Show xrlAs IN SING 51NG 1 + 5 HOW NEW YORKS 1200 CHTEE MALEFACTORS ARE ENTERTAINED ENTER-TAINED CAN TALK FOR TWO HOURS = HASH BREAD AND COFFEE GIVE WAY TO ROAST CHICKEN MINCE PIE GINGERBREAD GINGER-BREAD TWO CIGARS AND OTHER DELICACIES New York Dec 1SNext Friday there will be many queer Christmas feastings in this broad land of ours but theone that will outrank all others I will be the celebration in the grim gray stone fortress that prince of prisons Sing Sing The dull granite walls are terribly thick there and poor I I Santa Claus could not break in if he came armed with a sleigh full of dynamite dyna-mite bombs Sourlooking guards with sleek Winchesters dot the tops of the walls others with bulging hip pockets swarm over the grounds moving slowly and never seeming to see anything but seeing everything Iron gratings iron doors stone floors stone walls everything iron and stonesmall wonder won-der that the holiday spirit permeating the rest of the world has a hard time soaking through this mass of granite and metal into the 1200 hardened hearts within Thieves murderers forgers blacklegs black-legs thugs ruffians scoundrels from Like with other folks Christmas at Sing Sing begins on the night before that is the convicts can go to sleep in their 4x7 cells with the happy feeling that they can sleep an hour and a half later than usual Ordinarily the getup bell rings at 530 but at Christmas it wont jingle out its disturbing summons sum-mons until 7 oclock and that is something some-thing When Fred Ward the railroad wrecker and Napoleon was released 1 he said that his greatest happiness in his new freedom would be to turnover turn-over and go to sleep again when he was called in the morning That was the single ambition of a man who had once had 20000000 to do with as he pleasedA A VERY EARLY DINNER To give the convicts their Christmas pleasure early in the day the great dinner is served for breakfast at 730 a m The long lines of each division are formed each man with his hands on the sides of the man in front and at the word from the guard the lockstep t 111111 Jf I I II Z I 1 j r 1 m h L 0 A I r F II I I fIJ If I I fj I m I 7 7 W 0 > < 7ft1J I w I I > ff g fL r fi 1 L < u I 41 t t L J c I c sL2 7 > = r d II I q I LJ ti 1 y q I 4 1 r IJ 4Tl l II t III I dJ = i ii I I r = J 1 f 5 I I III i f J gJ I t = K i I j I = r 1 P r IS I I I J i I i = 7 ll 1 I It i r 1 < j I Wc r r lJ i I I 1 I 1 rl 1 7 J J I l 1 1KI KI S d t A All > rArhr J 1 1 j J I I S I l t fA r = 5 I L 7T r1111Jr 7 r = I II I 1 1 ttL f1ii 1 c r 1 = = c W e1 THE MARCH TO THE CHRISTMAS FEAST IN SING SING the polished society rogue to the male factor of the slums from A to Z of the criminal calendar all huddled together jumbled into one mass by the drag net sweeping hither and thither over the I state but mostly in the city of New York Sing Sings guests are 90 percent per-cent the product of this city They are I the cream of the villainy of the me tropolis skimmed by the cold hand of the law When they get outsome of I I them never will they will return to the city and in a few months many will be back again behind the iron and stone THREE GREAT GIFTS Christmas is not an empty thing to them and many are looking forward to it with the nervous eagerness of a 4 yearold child True Santa Claus does not bring fine gifts there but he does make a change in the dreadful routine of the place and that is a blessed gift to the old convict greater and grander than jeweled baubles money or riches He does things on Christmas day that he can do on no other of the 365 days in the year He eats different food he can talk to his fellow men he can walk without folding his arms on his chest These may seem small blessings but the oldtimer in Sing Sing appreciates them at their true worth He knows what it is to go day after day week after week and month after month without saying a word to his fellow men It is true he communicates with them but not in the free way of opening the mouth and talking naturally natur-ally That would mean a stay in the dark cell perhaps on bread and water and bad marks which would deprive him of shortening his term by good I behavior He uses the lip language subtle quiet but effective If he is I an adept in crime he can tick out a message by knocking the hardened I ends of his fingers on the work table just as a telegrapher taps his