John Philip Sousa, dean of brass band leaders, lent his services as con ductor to the inmate-musicians at the Eastern Penitentiary, Philadelphia. The audience also consisted almost exclusively of inmates. They looked at the performance through barred and crowded windows; they listened in corridors through the burly backs of uniformed guards drawn up in rigid files and phalanxes. Applause was prohibited; the close of each number was thus received in stolid silence. Four pieces were played; two of them composed by John Philip himself. At times, the dashing martial strains were suspended in...
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