A "Spooky" Tale With a
Grim Background
The
GHOST GUARD
By BRYAN IRVINE
IF EVERY one of the sixty guards and officials at the Granite River Prison had been asked for the name of the most popular guard on the force, there would have been sixty answers—"Asa Shores." If each of the fifteen hundred convicts in the prison had been asked which guard was most disliked by the convicts, fifteen hundred answers would have been the same—"Asa Shores!"
If some curious person had asked of each convict and each guard, "Who is considered the most desperate, the hardest, the shrewdest criminal in the prison?" the answer would have been unanimous, "Malcolm Hulsey, the 'lifer.'"
True, it does not seem reasonable that Asa Shores should be liked by every guard and official and disliked by every convict. To those not familiar with the duties of prison guards it would seem that Asa Shores' method of handling the convicts, if disapproved of by fifteen hundred convicts, would surely be disapproved of by at least one of the sixty guards. But the explanation is simple.
Asa Shores' great great-grandfather had followed the prisons as mariners follow the seas. Then Asa's grandfather took up the work and followed it, with an iron hand and inflexible will, until one day a cell-made knife in the hands of a long-time "con" entered his back at a point where his suspenders crossed, deviating enough to the left to pierce his heart. Came next Asa Shores' father, who went down in attempting to quell the famous Stromberg break of 1895.
Asa, therefore, his prison methods impelled perhaps by heredity, looked upon every wearer of gray behind the walls as a convict, nothing more, nothing less. He neither abused or favored any convict. A one-year man was to Asa a convict and no better than the man who was serving a life sentence.
The crime for which any convict was sent up was of little moment to Asa; neither did he bother about who among the inmates were considered desperate. The fact that a man wore prison gray was sufficient, whether he be a six-months sneak-thief or a ninety-nine-year murderer.
When Asa shot and killed Richard ("Mutt") Allison, when the latter attempted to escape, the warden had said:
"There was really no need of killing that half-witted short-termer, Asa. He was doing only a year and was perfectly harmless. A shot in the leg or foot would have been better."
And Asa's reply had been:
"I had no idea who the man was, though I have seen him dozens of times, and I did not know how long he