keys But on Christmas day he talks I AN UNCHANGEABLE MENU And the Christmas eating Here is i the regular fare of Sing Sing for each i day in the week and it is the same 1 every week in the year except on Christmas day Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July The breakfast menu i for each day in the week is as follows i Sunday hash bread and coffee Monday 1 Mon-day bread hash and coffee Tuesday coffee bread and hash Wednesday coffee hash and bread Thursday i bread coffee and hash Friday hash j I bread and coffee Saturday the same I There is a little more variety for dinner 1 din-ner which is as follows Sundav boiled rice milk and sugar stewed apples ap-ples sweet buns bread and coffee Monday pork and beans boiled potatoes pota-toes bread and coffee and vinegar Tuesday boiled fresh beef vegetable J soup made of cabbage tomatoes I parsnips carrots turnips rice or barley i bar-ley bread and coffee Wednesday mutton mut-ton stew or clam chowder tomatoes potatoes parsnips carrots with pork entree and turnips Thursday corned beef and cabbage and bologna sausage I I with pea or bean soup boiled potatoes j mustard bread and coffee Friday fresh fish boiled potatoes brown and white bread and coffee Saturday beef stew consisting of potatoes tomatoes parsnips carrots and turnips bread and coffee Supper every day in the week except Sunday consists of bread tand coffee There is no supper on Sunday Sun-day S 1 S S > < i < s I march begins The big dark mess room with its great rows of tables each SO feet long and with 1200 tin mugs and 12001 plates in place is not inviting to the average eye or stomach but on Christmas day it has wonderful attractions to the convicts From hash bread and coffee always without mill and sugar for 364 days in the year to roast chicken boiled onions mashed potatoes bread and butter and tea with milk and sugar is a terrific leap in an epicurean way And the 1200 can eat as much of it as they please Every time a man wants a second helping in Sing Sing he raises his hand schoolboy fashion and the nearest guard sees that his I wants are attended to The number i i of hands which go up at this Christmas I banquet is unaccountable They shoot I up from the same place with lightning like rapidity Each man of the 1200 tries to eat enough chicken to last him a year and he gorges himself with the tea graced with milk and sugar for that is another annual rarity And when at last the signal has been given to rise they march out to the yard there to receive two cigars another an-other treat of gigantic proportions They can loaf about the yard until 9 oclock when Christmas services are held in the two chapels one for the Cathclic convicts and the other for the Protestants of all denominations At 11 oclock they are returned to their cells and on the way each man gets a great hunk of mince pie a chunk of gingerbread ginger-bread two apples and an orange A bowl of tea with sugar and milk Is sent to each cell at 12 oclock and the convict con-vict can eat these dainties at his pleasure pleas-ure THE TWO HOURS FOR TALK At 2 oclock the guards march the men to the yard and then comes the great event of the year From 2 to 4 oclock the 1200 convicts can talk to one another just as other people do No need of looking hurriedly around to see if the guard is watching no subchinning no tapping out of messages mes-sages but good straightout words loud or soft at the pleasure of the talker Some of the men do not recognize recog-nize their own voices The vocal cords are rusty and to talk is an effort Two hours go by like a flash and half of the messages which had been saved up for a year are left unsaid when the silence signal is given But there is another treat in store for the more fortunate prisoners with friends or relatives who send them Christmas boxes These are carefully searched by the prison authorities before be-fore they are handed to the owners There is more feasting for all hands for the prisoner who receives a box has enough of the milk of human kindness still in him to divide with his less fortunate for-tunate brother On the whole Santa Claus does good work in Sing Sing on Christmas day and more than one convict will lie down on his cot next Friday night thankful and mellow with the Christmastide Christ-mastide spirit Peace on earth goodwill good-will to men menGRANTLAND GRIEVE |