Show howard jeffries SYNOPSIS bankers on under the evil influence of robert underwood fellow student at yale leads a life of als lp atlon marries the daughter of a gambler who died in prison and la disowned by hla father lie H out of work and in desperate straits underwood who had once been engaged to howards step mother allala is apparently in prosperous circumstances taking of his intimacy with allala he becomes a sort of social highwayman discovering his true character allala denies him the house he sends her a note threatening suicide art dealers tor 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 2000 to enable him to take up a business proposition underwood tells him he Is in debt up to his eyes howard drinks 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 thai he will not lake his life he unless she will renew her patronage this ehe refuses and takes her leave underwood kills himself the report 0 the pistol awakens howard he finds underwood dead ng his predicament he attempts to flee 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 gets an alleged confession from the harassed man annie howard s wife declares her belief in her husband s innocence and ays she will clear him she calls on sr he refuses to help unless the will consent to a divorce to save howard bhe consents but when she finds that the elder jeffrees Jeff rles loa not intend to stand by his son except financially she scorns hla help CHAPTER XIII in the very heart ot manhattan right in the center of the city a most con district an imposing edifice of gray stone med loval in its style of architecture towered high above all the surrounding dingy and squalid tenements its massive con steep walls pointed turrets raised parapets and long narrow windows heavily barred davs 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 ailed with the din of hurrying crowds the rattle of vehicles the arlea of ven dors the clang of street cars though ugh of speeding automobiles the ac alve pulsating life of the metropolis surged like a rising flood about the tall gray walls yet there was no rei re i bronse within 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 dlf ferent place to the old jail from which it got its melancholy cognomen today to day there I 1 not the slightest justl for 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 tact the tombs described an into erable and disgraceful condition fairly accurately formerly tho cells in which the unfortunate prisoners were confined while awaiting trial were situated deep under ground and had nel ther light nor ventilation A man might be guiltless of the offense with which be 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 they look like tombs cried some one new york was amused at the singularly appropriate appellative and it has stuck to the prison ever since dut times change and institutions with ahem As man becomes more be treats the lawbreaker with more humanity probably sod acty will always need its prisoners but as we become more enlightened we on creating our criminals more from thea physiological and apsy standpoints than in the cruel brutal barbarous manner of the dark aies in other words the ogest insists that the lawbreaker has greater need of the physician than he has ot 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 cots and all the modern sanitary arrangements there are roomy corridors for dally exercise and luxurious shower baths can be obtained free for the asking there are chapels for the religiously inclined and a library for the studious the food is wholesome and well prepared in a large scrupulously clean kitchen situated on the top floor carping have indeed declared the bombs to be too luxurious declaring hat habitual criminals enjoy a stay it the prison and actually commit claie so that they may enjoy some of H hotel alle comforts forts CHARLES KLEIN y AMO T S arthuri HORNBLOW Y illustrations BY RAT br 0 tv 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 tho 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 slug 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 kemem bared bow her mother wept and how she had wondered why they kept her poor dada da da in such an ugly place to think that after all these years she was again to go through a similar experience peri ence she had nerved herself for the or deal anxious as she was to see howard and learn from bis 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 for 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 sue cess 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 of immediately securing the ser could not be left alone to perish without a hand to sae him judge brew ster must come to his rescue he could not refuse she would return again to bis office this afternoon and sit there all day long it necessary until he promised to take the case lie alone could save him she would go to the lawyer and beg him on her knees it 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 heay 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 merely by turning the handle this waa to prevent the escape of prisoners who might possibly succeed in reach ing so far 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 india ferent as if quite at home amid the sinister surroundings 01 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 of jeffrees Jeff rles whom got for murder eh vices of an able lawyer there was no doubt of howards innocence but she recalled with a shiver that even innocent persons have suffered caal tal punishment because they were un able to establish their innocence so overwhelming were the appearances against them he must have the best lawyer to be had regardless of ex 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 hope and the guilty with dread that man was judge brewster she hurried downtown to his 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 man ner was frigid and discouraging there were plenty of lawyers in new york he said she must go else where politely he bowed her out halt of a precious day was already lost judge brewster refused the case to whom could she turn in despair almost desperate sue drove uptown to riverside drive and forced an entrance into the kettrles Jett rles home here again she was met with a rebuff still not discouraged she returned to judge brew ster a office he as out and she sat there an hour waiting to pea him night cime and be did not return almost prostrated with nervous exhaustion she returned to deserted little hat in harlem it was going to be a hard fight she saw that bat she would keep right on no mater at what cost howard they felt at their kins mans disgrace the small barred windows did not permit of much ventilation and as the day 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 filled with policemen and keepers and running in and out with messages and packages were a number ot men in neat linen suits she asked a woman who they were rhems trusties prisoners that hns special privileges in return for work they does about the prison the were passed upon slowly and annie being the twentieth in line found it a tedious wait in front of her was a bestial looking negro behind her a woman whose cheap jewelry gouged rouged face and extravagant dresa proclaimed her profession to be ho most ancient in the world but at last the gate was reached As the doorkeeper examined her ticket he looked up at her with curiosity A murderer Is rare enough een in tha 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 was fy rv J r t 1 p ra s p f earchel by a matron for concealed weapons a humiliating ordeal to which cien the richest and most in fluent lal visitors must submit with as good grace as possible the matron was a hard looking woman ot about BO years in whom every spark of hu man pity and sympathy bad been killed during her many years of con stant association with criminals the word prison had lost its meaning to her she saw nothing undesirable tn jail life but looked upon the tombs rather as a kind ot boarding bouse in which people made short or long so bourns according to their luck she treated annie unceremoniously yet not unkindly so you re jhb wife ot jeffrees Jeff rles whom got for murder eh she said as she rapidly ran her hands through the visitors clothing yes faltered annie but its all a mistake I 1 assure you my husband 3 perfectly innocent he hurt a flythe woman grinned they all eay that amro lugubriously she added 1 I hope you 11 be more lucky than some others were annie felt herself grow cold was this a sinister prophecy she ashud dered and hastily taking a dollar from her purse slipped it into the matrona matrons hand may I 1 go now she said yes my dear I 1 guess youve 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 wife s head off and stuffed the body in a barrel his 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 it you please it was nothing less than prussic acid ho 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 band feeling that hero as everywhere else one must pay tor privileges and courtesies her guide 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 fewer in number in what remains of the old building only the 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 walls 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 aa 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 Annles throat the place was well ventilated yet she thought she would faint from a cho king feeling of restraint all along the corridor to the left were iron doors painted yellow in the upper part of the door were halt a dozen broad silts through which one could see what was going on inside 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 the slits 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 somo playing cards some were lying asleep on their cots per haps dreaming of home but most ol 01 them leaning dejectedly against the iron bars wondering when they would regain their liberty TO BE CONTINUED |