Finding GRACELAND

The Story Of The Capeman
Capeman的故事

The story of the Capeman comes from a sensational 1959 news story in New York City. Late on the night of August 30 of that year, a teenage gang from the upper West Side called the Vampires went searching for the Norsemen, an Irish gang from Hell's Kitchen. They came upon a group of teenagers who weren't affiliated with any gang, but happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. During the rumble, 16-year-old Salvador Agron stabbed to death two of these bystanders and fled. He was described by the other kids in the park as a tall Puerto Rican kid, wearing a black cape with a red lining - hence the name "the Capeman." His associate, Tony Hernandez, who allegedly wielded an umbrella during the fight, became known as "the Umbrella Man."

Capeman的故事源自纽约市1959年的一则轰动的新闻故事。当年8月30日的夜晚，来自上西区由一群青少年组成的名叫“吸血鬼”的黑帮，寻衅于被称为“诺斯人”的来自hell’s Kitchen爱尔兰人黑帮。他们遇上了一群不属于任何帮派的少年。这些不幸的少年碰巧在错误的时刻处于错误的地点。在这次斗殴中，年仅16岁的萨尔瓦多·阿格隆杀死了两个无辜的少年然后逃逸。公园里的其他孩子描述他为身材很高的波多黎各少年，戴着一顶黑色饰有红边的帽子。因此他就被称作Capeman。他的同伙，托尼·赫尔南德兹被指控在这场打架中挥舞着一把雨伞，他被称作Umbrella Man。

When Agron was arrested a few days later, he apparently showed no remorse. "I don't care if I burn," he said. "My mother could watch me." To many New Yorkers, Agron became a symbol of evil, a symbol of a society falling apart, and he was sentenced to die in the electric chair. At 16, he became the youngest person ever sentenced to death in New York State.

几天后，阿格隆被逮捕了，而他却显得并不后悔。他说：“我不在乎会被处死，我母亲可以来看我被处死。”对于很多纽约人来说，阿格隆代表了罪恶，代表了濒临崩溃的社会。他被判决电椅处死。他当时只有十六岁，是纽约州被处死刑的最年轻的人。

Agron's sentence was commuted by Governor Rockefeller after prominent citizens, including Eleanor Roosevelt, made a plea for clemency on Agron's part. They cited the poverty of his existence - not just the dire economic straits of his family, but also his emotional impoverishment.

后来一些显要的人物，包括艾里诺·卢斯福等人恳求对阿格隆进行宽大处理，他们指出阿格隆的贫穷——不仅他的家庭经济状况十分窘困，他的心灵也很贫瘠。州长洛克菲勒决定给他减刑。

Salvador Agron was born on April 24, 1943, in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and grew up with his sister Aurea in the local poorhouse known as Asilo de Pobres, where his mother worked for eight dollars a week. He developed a reputation there for throwing temper and wetting his bed. By the time he left Puerto Rico he had the equivalent of one year of schooling.

萨尔瓦多·阿格隆于1943年4月24日生于波多黎各的玛雅奎兹。他和他的姐姐奥丽雅在当地的贫民院长大。他们的母亲在该贫民院工作，工资只有每周8美元。当时他就有经常乱发脾气的名声。当他离开波多黎各时，他受过相当于一年的教育。

When Sal's mother remarried, the family moved to New York City where Sal had an equally difficult time at school and was taunted by the other children. He was eventually sent to an institution for disturbed boys, and later to Wiltwyck reformatory. He later spoke of hearing voices and seeing demons in his room.

萨尔的母亲再婚后，全家人迁至纽约。而萨尔依然难以适应学校生活。他被其他孩子嘲弄。后来，他被送往一个专为心理失调的男孩而设的机构，这之后又被送至维尔特维克感化院。后来他提到过在他房间里听到说话声看到怪物。

Run out of Brooklyn by an Italian gang called the Sand Street Angels, Sal moved to Manhattan where his sister was living and fell in with the Vampires on the upper West Side. The Mexican dagger he used to kill his two victims had been borrowed from another boy.

离开布鲁克林的被称作Sand Street Angels意大利黑帮后，萨尔搬到了曼哈顿他姐姐的住处。他加入了上西区的叫做吸血鬼的黑帮。他用来杀死他的两个受害者的墨西哥匕首是他向另一个男孩借来的。

Salvador Agron ended up serving 20 years in prison and was released in 1979. He was described as a model prisoner: he learned to write poetry, became something of a political activist and never again committed a violent act.

最终，萨尔瓦多·阿格隆在监狱里服了20年刑，并在1979年出狱。他被描述成一个模范囚犯。他学会了写诗，成为了一个积极参与政治活动的人，而且他再也没有做出过暴力的举动。

He was what the system would describe as "rehabilitated," or what he described as "rehumanized," but nonetheless remained identified in the public imagination as "the Capeman." He died in the Bronx on April 22, 1986, of natural causes. He was 43 years old.

他是一个典型的“被改造好了的人”，或者用他自己的话来说“重拾回了人性”。尽管如此，他仍然是公众心目中的Capeman。他于1986年4月22日在布朗克斯由于自然原因去世，当时他43岁。



Original liner notes by Paul Simon


Translated by me