"Go an" take a--thump to yourself, will you?"
The officer walks off, heavy-browed and thoughtful, but pauses a short distance from the cell, to hear Butch mumbling discontentedly. The Block Captain retraces his steps, and, facing the boy, storms at him:
"What did you say? "d.a.m.n the old skunk!" that"s what you said, eh? You come on out of there!"
With much show of violence he inserts the key into the lock, pulls the door open with a bang, and hails a pa.s.sing guard:
"Mr. Kelly, quick, take this loafer out and give "im--er--give "im a pair of shoes."
He starts down the range, when some one calls from an upper tier:
"Jimmy, Jimmy! Come on up here!"
"I"ll jimmy you d.a.m.n carca.s.s for you," the old man bellows, angrily, "Where th" h.e.l.l are you?"
"Here, on B, 20 B. Right over you."
The officer steps back to the wall, and looks up toward the second gallery.
"What in th" name of Jesus Christ do you want, Slim?"
"Awful cramps in me stomach. Get me some cramp mixture, Jim."
"Cramps in yer head, that"s what you"ve got, you big b.u.m you. Where the h.e.l.l did you get your cramp mixture, when you was spilling around in a freight car, eh?"
"I got booze then," the prisoner retorts.
"Like h.e.l.l you did! You were d.a.m.n lucky to get a louzy hand-out at the back door, you ornery pimple on G.o.d"s good earth."
"Th" h.e.l.l you say! The hand-out was a d.a.m.n sight better"n th" rotten slush I get here. I wouldn"t have a belly-ache, if it wasn"t for th"
hogwash they gave us to-day."
"Lay down now! You talk like a horse"s rosette."
It"s the old man"s favorite expression, in his rich vocabulary of picturesque metaphor and simile. But there is no sting in the brusque speech, no rancor in the scowling eyes. On the way to the desk he pauses to whisper to the block trusty:
"John, you better run down to the dispensary, an" get that big stiff some cramp mixture."
Happening to glance into a cell, Mitch.e.l.l notices a new arrival, a bald-headed man, his back against the door, reading.
"Hey you!" the Block Captain shouts at him, startling the green prisoner off his chair, "take that bald thing out of there, or I"ll run you in for indecent exposure."
He chuckles at the man"s fright, like a boy pleased with a naughty prank, and ascends the upper tiers.
Duster in hand, I walk along the range. The guards are engaged on the galleries, examining cells, overseeing the moving of the newly-graded inmates to the South Wing, or chatting with the trusties. The chairs at the officers" desk are vacant. Keeping alert watch on the rotunda doors, I walk from cell to cell, whiling away the afternoon hours in conversation. Johnny, the friendly runner, loiters at the desk, now and then glancing into the yard, and giving me "the office" by sharply snapping his fingers, to warn me of danger. I ply the duster diligently, while the Deputy and his a.s.sistants linger about, surrounded by the trusties imparting information gathered during the day. Gradually they disperse, called into a shop where a fight is in progress, or nosing about the kitchen and a.s.siduously killing time. The "coast is clear,"
and I return to pick up the thread of interrupted conversation.
But the subjects of common interest are soon exhausted. The oft-repeated tirade against the "rotten grub," the "stale punk," and the "hogwash"; vehement cursing of the brutal "screws," the "stomach-robber of a Warden" and the unreliability of his promises; the exchange of gossip, and then back again to berating the food and the treatment. Within the narrow circle runs the interminable tale, colored by individual temperament, intensified by the length of sentence. The whole is dominated by a deep sense of unmerited suffering and bitter resentment, often breathing dire vengeance against those whom they consider responsible for their misfortune, including the police, the prosecutor, the informer, the witnesses, and, in rare instances, the trial judge.
But as the longed-for release approaches, the note of hope and liberty rings clearer, stronger, with the swelling undercurrent of frank and irrepressible s.e.x desire.
CHAPTER XXI
THE DEEDS OF THE GOOD TO THE EVIL
The new arrivals are forlorn and dejected, a look of fear and despair in their eyes. The long-timers among them seem dazed, as if with some terrible shock, and fall upon the bed in stupor-like sleep. The boys from the reformatories, some mere children in their teens, weep and moan, and tremble at the officer"s footstep. Only the "repeaters" and old-timers preserve their composure, scoff at the "fresh fish," nod at old acquaintances, and exchange vulgar pleasantries with the guards. But all soon grow nervous and irritable, and stand at the door, leaning against the bars, an expression of bewildered hopelessness or anxious expectancy on their faces. They yearn for companionship, and are pathetically eager to talk, to hear the sound of a voice, to unbosom their heavy hearts.
I am minutely familiar with every detail of their "case," their life-history, their hopes and fears. Through the endless weeks and months on the range, their tragedies are the sole subject of conversation. A glance into the mournful faces, pressed close against the bars, and the panorama of misery rises before me,--the cell-house grows more desolate, bleaker, the air gloomier and more depressing.
There is Joe Zappe, his bright eyes lighting up with a faint smile as I pause at his door. "h.e.l.lo, Alick," he greets me in his sweet, sad voice.
He knows me from the jail. His father and elder brother have been executed, and he commuted to life because of youth. He is barely eighteen, but his hair has turned white. He has been acting queerly of late: at night I often hear him muttering and walking, walking incessantly and muttering. There is a peculiar look about his eyes, restless, roving.
