The jail commissary was open to prisoners if they had any money. The things you could buy there were limited to sardines, chocolate bars. smokes, etc. The idea in limiting the list so strictly, of course, is to let prisoners know they are being punished.
 Prisoners friends or relatives outside arc not allowed to send food into the jail for them. If such food is sent it is refused at the jail office. Money to buy food from the com- missary may be sent in, and Is given to the prisoner in s5 amounts. This is a strict jail regulation.
 So you can sec that the ordinary prisoner. even if he had money, could not add very greatly to the highly limited jail menu.
 But Harry Sinclair rarely, if ever. ate the jail food. He had his food brought in from the outside.
 If-as often happened-his appe- titc was for roast squahs on toast or fresh berries with cream. he got those things, whether they were in season or not. It goes without say ing. of course, that he paid for them, and also paid those who got them and served them.
 There was a colored prisoner who earned the nickname of Salad Man" because of his services to Sinclair.
 This man had been a railroad dining car waiter. and he knew about the art of serving food.
 Sinclair was strong for sala ds. and that was this boys long suit. So he made them for him, in a abundance. with materials that Sinclair had sent in from the out side.
 Despite the rule about receiving gifts of food from the outside. Sin clair got many boxes of delicacies from his friends. One friend, in particular, in New York state, was very faithful, sending him box every week loaded with good things. And these boxes were never turned back at the jail office.
 Of course, I'm not saying they should nave been. The chief req son for prohibiting a prisoners friends on the outside from sending him food is to keep weapons or drugs from being smuggled into the jail. A saw or a. knife can be con- cealed very nicely in a pie, for in- stance. And it was perfectly abvi- ous that nobody was going to send Harry Sinclair any weapons or tools by which he might escape.
 I'm not complaining. I'm just how it was that jail life seemed to agree with him so well.
 From what I have said, you might that Sinclair would have been vastly unpopular with the rest of the prisoners. There was a good deal of resentment over the special treatment that was given him, naturally; and often, when the prisoners sat down to particular ly unattractivc meal, one of them would remark caustically. "I won- der how Sinclair would like this!' But on the whole the jail inmates liked Sinclair well enough.
 When Sinclair first came in he made a studied effort to adapt him. self to his new surroundings and develop cordial relations. Being an office man, of course, he was not much thrown with his fellow prisoners, especially after he got that private bedroom; so he con- ccntratcd on the guards. handing out good cigars for the slightest favors.
 In return he was treated with difference and respect, and one who did not know the circumstances would have been led to believe that he was only a visitor-anything but a prisoner.
 The average jail guard treats the average prisoner with contempt. which is returned by the prisoner. This, of course, was not the case with Sinclair; and I believe it was this fact that probably kept the oil man from breaking under his con- finement, quite as much as the spe- cial favors he enjoyed in the way of good food, exercise and fresh air.
 There were other ways in which term in jail were made easy. Monday I'll describe them to you.
 Monday: Visitors, mail and spe-