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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1920)
A THE OREGON STATESMAN. SALEM, OREGON. i 0. HENRY AL. JENNINGS (Continued from last week) CHAPTKR TWENTY-ONE. ' The deputy reared from me, his face ashen -with' rage. Like a tor tured maniac, I sprang at him. The guards rushed forward, made a leap at me, stopped abruptly, livid and simpering, as though suddenly stricken. If any one of them bad touched me I could have torn him to pieces. ' I was ready to be killed out right soonier than submit to the horrors of tha "punishment cell." 1 1 had seen too much of it the prison demon dragged out of soli tary and whipped into bleeding insensibility a couple of times a week other prisoners glren the "water" until their j faces were one red, gushing stream and the anguished screams. filled the air. The basement ''where these things were done was directly un der the hospital. I passed above it and I could look down on the way to -the transfer office. Three weeks before a man had been beat en to death orer that trough. The awful debauchery of that murder had scared Into my mind. Pead Man Held I v Secret of Jewels. i The man was a friend of mine , and one of the most intelligent conricts In the prison. He was a diamond robber the cleTerest croon in the pen, a man of neat speech And cultured .manner. He had stolen some of the most price less I gem In the State. All the detectives in the country had not been able to locate the jewels. The Jewelers offered thousands in a reward for the recovery of the dia monds. No third degree, no pun ishment eould force from the man the location of his treasure. In the prison .was an editor, sentenced for the! murder of a rival newspaper publisher. This fellow would have i crucified, his own mother to gain an extra crust for. himself. He was always worming his way into I favor, by snitching on convicts. For some strange reason perhaps because of their intellectual equality, he and the diamond robber became friends.; ' ' One morning the newspapers carried ' blazing headlines. The stolen diamonds had been found. The robber's secret was out. : Suspense and a surcharged ex citement held the prison in a grip. We knew the episode was not closed. '. We waited. Betrayer Attacked By Cell Confident. The diamond robber said noth ing. Restless curiosity sent its questions and suppositions across the grapevine route'' from one cell block to another. fWho had told?" J "What would happen?" The answer came in a sudden viciousness that revealed the whole betrayal. The , robber sneaked.. one day down the corri dor, lie had a bottle in his habd. He had calculated his time. He fell Into .line just aa the editor was going to his cell. There was a frenzied scream, a moment's scuffle, a loud, pro longed, tormented cry. The edi tor lay on the corridor floor, one eye burned i out and his face puffed and flaming with the car bolic acid that was eaUng Into his flesh. When he came out from jthe hospital he was half blinded and his face, such a seamy mass of ugly scars, hell it self wouldn't own him. He had won the confidence of the diam ond thief and betrayed him. Robber Beaten to Bone by Guards. 1: ! "Seventy-five" was the punish ment oraerea or me roDDer tor the assault on a fellow prisone He was a tall, slender fello graceful and muscular made like a, white marble statue. j Prison Is not the place for dark dealings.; Every convict knew In less than an hour that the robber was to "get his' I walked obt from the transfer office and look ed down the stairs Into the base ment. , The robber, strapped across the trough, his ankles drawn an- Business M en Wear M osher Suits Thoy Always Vicar Ittoy Always Satisfy A TAILORED SJJ.IT alw.ays gives more wear and better satisfaction than any other suit. The better class of materials whjch make up a tailored suit, and the superior workmanship which goes into it, explain the reason. MOSHER TAILORED SUITS have been worn by Salem's more particular bus iness men for years. They have found that in Mosher suits is the best of -tail oring, the best of materials and always a sure f ltj I DjHiMGSHER 474 Court Street ..-.. High Class Tailor to Men &nd Women , -.SALEM, OREGON - ; ; BALL BAND RUBBER BOOTS V The only fully guaranteed Rubber Boot made and sells for the same money that other boots sell for that do not have half the. wear. Bergmann Boots Calked and plain, the only logger boot that will give you more than your mon ey's worth in wear. We also have the Bergman dress shoe, a new addition to the line. See them and you will buy them. SUNDAY MOUX1XO. OCTONER 17. r li r ... Witch Elk Boots for both men and women in the regular 7 inch height and up to 16 inch tops, light dress shoe for "gentlemen" and "ladies," the highest quality of leath er known to the nrofession is used in these boots. 