Its Equivalent

1895

The prisoner had been before the court so many times for vagrancy that the judge concluded to give him a dose he wouldn't forget.

"So," he said sternly as he looked down on the chronic, "you are here again?"

"Yes, yeronner," replied the prisoner humbly.

"Same old charge, I suppose?"

"Yes, yeronner."

"All right. I'll just fine you $100 and send you down."

The prisoner threw up his hands like a drowning man. "Geerusalem, yeronner!" he exclaimed. "Why don't you give me a life sentence and be done with it?" — Detroit Free Press.

Refuses Freedom for Prison Term

1920

ST PAUL, Minnesota. — Given his choice of freedom or an indeterminate sentence in the State reformatory by Judge Waite in Hennepin County District Court, Frank Kingsbury, 26 years old, chose the latter.

"I am of no use to myself or any one else the way I am," asserted Kingsbury. "Freedom would not do me any good. Maybe I could learn something at the reformatory."

On his examination before sentence was imposed Kingsbury told how rather than be a burden to his parents, who already had a large family to care for, he had voluntarily become a derelict and a wanderer.

Even in court Kingsbury shielded his parents by refusing to give his true name.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Jesse Pomeroy Ends 40th Year in Prison

1916

Notorious Prisoner Longer in "Solitary" Than Any Other "Lifer" in Country.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Jesse Pomeroy, serving a life sentence for murder, has just completed his fortieth year in solitary confinement at the state prison in Charlestown. Pomeroy is said to have served in solitary longer than any other prisoner in this country, and, unless the commitment order is changed, he will have to be kept in that manner until he dies.

He began his sentence at the age of 16, after having been convicted of diabolical attacks on several small children. In recent years numerous efforts have been made to secure for him the privileges of a "trusty," but all of these have been unavailing.

Numerous attempts at escape have been made by the notorious prisoner, and these, together with his known predilection for taking human life, have influenced the authorities in strictly adhering to the conditions of the original sentence which prescribed solitary imprisonment.

While "solitary imprisonment" is the name given to the punishment Pomeroy is undergoing, it does not mean that he never leaves his cell. He goes out in the yard every day in charge of a guard and spends an hour there. But that is while the other prisoners are at work in the shops. During the forty years that he has been confined Pomeroy has seldom seen the face of a human being other than those of his keepers and of his aged mother, who died several years ago.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Forger Sentenced to Live As Hermit

March, 1914

SAN JOSE, Cal. — Frank E. Murray, convicted forger, was sentenced by Superior Judge William Beasly to serve two years as a hermit in the mountains forty miles from here. Because Murray is 58 years old the judge was not inclined to give him a jail sentence. A deputy sheriff took the prisoner to the mountains.

One of the conditions of the sentence is that Murray may accept employment, but he must not visit a city or town in two years. The court will keep in touch with him during that time.

"What this man needs is to be kept away from temptation for a while," said Judge Beasly.