BEHIND
THE PRISON BARS.

A REMINDER OF OUR DUTIES
TOWARD THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SO UNFORTUNATE
AS TO BE CAST INTO PRISON.

By E. E. BYRUM,

Author of “The Secret of Salvation,” “Divine Healing of Soul
and Body,” “The Great Physician,” “The
Boy’s Companion,” Etc.

“Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them.”—Heb. 13:3.

Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co.,
MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA.
1901.

Copyright, 1901,
by
E. E. Byrum.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Help a man who is in trouble and manifest a care for his soul, even though he is an enemy; it touches a tender chord of his hardened heart, tends to loose the binding powers of sin, causing him to look up with hope. Realizing the great neglect of duty toward them who are behind the prison-bars, unable to help themselves in many respects, inspired the writing of this volume. It was not the intention of the author to write a thorough work on this subject, but to call attention to a few facts concerning the prisons and jails, also the treatment and privileges of the inmates, and thus awaken the people to a sense of duty and the manifestation of a feeling of sympathy. The majority of people have never visited a jail or state prison, consequently know but little about them, and feel little, if any, responsibility on that line.

About two years ago the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company of Moundsville, W. Va., established a fund for sending out literature free to the poor, to jails, prisons, and wherever most needed. As much as ten thousand dollars’ worth of books, tracts, and papers have in this way been sent out during one year to various parts of the United States, Canada, Europe, and other foreign countries. Yet it seems only a drop in the bucket, as it were, in consideration of what should be done. It is our earnest prayer that the readers of this little volume will at once put forth the greatest possible effort to properly supply the prisoners and thus aid in bringing about a reformation in their lives.

In order to show the result of some of the efforts put forth to supply the prisoners with good literature and their appreciation of the same, quite a number of letters from prisoners and prison officials have been inserted. While these letters have quite a similarity, yet it is hoped that their sameness will not destroy their interest in consideration of the fact that thereby the prisoners from a broad scope of territory have the privilege of giving expression to their feeling of gratitude toward those who have thus manifested their friendship.

The names have been omitted of those who have written letters and testimonies; however, they appear in full in the original manuscript and are genuine. Only the serial numbers are given to those whose biographies appear in the book. We are grateful for the kind assistance of prison officials and prisoners who have kindly contributed. Further communications, or letters, from prisoners or any one interested in this line of work will be gladly received by the author. With an earnest prayer for the salvation of every prisoner, I remain,

Yours in Him,
E. E. Byrum.

Moundsville, W. Va., July 4, 1901.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

BEHIND THE PRISON-BARS.

IN PRISON.

Our country is called the land of the free, but could we at one glance behold the thousands and tens of thousands now behind the prison-bars and know their irksome lives, there would be an awakening in hearts that have never known the bondage that exists in our midst.

A crime is perpetrated. Some one is arraigned before the court to answer the charges as to whether he is guilty or not. The jury renders a verdict, “Guilty.” The judge pronounces the sentence a term in prison. The poor unfortunate is now considered a convict. Shackles are brought to make him secure, in order to prevent his escape. An officer accompanies him to his prison house, where he is to be in servitude according to the length of his term of sentence. No one but the prisoner realizes the awful feelings as the prison door shuts behind him with a clang, and he hears the click of the lock fastening him in an iron cell. Whether innocent or guilty, he feels the awful disgrace upon himself and his friends. It would not seem so bad if only the guilty were brought to justice in this way, but ofttimes the facts reveal that not only hundreds, but thousands, of innocent persons are thus sentenced and brought into disgrace, many of them serving a life sentence.

There are two sides to prison life—a bright side, and a dark side. It may be a query in the minds of some how there could be any enjoyment or any bright side to such a life, but this will be clearly shown in other chapters in this book. There are many things that go to make the prison life a dark one. Viewing the matter from a natural standpoint, with no one to look to but human help, the way does truly often look dark and dreary. There are prisons where men are cast into dungeons and left to almost starve to death, or they are bound hand and foot and beaten with the cat-o-nine tails, or hanged by the thumbs, or made to pass through some severe ordeal of punishment that is almost beyond human endurance. Even in our own country there are yet stockades wherein prisoners do not receive treatment that would elevate them nor fit them for the higher circles of society. Many of these stockades wherein prisoners have been kept during the years past have been but little, if any, better in many respects than were the Andersonville or Libby prisons during the Rebellion. There are exceptional cases to be sure. During the past year a number of the states have not properly provided for their prisoners. It has not been an uncommon thing in some of these stockades to see a gang of men shackled together with chains, obliged to go about with the clanking chains to their feet, under rigid rules, and having to suffer the severe treatment of wicked and ungodly guards.

The National Prison Association, which is generally represented by officers from the various prisons throughout the United States, have for a number of years met annually to discuss the best modes of handling and caring for the prisoners. Various methods have been set forth. Experiments have been made, and too often it is the case that hard-hearted officers have used the most excruciating means and hard-heartedness in their dealings toward their prisoners, in order to keep them in subjection. Some officers deem it necessary to speak to prisoners in the sternest possible manner, imagining that being cross, gruff, and surly toward them will make them feel a subordination that can be brought about in no other way. This only deepens the sorrows of the poor unfortunate prisoner and tends to harden his heart and affections. Such officers forget that kind looks, gentle actions, and words of encouragement fitly spoken will elevate a man and encourage him to show his manhood and return the love by putting forth his best efforts to show his appreciation of kindness. It is true there are hard-hearted men in prison, men who would kill a man for a trifle, whose consciences are seared over, as it were, yet there are comparatively few men so hard-hearted but can be touched by love and kindness. There are times when more severe punishment must be inflicted, but the warden and prison officers who continually show forth kindness toward the prisoners, greeting them with a smile and words of encouragement, have but little trouble in bringing about a great reform in the lives of those under their charge.

MAKE THE BEST OF IT.

There are thousands in prisons whose hands have been stained with the blood of their fellow men; others whose hearts are hardened in sin and their lives blackened with many crimes; while again, there are those who are innocent, and some who have been cast into prison for Christ’s sake. But whether innocent or guilty, the most expedient thing is to make the best of the situation. Worrying over the separation from friends, the disgrace that is brought about, and bewailing the condition of things in general, will by no means help the matter. If a sin or crime has been committed it is not hidden from the God of heaven, and though the prisoner maybe shut in for years he can have the soul liberated from all the sins committed, by confessing them unto the Lord, calling upon him, and believing that he does forgive; as the Bible tells us in 1 Jno. 1:9 that, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The dear prisoner should make a decision for the right at once, cast away his gloom, doubts, and fears, and remember the words of the apostle, who urges people to cast their care upon the Lord, for he careth for them. He is a very present help in time of trouble. By the help of Almighty God the prisoner can yet make his mark in the world. He can rise above every foe and be of some use before his life closes. While he is in the midst of the most desperate characters in the land, yet he can have good associates. He can commune with God when alone in his cell. He can call for good books and holy literature, read the Bible, and make every effort to please the Lord and those around him. He can so live that even the prison walls will be a hallowed spot unto him. It was while John Bunyan was serving a twelve-year sentence in prison that he wrote the notable book “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” which has been a help and comfort to multitudes of people. He no doubt worked often under adverse circumstances and completed his work through many difficulties and much hard labor. Likewise Martin Luther translated the New Testament while in prison, and wrote a number of other valuable works. The apostle Paul wrote a number of his epistles while in prison. He and others with him sometimes were punished by stripes until they were left lacerated and bleeding, then cast into prison and bound hand and foot. It was under such circumstances that one time Paul and Silas were found praising the Lord, singing and shouting at the midnight hour, when the Lord sent an earthquake and rent the prison walls, throwing open the doors and loosing the shackles, setting them free; but they did not flee from the prison until they received proper orders. It was their faithfulness that caused the jailer to ask what he should do to be saved. Paul told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The generous jailor then took the brethren and washed their stripes and properly cared for them, and soon they were dismissed and sent on their way. It often happens that some must suffer an unjust punishment. To such we can only say, Be of good courage; look up and trust for better days.