1 Children's Shoes t sale prices. Get your boys' and children's shoes, at a big reduction while we are closing out broken lines. ' .Thousands of pairs at $2,95, $3.95 to 95 WHEPRICE. flan Sues SeTtrfStoes ft ftunp t WikJiCkfoab 326 grsvsr-Hrtftotii'HBuilrJl dcr it. his arms across the top! was a mass of blood. ne nuered not the slightest moan. None but a hall h oil nil nd that's what a . guard becomes wnen he ha dona a thing like ill a httndred times ouid hate jaid those heayy paddles, with. mcir eages sharp as razor blades. ere. tl7 P T fr maaes, ent country, across that raw and 1o mwnA n..k I ' The robber w. .MB.i,:U,:r7.1 . " valuable advice. I would have escaped six months of tor- robber WflJt (Mnallv hMl.n.l. me bone. Long after he was un conscious, the merciless flaying went on. The guards stopped. Half an hour passed. The robber came to. rne guards propped him up. The deputy warden elowered over him. a NOW aav that vnn rn mnrit, Say that you'll obey the rules," he luunaerea. 1 Ma Strapped Down i And Hacked to Death. The mantled, hloprfinir victim whft couldn't stand, couldn't speak raised a gray, death stricken face. And after a long pause, a husky curse came from his lips. . - mm, I wisn I got is other eye." They stranned him back to th trough and hacked him to death. Broken jbones. ragged flesh, they struck Into it until it doubled a limp mass into the trough. mars what "seventy-fiTe" meant in the Ohio penitentiary In They called me a man killer. I never murdered a man in mv life. shot quick and clean In self-de fense. I would have felt myself a degraded beast to have fouly kill ed like that. If that warden had carried out his; sentence, he would have died like a cur. He knew it. He sent me to the bolt contract instead. I was reduced to the fourth grade, riven a suit of white with black stripes .running horizontally across it. put in with the lockstep gang ana sent to the bolt contract work. , . Conversation was forbidden. guard might come into the range no save me i any moment. "He carerul ofon the bench outside the deputy ,,t.fle?.d TOtt. eh008e- n ".warden's room. Dick went past outside It may be safe to pick upme. acquaintances at every'siding. I'mg -.f . " clad von . ..(,m. louve got a fellow Jennings Honduras. The O. P. is a dlffer- Have no confidants." Thefrlended and life termer, tried Dirk Price had nothing to do with While I was sitting. it." M1 thought so.- he said. -Dick's a mighty good boy. Been here a mighty long time. Come clean on this now and 111 make It easy for you. to wo He Fake Sick .. o Reach Porter. The. confinement, the isolation. he cruel discipline took the spirit ut or me. I beard from no one. No one was allowed to see me. Papers, books, visitors were de riled me. I And then I faked sick just to get a; word to Porter. The "croaker" was taking my temperature. Bill came out ot the prescription room; he was not al lowed to speak to me. His look was enough. Bitter, sad. troubled. he nodded to me and turned his back, .1 knew that Bill had tried and failed. He was powerless to help me. 1 went back to the bolt works. This is the hardest labor In the prison. .Outside contractors pay the state about 30 cents a day for the .hire of the men. If a given task is 'not finished on time the convict is sent to the hole for pun ishment. Twice In ' three days "Little Jim," a negro, was given the;fwater.,,i, , , Bill Porter Saves When Hope Leaves. A hose- with a nozzle, one quarter' of an inch -In diameter. 60 pounds pressure behind it, sends a stream of terrific force at the prisoner. His head is held strapped, the stream that is hard as steel is turned full In the man's face, his eyes, his nostrils. The pressure compels him to open bis mouth. The swift, battering del uge tears down nis mroai ana rips his stomach In two. No man can stand the "water" twice and live. Little Jim passed my bench one morning, j "Mr. Alj they done give LI1 Jim the water agin," he whispered, walked a i step, flopped to the ground, a red geyser spouting from his mouth. Before Little Jim reached the hospital he was dead. Dead because he didn't turnv out enough bolts to please the big business men on the out side.' . After that morning. I was about finished. I lost all hope, all ambition. Bill Porter saved me.' I Across the grapevine route he sent his message. From one con vict to another the word went until ,it was steathily whispered in my ear: Don't lose heart. I'm work ing. There's a new main fin