Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1903 — Practical" Philanthropy. [ARTICLE]

Practical" Philanthropy.

“Very often, I suppose," said the Inquisitive person, "you are deceived by apparently deserving objects of charity whom you quietly help.” “Yes, indeed,” replied the wealthy philanthropist; “It’s Just like throwing money nway. Sometimes the very people you think will -advertise you most never say a word about It.” —Philadelphia Frees. Speaking terms are to be found on a card-in the telephone booth.

When Aull took charge of Folsom he found a huge pile of buildings standing in a rocky amphitheater close to the American river. The prison grounds covered 480 acres, mostly Ailed with quarries of the finest limestone. It had been planned to build walls around the prison, but Aull advised against this. He argued that a wall would be useless, as, the convicts would have to go outside to get to the quarries. The prison was left as it was built, but Aull took steps to keep the convicts from He built ten towers at different pomts in the prison grounds aud in them placed Gatling guns. The gun* swept every part of the grounds, and also a quarter of a mile of territory surrounding the prison reservation. The towers were built by convicts. Aull plaeed double guards over different bodies of the prisoners while they built the foundations of solid stone and the superstructures of wood and Iron. He made the coqyicts raise the Gatling guns to their platforms in the little galleries of the towers, and every detail of the work of defense, or rather offense, he let the prisoners become acquainted with. Aull said there was nothing to conceal. He wanted the men to know that extraordinary precautions had been taken to keep them under control, and he was Interested in having the convicts carry the boxes of ammunition from wagons into the towers. AULL’S CEMETERY. Every prisoner that arrived In Folsom got a 1 little lecture by the warden. Aull would meet the new arrivel with a hearty handshake and a smile. “Now, iny man,” he would say, “there Is no bread and water here. Y'ou will get good food and plenty of It. Aud if you don’t try to run off and are good-natured, you will get the best of treatment. We are easy on the boys here as long as they behave themselves. “You see we have no walls around tljfls prison, but you- will also observe those towers. The convicts you will mingle with In the quarries will tell you what those are for.” As he came near the end of his lecture Aull would signal with his hand for the convict to follow him, and, chatting continually, he would lead him through the graveyard. In an apparently casual way Aull would call nttentlon to the standing In close order at tlietops of grasscovered graves. On nearly all of them the inscription was alike, except for the names. The general form was: : JOHN BLANK. : SHOT WHILE TRYING TO : ; ESCAPE ON : : JULY 30. 1901. : in one corner of the graveyard Aull would stop and point to seven

graves. They were dug after a cTevet attempt to escape about ten yeafi ago. Forty men were lb the plot, and nearly ail of those not killed were wounded. While working side by side in the quarries, George Fredericks an/ George Son tag plotted the escape They discovered that a narrow gullj near the quarry was nos swept by the Gatlings and that It offered a chance for escape. Fredericks was released soon after this discovery. A few days after he reached Sacramento, twenty miles from the prison, he bought forty rifles and a large quantity of ammunition. He loaded the lot into a covered, wagon, and In the dead of night he left the city. He came within a few miles of the prison before daybreak and hid in a thick wood during the day. Before midnight he had hidden the rifles and cartridges at she spot In the. gully that he and Sontag had agreed upon. Next, day the attempt to escape was made. At midday, as forty cctovicts were marching past the gully to dinner, they suddenly broke ranks and seized the few guards marching beside them. In fl few moments they were hidden in the gully, but of reach of the Gatlings, which had begun to pop the moment they overpowered the guards. Armed with the rifles left by Fredericks the convicts were preparing to fight their way out of the gully when a small door opened In the side of an ice house at the head of the gully. None of the convicts noticed the door until a Gatling gun began to pour lead In a stream out of the opening. The convicts were panic-strick-en. They threw down their rifles and knelt on the gfouud and shouted for mercy. The Gatling was worked for thirty seconds. When the firing ceased only a few of the men were left unhurt. The seven dead men were carried

to the prison and were laid naked in a row on tflong-deal table.. One man had been struck by fifteen bullets. When the light had been subdued to make the wounds sho\V more clearly against the white' skin the convicts were filed slowly past the table. About 1,500 men were in the prison and the procession was kept up until the last one had passed the bodies. Aull had an original method in marking men who had tried and sassed to escape. He clothed them in red shirts, aud his guards were Instructed to shoot for these shirts if any effort was made to brook away. Not until every man wearing a red shirt had been shot down In a fleeing group were the guards to fire on the other convicts. He madp the discipline so exact that it was Impossible for a man to escape. In the last few years of his service attempts to gain freedom grew loss and less. Finally the prisoners gave it up as a bad Job. They decided it was better to work out their sentences, or to hope for a reprieve in the case of a life sentence, than to feel thei.bite of the frowning Gatlings. And yet, with all the precautions he took, Aull was liked by the majority of his prisoners. He treated them justly, and they recognized this. He was tireless In his efforts to obtain better food and better clothing for the men. He did not work them hard In the quarries and he gave them frequent relaxation. He Interested himself In them personally, and many he helped after they had gone back Into the world. He raised the standard for prison fare and living In California, and tlie convicts expressed sorrow when he gave up the post, five years ago.