PUNISHMENT.

People are sentenced to a term in prison on account of crime committed. There are two systems of punishment. One is called punitive or retributive system, the other the corrective or reformative. Until within the last few years the punitive system was almost the exclusive one. However, our humane officers, prison officials, lawmakers and statesmen are not only learning better ways of bringing men and women thus incarcerated into subjection, but in many places are making and enforcing laws which require that prisoners be more humanely treated and receive better care and accommodations. Men have resorted to almost every possible device in order to make bad men good and raise them from ignorance to intelligence, and in so doing have inflicted the most severe punishment, causing the prisoners to pass through severest ordeals and most terrible sufferings imaginable. When we say there has been a radical change in many of our prisons in the land in discarding the severe corporal punishment, we do not wish to convey the idea that all prisons have yet accepted the more humane ways of governing the prisoners under their charge. When we say some of these punishments have been and are yet severe it does not fully express the facts of the case. The word “severe” is not a strong enough word. There have been and are yet punishments that are brutal—brutal to the extreme. Many prisoners who are within the prison walls carry the deep lash marks of the whip; the unjointed and deformed thumbs resulting from the punishment of being hanged by the thumbs; and there are other deformities. Many of us can no doubt remember the time of our early days in the country school when the schoolmaster was almost constantly with a beach or birch whip in his hand, something equal to an ox goad. This instrument for correcting the youths of our land and bringing them into subjection, when not in the schoolmaster’s hand was in the corner near by and was generally freely used. There have been, however, such a radical change and better modes of government brought about, that many schools are taught without once using such an instrument of punishment. If such a successful change has been made in our public schools, surely as radical a change can be made in our prisons, to take the place of the brutality of the past. Concerning the easy government of the prisoners there is much that depends upon those in charge of the prisoners. The warden, chaplain, and prison guards who have direct care of the prisoners should be good, whole-souled men, kind and benevolent, and who are capable of appreciating the good traits of a man even though they may be covered by many dark ones. They should be good readers of human nature and understand the dispositions of those under their charge. They should be firm and unyielding to their trust, yet loving and tender.

Mr. Meade, warden of the state prison at Auburn, N. Y., says: “Till the nature of criminals undergoes a complete change, nay, till the nature of man is much altered, there will be times when punishment must be inflicted on prisoners. Much as we have gained on using the modern reformed treatment, and much as we may justly expect to gain in the future, the fact remains that there are times in the prison life of men when the results of their former passions crop out irresistibly, making them for a time not accessible to friendly reproof. At such times, for the effect it has on others, but quite as much for its effect on its misdemeanant, it is necessary to forcibly bring him to recognition of his obligations and his duty. But to my mind forcible restraining, or to employ the common term, punishing a convict, does not require the use of the paddle or other instruments of torture; furthermore, in my judgment, such process should be condemned in the strongest terms. For they tend to imbitter not only the man punished but all prisoners against the officers of the prison, the rules of the prison, and law itself. One instance of the use of the paddle would do more to destroy the desired friendly relation between officers and men than many months of considerate treatment could restore. No! Experience has proved to me that when it is imperative that an inmate be punished, the screened cell or dungeon without discretion furnishes an effective mode. Such cells should be kept dry and well ventilated, but wholly devoid of furnishings. Confining men thus and supplying them with a very limited amount of food and water has, in the great majority of cases which have come under my observation, speedily brought the desired result of making a man see the advisibility of abiding by the regulations of the institution.”

There are also other ways, however, of vividly impressing the minds of those who are disorderly, or who insist on not observing the prison rules. Most prisons have what is called “short time;” that is, for good behavior their sentence is shortened so many days each month, and in some prisons a certain percentage of the worth of their labor is placed to their credit for good behavior. One of the effective ways of bringing them to time when they become stubborn and rebellious, refusing to obey the rules, is to withhold the commutation, or short time, and also deduct so much of the compensation money that has been placed to their credit. This is generally much more effective and pleads to the reason and common sense of the prisoner more than some forcible persuasion by way of corporal punishment.

For certain offences some are black-listed to be punished in various ways. One is, during working hours or while others are resting or at services on Sunday, the disobedient convict is to march for a few hours around the prison square and carry a heavy piece of railroad iron, weighing from fifty to one hundred pounds.

The Black List.

Captain Smith, a few years ago, in giving his biennial report of the Kansas prison, said: “The discipline has been carefully looked after and as a general thing prisoners yield to a strict discipline better than most people think. They seem to see and realize the necessity of rules and very seldom complain, if they violate them, at the punishment that is sure to follow. Our punishments are of such a character that they do not degrade. Kansas, when she established her penitentiary, prohibited corporal punishment. She is one of the few states that by law prohibits the use of the whip and strap, taking the position that it is better to use kindness than to resort to brutal measures. I have often been told, and that too by old prison men, that it is impossible to run a prison and have first-class discipline without the whip. Such is not my experience. We have had within our walls perhaps as desperate men as ever received a sentence. We have controlled them and have maintained a good discipline second to none in the country. How did we accomplish this? Our answer is, By being kind but firm, treating a man, although a prisoner, as a man, and if he violates rules, lock him up and give him an opportunity to commune with himself and his Maker; also give him to understand that he is the executioner of his own sentence, and when he concludes that he can do right, release him. It matters not how vicious, how stubborn, or what kind of a temper he may have, when left with no one to talk to and an opportunity to cool down and with the knowledge that when he comes to the conclusion that he will do better he can be released, he leaves the cell feeling very different from the prisoner who leaves the whipping-post after having received any number of lashes that the brutal officer may desire to inflict. One goes to his work cheerful and determined to behave himself; the other dogged, revengeful, and completely humiliated, only lives in hope that he may at some time take his revenge upon the person that ordered or inflicted the punishment and upon the state or country that would by its laws tolerate such a brutal or slavish practice.”

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Being put to death for crime or some misdemeanor is termed capital punishment. This is not the most painful but is the most heinous of all punishments. It is a heathenish practice, yet men make laws, sit in judgment, render decisions, pronounce sentences, and thereby shed the blood of their fellow men, trying to hide behind the laws that are made, trying to screen themselves by the Bible, hoping all will be well in the day of judgment. Because of such lawmakers and lawyers, many are sentenced and hurled into eternity without being prepared to meet God. Will God hold us innocent if we do such things? or if we cry not out against such, will he not look down upon a government and nation stained with human blood? Surely there is guilt that must be removed. When the judge rises and pronounces the death sentence, to ease his conscience in the matter he sometimes quotes from Genesis 9:6: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Even though that scripture could apply in such cases in those days, it can not at the present time. It is true that under the law of Moses life was given for life as a punishment. For many trivial things people were stoned to death, even for the breaking of the Sabbath.

