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diff --git a/23177.txt b/23177.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..877be32 --- /dev/null +++ b/23177.txt @@ -0,0 +1,940 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Inmate Of The Dungeon, by W. C. Morrow + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Inmate Of The Dungeon + 1894 + +Author: W. C. Morrow + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23177] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INMATE OF THE DUNGEON *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE INMATE OF THE DUNGEON + +By W. C. Morrow + +Copyright, 1894, by J. B. Lippincott & Co + + +After, the Board of State Prison Directors, sitting in session at the +prison, had heard and disposed of the complaints and petitions of a +number of convicts, the warden announced that all who wished to appear +had been heard. Thereupon a certain uneasy and apprehensive expression, +which all along had sat upon the faces of the directors, became visibly +deeper. The chairman--nervous, energetic, abrupt, incisive man--glanced +at a slip of paper in his hand, and said to the warden: + +"Send a guard for convict No-14,208." + +The warden started and become slightly pale. Somewhat confused, he +haltingly replied, "Why, he has expressed no desire to appear before +you." + +"Nevertheless, you will send for him at once," responded the chairman. + +The warden bowed stiffly and directed a guard to produce the convict. +Then, turning to the chairman, he said: + +"I am ignorant of your purpose in summoning this man, but of course I +have no objection. I desire, however, to make a statement concerning him +before he appears." + +"When we shall have called for a statement from you," boldly responded +the chairman, "you may make one." + +The warden sank back into his seat. He was a tall, fine-looking man, +well-bred and intelligent, and had a kindly face. Though ordinarily +cool, courageous, and self-possessed, he was unable to conceal a strong +emotion which looked much like fear. A heavy silence fell upon the room, +disturbed only by the official stenographer, who was sharpening his +pencils. A stray beam of light from the westering sun slipped into the +room between the edge of the window-shade and the sash, and fell across +the chair reserved for the convict. The uneasy eyes of the warden +finally fell upon this beam, and there his glance rested. The chairman, +without addressing any one particularly, remarked: + +"There are ways of learning what occurs in a prison without the +assistance of either the wardens or the convicts." + +Just then the guard appeared with the convict, who shambled in painfully +and laboriously, as with a string he held up from the floor the heavy +iron ball which was chained to his ankles. He was about forty-five years +old. Undoubtedly he once had been a man of uncommon physical strength, +for a powerful skeleton showed underneath the sallow skin which covered +his emaciated frame. His sallowness was peculiar and ghastly-It was +partly that of disease, and partly of something worse; and it was this +something that accounted also for his shrunken muscles and manifest +feebleness. + +There had been no time to prepare him for presentation to the Board. As +a consequence, his unstockinged toes showed through his gaping shoes; +the dingy suit of prison stripes which covered his gaunt frame was +frayed and tattered; his hair had not been recently cut to the prison +fashion, and, being rebellious, stood out upon his head like bristles; +and his beard, which, like his hair, was heavily dashed with gray, had +not been shaved for weeks. These incidents of his appearance combined +with a very peculiar expression of his face to make an extraordinary +picture. It is difficult to describe this almost unearthly expression. +With a certain suppressed ferocity it combined an inflexibility of +purpose that sat like an iron mask upon him. His eyes were hungry and +eager; they were the living part of him, and they shone luminous +from beneath shaggy brows. His forehead was massive, his head of fine +proportions, his jaw square and strong, and his thin, high nose showed +traces of an ancestry that must have made a mark in some corner of the +world at some time in history. He was prematurely old; this was seen +in his gray hair and in the uncommonly deep wrinkles which lined his +forehead and the corners of his eyes and of his mouth. + +Upon stumbling weakly into the room, faint with the labor of walking and +of carrying the iron ball, he looked around eagerly, like a bear +driven to his haunches by the hounds. His glance passed so rapidly and +unintelligently from one face to another that he could not have had +time to form a conception of the persons present, until his swift eyes +encountered the face of the warden, Instantly they flashed; he craned +his neck