A MONSTER IN PRISON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 313, 11 January 1908, Page 6

A MONSTER IN PRISON.

» AN JiXntAOKDiNAVI CRIMINAL. In iiia long imprisonment, Oliver U. Perry lias been lorgowloi uy Ue piiul.i' that years ago («iys uic "BrooKlyn £aglc ') marvelled at lu a exploits us ■a train robber, and nhuduurtNi over hi* abnormal wickcdnesH. An interview .with the prisoner oi this day Juts liim again to. public recognition. Perhaps nothing is gained nor any purpose served in this recalling of him w the memory. But, al least, a cuosideialiua of the Juan in his latter stage it interesting, lie wan a monster in crime; he is u monster in prison. Victor Hugo, hi his novel ''Le» iliserablea," in at scribing the products of the I'reneh prison synieiii lie attacked, never present*-d a more ingenious, alfill'ul, and reckless vurtary of crime. The predatory creatures, more beast than human, 'who, placing their backs against the angle of walls and by the use of the muscles of their arms and legs, could* reach the roofs of buildings, were l more tham matched Uy Perry, who, dangfting from (the end of a rope, dropped to tbje roof of an express tar of a train moving at the rale of ility miles an hour,, hung front the side while he broke in the glass of .the door, through which he oovered the, meeHfcngers with a revolver, and with his rttlier hand unloosed tlrt fastenings, obtnilniiig *n entrance to ra>'b. Marvellous as were his robberies, j/i his escapcH he rivalled tlie feats of Clack Shepuuitl. For a tiiiV >t seemed a_s impossible to hold him in captivity .•as it was difficult to «apti.iro liim. re all that he did there »jw orVginality in design and uncanny skill and Aeeklessnesa in execution. Indeed, swell were the manifestations of this man's genius for crime, that the law pronounced" him insane and immured him ax an insane prisoner at Mattenwan. To the students, of criminology Perry was and is a problem, of great force ot charafltetr and extraordinary impulse. In prison, when finally and safely confined, lie displayed all the eharaeteristics that bad made him different from other criminal* In the beginning he was virions. If he'.was to be detained as a crazy criminal he determined that he wonid receive JiH the consideration due to a crazy and irresponsible person. So he ivas a constant' source of trouble. Because Ids' familjy refused to have iinytliing to do with him—would not visit him—he put. out Wis eyes. In doing this all the originality "that had marked his deed* of crime were employed. He made a machine which, when heated, dropped shatrp-point-ed weights into his eyes. T» escape tV pain hei took opium. Awakening* he was blind. In 1903, declaring that -prison fare gate him dyspepsia, he refW'd tn eat He has not eaten since. Wlhert the physicians found that his extraordinary will waw at work they fed him by artificial means, through a tube. He drte\s not resisf the physicians, however, and says that he has lost nil desire to> oat. A week laflcr he tore his prison sust of clothes to shreds, and since has worn inly the blankets of his bed. He fa as extraordinary a prisoner as he was a criminal. Blind and naked anil csohewiug food, h* sits in dreary solitude, iwaiting this passage of the wars that in the end will bring the death he difilains to force prematurely. A monster in criminal activity, and a monster within his goarded -walls, lie is ir. ptndy who will tale rank with the relolitrated prisoners of history and romance- He is not inoanej but abnormal. And lie is treated as only his abnormality can be treated. u