“Then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”—Ex. 21:23-25.

“Then thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”—Deut. 19:21.

“And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.”

We are not living under the law of Moses in this day and age of the world, neither are we justified by the law, but we are living in a different dispensation. Paul says the law of Moses was a law of bondage, and through Jesus Christ we are free from that bondage. The law of Moses and the prophets were until John (Luke 16:16), and we now live in the dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and nowhere does he give men the privilege of making and enforcing laws that would make the taking of man’s life justifiable. We do not read the instructions of Jesus Christ to be “Life for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” neither by way of rendering the sentence of the law upon those who have taken the life of their fellow man, nor by acting upon the impulse in taking revenge for personal offence or injury. In speaking of the law of Moses and what was written concerning the people of olden times, Jesus in that memorable sermon on the mount said: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”—Matt. 5:38, 39. Jesus Christ taught the law of love, even taught that we should love our enemies and do good to them that hate us and despitefully use us. He taught that people should show mercy to their fellow men. Even when wicked Cain slew his brother Abel because of a slight offence, and though he feared that men would put him to death, God gave him to understand that he would not have him put to death, but that he should be protected from such a penalty, although his hands were stained with his brother’s blood.

In Galatians 5:4 Paul gave the people to understand that they were not justified by the law of Moses; he said: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Neither are people justified in the sight of God for making and enforcing laws that will take the life of their fellow men. Merely quoting the words, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,” will not remove the guilt. To call such lawmaking and enforcement heathenism does not give full expression to the subject; nay, it is barbarism in the extreme. Some may severely criticize these terms and the views expressed here, but we fearlessly assert that such is truth. We are glad to know that a few states in our so-called land of liberty have become awakened on this line and refuse to make or enforce such a law. Those who still try to hide behind the law of Moses, why not carry out that law in full and stone to death every man or woman who breaks the Sabbath?

There is another side to the picture. It is sometimes the case that a man who is put to death is innocent of the crime for which he is charged. Whether innocent or guilty, a great number of those thus punished pass into eternity unsaved. With many of them it has been an act performed on the impulse of the moment. Their former lives, perhaps, have been upright, viewing them from a standpoint of morality. Again, it is often the case that a family is left in a critical condition to battle for life with this cold world. A delicate wife with helpless children must thus be weighed down in sorrow and bereavement, poverty staring them in the face, crushed with shame and disgrace, with no one to provide for them and no help nor special protection from the state whose laws have forever removed the one to whom they looked for maintenance and protection.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT.

Life imprisonment is an unjust sentence. Life prisoners are those who have received their sentence for murdering a fellow being. In many cases, however, they can not really be classed as criminals. They are victims of circumstances. The deed was not premeditated but was brought about on the impulse of the moment. The sentence of a lifelong imprisonment forever deprives of the liberties of freedom and the association of friends and relatives, and the only hope of freedom is an escape, then to remain a fugitive from justice. Mr. Meade in his report suggests that the life prisoner should be allowed the same privilege of commutation or short time as is given other prisoners, and in this give him a hope of release. There are tables which insurance companies use (and they are supported by the courts) which fix an average limit of years of the existence of a man, computing from the first year; the interval beyond the present age naturally decreasing as old age approaches. He says: “It would seem that these tables furnish a foundation on which a system for life prisoners should be based. For instance, a man twenty years of age is convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for life. Our tables show that the average number of years for a man of that age still to live is approximately thirty-four. Figuring the legal commutation on this term of thirty-four years, we find the prisoner would be compelled to serve about twenty-three years of solid time. A man thirty years old would on the same basis, having about thirty years to live, serve eighteen years; a man forty years old, having about twenty-five years to live, would serve sixteen years in prison. Thus we might continue our observations indefinitely.”

My views of this matter may be severely criticised, nevertheless we do not consider that five years is unreasonably short for the first offence of murder. This releases the innocent man who may have been sentenced through circumstantial evidence or otherwise by false accusation. It is a long sentence for a man who has acted on the impulse of the moment or in a fit of anger; and even to the one who has premeditated the crime, five years of hard labor and proper training in a prison will be an impressive lesson to cause him not to repeat the act. For a second offence it should not be more than ten or fifteen years, and even for a third offence it would not be out of reason to give him the life sentence with the regular commutation. This reasoning may to many at first thought seem ridiculous, but upon proper consideration we should remember that as long as there is life there is hope, and while there is a possibility of reformation a man should have some kind of a chance; not only a chance to reform, but a chance to enjoy his liberty. Even after he has served two or three terms he is not then a worse character and not more dangerous to a community than thousands of others who are just as guilty but have not suffered the penalty of the law. When a man has served according to the penalty here suggested, has he not suffered sufficient to satisfy the law? and should we not be willing to allow him the privileges of liberty and to enjoy life once more? It is a hard heart indeed that will place a man behind prison-bars for life. In England there is a possibility of being set at liberty after twenty years, on account of good behavior. There needs to be a radical change in our laws on this line.

THE DUNGEON.

This is the dreaded place of all prisons and in many places resorted to oftener than necessary. Many prisoners who work in the mines have had to go to the dungeon without their supper after laboring hard all day, because ungodly and wicked guards reported a shortage in the proper amount of coal mined, when the facts of the case were that the guards had stolen or removed a portion of the coal from the car after it left the prisoner, because of their dislike for the prisoner and by so doing could have him punished. It also too often happens that prisoners refuse to work as they should, and deserve the punishment. It is not necessary to here describe the filthy, stifling, odorous dungeons of war times or of some of the worst prisons of the day, but a description of the dungeon of one of the best prisons in our land will be sufficient. The following is a description given by one who served a term in prison. In describing the punishment to secure good discipline, he said:

“To me these contingency dungeons are, as their name implies, dark, with similarity to an ordinary cell with the exception of a door which in the common cell contains open spaces for the admission of light, but the dark cell admits no light, and not a sufficient quantity of air. There is no furniture in this dark cell. While undergoing punishment if a prisoner desires to rest he can do so by reclining on the stone floor. No refractory prisoner ever grows corpulent while confined in these dark cells, as he receives only one meal of bread and water in twenty-four hours. The prisoner is often kept in one of these cells from eight to ten days. Sleep is almost impossible. When a prisoner enters the dungeon he is required to leave behind him his coat, cap, and shoes. During the winter months it is often very cold in these cells, requiring the prisoner to walk up and down the dungeon in his stocking feet to prevent his freezing, and this for a period of ten days in nearly every instance compels submission. After the dark cells thaw out in the summer months they are excessively hot. Sometimes in winter the temperature is below zero, and in summer it often rises to 100 degrees. They are then veritable furnaces. Generally after the prisoner undergoes a freezing or baking process for eight or ten days, he is willing to behave himself in the future. They are sometimes so reduced and weakened that when brought out of the dark cell they can scarcely walk without aid. I have seen them reel to and fro like drunken men. They are often as pale as death. In many cases the prisoner contracts cold which later on terminates fatally, and this is one of the principal objections to this mode of punishment. If the prisoner in the mine does not get out his regular weekly task of coal, on Saturday he is reported to the deputy sheriff by the officer in charge and is sent to the blind cell before supper and kept there until the following Monday morning, when he is taken out and sent to his work in the mines. While in there he gets only bread and water once in twenty-four hours. This is a great inducement to work, which certainly prevents criminals from shirking their labor, and soon converts the lazy tramp into a hustling coal miner. If being in this dark cell ten days and nights is insufficient to subdue a rebellious spirit of the convict he is taken out and placed in the solitary cell. This is similar to the ordinary cell with the exception that it contains no furniture. Here the convict remains on bread and water until he is starved almost to death or until he is willing to submit and do his work as ordered.”