forward; his lips opened and became blue; the wrinkles deepened +about his mouth and eyes; his form grew rigid, and his breathing +stopped. This sinister and terrible attitude--all the more so because +he was wholly unconscious of it--was disturbed only when the chairman +sharply commanded, "Take that seat." + +The convict started as though he had been struck, and turned his eyes +upon the chairman. He drew a deep inspiration, which wheezed and rattled +as it passed into his chest. An expression of excruciating pain swept +over his face. He dropped the ball, which struck the floor with a loud +sound, and his long bony fingers tore at the striped shirt over his +breast. A groan escaped him, and he would have sunk to the floor had not +the guard caught him and held him upright. In a moment it was over, and +then, collapsing with exhaustion, he sank into the chair. There he sat, +conscious and intelligent, but slouching, disorganized, and indifferent. + +The chairman turned sharply to the guard. + +"Why did you manacle this man," he demanded, "when he is evidently so +weak, and when none of the others were manacled?" + +"Why, sir," stammered the guard, "surely you know who this man is: he is +the most dangerous and desperate--" + +"We know all about that. Remove his manacles." + +The guard obeyed. The chairman turned to the convict, and in a kindly +manner said, "Do you know who we are?" + +The convict got himself together a little and looked steadily at the +chairman. "No," he replied after a pause. His manner was direct, and his +voice was deep, though hoarse. + +"We are the State Prison Directors. We have heard of your case, and we +want you to tell us the whole truth about it." + +The convict's mind worked slowly, and it was some time before he could +comprehend the explanation and request. When he had accomplished that +task he said, very slowly, "I suppose you want me to make a complaint, +sir." + +"Yes--if you have any to make." + +The convict was getting himself in hand. He straightened, and gazed +at the chairman with a peculiar intensity. Then firmly and clearly he +answered, "I've no complaint to make." + +The two men sat looking at each other in silence, and as they looked a +bridge of human sympathy was slowly reared between them. The chairman +rose, passed around an intervening table, went up to the convict, and +laid a hand on his gaunt shoulder. There was a tenderness in his voice +that few men had ever heard there. + +"I know," said he, "that you are a patient and uncomplaining man, or we +should have heard from you long ago. In asking you to make a statement +I am merely asking for your help to right a wrong, if a wrong has +been done. Leave your own wishes entirely out of consideration, if you +prefer. Assume, if you will, that it is not our intention or desire +either to give you relief or to make your case harder for you. There +are fifteen hundred human beings in this prison, and they are under the +absolute control of one man. If a serious wrong is practiced upon one, +it may be upon others. I ask you in the name of common humanity, and +as one man of another, to put us in the way of working justice in this +prison. If you have the instincts of a man within you, you will comply +with my request. Speak out, therefore, like a man, and have no fear of +anything." + +The convict was touched and stung. He looked up steadily into the +chairman's face, and firmly said, "There is nothing in this world that +I fear." Then he hung his head, and presently he raised it and added, "I +will tell you all about it." + +At that moment he shifted his position so as to bring the beam of light +perpendicularly across his face and chest, and it seemed to split him +in twain. He saw it, and feasted his gaze upon it as it lay upon his +breast. After a time he thus proceeded, speaking very slowly, and in a +strangely monotonous voice: + +"I was sent up for twenty years for killing a man. I hadn't been a +criminal: I killed him without thinking, for he had robbed me and +wronged me. I came here thirteen years ago. I had trouble at first--it +galled me to be a convict; but I got over that, because the warden that +was here then understood me and was kind to me, and he made me one +of the best men in the prison. I don't say this to make you think I'm +complaining about the present warden, or that he didn't treat me kindly: +I can take care of myself with him. I am not making any complaint. I ask +no man's favor, and I fear no man's power." + +"That is all right. Proceed." + +"After the warden had made a good man out of me I worked faithfully, +sir; I did everything they told me to do; I worked willingly and like a +slave. It did me good to work, and I worked hard. I never violated any +of the rules after I was broken in. And then the law was passed giving +credits to the men for good conduct. My term was twenty years, but I did +so well that my credits piled up, and after I had been here ten years I +could begin to see my way out. There were only about three years left. +And, sir, I worked faithfully to make those years good. I knew that if I +did anything against the rules I should lose my credits and have to stay +nearly ten years longer. I knew all about that, sir: I never forgot it. +I wanted to be a free man again, and I planned to go away somewhere and +make the fight all over--to be a man in the world once more." + +"We know all about your record in the prison. Proceed." + +"Well, it was this way. You know they were doing some heavy work in the +quarries and on the grades, and they wanted the strongest men in the +prison. There weren't very many: there never are very many strong men in +prison. And I was one of 'em that they put on the heavy work, and I +did it faithfully. They used to pay the men for extra work--not pay 'em +money, but the value of the money in candles, tobacco, extra clothes, +and things like that. I loved to work, and I loved to work extra, and so +did some of the other men. On Saturdays the men who had done extra work +would fall in and go up to the captain of the guard and he would give to +each man what was coming to him. He had it all down in a book, and when +a man would come up and call for what was due him the captain would give +it to him, whatever he wanted that the rules allowed. + +"One Saturday I fell in with the others. A good many were ahead of me in +the line, and when they got what they wanted they fell into a new line, +waiting to be marched to the cells. When my turn in the line came I went +up to the captain and said I would take mine in tobacco. He looked at +me pretty sharply, and said, 'How did you get back in that line?' I told +him I belonged there--that I had come to get my extra. He looked at his +book, and he said, 'You've had your extra: you got tobacco.' And he told +me to fall into the new line, I told him I hadn't received any tobacco; +I said I hadn't got my extra, and hadn't been up before. He said, 'Don't +spoil your record by trying to steal a little tobacco. Fall in.'... It +hurt me, sir. I hadn't been up; I hadn't got my extra; and I wasn't a +thief, and I never had been a thief, and no living man had a right to +call me a thief. I said to him, straight, 'I won't fall in till I get my +extra, and I'm not a thief, and no man can call me one, and no man can +rob me of my just dues.' He turned pale, and said, 'Fall in, there.' I +said, 'I won't fall in till I get my dues.' + +"With that he raised his hand as a signal, and the two guards behind him +covered me with their rifles, and the guard on the west wall, and one +on the north wall, and one on the portico in front of the arsenal, all +covered me with rifles. The captain turned to a trusty and told him to +call the warden. The warden came out, and the captain told him I +was trying to run double on my extra, and said I was impudent and +insubordinate and refused to fall in. The warden said, 'Drop that and +fall in.' I told him I wouldn't fall in. I said I hadn't run double, +that I hadn't got my extra, and that I would stay there till I died +before I would be robbed of it. He asked the captain if there wasn't +some mistake, and the captain looked at his book and said there was no +mistake; he said he remembered me when I came up and got the tobacco and +he saw me fall into the new line, but he didn't see me get back in the +old line. The warden didn't ask the other men if they saw me get my +tobacco and slip back into the old line. He just ordered me to fall in. +I told him I would die before I would do that. I said I wanted my just +dues and no more, and I asked him to call on the other men in line to +prove that I hadn't been up. + +"He said, That's enough of this.' He sent all the other men to the +cells, and left me standing there. Then he told two guards to take me +to the cells. They came and took hold of me, and I threw them off as if +they were babies. Then more guards came up, and one of them hit me over +the head with a club, and I fell. And then, sir"--here the convict's +voice fell to a whisper--"and then he told them to take me to the +dungeon." + +The sharp, steady glitter of the convict's eyes failed, and he hung his +head and looked despairingly at the floor. + +"Go on," said the chairman. + +"They took me to the dungeon, sir. Did you ever see the dungeon?" + +"Perhaps; but you may tell us about it." + +The cold, steady gleam returned to the convict's eyes, as he fixed them +again upon the chairman. + +"There are several little rooms in the dungeon. The one they put me +in was about five feet by eight. It has steel walls and ceiling, and a +granite floor. The only light that comes in passes through a slit in +the door. The slit is an inch wide and five inches long. It doesn't give +much light because the door is