Forgets He’s in Prison as He Hears Fifes Play.
A fife-and-drum corps visited the State Penitentiary, at Joliet, Ill., to give the prisoners a treat.
The 1,500 convicts pushed back their plates when the corps marched down the aisle of the big dining hall to the stirring tune of “Marching Through Georgia.”
A grizzled old man seated at one of the benches rose and followed, keeping step with the players. He was Thomas McNally, a life convict from Chicago, who for twenty-five years has been “No. 3,692.”
“I am an old soldier—fought in the Civil War,” he mumbled in apology when the music stopped. “I forgot where I was.”
An appeal for McNally’s pardon is pending. It is supported by the judge before whom he was tried and twenty lawyers who believe he is innocent.
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