The Cat-o’nine-tails

CAT-O’-NINE-TAILS.

A few years ago while visiting an Indiana penitentiary the warden said that some years before they used the cat-o’-nine-tails in punishing their prisoners, but had discarded that mode of punishment. There are men both in prison and out of prison who carry furrows and scars on their backs caused by the deep flesh wounds of the cat-o’-nine-tails. This is a whip with lashes some of which have wire interwoven so as to cut the flesh with every stroke. The poor prisoner must bare his back and be chained or shackled to a post and beaten by a merciless officer, who is often only too glad to wreak his vengeance in that way. It is yet the case in many prisons and stockades that a similar punishment is inflicted with the exception of not so many lashes, and a strap is sometimes used, from two to four inches wide, made by sewing two pieces of harness leather together. The same is perforated, soaked in water over night, and dipped in the sand. This, when vigorously applied to the bare flesh, causes the most excruciating pain. This is not in the least overdrawing the picture of what is constantly put into practice at the present time.

BUCK-AND-GAGGED.

This is another dreadful punishment which is still in vogue in some places. The prisoner is taken and handcuffed, his hands slipped over in front of his knees and sometimes a stick passed through just under his knees and over his wrists, his mouth opened ofttimes by force, and filled with a large cork or piece of wood, and left in this condition until life is almost extinct. This punishment is serious and is apt to make the prisoner revengeful instead of making him feel that he has been justly punished.

THE LOCK-STEP MARCH.

The Lock-step March

The lock-step march is a humane punishment, yet when continued a great length of time is very tiresome. Prisoners who have been guilty of some trivial offence during the week, and who are not otherwise punished, are generally called upon to fall in line and proceed to the open square of the prison, and there while the other prisoners are resting or at chapel exercises they must keep in constant motion in the lock-step march. This punishment is not as severe as some others, yet it is not a desirable punishment, especially when the others are all enjoying a rest or comfortably seated in the chapel during religions services. When the hundreds of prisoners are gathered in the chapel on Sunday morning and comfortably seated, the warden or some other officer reads the names of those who are to join in the lock-step march. It is not for them to retaliate nor plead their innocence, neither wait to be told the second time. As soon as their names are called they must immediately rise and as the last name is called they are all marched out to the prison yard and there begin their tiresome march. Some who have committed greater offences must walk in front and carry heavy bars of iron. This punishment is given to stimulate them to observe the proper rules and discipline of the prison.

LITERARY PRIVILEGES.

The literary privileges are so widely different in the various prisons throughout the land that it would be very difficult to render the proper information. There are some penitentiaries, and especially the stockades of the South, without libraries, and many prisoners even serve a term without being granted any educational privileges whatever, either by way of literary work or reading of good books. It is more difficult in the stockades to give the literary privileges than in other established prisons. However, there are states with established penitentiaries that have not provided the same with libraries and proper literary accommodations. On the other hand, many of the penitentiaries have established schools wherein prisoners can obtain a fair education. For instance, the Michigan state prison more than twenty-five years ago established graded schools, and all prisoners who have not a fair education are required four evenings of the week to attend these schools for an hour and a half. In this way the prisoner is not only benefited, but it brings him under a new line of discipline that enables the officer in charge to become familiar with his mental condition and capabilities and more fully understand the dispositions of those under his charge. Men who are thus drilled and properly cared for, after going through this discipline day after day, cause less trouble to those in charge. In the prisons where the most humane reformative system of management is used there can be many things brought to bear upon the minds of the prisoners that will tend to elevate them and fit them for the higher circles of society. By the proper treatment and privileges they will soon learn to have a taste for literary work. A few prisons give the prisoners the privileges of general literary work, such as delivering orations, recitations, essays, debates, etc. These things, while they educate and develop the mind, have a tendency to divert the mind of the prisoner from the feelings of disgrace and the deplorable situation; and instead of spending hours brooding in despondency it awakens an activity of the mind and new thoughts for consideration during the solitary hours.

Every prison should supply each cell with a Bible. Many do this while others do not. The prisoners should also have access to the library and permission to call for any book in the library. Where they are thus looked after it is the duty of certain prisoners to go to each cell and learn what book is desired for the coming week and to take up the one which was in their possession during the past week. These requests are taken to the librarian and the books selected and distributed according to number. Prisoners who mutilate or destroy the books in any way are denied the privilege of having a book to read for a few weeks. If the offence is repeated the punishment on this line is more severe and they are then neither allowed to receive a book or paper or are refused all privileges of the library and not even allowed to have paper or writing material to communicate with their friends. With most prisoners this is a severe punishment. One who has not been thus incarcerated or had to spend weeks and months in solitude can scarcely realize the value of good books to read under such circumstances. But he who has had the actual experience knows just how to appreciate such a privilege.

During the civil war a number of Union men made a daring raid through the Confederate line and were afterward captured and cast into dungeons where they spent weeks of suffering, amid heart-rending scenes, and notwithstanding their extreme hunger, thirst, and the stifling odor of their dark underground prison and suffering much from their shackles and clanking chains, they were taken from place to place and then brought to trial. Seven of their number were hanged, leaving about a dozen remaining who were expecting to be called out to follow in their footsteps at any time. Through some sudden change or maneuver of war the remainder of these men were left in prison with guards over them and only a meager supply of food. As the seven of their comrades were taken from their midst to the place of execution those who remained were in much distress of mind. During the morning hours before this they had spent the time in playing cards, now and then an oath escaping their lips, but now the scene changed. Some one suggested that they should pray. There was but little hope of them escaping the fate of their comrades and thus soon be hurled into eternity, and what added more to the darkness of the hour was the fact that they had not made their peace with God. One of the surviving party describes the occurrence as follows:

“From this time forward we had religious exercises morning and evening and found them a great consolation and support. We began and closed the day right and thus added sweetness to all its hours, supplying a subject of thought not bearing directly upon our future gloomy prospects and thus enabling us to maintain better mental health. We always sang a hymn or two on these occasions. We sang ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Jesus, Lover of my Soul,’ and others of a pronounced spiritual cast. This greatly astonished the guards. They were given strict charge to watch us closely with the statement that we were the most desperate characters in the whole United States. Then to hear us singing ‘hymns’ and know that we had prayer morning and evening was a contradiction they found hard to reconcile.... What would we not now have given for the counsels and assistance of a minister whom we could fully trust! Just how to be religious was the puzzle. I know if I had a command to execute from an army officer I would do it, if in my power, no matter how difficult or dangerous, and I wished intensely that it was just as easy to be religious as to be a soldier; but there was the question of right feelings and right motives that did not seem to come into play very much in the army. For if a soldier did his duty he was not apt to be asked how he felt about it. I had the belief that I must have joy and rapture in thinking of death and readiness to shout God’s praises, which I did not feel; and for a time it seemed as if I could not reach a genuine conversion. I diligently read the Bible which we had borrowed, and while I enjoyed many things in it, little direct guidance for me was found. I asked counsel of our captain for whom I had the greatest esteem and respect, but it was so easy for him to believe that I thought his case must be very unlike my own, so I spoke to another one of our company, the only one of our number who had a clear religious faith, and seemed to be happy in it. His first answer was very striking. I asked how he felt about death. He thought I referred to our worldly prospect, and answered that probably we would soon all be put to death. ‘But what is your feeling about death itself?’ I continued. He said, ‘I am not afraid to die if it is God’s will. I trust him now and I expect to trust him to the last.’