thick. It's about four inches thick, +and is made of oak and sheet steel bolted through. The slit runs this +way"--making a horizontal motion in the air--"and it is four inches +above my eyes when I stand on tiptoe. And I can't look out at the +factory wall forty feet away unless I hook my fingers in the slit and +pull myself up." + +He stopped and regarded his hands, the peculiar appearance of which we +all had observed. The ends of the fingers were uncommonly thick; they +were red and swollen, and the knuckles were curiously marked with deep +white scars. + +"Well, sir, there wasn't anything at all in the dungeon, but they gave +me a blanket, and they put me on bread and water. That's all they ever +give you in the dimgeon. They bring the bread and water once a day, and +that is at night, because if they come in the daytime it lets in the +light. + +"The next night after they put me in--it was Sunday night--the warden +came with the guard and asked me if I was all right. I said I was. +He said, 'Will you behave yourself and go to work to-morow?' I said, +'No, sir; I won't go to work till I get what is due me.' He shrugged his +shoulders, and said, 'Very well: maybe you'll change your mind after you +have been in here a week.' + +"They kept me there a week. The next Sunday night the warden came and +said, 'Are you ready to go to work to-morrow,' and I said, 'No; I will +not go to work till I get what is due me.' He called me hard names. I +said it was a man's duty to demand his rights, and that a man who would +stand to be treated like a dog was no man at all." + +The chairman interrupted. "Did you not reflect," he asked, "that these +officers would not have stooped to rob you?--that it was through some +mistake they withheld your tobacco, and that in any event you had a +choice of two things to lose--one a plug of tobacco, and the other seven +years of freedom?" + +"But they angered me and hurt me, sir, by calling me a thief, and they +threw me in the dungeon like a beast.... I was standing for my rights, +and my rights were my manhood; and that is something a man can carry +sound to the grave, whether he's bond or free, weak or powerful, rich or +poor." + +"Well, after you refused to go to work what did the warden do?" + +The convict, although tremendous excitement must have surged and boiled +within him, slowly, deliberately, and weakly came to his feet. He placed +his right foot on the chair, and rested his right elbow on the raised +knee. The index finger of his right hand, pointing to the chairman and +moving slightly to lend emphasis to his narrative, was the only thing +that modified the rigid immobility of his figure. Without a single +change in the pitch or modulation of his voice, never hurrying, but +speaking with the slow and dreary monotony with which he had begun, +he nevertheless--partly by reason of these evidences of his incredible +self-control--made a formidable picture as he proceeded: + +"When I told him that, sir, he said he'd take me to the ladder and see +if he couldn't make me change my mind.... Yes, sir; he said he'd take +me to the ladder." (Here there was a long pause.) "And I a human being, +with flesh on my bones and the heart of a man in my body. The other +warden hadn't tried to break my spirit on the ladder. He did break it, +though; he broke it clear to the bottom of the man inside of me; but +he did it with a human word, and not with the dungeon and the ladder. I +didn't believe the warden when he said he would take me to the ladder. +I couldn't imagine myself alive and put through at the ladder, and I +couldn't imagine any human being who could find the heart to put me +through. If I had believed him I would have strangled him then and +there, and got my body full of lead while doing it. No, sir; I could not +believe it. + +"And then he told me to come on. I went with him and the guards. He +brought me to the ladder. I had never seen it before. It was a heavy +wooden ladder, leaned against the wall, and the bottom was bolted to the +floor and the top to the wall. A whip was on the floor." (Again there +was a pause.) "The warden told me to strip, sir, and I stripped.... And +still I didn't believe he would whip me. I thought he just wanted to +scare me. + +"Then he told me to face up to the ladder. I did so, and reached my arms +up to the straps. They strapped my arms to the ladder, and stretched so +hard that they pulled me up clear of the floor. Then they strapped my +legs to the ladder. The warden then picked up the whip. He said to me, +'I'll give you one more chance: will you go to work to-morrow?' I said, +'No; I won't go to work till I get my dues.' 