The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-03-10
Convictions
- STANLEY coRDnL.
Q Associated Newspapers
WNu Service.


con Of the Hawkins state prison.
Folks really haven't muci.s idea
about the duties of a warden he
said, smiling, cor the extent of their
responsibility. Being in charge Of a
prison isn't like il used to bt.. A
warden has to be something <of a
psychologist, has to know and under
stand human nature.
"Oh, we've had our share offdiffi-
cult situations and difficult charac-
tiers. ] recall particularly the. lease
Of Rus Julian.
He was only young fellow$Then
he came here to begin sewn to
ten stretch. Young and full CT bit
terness and resentment. He'g lost
his job year or so before, anti had
difficulty in getting another. In fact,
he didn't get another. He tired a
couple of places and was tarned
down, and gave up trying. 1nEtead,
he got IN with the wrong crowd.
Within six months Rus was arrested
twice for participating in rios.
I'm prison or out it didn't make
any difference to Rus. He wa3 still
pretty sore at the world, arrogant
and contemptuous. In less tttan
weeks time he had won him.ef a
day in solitary for starting dis
'turbance over in B section.
Two weeks later he saw the soli-
tary cell a second time. After his
third offense / sent for him, having
IN mind to talk to the boy, trs and
help him if could
II learned few new things about
human nature as a result Of. that
talk with Rus. Not that what said
or the way / acted helpeH or
changed him any.
Il sent him away after awhiA and
everyone thought my talking t. him
had helped matters lot. Six months
passed and we had no more ttouble
from Rus. ] was congratulate and
complimented for my obvious sabili-
ty to reason with and show 8 man
the folly of his ways. But i knew
they were wrong. ! knew { had
made no more impression oE Rus
than nothing at all. He had n ,erely
become smart. He had realizea that
a prison is no place for man 20 as
sert himself, because his keepers
hold the trump cards.
MY suspicious of what wis 60
ing on were verified when a guard
came to me on the morning o. May
! and said he'd heard rumors of a
break over in section B. No one
had any idea who was behiId the
Inconvenience soul SUSPECTED
Rus. He had turned out to be. quite
a model prisoner :.
81 took the usual precautions and
did the only thing that a warden
could do under such circumstances
resigned myself to watchful. wait
ing
"A certain atmosphere Of tense
ness and expectancy existed al the
prison. The guards were nsrvous
and jittery
Il had nOt put my suspicsSns of
Rus into words, hoping that some
one might volunteer a hazarl that
he was behind the rumors and-there-
by confirming my own ideas But
no one did and this caused me TO
hesitate. Fortunately i didn't hest
tate quite long enough. Tive days
before the planned break later
learned il had been scheduled for
the twenty-ninth-I called Rvs into
my Office and had another taEx with
him. The results were the same,
but il was because Of my osgn re-
action that / decided 10 take the
chance. When the interview was
over I stood up and said: Rus, your
mother is ILL., She's asked that you
be allowed to visit her, and I've
granted her request
Rus jaw fell open and he stared.
you mean can 60 down ana see
ma-myself?' -
Eyes. OF course, I'll expe \ you
to report here. I'm putting !. on on
your honor to do So
Perhaps you can guess hoo il all
turned out Rus went home to see
his mother, with whom I hal pre-
viously talked, securing her prom
ise to cooperate, and three days lat
er he was back. The point is here:
] wasn't altogether right. Rvs was
due back the next day. He atayed
away two days longer thansI had
told him he could. had sense
enough not TO get alarmed, to spread
the news of his escape. Aad in
stead of Furnishing him when he
came back, made him a trusty.
''No, there was no break or at
tempted break. Rus had bisen at
the bottom of if all. Two yes<s lat
.er he was pardoned. and his mother,
with my help, had a job waiting for
him when he got out.
"You see, the thing had Harned
from Rus was this: He had had con-
victions, convictions to which. he ad-
hered even though it meant. three
times in solitary. had had eonvic-
tions, tool was convinced that Rus
was the type who, if placed on his
honor, would not break truat. But
my convictions were not as strong
as his-I lacked the courage TO
u - r.