He took my hand and there was a steady light in his eye that made me believe every word he said. But when I asked him how he got such a faith, he could only tell me that he went to a ‘mourners bench’ two years before and sought till he found it. This did me no good, for there was no place accessible here. In sore perplexity I read the Bible from day to day and prayed, taking my turn in praying aloud and reading with the others. At length I thought I began to see that trusting Christ must be something like taking his words and teachings for my guide, trying to do all that he commanded, and leaving the result while I did this with him. This was not that sudden transformation that I had hoped, but I soon found that it opened up a good many things that I had never dreamed of. One of these seemed especially strange under the circumstances. I had yet but a slender hope of ever escaping from the prison except by the way of the scaffold. But in spite of that dark prospect as an absolute test of my obedience—‘Will you, if satisfied that it is God’s will, be ready to give up the profession of law if you ever get home and go into the ministry?’ The first and spontaneous reply was, No! I had studied law and meant to practice it if I ever got where law reigned. But at once the self response was clear, ‘What kind of obedience was this?’ I saw that I was not sincere in professing to enlist under Christ as my captain unless I would really obey him. It would be a poor allegiance that stopped short with the things I wanted to do. For a long time I could not pass this point. The difficulty when communicated to my prison companions seemed utterly absurd. ‘Try to serve God in the prison where you are,’ they said with a cheer plausibility, ‘and do not bother about preaching, being a lawyer or anything else, when you get out, for you never will get out.’ This seemed good advice but it would not give a serene mind or the victory over the fear of death, which I so much desired.

“One after another of those in the prison found the comfort I lacked. And it was not until wearied and worn-out that I vowed that if God would only give me peace I would serve him as sincerely in prison or out of it as I had tried to serve my country, and in any way he might direct. From this time I did have a steady conviction that I was on the Lord’s side and that I had a right to commit myself and my life to his keeping. Though all newspapers were strictly forbidden, yet through the kindness of negro waiters we were supplied and thus kept posted regarding war news.... We all remember with deepest gratitude the visit of a minister. When he left he promised to send us some books and did not forget to promptly forward them. These we took good care of, read thoroughly to all in the room, and then returned, asking for more. These he generously gave and we thus continued until we had read nearly his whole library. Those only who know what a dreadful weariness it is to pass days without any definite employment can realize the great boon these good books bestowed on us. It made the prison room a veritable school, and in view of our religious efforts the character of the books was just what we would most have desired, as they were of a religious cast, which only made them the more welcome. But there is no employment upon which I look back with more pleasure than that for which the minister’s books furnished us the material. With fifteen persons in a room not more than eighteen feet square it was needful to preserve quiet if any reading must be done. We therefore appointed regular reading hours, two in the forenoon and the same in the afternoon. During this time no one was permitted to speak above a low whisper and all noise and running about was forbidden. Those who did not wish to read might sleep. Sometimes the books were read silently, but for a part of the time in nearly every period a volume of general interest would be selected and read aloud. These books would often furnish subjects and arguments for discussion in the debating periods that followed. We gained a great deal of knowledge in our novel school, which has been of lifelong value. Books of travel, adventure, history, biography, and theology—no fiction—were freely read and brought the freshness of the outside world into our dreary captivity.”

The foregoing gives us a vague idea of what can be done for the welfare of the prisoners in the jails, work-houses, and penal institutions of our land, towards making the prisoners happy by supplying them with good books, tracts, papers, and such like. Oh, the neglect on this line! Were prisoners thus supplied, their minds would not be occupied during the solitary hours in scheming and planning the best modes of perpetrating crime. Get a man interested in a good book and you thus place him in good company. He may never see you, but with deep feelings of gratitude will ever have the kindest feelings toward those who thus bestowed the kind favor of placing him in possession of such a companion.

For the entertainment of the prisoner and to develop an interest in literary work they have been allowed to publish prison papers. Some of these are very small while others are large and well edited. About three years ago at Sing Sing Prison, in the state of New York, it was decided to issue a bi-weekly twenty-six-page paper to be edited and printed entirely by convicts. No article is allowed in the paper except those composed and furnished by the inmates of the prison. When papers are thus printed and distributed among the prisoners it has a great controlling influence and creates a general interest in literary work.

TOBACCO ALLOWANCE.

Most prisoners are users of tobacco, yet there are many who do not use it. Some prisons allow a pound of tobacco a month, some two pounds every month. This is generally manufactured at the prison where it is used. One of the modes of punishment, and a very effective one too, is to deprive the men of their tobacco for disobedience. With many this is one of the most severe punishments instituted. When a man enters prison he is given a copy of the rules of the prison and also a ticket stating the privileges of the use of the library, books, letter-writing, tobacco allowance, etc. Failure to comply with the rules ofttimes means to be deprived of these privileges for a month or longer. Some time ago we placed a number of tracts in prisons showing the evil effects of tobacco on the human system, the filthiness and offensiveness of tobacco, etc., and we were pleased to note the results by way of convincing many prisoners to discontinue the use and give up the habit. While some are able by strong willpower to discontinue the use of it, yet but comparatively few people can in their own strength quit its use and rid themselves of the appetite. But many can testify that they have not only been able to quit its use, but have had the appetite removed by the power of God in answer to prayer.

PRISONERS’ WORK.

Men and women are sent to prison to work. The sentence is generally so many years in state prison at hard labor. It is right and proper that they should work and should be made to work faithfully. It is not supposed that they receive a sentence to enter a paradise for so many years. In the different prisons the work is quite different. There are prisons where the prisoners are required to spend almost their entire time of working hours from 600 to 800 feet under ground digging coal. At some places the veins of coal are so shallow that the prisoners are compelled to lie down and stretch themselves out or be in a half-way sitting posture while at their work. Such prisoners often contract colds, rheumatism, and other diseases which rapidly shorten their lives. In other prisons they are taken out in gangs to work on the public highways and crush stone. However, some prisons furnish the prisoners work within the prison walls. Much of this labor is let out to contractors who have a business of making clothing, harness, whips, brooms, etc. In such cases the contractors pay the state a small amount each day for the labor of the prisoners. Many complaints have been made, and many of them justly, because of the unfair requirements and treatment of the prisoners. This should be more carefully looked after by the prison inspectors of the state, and we are glad to know that in many places it is receiving attention.

The time for working ranges from ten to fourteen hours per day. In the United States prison at Leavenworth, Kans. they rise at six o’clock, and when the men are ready to go to their work, three hundred of them march two miles and one-half to their work, a hundred more go two miles in another direction to work on a farm, while others are otherwise occupied till six o’clock in the evening. As a general thing, if the prisoner is careful to obey the rules and work well, he is not likely to have much trouble with the officials. However, in some prisons very few escape extra punishments of some kind.

THE STOCKADES.

