The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-07-28

prisoner could be released during the winter; the courts also held that if an inmate escaped and re- mained at large until the day his sentence would have expired, he could not be brought back to prison.
 Jack Parker was the first man to actually ''sell" the Brooklyn Bridge. He was the shrewdest con- fidence man I have ever met. Jack, who recently died in Sing Sing, of- ten related to me the incident that gave him his biggest laugh. One night he entered a Brooklyn res-i taurant and told the owner he was the warden of Sing Sing. Parker was not only wined and dined in style, but succeeded in cashing a check for several hundred dollars. He even obtained an additional sum to deposit to the account of an inc mate who was friend of the res- taurant owner.
 Not infrequently, warrants are lodged against inmates. That means when they complete their terms in prison they must stand trial for an- other offense and possibly receive an additional sentence. Consequent ly, they make every effort to have those warrants removed by writing to the judge or district attorney, and asking for leniency. One in- mate here wrote more than twenty letters to judge but received no reply. Finally, the prisoner, believ- ing that the jurist had ignored the communications because he had no intention of removing the warrants, appealed to the chief clerk at Sing Sing to intercede in his behalf.
 Suppose you speak to the judge yourself" the clerk suggested. Hes walking around the prison yard now"
 You mean he's visiting the placer" the inmate asked.
 "No," the clerk laughed. "The judge is doing five years here for larceny"
 Very few college men are sen- fenced to Sing Sing. Today there are seventy-three out of an inmate population of twenty eight hundred and fifty. All the inmates are keenly interested in the news but very few can afford to subscribe to newspapers. That is why the news broadcasts are the most popular radio programs. Of the 150,000 let- ters written by inmates every year, all censored mail of course, the vast majority of the letters go to the mothers of the men.
 A dance hall is usually place where people go to enjoy themselves. Yet condemned murderers have giv- en that name to a part of the death house to which they are removed on the day set for their execution. The expression first came into use about 12 years ago when the new death house was constructed at Sing Sing. The section where the pre- execution cells are located is cercu- later and looks like dance hall As a result, 1t was no named.
 More than 70 per cent of the mur. derers at Sing Sing had no previ. ous criminal records. Lifers whose crimes were murder uniformly make the most trustworthy prisoners. N man who has been condemned t death during the nineteen years have been warden of Sing Sing, ant whose sentence was committed tt life imprisonment was later granted his freedom. The exaggerated fig. ures, so often quoted, which infel that the average murder serves iron three to five years after he has re. ceived commutatoin from the death sentence, certainly do mol hold in New York state.
 One of the strangest cases evel to come to my attention was that of Andy B---. Andy whose parents were German citizens. came to this country when he was four He attended school here and helt various jobs until the World War when he enlisted in the Unitee States army. He was cited for bray. cry in action, but his decoration was not delivered to him. In 1892 Andy was unemployed and unable to support his family. In despera. ton he committed a burglary ane was sentenced to Sing Sing. II 1884. after he had been here twt years. Uncle Sam finally sent And, the medal for valor under fire. Bu five days later, Andy received thu shock of his life. He was notified that because he had been convicted of @ felony. he would be deportet to Germany, the country he hat