Czolgosz Still Silent
Eats Well and Sleeps Well but Holds Converse with
Nobody.
Leon F. Czolgosz, the assassin of
President McKinley, who now occupies cell No. 4 in the condemned
row in the prison, still maintains his sullen silence. By his own
choice he is left to his own thoughts, whatever they may be. He
holds conversation with nobody except the men who keep watch over
him, and then only in reply to questions put to him in regard to
his meals, etc. Even the talkative Egnor, the slayer of Guard Benedict,
who occupies the cell next to the assassin and on the end of the
row, No. 5, does not hold converse with the man who took the life
of the Nation’s Chief Executive.
Czolgosz’s routine continues much
the same as was published Saturday. He spends his time walking up
and down his cell, lying in bed, or eating his meals. His every
movement is followed by the eye of the watchful guard who sits in
front of his cell. He was visited this morning by Prison Physician
Gerin as he has been and will be every morning to the time of his
execution, for it is the rule of the prison physician to visit the
condemned m[?]n once a day at least. Dr. Gerin had no report to
make to Warden Mead this morning, hence the man’s physical condition
is probably all right.
“Is Czolgosz nervous?” asked a B
reporter of Warden Mead this morning.
“Why, I can’t say that he’s nervous,”
replied the warden. “In fact, I don’t know. He acts just as he has
acted all along.”
The assassin eats well and sleeps
well, it is assumed, for questions on this point elicit the reply
that “he acts as he has acted,” that there is no change.
The little red covered pamphlet received
at the prison Saturday for Czolgosz, it being the Gospel of St.
John, has not been given the assassin, for as Warden Mead explains,
there is a Bible in his cell as there is in all of the condemned
cells and, therefore, he has access to the Gospel of St. John without
the pamphlet.
“Has he received any mail other than
the pamphlet?” asked the reporter.
“He has not received any mail,” replied
Warden Mead.
Czolgosz was bertilloned at the prison
yesterday by Bertillon Measurer Ross and his photograph was taken
by H. Seymour Squyer, the official photographer. Except for the
fact that he has been bertilloned and photographed Warden Mead will
have nothing to say on this point, because the law won’t let him.
The statute requires the official measurement of every convict and
that his photograph be taken, the measurements to be kept secret
and to be used in case the man is ever apprehended again and the
picture and measurements might be wanted for the purpose of identification.
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