PRISON REVELS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 13

PRISON REVELS.

DIVERSIONS Oi] WEALTHY' CONVICTS. ' Among.tie records of Thanksgiving Day 'celebrations in America much space isdevoted to descriptions of tbe tumorous manner in which the .inmates of the different prisons observed the festival. . The palm for originality (says tlio NewYork correspondent of the "Daily Mail") is given to the Western Penitontiary of Pennsylvania, which enjoys tho distinction of harbouring, a uniquo collection of wealthy criminals, including more than a score of Pittsburg bakers and municipal councillors who are seTvdng long terms of penal servitude for . the part they played in the corruption of the- public lifo of that town. Under the guidance of a. well-known.banker and embezzler these distinguished arranged for the othe rinmates. an amusement series of stage burlesques. The music was composed and ,tho elaborate scenery painted by different criminals. The rcfectory. of tho gaol was specially fitted as a theatre, and it echoed ■ with the applause aroused .by the witty sallies exchanged between, the councillors who had accepted and the bankers who gave the bribes which wero. responsible for their loss of liberty. The actors burlesnued every banking and political scandal disclosed in Pittsburg in the last half a dozen years.

The success of the evening. was scored by Mr.-J. Kline, a: city councillor, who "pulled the props from under The sky" when ho made his historic confession of having bribed some sixty fellow-coun-cillors. Mr. Kline's confession was the chief, causo of the exposures which drew down on the city tho eloquent denunciations .of Mr. Cnrnegio and Mr. • Roosevelt. . •

• He appeared in a "hobble skirt," symbolic of the restrictions of the law, -and in a witty dialogue derided tho bankers and their to purchase the entire council. A trio of- convict bankers followed his performance with a clever satire of the councillors who accepted bribes and then forgot, to attend the council, meetings in timo to vote for their friends.

The sketches were varied by selections of music rendered by the "penitentiary orchestra," which is corinosd largely of murderers.