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already was in place, close beside the
‘all
"Now that we have the guardian of the
sate." said the warden. "what we need is
a guardian for him."
Beside the walk, where 9. fine patch of
clover had been encouraged to cover a
formerly arid bit 2 soil, stood Spudn
Brook. Beside him cropping the lush
stems, was old Jerry, last of the prison
horses which had disappeared with
torization. On day when the bone-
Sard yawned, Spuds haul begged for the
poor old brute. saying he could use him
wer. Now, as Jerry's
eightless orbs.
delved into the clover, Spuds stood by
fondling the old horse's remnant of a
mane.
"There's your guardian. warden," said
Welch. "The most trusted man in the
yard, and he dates on an-‘inals."
lie knew, but he merely patted the
big animal an “Nice doggie.
tvhose is he, Mr. '
W
How
That's his house over by the
The warden nodded, and they went that
Way. if “Warden Bail hail had any doubts
about the selection of Snuds as
spaclousnew home he turned away with
is satisfied loo .
“You're right about Brook," he said.
"lie‘s clever."
'‘He‘s a. man a good deal like you or I.
lie‘s normal."
,“Then you don't think they're all nor-
In my tnind all criminals fall into
three classes. class is mentally de-
iicient. They are the habitual criminals.
“It: should segregate them, and see that
sentence sobers them, and they should
The suspended sen-
L‘.
5
he deliberately declares war on society.
l-Even for that class pt-nitentiaries are
wrong. A great farm where their health
would not be broken while
forced to do useful work would be more
Just."
“You've got it all figured out, Welch.
But i’ i afraid I don't agree. There's just
one Science can survey, and in-
vestigate. and plot curves. but we'll
ways have a. class of trifling, no-good
bums and crooks willing to do anything
rnther than work."
“Yes, but after all. they're human ‘
“Human and wanting to get loose. By
the way, did anybody ever try the scheme
of secretly electrifying a wire alon the
the great wall to prevent escapes? They'd
drop of‘! cold like flies!“ ‘’
Warden Ball didn't.
-the mind of the you
destined to give the latter a truer, more
humane outlook.
For the present, however. his disbelief
in the classification of criminals, as ex-
pressed by Deputy Warden Welch, stuck
in the War
the great silent inner court, where Spude‘
flowers lay sleeping the night
breeze. and,where the huge cell blocks
might be seen to right and to left. He
cherished the illusion. as he looked at
these tiers of cells. due with convicts.
that the prisoners were lying awake by
-the hundred, ceaselessly planning to es-
ca
De.
Zilen they were who would steal toward
the great wall with ropes made of mys-
terious materials fllched over’ periods of
months; men with knives and saws made
from files, and with cruel bludgeons of
wire, twisted thru large steel nuts; men
who would fight to their last gasp for
freedom. Then, as his eyes dilated, and
he clutched the window frame with
qulckened pulse, far across the yard by
the east gate would boom ‘the warning
note of Cerberus. Cerberus, the strong!
lie was there, and all Warden Ball's
carefully wrought scheme to keep the
wily Convict shackled was still victori-
.
us.
Morning would come, with its routine
reports, and the great prison moving like
clockwork. Warden Bail would stride
into the office of Deputy Warden Welch
in; strong.‘ We've got it over ‘em like a
tent!" .
Thereupon he would set his broad-
brintmed hut conndently, grasp his heavy
they would have a chat over the head
of the monstrous dog.
“The nigger: just take one look," ex-
ill-.
' CHICAGO LEDGER
plained Spud: one day, "then 80! And we could get her into the hospital maybe-
you ought to see the dagoes. One stood they'd have to let her out."
long enough the other day to spell out “.‘he ‘on’: g Mr. Welsh. She's
the name. Then he kind of crossed him- proud, and won't ask them for any-
self, and says, ‘Cerberus, d‘doi:-a from thin Day after day, I see her going
hell!’ and beat it, frightened like." 1 here thinner and weaker. Shc‘il
numbers." praised the warden.
right oi‘! the front house ledger.
dog. Cerberus. Good-by. spuds,“
"Good dog, Cerberus." repeated Spuds,
as the tall ligure of the warden faded.