'Very well,' said he, +'you'll get your dues now.' And then he stepped back and raised the +whip. I turned my head and looked at him, and I could see it in his +eyes that he meant to strike.... And when I saw that, sir, I felt that +something inside of me was about to burst.'" + +The convict paused to gather up his strength for the crisis of his +story, yet not in the least particular did he change his position, the +slight movement of his pointing finger, the steady gleam of his eye, +or the slow monotony of his speech. I had never witnessed any scene so +dramatic as this, and yet all was absolutely simple and unintentional. +I had been thrilled by the greatest actors, as with matchless skill they +gave rein to their genius in tragic situations; but how inconceivably +tawdry and cheap such pictures seemed in comparison with this! The +claptrap of the music, the lights, the posing, the wry faces, the gasps, +lunges, staggerings, rolling eyes--how flimsy and colorless, how mocking +and grotesque, they all appeared beside this simple, uncouth, but +genuine expression of immeasurable agony! + +The stenographer held his pencil poised above the paper, and wrote no +more. + +"And then the whip came down across my back. The something inside of me +twisted hard and then broke wide open, and went pouring all through me +like melted iron. It was a hard fight to keep my head clear, but I did +it. And then I said to the warden this: 'You've struck me with a whip +in cold blood. You' ve tied me up hand and foot, to whip me like a dog. +Well, whip me, then, till you fill your belly with it. You are a coward. +You are lower, and meaner, and cowardlier than the lowest and meanest +dog that ever yelped when his master kicked him. You were born a coward. +Cowards will lie and steal, and you are the same as a thief and liar. +No hound would own you for a friend. Whip me hard and long, you coward. +Whip me, I say. See how good a coward feels when he ties up a man and +whips him like a dog. Whip me till the last breath quits my body: if you +leave me alive I will kill you for this.' + +"His face got white. He asked me if I meant that, and I said, 'Yes; +before God, I do.' Then he took the whip in both hands and came down +with all his might." + +"That was nearly two years ago," said the chairman. "You would not kill +him now, would you?" + +"Yes. I will kill him if I get a chance; and I feel it in me that the +chance will come." + +"Well, proceed." + +"He kept on whipping me. He whipped me with all the strength of both +hands. I could feel the broken skin curl upon my back, and when my head +got too heavy to hold it straight it hung down, and I saw the blood +on my legs and dripping off my toes into a pool of it on the floor. +Something was straining and twisting inside of me again. My back didn't +hurt much; it was the thing twisting inside of me that hurt. I counted +the lashes, and when I counted to twenty-eight the twisting got so hard +that it choked me and blinded me;... and when I woke up I was in the +dungeon again, and the doctor had my back all plastered up, and he was +kneeling beside me, feeling my pulse." + +The prisoner had finished. He looked around vaguely, as though he wanted +to go. + +"And you have been in the dungeon ever since?" + +"Yes, sir; but I don't mind that." + +"How long?" + +"Twenty-three months." + +"On bread and water?" + +"Yes; but that was all I wanted." + +"Have you reflected that so long as you harbor a determination to kill +the warden you may be kept in the dungeon? You can't live much longer +there, and if you die there you will never find the chance you want. If +you say you will not kill the warden he may return you to the cells." + +"But that would be a lie, sir; I will get a chance to kill him if I +go to the cells. I would rather die in the dungeon than be a liar and +sneak. If you send me to the cells I will kill him. But I will kill him +without that. I will kill him, sir.... And he knows it." + +Without concealment, but open, deliberate, and implacable, thus in the +wrecked frame of a man, so close that we could have touched it, stood +Murder--not boastful, but relentless as death. + +"Apart from weakness, is your health good?" asked the chairman. + +"Oh, it's good enough," wearily answered the convict. "Sometimes the +twisting comes on, but when I wake up after it I'm all right." + +The prison surgeon, under the chairman's direction, put his ear to the +convict's chest, and then went over and whispered to the chairman. + +"I thought so," said that gentleman. "Now, take this man to the +hospital. Put him to bed where the sun will shine on him, and give him +the most nourishing food." + +The convict, giving no heed to this, shambled out with a guard and the +surgeon. + +***** + +The warden sat alone in the prison office with No. 14,208. That he at +last should have been brought face to face, and alone, with the man whom +he had determined to kill, perplexed the convict. He was not manacled; +the door was locked, and the key lay on the table between the two men. +Three weeks in the hospital had proved beneficial, but a