TOAD’S ROMANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 359, 21 May 1928, Page 11

TOAD’S ROMANCE

15 YEARS A PRISONER’S FRIEND Prisoners who have made friends with rats, spiders, birds, and even insects have a classical literature of their own, but one does not often read of the release and happy settlement of the gaolbird’s dumb companion. This is a new true story from New York. A sad, bad man, a convict who is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison, has been allowed to send to the “New York Times” a cardboard box containing a fellow-prisoner. The cabined, cribbed and confined captive is no other than a horned toad, which has been the Texas criminal’s cell companion for 15 years. Half a Century of Petting In a letter to the editor the convict explains that his old friend (“enclosed herewith”) is to his knowledge 47 years old. "He was a pet of my father for 27 years, and he has been a pet of my own for 20 years more,” writes the horned toad’s master in his parting message. This severing of old companionship comes from a new prison rule prohibiting the possession of pets of any description. “In these circumstances,” the letter continues, “life means nothing to me; the sooner it is snuffed out the better. "I am sending the horned toad to you, knowing that you can well appreciate its value. "My only request is, if you realise anything on it, send me part of it, as I am destitute and there are a few things I should like to purchase in my declining years, which would make life here a little more pleasant.” The horned toad was sent to the New York Zoological Gardens.