It is the jail which, apparently, either sends a man bughouse, or which lays such a foundation that he becomes so later on. But even when the time spent in the dark cell is short, as in Jack Murphy’s case, who spent only eight hours there, there seems to be left an impression of horror—for which I find it difficult to account. I certainly cannot make a full test of prison life without having a jail experience. For me surely it can hold no such horror as for these poor fellows who are kept so many days on starvation diet. Yes, if I do not feel physically unfit to-morrow I must undertake the experience.
Soon after eight o’clock the Warden and Grant appear at my cell door. My ears are becoming sharper, I think. I can tell now the moment the door opens into the corridor below whether or not it is the Warden that is coming. Of course he arrives about the same time every evening, but also about this time the door is opening and closing a number of times. I recognize also the Warden’s footfalls on the stone pavement below. It would not be very long, I imagine, before I should have a hearing as acute as my fellow prisoners seem to have.
The Warden begins with an apology. “I’m very sorry,” he says, “but I forgot your newspaper to-night.” Then he adds the usual remark, “I don’t know how I came to forget it.”
“Don’t worry,” I say, “it doesn’t make any difference. I’ve read it.”
The Warden stares at me incredulously. “You’ve read it! To-night’s paper?”
“Certainly,” I answer, “from beginning to end. Don’t you believe it?” And in proof of my statement I produce the paper.
The Warden gasps. “Well, how in the devil did you get that?”
“Oh, come now! Don’t you understand that I’m a convict?” I say jeeringly. “You mustn’t expect me to answer such a question.”
The Warden takes it all in good part. “Well, Dan,” he says, turning to Grant, “this man seems to be on to the game all right. What shall we do to him for violating the rules and smashing our system?”
“Don’t you know,” I remark with a serious air, “that so long as you hold me a prisoner I don’t care a pin for your rules, and even less for your damn’d system. What do you say to that?”