Show howard jeffrees Jeff SYNOPSIS rles bankers son under the evil influence of robert underwood fellow student at yale leads a life of als Bl marries the daughter of a eam bier who died in prison and Is disowned by his father he la out of work and in desperate straits underwood who had once been engaged to howards stepmother allala is apparently in prosperous circumstances taking advantage of his intimacy with allala he becomes a sort of social highwayman discovering his true character ancla denies him the house ho sends her a note threatening art dealers for whom he acted as commissioner demand an accounting he cannot make good howard calls at his apartments in an intoxicated condition to request a loan of 2 to enable him to take up a business proposition Ij tells him he Is in debt up to his eyes howard dranka himself into a maudlin condition and goes to sleep on a divan A caller Is announced and underwood draws a screen around the drunken sleeper allala enters she demands a promise from underwood that h will not take his life he refuses unless she will renew her patronage this she refuses and takes her leave underwood kills himself the report of the pistol awakens howard he finds underwood dead his predicament he attempts to nee and Is met by underwood s valet howard Is turned over to the police capt clinton notorious tor his brutal treatment of prisoners puts howard through the third degree and finally beti an alleged confession from the harassed man annie howards wife declares her belief in her husband a innocence and ayi she will clear him she calls on sr he refuses to help unless bhe will consent to a divorce to save howard she consents but when she finds that the elder jeffrees Jeff rles doi not intend to stand by his son except financially she scorns his help CHAPTER XIII in the acry heart of manhattan right in the center of the cites most con district an imposing edifice 0 gray stone medieval in its style 0 architecture towered high above all the surrounding dingy offices and squalid tenements its massive con steep walls pointed turrets raised parapets and long narrow windows heavily barred gave it the aspect of a feudal fortress incon set down plumb in the midst of twentieth century new york the dull roar of broadway hummed a couple of blocks away in the distance loomed the lofty graceful spans of brooklyn bridge jammed with its opposing streams of busy interurban traffic the adjacent streets were filled with the din of hurrying crowds the rattle of vehicles the cries of ven dors the clang of street cars though ugh of speeding automobiles the ac live pulsating life of the metropolis barged like a rising flood about the tall gray walls yet there was no re grim silent sinister the city prison popularly known as the tombs seemed to have nothing in common with the dally activities of the big town in which ing it unhappily played an important part the present prison Is a vastly alt ferent place to the old jail from which it got its melancholy cognomen today to day there Is not the slightest justl fl catlon tor the lugubrious epithet applied to it but in the old days when mans inhumanity to man was less a form of speech than a cold merciless fact the tombs described an antol erable and disgraceful condition fairly accurately formerly the cells in which the unfortunate prisoners were confined while awaiting trial were sit bated deep under ground and had nel ther light nor ventilation A man might be guiltless of the offense with which he was charged yet while awaiting an opportunity to prove his innocence he was condemned to spend days sometimes months in what was little better than a grave literally he was burled alive A party of for eigners visiting the prison one day were startled at seeing human beings confined in such holes the look like tombs cried some one new york was amused at the singularly appropriate appellative and it has stuck to the prison ever since but times change and institutions with them As man becomes more chill zed he treats the lawbreaker with more humanity probably boci soci ety will always need its prisoners tout as we become more enlightened we insist on treating our criminals more from the physiological and psychological ch standpoints than in the cruel brutal barbarous manner of the dark ages in other words the ogest insists that the lawbreaker has greater need of the physician than he has 0 the jailer today to day the city prison Is a tomb in name only it Is admirably con strutted ted commodious well ventilated the cells are large and well lighted with comfortable cota and all the modern sanitary arrangements there are coonly corridors tor dally exercise and luxurious shower baths can be ob talked free tor the asking there are chapels tor the religiously inclined and a library or the studious the food Is wholesome and well prepared in a largo scrupulously clean kitchen situated on the top floor carping have indeed declared the tombs to be too luxurious declaring ahat habitual criminals enjoy a stay it the prison and actually commit alme 0 o that they may enjoy some of B antol like comforti forti t t amm OF mm CHARLIS KLEIN y Y I 1 HORNBLOW Y illustration BV C W corpany it was with a sinking heart and a dull gnawing sense of apprehension that annie descended from a south bound madison avenue car in center street and approached the small por tal under the forbidding gray walls she had visited a prison once before when her father died she kemem bared the depressing ride in the train to sing sing the formidable steel doors and ponderous bolts the narrow cells each with its involuntary mccu pant in degrading stripes and closely cropped hair and the uniformed guards armed with rifles she remembered bow her mother wept and how she had wondered why they hept her poor da da in such an ugly place to think that after all these years she was again to go through a similar ex peri ence she had nerved herself for the or deal anxious as she was to see howard and learn from his lips all that had happened she feared that she would never be able to see him behind the bars without breaking down yet she must be strong so she could work to set him free so much had happened in the last two days it seemed a month since the police had sent tor her at midnight to hurry down to the Ast ruria yet it was only two days ago the morning following her try ing interview with capt clinton in the dead mans apartment she had tried to see howard but without success the police held him a close prisoner pretending that he might make an attempt upon his life there was nothing for her to do but wait intuitively she realized the feces sity ot immediately securing the ser could not be left alone to perish without a hand to save him judge brew eter must come to bis rescue he could not refuse she would return again to bis office this afternoon and bit there all day long it necessary until be promised to take the case he alone could save him she would go to the lawyer and beg him on her knees if necessary but first she must see howard and bid him take courage A low doorway from center street gave access to the gray fortress at the heavy steel gate stood a portly policeman armed with a big key each time before letting people in or out he inserted this key in a ponderous lock the gate would not open mere ly by turning the handle this wa to prevent the escape of prisoners who might possibly succeed in reaching so tar as the door but could not open the steel gate