The stockade is an enclosure, or pen, made with posts or sticks stuck in the ground. It is generally a temporary affair. These are to be found in the South and Southwest mostly. Here is where the worst treatment is to be found among the prisoners. Some of the southern states are providing better for their prisoners, but others are far behind what they should be. A stockade is sometimes made on the top of a mountain or in some suitable place for working mines. In these southern states not only mining is carried on by the prisoners, but building of roads, railroads, and such like. For instance, where a railroad is being built, large cars are roughly and strongly built in which the prisoners are locked when not at their work. Women in some of these places are required to clear the land, roll logs, do drudgery, and in many instances are so shamefully used and treated that it is a disgrace to a civilized nation. But while such is the case there are noble men and women who are not connected with the prison, as well as many of the more noble prison officers who have been working faithfully for years to bring about a prison reform, and much has been done and is being done on that line. However, could the veil be drawn aside that all might fully realize the situation, the reformation would be more rapid and effective. The stockades do not have literary privileges as a general thing as do our older and well-established prisons. We have received communications from officers in these stockades who are very anxious to have good literature placed at their disposal, assuring us that the same would be highly appreciated and used to the advantage of the prisoners.

THE CHAIN GANG.

It is not an uncommon thing to see a chain gang of prisoners, especially about the stockades. Sometimes they are marched to and from their work shackled with handcuffs, while others are fastened with clanking chains. There are also men to be found with iron bands or rings welded around their necks, to which a chain is fastened with the other end of the chain attached to a ball to prevent their escape. These are generally the most desperate characters.

To those who are acquainted with such scenes it is shocking indeed, and creates a feeling of pity and sympathy which calls for a more humane treatment in behalf of the poor unfortunates. There are men who serve almost an entire term of sentence in stocks or irons, or go to their work in the chain gang, because of a lack of proper provision of accommodations on the part of the state or government, or by unjust, inhumane treatment.

Few men have fallen so low in sin and degradation, or have been so hardened by crime, but yet have at least a spark of humanity or manhood which can be kindled to a flame by proper humane and reformative treatment; where, on the other hand, an undue amount of the imposition of irons and chains causes them to grind with revenge, and seemingly the little spark of manhood is seared over with a more hardened conscience, leaving him still a criminal almost beyond redemption.

The Chain-gang.

THE FELON’S CELL.

When one is taken to serve a term in prison, has exchanged his citizen’s clothes for a suit of stripes, is measured, and a full description is written in the prison books, he is taken to a cell which is to be his future abode during his confinement, except what time he is at work, at his meals, or is otherwise stationed by the prison officers. We can here only give a description of what is commonly found to be a prison cell. It is a small iron room with a stone floor, and when two convicts are to occupy the same cell, there are two bunks or beds in the cell. The bed-rack is made of iron or wood slats, and the bed-tick is generally filled with corn-husks or some similar material, likewise the pillow. When the beds are not in use they are fastened to the side of the wall with a chain. When down and in use they take up nearly the entire space of the cell, so that it is impossible for the two occupants to pass each other in walking to and fro. The other furniture generally consists of a small tinbucket holding about two quarts of water, and a washbasin. A short-handled broom is also found in one corner of the cell with which the convict brushes it every morning. The walls are either iron or stone, decorated with a small looking-glass and a towel. Each cell contains one chair, as there is not room for two; so that when one sits on the chair the other stands or occupies a seat on the stone floor. The door is made of half-inch iron bars crossing each other at right angles, leaving spaces about two by six inches. Through these spaces come the air, light, and heat.

To give the reader an idea of how one would naturally feel on the first introduction to such a place, we will give it in the language of a prisoner, who says: “After examination I was shown to my cell. It was now about two o’clock in the afternoon of my first day in prison. I remained in the chair during the entire afternoon. Of all the dark hours of an eventful history none have been filled with more gloom and sadness than those of my first day in prison. All my life I moved in the highest circles of society, surrounded by the best and purest of both sexes, and now I was in the deplorable condition of having been hurled from that high social condition down to the low, degraded plane of a convict. As I sat there in that desolate abode of the disgraced I tried to look out down the future. All was dark. For a time it seemed as if that sweet angel we call Hope had spread her wings and taken her departure from me forever. The black cloud of despair somewhat settled down upon me. But very few prisoners possess the ability to make anything of themselves after having served a term in the penitentiary. I sat brooding over these things for an hour or more and my manhood asserted itself and hope returned. I reasoned thus: I am a young man, I enjoy good health, there will be only a few months of imprisonment, and then I will be free. I thought of my loving wife, little children, my aged mother, my kind friends, and for their sake I would not yield to despair. Soliciting aid of a kind heavenly Father I resolved to do the best I could toward regaining what I had lost. I was aware of the fact that when I got out of the penitentiary all the money I would have with which to make another start in life would be five dollars. The United States presents her prisoners upon discharge with a suit of citizens’ clothes and five dollars. This was my capital.”

Truly such a sad condition would be deplorable, but the prisoner can only assert his manhood, lay his plans for the future, and determine to rise above it all, which is not impossible. Many have risen to a good standing in life. What has been done can be done again.

Prisoners who are sentenced to be hanged are generally taken to a cell in the execution house separate from the other prisoners. The convict thus doomed spends the time in this prison and is not required to work. A few months ago I visited a prison, and in the execution building I found two prisoners in solitary cells. One seemed to have made his peace with God, but the other was in deep trouble over his soul, was not ready to meet God, and had only a few more days to live. It seemed he could not pray. He had been reading his Bible and other religious books, but hope had almost fled. After talking with him for a time, I said, “Young man, your time is short unless God in some way intervenes. If you have been guilty of crime and are trying to hide it from your fellow men or denying the charge, you can not hide it from God. Acknowledge before him the facts as they are and call upon him for help.” After praying with him for a while he gave vent to his feelings in most earnest pleas to God, crying out, “I am a murderer.” He continued his earnest pleas until the Lord did forgive him. A week or two later when the death sentence was read to him in his cell, he was ready, and made the remark that they could only take away his breath, for his soul would be forever landed in peace. I saw him march up to the gallows, and as his legs and arms were being strapped and a rope tied about his neck he glanced heavenward as if breathing a silent prayer, and when the electric signal was given, he dropped into eternity.

THE LIBRARY.

While many prisons are not yet supplied with a library, there are efforts being made on this line for the education and elevation of the minds of the prisoners. For those who have already received an education there are many valuable books in the library to furnish them something to occupy their minds at such times as they may have to read. Some states furnish so many thousand books and an appropriation of $500 a year for library purposes. Among the books furnished are scientific works, history, biography, and others of a religious and moral nature, together with many novels and works of fiction. The Christian people of our land should see to it that a greater number of books of a real spiritual cast are placed at the disposal of prisoners.

About two years ago, after receiving some earnest letters of appreciation and thankfulness from prisoners who had received books and papers, a deeper sympathy was awakened in their behalf. For some days I became greatly burdened in behalf of a certain prison, concerning supplying the prisoners with a library of good books. Not knowing whether they had a library or whether the prison officials would receive the books and put them into the hands of the prisoners, I hesitated. As the burden for this matter could not be so easily thrown off, my next step was to visit the prison and make investigations through the prison officials, and was not a little surprised to find they were without a library, though at that time were preparing a large library room, intending to make a plea to the people for a donation of books. As soon as the room was finished it was my pleasure to see that $1000 worth of well-bound books were placed in the library for the prisoners, being donated by those who have an interest in the men behind the bars. It has also been a source of gratitude to know that these books have been appreciated and enjoyed by the many prisoners who read them in their cells and in the library.

