Prison Made Easy.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 143, 6 August 1872, Page 7

Prison Made Easy.

“ Gentlemen” awaiting their trial for murder at New York seem to have uncommonly easy times of it. Of “ Mr” Stokes, who shot Fisk, for instance, we read that “ his cell has been most handsomely fitted up,” that “ a new spring mattress and bedclothing” have been substituted “for the coarse prison articles that the apartment “is richly caipeted that its walls are “ prettily papered and hung with tine pictures :” and that, in fact, it now looks more like a lady's boudoir than a cell in the “Tombs”—the Tombs being the name oy which the common gaol of New York is known. Moreover, “Mr" Stokes is “interviewed” by representatives of the New York Press, an 1 holds levees of his friends. The first tiling “Mr” Stokes does in the morning is to “get up,” and “partially make his toilet.” Then he “ partakes in solitude”—though how he can “ partake” when only himself is present is a mystery— “ of a recherche breakfast; after which he peruses the morning papers” with evident interest, a smile or frown playing over his features according as the news is appreciated or disliked by him. The papers done with he is waited upon i y a friseur, who “ shaves, combs, and curls hj m and next appears his valet, who complo cs his toilet. After this the newspaper “interviewers” are admitted, and are privilege 1 to hear how the great man spent the night. Photographers and artists from illustrated papers follow', and the business of the day being thus gut through, a general levee is held of Mr Stokes’ personal friends, and “ even of strangers, who enjoy the privilege of presentation.” Dinner and a “ quiet hand at euchre in the evening” complete the round of the day’s enjoyment. With all this, however, we learn that Mr Stokes, though “maintaining his composure outwardly,” is troubled “ at intervals with slight moodiness and uneasiness.” And no wonder, for though we are told that “ the tone of the market in regard to him still remains buoyant,” it is added in the same breath that “bets of only 100 dollars to 50 are freely taken” that he will not, after all “need the service of the sheriff.” Where the odds on a man’s escaping from the gallows are only two to one in his favour, it is hardly surprising that he should be occasionally “moody.”— Graphic.