without the big key when once any one entered the prison be was not permitted to go out again except on a signal from a keeper when annie entered she found the reception room filled with visitors men and women of all ages and na who like herself had come to see some relative or friend in trouble it was a motley and interest ing crowd there were fruit peddlers sweat shop workers sporty looking men negroes and flashy looking women all seemed callous and indof ferent as if quite at home amid the sinister surroundings of a prison one or two others appeared to belong to a more respectable class their sober manner and careworn faces reflecting silently the humiliation and shame so youre the wife got for murder ahr vices of an able lawyer there was no doubt of howard s innocence but sha recalled with a shiver that even innocent persons have suffered caal tal punishment because they were unable to establish their innocence so overwhelming were the appearances against them he must have the best lawyer to be had regardless of ex I 1 pense only one name occurred to her the name of a man of internal reputation the mere mention of whose name in a courtroom filled the hearts of the innocent with hocq and the guilty with dread that man waa judge brewster Drew ster she hurried downtown to bis office and waited an hour before he could see her then he told her politely but coldly that he must decline to take her case he knew well who she was and he eyed her with some curiosity but his manner was frigid and discouraging there were plenty of lawyers in new york he said she must go elsewhere politely he bowed her out halt of a precious day was already lost judge brewster refused the case to whom could she turn nawt in despair almost desperate ane drove uptown to riverside drive and forced an entrance into the jeffrees Jeff rles home here again she was met with a rebuff still not she returned to judge Dren office he was out and ahe sat there an hour waiting to see him night came and he did not return almost prostrated with nervous exhaustion she returned to their deserted little hat in harlem it was going to be a hard fight she saw that but she would keep right on no mailer at what cost howard they felt at their kins mans disgrace the small barred windows did not permit of much ventilation and as the say was warm the odor was sick annie looked around fearfully and humbly took her place at the end of the long line which slowly worked its way to the narrow inner grating where credentials were closely the horror of the place seized upon her she wondered who all these poor people were and what the pals boners whom they came to see had done to offend the majesty of the law the prison was with policemen and keepers and running in and out with messages and packages were a number of men in neat linen suits she asked a woman who they were them s trusties prisoners that has special privileges in return for work they does about the prison the credentials were passed upon slowly and annie being the twentieth in line found it a wait in front of her was a bestial looking negro behind her a woman whose cheap jewelry gouged rouged face and extravagant dress proclaimed her profession to be the most ancient in the world but at last the gato was reached As the doorkeeper examined her ticket he looked up at her with curiosity A murderer Is rare enough even in the tombs to excite interest and as she passed on the attendants whispered among themselves she knew they were talking about her but she steeled herself not to care it was only a foretaste of other humiliations which she must expect A keeper now took charge of her and led her to a room where she ax was fi fr 1 i i r Be arched by a matron for concealed j weapon s a humiliating ordeal to which even the richest and most in fluent lal visitors fiust submit with as good grace as possible the matron was a hard looking woman of about 60 years in whom every spark of human pity and sympathy had been killed during her many years ot constant association with criminals the word prison had lost its meaning tn her she saw nothing undesirable in jail life but looked upon the tombs rather as a kind of boarding house in which people made short or long so bourns according to their luck she treated annie unceremoniously yet not unkindly so you re tha wife of whom got tor murder eh she said as she rapidly ran her bands through the visitor a clothing yes faltered annie bu its au a mistake I 1 assure you my husband a perfectly innocent he hurt a fly the woman grinned they all say that mm lugubriously she I 1 hope you 11 be more lucky than some others were annie felt herself grow cold was this a sinister prophecy she shuddered and hastily taking a dollar from her purse slipped it into the matron 3 hand may I 1 go now she said yes my dear I 1 guess you ve got nothing dangerous on you we have to be very careful I 1 remember once when we had that hoboken murderer here hes the teller that cut his cifes head oft and stuffed the body in a barrel ills mother came here to see him one day and what did I 1 find inside her stocking but an innocent looking little round pill and if you please it was nothing less than prussic acid he would have swallowed it and the electric chair would have been cheated so you see how careful we has to be annie could not listen to any more the horror of having howard classed with fiends of that description sickened her to the keeper she said quickly please take me to my husband taking another dollar from her purse she slipped the bill into the mans hand feeling that here aa everywhere else one must pay for privileges and courtesies her gulda led the way and ushered her into an elevator which at a signal started slowly upwards the cells in the tombs are arranged in rows in the form of an ellipse in the center of each of the six floors there Is room to accommodate prisoners of both sexes the men are confined in the new prison the worn en number in what remains of the old building only the center of each floor being taken up with the rows of narrow cells there remains a broad corridor running all the way round and flanked on the right by high walla with small barred windows an observer from the street glancing up at the windows might conclude that they were those of the cells in which prisoners were confined As a matter ol 01 fact the cells have no windows only a grating which looks directly out into the circular corridor at the fourth floor the elevator stopped and the heavy iron booi swung back this way said the keeper stepping out and quickly walking along the corridor he s in cell no A lump rose in annies throat the place was well ventilated yet she thought she would faint from a cha king feeling of restraint all along the corridor to the left were iron doors painted yellow in the upper part of the door were half a dozen broad silts through which one could see what was going on those are the cells volunteered her guide annie shuddered as mentally sh pictured howard locked up in such a dreadful place she peered through one of tho silts and saw a narrow cell about ten feet long by six wide the only furnishings were a folding cot with blanket a wash bowl and lavatory each cell had its occupant men and youths of all ages some were reading some playing cards some were lying asleep on their cots per hapa dreaming of home but most ot them leaning dejectedly against the iron bars wondering when they would regain their liberty TO BE CONTINUED |