9, was only mildly interested in
the duties of a-prison dog, as Warden
until she has to. Then
they'll take her out in a .'
lielluty Warden Welch expressed his
Snuds thanked him
did not see how Snuds turned to Cerberus
as he left the convict the day before,
neither did Deputy ‘Warden Weld: st-e
Spuds' face he walked across the
By such failure “'elch missed at
strange sight. The face of the faithful
gardener grew gray and drawn while his
. . . .
“Hut He's Tlllklng Io Amnher x-runner. ’l‘lnn('n Axnlnut the nun..,-- Suhl the
“'-rde . -,
Ball conceived them. Ills back turned
to the cell-blocks, the tire: day, Cerberus
in the direction of
the dinin m. Stan by, “‘arden
all had said. "Get ‘em, old boy, got
'emi" Eve then, S ds had known
Cerberus and the war
oftwo entirely separate things. The
warden had gone back to tell his friends
3 D OHSXQY
convicts raw. But Spuds Brook had gone
to the dining-room with a basket.
-Ey now Spuds had grown to think of
Cerberus as a. thorobred gentleman,
ack of whom were all the traditions of
birth, but all the frailties of the flesh;
a leisurely gentleman who l'ose'to his
traditions half-heartediy,
reluctance from sensu
never quite admitting his degeneration,
and always willing to pretend to be
what the world commonly believed him.
But Spuds did not tell ufarden Ball.
There are only too few illusions in a
penitentiary, anyway.
e petted Cerberus and gave him
meat while Warden Ball went back to
the front house to say to Deputy Welch:
"That dog sure has thrown a scare into
them all. Snud says?" .
At the mention of Spuds. Welclt con-
sulted his watch. "VV It our permis-
sion, warden," he said, ‘Tm going to the
board this afternoon about that girl."
lie was slow and thoughtful next
morning as he went to report the resul
to Brook.‘ "Sorry, Spuds," he said, "but
the,board‘won‘t do anything about Julie
Neil at least for another six months. it's
known that her theft came along after a
lot of others. and she Just happened to
be the one caught. T e s are manager
passes the buck to some merchants’ pro-
tective body. and they. never even hav-
ing seen her, say somebodrhas to be
made an example of. They've asked that
nothing to he done until at least half her
time is up, an te board agrees"
As disappointment crept into the face
of Spuds, the deputy warden suggested:
"Hare her tell the doctor she‘: sick. If
fists clinched, and hard, hateful lines
came around his mouth. It was the first
time he had ever looked that way since
he came to prison.
‘ ow’s my do this morning?" as
“harden Bull and W'elch returned.
“Fine, and his keeper on the Job!"
"He's grown very fond of Cerberus."
said Ball. "Good old Spudsl"
T WAS on a morning several weeks
later. “"9? Warden Ball had stood
many evenings and looked with satis-
faction over the great sleeping inner
court "to Picture
themselves against
and finding themselves defeated at every
turn-while Cerberus the valiant struck
terror into their hearts-that tie blow
(D
ll.
The news came to the Warden slowly,
for it was passed up nervously from
hand to hand until it reached Deputy
‘Varden Welch. Even he was a trifle
shaken as he stepped into the room where
iVV'arclen Ball, in bathrobe and slippers,
was just beginning to stir.
“Warden." he said. ‘Tm sorry to re-
port we’ve had an escape-in fact, two
of them." ,
“Warden Ball's strong young face set
in surprise and an r.
“Two escapes! Impossible!"
eel bad. warden. ADl'lar-
your precautions held. Those
w re people we'd never suspect?"
who?"
"Spuds Brook-and the Neil girl."
T e warden frankly let out a curse.
“confound it, ivelch. You encouraged
those people. You "
‘ sorry, warden,‘ said the older
man, with genuine regret. "But they
can't count it against you if you get
tam a .
"llow did they go?"