Ser." , . ' , i . CHAPTKIt TWKXTY. I did not want to see Bill Porter ture in solitary confinement had I aeeoea it. . "And when you graduate Into the first grade. I'll see what 'pull' can do for you. There may be a chance to have you transferred to me nospital." ; That was aU; The stealthy foot ball of the guard brushed along the corridor. We looked t each other a moment. Porter flipped few puis into my hand and care lessly walked off. , As he left, the bitter Isolation of the prison was Intensified. The cell walls seemed heaving to gether, closing me Into a black Pit. J'felt that I would never see Bill Porter again. Quizzical Anwer On Porter's FalL" He had said nothing nf hlmuif I knew that he was convicted on a charge ot embezzlement. I never asked him about it. One dav in New York, years later, he alluded to tt. He was shaving In his room in the- Caledonia hotel. We were talking, of old times in the Ohio penitentiary. He wanted me to tell him of the bank robbery we had pulled In the outlaw days. wnat did you fall for?" c I asked. He turned noon me a look of quizzical humor, rubbed the lamer into his chin and waited a moment before he answered. Colonel." I have been exnectlnr that question for six years. I bor rowed four -from the bank on a tip that cotton would go up. It went aown and I got five." It was but another of his quips. Porter, I believe' and all of his friends share the confidence, was innocent of the charge laid against him. He was accused of misap propriating about $1100 from the First r National bank ot Austin. He had been railroaded to prison. I believe it. It was not his guilt that I thqught or as he stood at my door that Sunday morning, but his buoyant friendship and the odd. delightful gravity ot his quiet speech. He held me as he bad the first day I met him In the Mexican cantina; But as he left, a thought full of a stinging irritation wedged It self into these happier memories. ,t had been in prison nearly tour weeks. Bill Porter kifew it. hm weeks. Bill Porter knew it. Every one in .the penitentiary knew It. He had taken his time about vis iting me. Had it been me. I would have rushed to see him at the first opportunity. I tried to make out a brief for bun. 'Potter was'a valuable man In .prison. He had been a phar macist In Greensboro before en tering the bank at Austin. This f experience won him the envied position of drug clerk in the pris on hospital. Many privileges soft ened the bitterness ot convict life, He had a good bed. decent food and comparative freedom. Why bad he failed to visit me? in solitary for trying to escape. I gave bim the saws. He's a new man. Ain't been here long enough to know the ropes. -1 wised him PUP to escane. Give me the oun- rUhment.'; Dick sooke In a lond voice. I knew It was a cue for me. He had mot given me the saws. He knew otnmg about the escape until a orsethiet peached on me. I was called before the deputy. "How did you like . your new ome7" he asved with a leer. He Jneant the 'bole In solitary. "1 found where you rot the saws. Threat of Bra ting Arouses Enmity. . . " v "I can't." "Toull have to." ' "I ean'L" "By God. HI make you." 1 knew what he meant. It made me desperate with fury. . "By God. you won't." "Here take this fellow and give him aeventy-flve." Only a man who has been la hell's mouth who has seen the blood spurt as men stripped and chained are beaten until - their flesh Is torn and broken as a deer, lick knows the Indignity and Ct praTity of a prison beating. I saw myself cowed by this screaming brutality. It made fiend ot me. "Ton take me. you damned coward; you strip me and beat toe over that trough try It, and It I live through It. Ill come back and cat your damn throat!" (Continued next week.) You Xeraws aeep on feeling distressed after eating, nor belch ing, nor experiencing nausea be tween meals. Howl's SaraparilU cures dyspepsia It strengthens the stomach and other digestive organs for the proper performance ot their functions. Take Hood's. Read . ite CLuaHf d Ad In convict stripes, rour monvu we shared the same purse, the same bread, the same glass. We had traveled through South Am erica nd Mexico together. Not a word had he said of his past. And here it was torn open for me to see and the secret he bad kept so quietly shouted out in his gray, prison suit with the black band running down the trousers. The produest man 1 have ever known was standing outside a '.barrea door, dispensing quinine and pills to Jailbirds. -Colonel, we have the same tailor, but he does not pro Id us with the same cut of clothes. The old droll, whimsically drawled out without a chuckle. I ?kei Into the face that would have rcorned