"Alick," he says, suddenly, "me wanna tell you sometink. You no tell n.o.body, yes?"
a.s.sured I"ll keep his confidence, he begins to talk quickly, excitedly:
"n.o.body dere, Alick? No scroo? S-sh! La.s.sa night me see ma broder. Yes, see Gianni. Jesu Cristo, me see ma poor broder in da cella "ere, an" den me fader he come. Broder and fader day stay der, on da floor, an so quieta, lika dead, an" den dey come an lay downa in ma bed. Oh, Jesu Christo, me so fraida, me cry an" pray. You not know wat it mean?
No-o-o? Me tell you. It mean me die, me die soon."
His eyes glow with a sombre fire, a hectic flush on his face. He knits his brows, as I essay to calm him, and continues hurriedly:
"S-sh! Waita till me tell you all. You know watta for ma fader an"
Gianni come outa da grave? Me tell you. Dey calla for ravange, "cause dey innocente. Me tell you trut. See, we all worka in da mine, da coal mine, me an" my fader an" Gianni. All worka hard an" mek one dollar, maybe dollar quater da day. An" bigga American man, him come an" boder ma fader. Ma fader him no wanna trouble; him old man, no boder n.o.body.
An" da American man him maka two dollars an mebbe two fifty da day an"
him boder my fader, all da time, boder "im an" kick "im to da legs, an"
steal ma broder"s shovel, an" hide fader"s hat, an" maka trouble for ma countrymen, an" call us "dirty dagoes." An" one day him an" two Arish dey all drunk, an" smash ma fader, an" American man an Arish holler, "Dago s---- b---- fraida fight," an" da American man him take a bigga pickax an" wanna hit ma fader, an" ma fader him run, an" me an" ma broder an" friend we fight, an" American man him fall, an" we all go way home. Den p"lice come an" arresta me an" fader an" broder, an" say we killa American man. Me an" ma broder no use knife, mebbe ma friend do.
Me no know; him no arresta; him go home in Italia. Ma fader an" broder dey save nineda-sev"n dollar, an" me save twenda-fife, an" gotta laiyer.
Him no good, an" no talk much in court. We poor men, no can take case in oder court, an" fader him hang, an" Gianni hang, an" me get life. Ma fader an" broder dey come la.s.sa night from da grave, cause dey innocente an" wanna ravange, an" me gotta mek ravange, me no rest, gotta--"
The sharp snapping of Johnny, the runner, warns me of danger, and I hastily leave.
The melancholy figures line the doors as I walk up and down the hall.
The blanched faces peer wistfully through the bars, or lean dejectedly against the wall, a vacant stare in the dim eyes. Each calls to mind the stories of misery and distress, the scenes of brutality and torture I witness in the prison house. Like ghastly nightmares, the shadows pa.s.s before me. There is "Silent Nick," restlessly pacing his cage, never ceasing, his lips sealed in brutish muteness. For three years he has not left the cell, nor uttered a word. The stolid features are cut and bleeding. Last night he had attempted suicide, and the guards beat him, and left him unconscious on the floor.
There is "Crazy Hunkie," the Austrian. Every morning, as the officer unlocks his door to hand in the loaf of bread, he makes a wild dash for the yard, shouting, "Me wife! Where"s me wife?" He rushes toward the front and desperately grabs the door handle. The double iron gate is securely locked. A look of blank amazement on his face, he slowly returns to the cell. The guards await him with malicious smile. Suddenly they rush upon him, blackjacks in hand. "Me wife, me seen her!" the Austrian cries. The blood gushing from his mouth and nose, they kick him into the cell. "Me wife waiting in de yard," he moans.
In the next cell is Tommy Wellman; adjoining him, Jim Grant. They are boys recently transferred from the reformatory. They cower in the corner, in terror of the scene. With tearful eyes, they relate their story. Orphans in the slums of Allegheny, they had been sent to the reform school at Morganza, for s.n.a.t.c.hing fruit off a corner stand.
Maltreated and beaten, they sought to escape. Childishly they set fire to the dormitory, almost in sight of the keepers. "I says to me chum, says I," Tommy narrates with boyish glee, ""Kid," says I, "let"s fire de louzy joint; dere"ll be lots of fun, and we"ll make our get-away in de"
"citement."" They were taken to court and the good judge sentenced them to five years to the penitentiary. "Glad to get out of dat dump," Tommy comments; "it was jest fierce. Dey paddled an" starved us someting"
turrible."
In the basket cell, a young colored man grovels on the floor. It is Lancaster, Number 8523. He was serving seven years, and working every day in the mat shop. Slowly the days pa.s.sed, and at last the longed-for hour of release arrived. But Lancaster was not discharged. He was kept at his task, the Warden informing him that he had lost six months of his "good time" for defective work. The light hearted negro grew sullen and morose. Often the silence of the cell-house was pierced by his anguished cry in the night, "My time"s up, time"s up. I want to go home." The guards would take him from the cell, and place him in the dungeon. One morning, in a fit of frenzy, he attacked Captain McVey, the officer of the shop. The Captain received a slight scratch on the neck, and Lancaster was kept chained to the wall of the dungeon for ten days. He returned to the cell, a driveling imbecile. The next day they dressed him in his citizen clothes, Lancaster mumbling, "Going home, going home." The Warden and several officers accompanied him to court, on the way coaching the poor idiot to answer "yes" to the question, "Do you plead guilty?" He received seven years, the extreme penalty of the law, for the "attempted murder of a keeper." They brought him back to the prison, and locked him up in a basket cell, the barred door covered with a wire screen that almost entirely excludes light and air. He receives no medical attention, and is fed on a bread-and-water diet.