"It isn't Just clear yet. I've sent Can.
taln Deem, and some guards, and notified
the city police. Seems they didn't re-
port last night that the girl wasn't in
the counts. The guard had sent her on
‘ gotten away in a truck
- 7
an errand late. and, as she trusted
her .. .
Terrible-I That guIrd's done now.
llow about Brook?"
"Nobody ever paid much attention to
him, lie often worked among his flow-
ers until after dark. even
have stayed out in some of the buildings
over night, and they wouldn't have dis-
“'e never suspected him, so
, ..
Every guard?"
"Now. don't be hasty. I wouldn’t defi-
nitely suspend any one "
The tlnklint: of B. telephone directed
their steps ilrlit toward the east gate.
There they saw a sight which added ll
new and peruilarly distressing it-hase to
the warden'r-1 di-comfort. Hanging from
the top of the great wall. where it was
' caught by a hook to a ledge, was a rope.
it touched the ground not one hundred,
feet from the lions; of Cerberus, nestling.
as his ft-nrful namesake guarded linden!
if the warden felt anything he did not
say it. But there was extreme Irrita-
tion in his voice as ll. guard, who e--
lunged in the little stone house atop the
wall, related how he had found the rope.
“But the night man," bowled the war-
don. "“’here was h(m-asleep?"
"The rope would lie in a shadow," said
“'5-ich. "How about the other side?"
On the other side of the wall. close in,
h of packed cinders. Then.
No i nts or other (laws i re 5
they were still I oktng a guard Ian u
“ e l to the comb of the front
house roof!" he said.
“'arclen Ball gasped. He had heard
tales of the daring ones going over the
big building in which were situated the
executive mces an residence of the
warden. The group hurried to the front
Iiouse, were elevated to the roof. and
went out to look.
"From the dressmaking shop where
ti’
they both must have gone the same
“.3 .‘..
‘'1 don't take rnm-h stock in this route.
either," “'eli.h said.
. .so it should have been left
On the outsid ."
v "if they didn't use these ropes why
put them up?"
“To steer us wrong.
boxes around the from up here. and
Could have placed this easily. The other
they might have readily tossed up."
ese claws investigated. Warden Ball
merit. and then in-
the older omcial
easy-going he had ever been before., he
a now stern and resourceful.
"Captain l')eem." he ordered. "have
people, along the route to the mid where
our true it dump refuse. questioned. No-
body seems sure of having seen this
pair after 3 o‘clock. and they may have
An hour later, after ‘Varden Ball had
been vainly questioning night guards.
'elch reported:' "This truck escape
looks good. A man and V man were
seen to get oi! “'etherboil's truck Just
h side of the ump. I'm having
lveiherbolt in." -
The trusty in question admitted a
truck “But it wasn't Spud: Brook. or
any Woman from ere." e s ured
“You now, Mr. Welch. I wouldn't take
that.
Welch had not been inclined to believe
so. But he was expressing no opinions
of confidence regarding any trusted pris-
oners-Juat then. He merely reported
the tip about the man and woman to the
police, and sent more guards in that di-
rectlon. r
The sun was sinking as he and Warden
Ball made a last round after a day of
ceaseless but vain search. The warden
was dejected. but Welch was still at the
problem. It was bothering him to think
that the means of the escape had not
aim solved. 7
"Of course." he said. when Warden
Ball, over dinner and his evening cigar,
was feeling a shade beiier. ‘f'i'hey ma
not be gone at all.'- > . ‘
hat ‘ ‘
"They may be hiding out to wait for
a favorable opportunity to escape. Dave
Walker lay for three weeks under the
postoiiice steps, coming out at night for
food. Then we got h . , might
have all food sources watched. and may-
e We'll catch them sneaking around." -
That night there was a secretive un-
wanted activity as Warden Ball looked
out into the great nncr court. Dark
gures prexrled. maces In hand.
cell-blocks they were not planning es-
cape tonight. but thinking oi.'.those who
attained success. Spud: Brook might he
great machinery watched uncertainly.
stinking with defeat. Fnr on to the east
tconcluded on Page 23.)
Spud: had flower’
In the .
"5’7‘;l.s'