In some prisons about twenty per cent. or more of the prisoners are unable to read or write. For this reason schools are being formed where such, especially those who desire to do so, can have a chance to receive an education. These schools are generally held in the library room and taught by one of the prisoners.

THE CHAPEL.

The chapel is the place where prisoners get most of their public instruction aside from what is obtained in the library. It is not often that they have the privilege of attending educational lectures as if they were attending a college or public school; however, in our better prisons steps are being taken to give the well-behaved prisoners advantages on this line occasionally. The general meetings on Sunday are held in the chapel, to which the prisoners are marched in regular order, where several hundred are in weekly attendance. The chaplain generally conducts the regular services or has ministers from the city to take their turns in preaching to them. Prison evangelists are often given the privilege of talking to the prisoners or visiting them at their cells for the welfare of their souls. There are prisons where all visitors and gospel workers are admitted free, while other prisons charge twenty-five cents admission fee. Aside from what is known as the regular chapel services, the prisoners who desire to meet before that hour or remain after, in a social religious prayer-service or Bible class, can have the privilege of doing so. All prisoners are allowed to sing at the general services, although they generally have a select choir. One man in giving a report of the prison choir said: “At one time we had two horse thieves, two rapists—one with a sentence of forty years—three murderers, two hog thieves, and several others with equally villainous records.” It would be difficult at such a place to select a choir that had a clean past record. While these men were criminals when incarcerated, some of them will doubtless always remain criminals, while others have so reformed as to be worthy of a better name.

Many prisoners during their confinement actually get a real experience of salvation, and those desiring to be baptized by immersion go from the chapel to the laundry, and there in a well-filled tank or long troughlike tub receive the ordinance of baptism. The chapel does not have stained-glass windows nor the finery of many modern church buildings; nevertheless the place is supposed to have everything neat and in order, and the men are to observe the strictest decorum and reverence while in attendance.

SCALING THE PRISON WALL.

There are in almost every prison those who are called “trusties”—prisoners who are given the privilege of doing work outside of the prison, going on errands, etc., without the presence of a guard. Others have unusual liberties within the prison walls. Life prisoners and those who have received a sentence for a number of years and have not yet made up their minds to reform, often give the officials considerable trouble in trying to make their escape; although, as a general thing, life prisoners are well-behaved persons. There have been some noted and desperate efforts made to escape prison. Desperate characters have used all their ingenuity in devising plans for an escape and watch an opportunity to raise an insurrection at a critical time. There have been times when the insurrection was so great as to defy the prison officials, and the disturbance could only be quelled by the daring boldness and wisdom of the warden or general officer in charge. When a number of desperate prisoners get such an advantage they will fearlessly face death rather than yield. A few such noted instances are on record. It is, however, very difficult for a prisoner to make good his escape. If successful he must go under an assumed name and always be a fugitive from justice. If a failure is made he is apt to have to serve his full sentence instead of having advantage of the commutation of “short time.”

Scaling the Prison Walls.

Bloodhounds are kept at the present time for the purpose of capturing those who try to make their escape, and there are men behind the prison walls who carry ugly scars made from deep flesh wounds by the bloodhounds during the time of their capture. There are times when a fire breaks out in a prison which must receive immediate attention of all available help. It is at such times that desperate characters undertake to raise an insurrection and make their escape. Many prisoners have been known at such times to show their manhood, and offer their services and manifest their loyalty by aiding the officers in keeping the prisoners in subjection and in extinguishing the flames. Such prisoners should be highly rewarded, and many of them shortly afterward receive their pardon in honor of their loyalty and good principles shown. The prisoner who desires to have favors shown him in prison should, upon first entering, decide to obey the prison rules to the best of his ability. Anything to the contrary will bring the ill favor of the prison officials upon him. An attempt to escape will not be forgotten and he will be very closely watched and denied many privileges which he could have otherwise enjoyed, and is not apt to be made a “trustie.” It is therefore a wise plan to decide upon perfect submission from the beginning of the confinement.

A PRISON REFORM.

The highest ideal of prison life is not simply punishment for evil doing, but should be a reformation in the lives of those who are thus incarcerated. We are glad to know that there is really a reformation being brought about in the rules and government of the prisons in our land.

It is said of one of the kings in a country in Europe that, being desirous of knowing how the common people lived, he dressed himself as a peasant or tramp and went about from place to place among the poorer class of people, and while thus lounging about the city he was met by a policeman who demanded him to give an account of himself. Not giving the proper satisfaction, the policeman hurried him off to a dungeon-like cell. The prisons under that king’s domain were in a sad condition—dirty, filthy, alive with vermin, and were most degrading places. Thus the king was obliged to spend the night in such horrible quarters, which was in great contrast to the royal palace. However, it was a night well spent, though but little enjoyed by the king. He was touched as never before by a sympathetic feeling for the poor unfortunate human beings who were cast into such places. He at once ordered a renovation of all the prisons throughout his kingdom.

Aside from our penitentiaries, there are jails, work-houses, and places of imprisonment, many of which are allowed to become filthy, with lice and other vermin in almost every crevice, making the place not only extremely unpleasant but unhealthful to every inmate. No doubt if many of our lawmakers and other influential people of our country were compelled to spend a few days or nights in such prisons there would speedily be a great reformation in the prisons of our own land.

Aside from cleanliness and government of prisons and jails there is a reformation in which we can all have a part, and help to point the unfortunate ones to Him who is able “to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.”—Isa. 42:7. A number of our penitentiaries have comparatively good libraries furnished by the state; some have not yet been supplied with libraries; and even among those that are supplied there are more novels than good, wholesome religious works. However, in some prisons each prisoner is supplied with a Bible of small print, and there has been an earnest plea from the prisoners for good, wholesome religious literature by way of books, tracts, papers, etc. Our jails have as a general thing been sadly neglected on this line.

A few months ago we made an effort through the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company, of Moundsville, W. Va., to supply jails and prisons with small libraries of good unsectarian religious books, such as would be a benefit to the prisoners and tend to lead them to a higher aim in life. We were soon greatly surprised to realize the demand from prisoners for such literature. A few hundred jails were thus supplied with libraries and religious papers. It was almost astonishing to learn in reply by their letters of appreciation that in many places they had never been thus remembered before. Some prisoners had been in for a number of months without any religious reading matter and scarcely any one to visit them.

Being thus reminded of a lack of duty brought to mind the words of Jesus, as mentioned in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, wherein he was speaking of the end of time when the nations should gather before him and he would separate the good from the bad. And we read where he says, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.... Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

My dear reader, how will it be with us when we appear before the King in all his glory in that day? Can he say of us that he was in prison, and we came unto him? Or shall he be compelled to utter these words: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me”?

While we enjoy our beautiful homes and the pleasures of life and freedom, the question comes directly, Have we done our duty toward the prisoner? Have we visited Jesus in the prison? We may not be able to go there in person, but we can visit them by providing them with silent messengers by way of good books, tracts, papers, etc. There are doubtless thousands of professing Christians who never gave a dollar to help a prisoner, who never visited a prison in person or in any other way. There are those who could spend hundreds of dollars in supplying prisons and would not feel the weight of it financially, but we should make an effort on this line by giving to the extent that we may feel the weight of the sacrifice, and thereby God will be greatly glorified and many prisoners led to seek the Lord and live a pure and holy life.