deathly pallor +was still in his face. + +"The action of the directors three weeks ago," said the warden, "make my +resignation necessary. I have awaited the appointment of my successor, +who is now in charge. I leave the prison to-day. In the meantime, I have +something to tell you that will interest you. A few days ago a man +who was discharged from the prison last year read what the papers have +published recently about your case, and he has written to me confessing +that it was he who got your tobacco from the captain of the guard. His +name is Salter, and he looks very much like you. He had got his own +extra, and when he came up again and called for yours the captain, +thinking it was you, gave it to him. There was no intention on the +captain's part to rob you." + +The convict gasped and leaned forward eagerly. + +"Until the receipt of this letter," resumed the warden, "I had opposed +the movement which had been started for your pardon; but when this +letter came I recommended your pardon, and it has been granted. Besides, +you have a serious heart trouble. So you are now discharged from the +prison." + +The convict stared, and leaned back speechless. His eyes shone with +a strange, glassy expression, and his white teeth glistened ominously +between his parted lips. Yet a certain painful softness tempered the +iron in his face. + +"The stage will leave for the station in four hours," continued the +warden. "You have made certain threats against my life." The warden +paused; then, in a voice that slightly wavered from emotion, he +continued: "I shall not permit your intentions in that regard--for I +care nothing about them--to prevent me from discharging a duty which, +as from one man to another, I owe you. I have treated you with a cruelty +the enormity of which I now comprehend. I thought I was right. My +fatal mistake was in not understanding your nature. I misconstrued +your conduct from the beginning, and in doing so I have laid upon my +conscience a burden which will imbitter the remaining years of my life. +I would do anything in my power, if it were not too late, to atone for +the wrong I have done you. If before I sent you to the dungeon, I +could have understood the wrong and foreseen its consequences, I would +cheerfully have taken my own life rather than raise a hand against you. +The lives of us both have been wrecked; but your suffering is in the +past--mine is present, and will cease only with my life. For my life is +a curse, and I prefer not to keep it." + +With that the warden, very pale, but with a clear purpose in his face, +took a loaded revolver from a drawer and laid it before the convict. + +"Now is your chance," he said, quietly: "no one can hinder you." + +The convict gasped and shrank away from the weapon as from a viper. + +"Not yet--not yet," he whispered, in agony. + +The two men sat and regarded each other without the movement of a +muscle. + +"Are you afraid to do it?" asked the warden. + +A momentary light flashed in the convict's eyes. + +"No!" he gasped; "you know I am not. But I can't--not yet--not yet." + +The convict, whose ghastly pallor, glassy eyes, and gleaming teeth sat +like a mask of death upon his face, staggered to his feet. + +"You have done it at last! you have broken my spirit. A human word has +done what the dungeon and the whip could not do.... It twists inside of +me now.... I could be your slave for that human word." Tears streamed +from his eyes. "I can't help crying. I'm only a baby, after all--and I +thought I was a man." + +He reeled, and the warden caught him and seated him in the chair. He +took the convict's hand in his and felt a firm, true pressure there. The +convict's eyes rolled vacantly. A spasm of pain caused him to raise his +free hand to his chest; his thin, gnarled fingers--made shapeless by +long use in the slit of the dungeon door--clutched automatically at +his shirt. A faint, hard smile wrinkled his wan face, displaying the +gleaming teeth more freely. + +"That human word," he whispered--"if you had spoken it long ago, if--but +it's all--it's all right--now. I'll go--I'll go to work--to-morrow." + +There was a slightly firmer pressure of the hand that held the warden's; +then it relaxed. The fingers which clutched the shirt slipped away, and +the hand dropped to his side. The weary head sank back and rested on +the chair; the strange, hard smile still sat upon the marble face, and +a dead man's glassy eyes and gleaming teeth were upturned toward the +ceiling. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Inmate Of The Dungeon, by W. C. Morrow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INMATE OF THE DUNGEON *** + +***** This file should be named 23177.txt or 23177.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/7/23177/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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