to show its emotion. H was still touched with grave. Im pressive hauteur. bt the clear eyes, in that moment, seemed filmed and hurt. ' I think It was a:out the only time in my life I did not feel like talking. Bill was looking at my ,i. ii.ii.. hanH-me-downs. I naa Veered JhV ca.toff clothes of 1 other orisoner. They hung mA like the flapping rags on . The sleeves were if ..n md the trousers tucked i. m ahnes were four sizes When I walked. ZT.'AJ'um th clatter of a horse founucu - brigade. Ilavo Xo Confidants. Says Bill Vmrr. Blow at Pride to . Meet a .Convicts. '. He was busy, I know. And he would nave gone to almost any extremity to avoid asking a favor from the a-uard. It would have fcut him to the quick to win a re fusal from these men who were his Inferiors.; Was he merely waiting his easy opportunity to see me? I , , i I didn t understand Bui .Por ter then as I learned to know him later. I know now the reason for that' long delay. I can appreci ate the goading humiliation O. Henry suffered when he stood before .my., cell acknowledging nunseir a criminal even as my left. Porter knew my high es teem. for him. Always reticent, it was an aching blow to his pride to meet me now. no longer the gentleman, but the fellow con vict. :' - Weeks went by.. I didnt see him again. The -promise of help and a position In the hospital, where food was good and beds clean, had put a flavor even Into prison stew. I counted on Ported. Gradu ally the confidence waned. I grew bitter with resentment and a cold feeling of abandonment. I had been used ragged by every one. It began to eat in on me that Bill was one with all the other lngrates I had helped. be ' promoted Porter said "But yon "II soon . t,- i ret rank." ... deliberately sought the task of dispensing the pills in or der to give me a word of advice.., CoIoneIfM--ta" P9ka .quickly. Many Obstacles To Prison Favor. I did not know that he was working for me all the while. I did not realize the obstacles that block promotion in a prison. 1 de cided to help myself. I tried to es cape, was caught, sent Into soli tary for 14 days and then brought down to the bell hole for trial. Dick Price, a convict I had, be- If You Were Ready! We have dozens of calls from banks, big business houses, railroads and the government, for con pa tent stenographers and bookkeepers. Wc Cannot Fill These Placet! A few months training would fit you for one of these positions. Write us or call today for our cat alogue, and let us tell you what this school can do for you. Plan to enter at once. " A year from now you will be holding one ot these desirable places. Capital Business College Salem, -Oregon VOTE 500 X YES FOR A TWO-PLATOON SYSTEM FIRE KcSe. d e part m e n t IT DOES NOT DOUBLE AMOUNT OF FIREMEN Endorsed By Saleln City Council ... Salem Commercial Club i. Budaexj Men' League Central Labor Council .A. . y Table, Oak, now Rppr. $57.50 4S in. top, 8 ft. Kx. "f Table, "Oak, now. vRejr. $47.50 45 in. top. 6 ft. Ex. 3 2 Oh o z , . .1-1,11 a'mp'jf a I ?i I r S3 lEktra Special Price XL . -. . . . ON HIGH GRADE AND MEDIUM PRICED DINING ROOM FURNITURE j There is no suite more appropriate for the Dining Room than the YHllira and Mary, and this suite embodies all the beauty of that period. CcniTsts of a Buffet, 48-in.. topf 8. ft Extension table, 5 leather seat Chairs, and I Arm chair to match. See this beautiful 8-piece Suite in our East window. REGULAR PRICE $222. REDUCED TO ...$168.50 Ex. Retr. $72.50 54 in. top 8 ft. TabV, y, Oak, now '. Rcg. $62.50 54 in. top, 8 ft. Ex. Table, y4 Oak, now 153.10 $43.90 Table. V Oak, now $39.50 'RK. $4:1.00 45 in. top, 6 ft. Ex. j Tabic. Oak, now V.. 1365 JW. $40.00 45 in. top, 6 ft. Ex. 1 Table, Oak, now $32.50 Retr. $:17.00 42 in. top, R ft. Ejk. Table, i Oak, now. .... . ..... .$31.75 nice. $02.50 42 in. lop, 6 ft. Ex. j Table, Plain Oak, now...' $27.85 Rep. $19.00 42 in. 4op, 6 ft. Ex. Table. U. O., now. I..... $165 Reg. $105.00 U Oak nufTet, now. .$33.50 Reg. $72.50 Oak Huflet. now $51.e5 Reg. $57.50 Oak Uuffet, not... .$13.90 Reg. $47.50 Oak Uuffet. now $39.50 Reg. $12.50 Oen. Leather Seat Chair, now. .$3 JO Reg. $00 TphoUtereU .Scat Chair, now $3-25 Reg. .50 CphoUterecI Seat Chair, now ....$7.23 Reg. $5.50 Wood Seat Chair now. . . .$1.73 Reg. $2.50 .Wood Seat Chair, now. .$2.15 1 We Know All About Curtains If you have a curtain proMrin you want wilvrl l"ure to rail on us.' We will gladly give you the benefit of our large exierieiic This Week's DRAPERY Specials Fancy Ma dronettes, all colors. Values to $1 per yard, for, per yard 37 Cents- 20 off ow ALL Brunswick Phonogr aph C. S SALES EEPRXSENTATTVES SHERMAN, CLAY and COUP ANY PLA2J03