FROM A LIVING TOMB.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 136, 9 June 1906, Page 5

FROM A LIVING TOMB.

RELEASE OF JABEZ BALFOUR. A RIP VAN WINKLE. SCIENTIFIC TORTURE OF PENAL SERVITUDE. The long-expected release of Jabe» Balfour took "place at Parkhurst Prison, in the Isle of Wight, on Saturday, 14th April. The proceedings were conducted with great secrecy, and the actual date of the event was known only to tho ■ governor himself. Immediately after the hour for tho> • prison breakfast, an official entered the ; cell and informed Mr. Balfour that he was wanted in the governor's office, to . which 'he instantly repaired. It was - then that the first intimation of freedom — after exactly 3790 days' incarcera- • tion — was conveyed to him by the chief; ( warder, who informed him that bio.; clothes (meaning his ordinary apparel > of outdoor life) were in the next room, ' and he could go and change.. FREE. Mr. ■ Balfour thus told the story 1 oi his' release: — "I had not slept. The brain that had calculated again and again tho ; years, the months, the days, and eventhe hours, refused to obey in the how ' of climax. These last moments, from, four to five, when the prison awakened, to another mechanical day, seemed lik<jj months. Was it true? Would not! something go amiss? Had npt disap-' - pointment accrued upon disappoint-, ment? Was I dreaming? I dressed mechanically in my prison clothes. I set machine-like upon the cleaning of: my cell and the making of my bed. T recommenced a clerical task, with which! I have killed dull times for a moutlv, past. i " 'Balfour, you are wanted in tho, office.' "The office is the governor's place oj, business. I got there, whether by : walking or by iiying I know not. Tho, chief warder laced me, repressing a' sympathetic look, and saying calmly,.' 'Your clothes are in the next room.. Put them on.' They were strange garments to me. Clothes with pockets an«l braces, and boots that fitted easily — i clothes that were not ridiculous. -X, jumped at them, and dressed with difnV culty. "We passed from out the angulas" buildings : the great gates with double locks (and keys chained to the men* that guarded them) were opened and shut behind me. I was dazed and lost, but the fear of the reporter awakened me, and ere I knew wnat was passinjf I was seated beside' my dear ones, on' one of the finest mornings, in a car--riage, driving I knew not whither, but free, free, free i .s. s "A thousand movements of the mind affected me. Perhaps it was not true-" then the horses jibbed, and refused to turn a corner. 1 was overcome by £ crise dcs nerfs. My children reassured, me. We passed through smiling and' flower-starred fields as in a dream to' a steamboat at Yarmouth. It was sttfi' early, but the boat had many peopln on it, free people, people idly chatting, people reading what 1 had not seen in years — newspapers — people idly smok-' ing, odd-looking people, I thought them ; and the women were strangely dressed, with enormous hats, and look iig taller than I had imagined women to be. Little things took' me back years, forgotten phases of life recurred." ■> FROM A MACHINE. " ' You must realise,* ho remarked U\ a Daily, ' Mail representative, 'that I am a man from a machine. For long yearn I have lived mechanical hours, doing mechanical tasks mechanically, amid mechanically monotonous surroundings. But I om already changing. I must chatfgo again, for 1 must fight the world. 1 shall be a normal man in a few weeks.* ', " ' You have your plan 6, Air. Balfour?' „ ' " ' 1 have, but first let me tell a lifctio of my story; not much, for I must in justioe to myself reserve most of it for my book, my only present means of earn* ing anything more than mere bread. U# till two years ago I did not think tha<; I should pull through. The prison was* killing me — not that 0. was unkindly, used. There are no kinder people than tho governor and most oPthe officials a4> Parkhurst. But the sorrow and degradation of it all, tho anxiety as to thrt health of my dear ones outside, the newig of deaths, were breaking my spirit. Sbmo of you journalists say thai I made ligh^ of my punishment. Could any man with a, brain make light of so dread a torture? Let your easy-writing journalist try a month of it, and remember that I have -had more than 4000 days anA nights altogether, here and in South America. Let me say that at first I never laid down at night in my comfort less bed but that I awoke within an houl' or 1 two in tears. lam a bad sleeper always, and our prisons are hells of insomnia for all with active brains. Fortunately, more congenial work ' helped my health, and lately, of course, thf> prospects of release (so often falsely raised for years) kept me going. For tho last year mv future life has given mi much thought. I have to face 4 tlie> world, and my "victims," or, as 1 maintain, the victims of circumstances!-, who, had my properties then realised 1 ' the value they have since achieved, would have been spared their losses. I have had offers even from some of these victims. Here, for example, ia a cheque sent to my son from one of thete. a substantial gift. lam returning it. I do not want charity. I suffered with mjr victims, and as much as any of them. I have been grieved to the heart at thou sufferings. You say that you saw mo take my sentence unmovsd. The outer man does not always betray the workinci) of the soul. Let me say plainly tp readers of the Daily Mail that I shall face the music. I am not leaving England. I shal not alter my name. 1 have already begun that work as k. journalist of which 1 was formerly ao fond.' THE TORTURE OF PRISON LIFE. "'Penal (servitude,' he continued, 'hi a scientific torture - so arranged us to defy any question in the House of Commons or the public press. You ask mio if the food is ample. Certainly it ii, but its deadly monotony destroys itsuse. That is one, but only one, "of th© reasons why I look different from ordi* nary men. You ask me if the torluro }n an intellectual one, and I say Yes. Educated prisoners say that beyond th.« chance remarks of the warders they know nothing of the world, and, saw for the change in the church service, wo did not know that tlio queen was dead, and that Edward VII. ruled. During the South African war men like myself, who wero" not unpatriotic, occasionally heard remarks of grave disasters, but «o knew nothing definite. T knew, tbe result of tho general election, not In detail, but va&uely, for warders aro ke*n politicians, and I heard them dificu&sijyy political matters from time to time. Thil> is only one of the many forms of needless torture, and it is, perhaps, only ono of tho reasons why lunacy is tb« scourge of British prisons. < "'I claim, perhaps with vanity, to l>« the best living expert on the British penal system. I went into prison • deter, mined to avert madness by study. Ono of my studies was criminals, And another was prison life. The other I have al> ready told you was Spanish. I cay it, and shall prove beyond contradiction in my book, that our nrescnt prison rqwten

produces more insanity than real correction.' " ' As to the causs of your troubles, Mr. Balfour, do-you care to speak?" ONE .PURPOSE o'NLY. "On that he replied very deÜberately." 'My mind is irrevocably madeup. During^ my thousands of days' imprisonment I have reconsidered the whole 'business in all iU aspects, both with regard to the transactions themselves and js to what would be becoming for me to say with regard to them. Many of my most intimate friends — and, thank ■Grod, I still have many kind friends — have urged me to make this the first employment ' of my liberty. My friends know the facts, and they know how outrageously they have been distorted and exaggerated. In the political and financial portion of my book I shall devote some chapters It> .the Liberator group, and to tb.e circumstances which led to the disaster ' of which the press and the ■"public as yet know nothing. For twelve years mv enemies have had their say. I have told you of tho ridiculous lies as to 'my -possession of property.'"