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War to a ward captain under Mollenhauer. He was a canny man, tall, raw-boned, singularly
muscular-looking, who for all his fifty-seven years looked as though he could give a splendid
account of himself in a physical contest. His hands were large and bony, his face more square
than either round or long, and his forehead high. He had a vigorous growth of short-clipped, iron-
gray hair, and a bristly iron-gray mustache, very short, keen, intelligent blue-gray eyes; a florid
complexion; and even-edged, savage-looking teeth, which showed the least bit in a slightly
wolfish way when he smiled. However, he was not as cruel a person as he looked to be;
temperamental, to a certain extent hard, and on occasions savage, but with kindly hours also.
His greatest weakness was that he was not quite mentally able to recognize that there were
mental and social differences between prisoners, and that now and then one was apt to appear
here who, with or without political influences, was eminently worthy of special consideration.
What he could recognize was the differences pointed out to him by the politicians in special
cases, such as that of Stener--not Cowperwood. However, seeing that the prison was a public
institution apt to be visited at any time by lawyers, detectives, doctors, preachers,
propagandists, and the public generally, and that certain rules and regulations had to be
enforced (if for no other reason than to keep a moral and administrative control over his own
help), it was necessary to maintain--and that even in the face of the politician--a certain amount
of discipline, system, and order, and it was not possible to be too liberal with any one. There
were, however, exceptional cases--men of wealth and refinement, victims of those occasional
uprisings which so shocked the political leaders generally--who had to be looked after in a
friendly way.
Desmas was quite aware, of course, of the history of Cowperwood and Stener. The politicians
had already given him warning that Stener, because of his past services to the community, was
to be treated with special consideration. Not so much was said about Cowperwood, although
they did admit that his lot was rather hard. Perhaps he might do a little something for him but at
his own risk.
"Butler is down on him," Strobik said to Desmas, on one occasion. "It's that girl of his that's at
the bottom of it all. If you listened to Butler you'd feed him on bread and water, but he isn't a bad
fellow. As a matter of fact, if George had had any sense Cowperwood wouldn't be where he is
to-day. But the big fellows wouldn't let Stener alone. They wouldn't let him give Cowperwood
any money."
Although Strobik had been one of those who, under pressure from Mollenhauer, had advised
Stener not to let Cowperwood have any more money, yet here he was pointing out the folly of
the victim's course. The thought of the inconsistency involved did not trouble him in the least.
Desmas decided, therefore, that if Cowperwood were persona non grata to the "Big Three," it
might be necessary to be indifferent to him, or at least slow in extending him any special favors.
For Stener a good chair, clean linen, special cutlery and dishes, the daily papers, privileges in
the matter of mail, the visits of friends, and the like. For Cowperwood--well, he would have to
look at Cowperwood and see what he thought. At the same time, Steger's intercessions were
not without their effect on Desmas. So the morning after Cowperwood's entrance the warden
received a letter from Terrence Relihan, the Harrisburg potentate, indicating that any kindness
shown to Mr. Cowperwood would be duly appreciated by him. Upon the receipt of this letter
Desmas went up and looked through Cowperwood's iron door. On the way he had a brief talk
with Chapin, who told him what a nice man he thought Cowperwood was.
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