Some of the most intelligent and highly educated men are found behind the prison-bars and fill felons’ cells. It is not always the man of low type, ignorant and uneducated, that thus meets his doom. There are men and women from every class of society. There are men who are hardened in crime, whose consciences seem seared, yet none so hard-hearted, none so low down in the depths of sin that they have not a spark of manhood to which there is an appeal. Brutal treatment will not reach such specimens of manhood; however, they must be brought under strict discipline of the requirements of servitude and given to understand that perfect obedience is required; yet with all that, when they are told in a kind, gentle, loving manner and given to understand that they are entitled to the best privileges of the prison as they deserve it, that little spark of manhood will soon be kindled into a flame. There are prisons where a small per cent. of the monthly earnings are placed to their credit, which in a few years amounts to a large enough sum to give them a fair start at the time of their release. If they are disobedient, so much is taken from their credit. But aside from the kind moral treatment there must be something more effective. The hearts of these hardened criminals must be changed by the power of God. The prison officials who fail to realize or recognize this necessity have to a great extent failed in their reformative efforts. Every effort possible should be extended in behalf of the spiritual welfare of the prisoners.

Tracked by Bloodhounds—Captured.

There is an evil existing in our jails and work-houses that is startling and alarming, nevertheless it continues throughout the breadth of our land. A young man or wayward boy is arrested for some trivial offense; it is probably the first time he has been guilty of thus breaking the law. He is placed behind the prison-bars to await a preliminary hearing before a justice of the peace. He is then liable to be sentenced for from thirty to ninety days in jail, or bound over to court, which is to be in session a few weeks or months later. In the meantime he is confined in the jail to await his arraignment before the court.

Let us now take a look at the jail itself and its inmates. It is well secured with solid walls, iron doors, and prison-bars. There are a few private cells, a broad hallway, and large room into which from five to fifty persons are confined. Sometimes even a greater number are thus imprisoned without grade or discrimination of crime. The tender youth must intermingle with those who are steeped in sin and hardened in crime. He is here taught to play cards, read novels, use vulgar and profane language, practice the most vile habits, plan for burglaries, and comes forth a rogue at heart, and a hardened criminal. Otherwise, had there been the proper discrimination, separating those who are just starting on the downward course from the hardened criminals, there would be a reformation in their lives instead of a degeneration. These are facts that can not be denied—facts that stare us in the face, and are sad truths that will continue to hover over us, as it were, until the good people rise up and protest against it for a proper reformation on this line. The good people of our land would be surprised, yea, stricken with consternation, were they to visit most jails and work-houses and make a thorough investigation, to behold the filth and general sanitary condition of the place, which is infested with lice and other vermin.

It is right and proper to send people to jail or prison who will not behave themselves. They need both punishment and reformation. This can be done effectually and with good results if the proper course is pursued.

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY.

WRITTEN BY A PRISONER.

In 1863 the state was admitted as one of the constellation of states of the union. Virginia had seceded from the union by a majority vote. The strong and indomitable minority citizens of the Old Dominion residing in the western part of it, many of whom were Scotch and Irish descendants and natives of the adjoining states, who had taken up their homes in the valleys and on the hillsides, were loyal to the Union, loved well the flag, and reverenced with an undying affection the builders of the union of states for the greater blessing of the people, and stood firm and unyielding for an indivisible united country. By their hands and brave hearts they built a state stretching from the Potomac to the Ohio river, carved out of the Old Dominion. The war-born daughter of the historical commonwealth proved, in the subsequent years, to be rich in the production of materials in active demand in the marts of commerce, and she now outstrips her mother state in the race for greatness, prosperity, and happiness.

Many regions of the state are mountainous, and the principal industries are lumbering, mining, and oil production. Many of the white people are typical mountaineers and somewhat rough and uncouth in manner, while the negroes, many of them, have drifted from North and South Carolina, Alabama, and other southern states to be employed in the development of these industries.

There are very many respectable farmers, professional and business men, and cultured ladies residing in these almost inaccessible parts; but the rough element in many places predominates, and the order of the day and night is drinking and brawling, ending as a rule in desperate encounters and murder. Most of the white and black inmates of the penitentiary have been and are now composed of the lawless men from these regions, from the time it was only a stockade of ten acres in 1866, when Hon. J. W. McWhorter of the Tenth Judicial District was appointed warden by Governor Boreman. He resigned the position after viewing it. In a letter to Warden Hawk he states it was for the reason that there was not so much as a building erected for the shelter of the inmates, and he thought he could not work the convicts to advantage under the circumstances. The penitentiary has been improved from time to time to the present, by additions, until it is a massive structure of stone and iron, with a high stone surrounding wall. It has 695 inmates at the present writing.

The center, or main building, is built after the old baronial castellated style of architecture, and with its several stories height, it makes an imposing appearance. It is flanked on the north and south by the stone and strongly-barred buildings, wherein the old and first built stone cells and the modern steel ones—900 in all—are placed. Entrance is to be had into the prison proper by means of a round turning iron-barred cage in the main hallway of the central building.

The cell-building halls are kept in a neat and clean condition; the cells are in good sanitary condition and are kept in good order by the inmates, many of whom are artistic in taste and paint and make many fanciful designs as adornments of their small sleeping quarters. The yard, limited in area by the shop, dining-hall, engine and hospital buildings, is artistically laid out in grass-grown plats and flower beds in season. Around the area of space on brick-laid pavements the prisoners are permitted to walk in columns of two according to grade for exercise during the afternoon after working hours, and Sabbath forenoon prior to and after chapel services. At the four corners of the penitentiary walls are stone turrets where armed guards are placed from four o’clock a. m. to 9 p. m.

Upon West Virginia establishing a state government, Wheeling was selected as the capital where the legislature met in session in 1863, with Hon. Arthur I. Boreman as chief executive. The prison was located in 1866 at Moundsville, Marshall Co., then a beautiful village a few miles from the seat of government. The location, for drainage and sanitary conditions, might have been better selected from one of the many surroundings hills than in the midst of the village in the valley on the banks of the Ohio river.

Moundsville has since the location of the penitentiary there, grown into the eighth city in population of the state, and is now a manufacturing and resident town possessing daily and weekly newspapers. Modern improvements prevail, with water and electric light systems and street-car lines connecting with Wheeling and adjoining suburbs. The magnificent mound erected by the Mound Builders many years gone by for the burial of their dead, to be seen near the penitentiary, is one of the attractions to the thousands of persons who visit the locality.

Hon. G. S. McFadden, of Moundsville, was the first active and practical warden of the penitentiary. With the means at hand he made many praiseworthy improvements for the amelioration of the inmates during his incumbency. The condition of the prisoners during the four years past and now, is a vast improvement over the old system. Skilled and humane prison managers for many years were wanting. The condition of the inmates was at times deplorable in the extreme. The methods of punishment in vogue were extremely severe, the work laborious, the clothing of the zebra kind, the lock-step exacting, the supply and kind of food indifferent and bad. The employment of the prisoners on the state account or under contract was unprofitable, and expenses for the prison’s maintenance piling upon the taxpayers, who made just complaint. Loud demands were made by the people of Moundsville and throughout the state, conversant with the deplorable condition of the affairs of their penal institution, for a change.

After Governor Atkinson’s inauguration, March 4, 1897, he appointed Colonel S. A. Hawk as warden of the penitentiary. He was at the time of his appointment a well-known business man of Huntington, Cabell Co. For a number of years he was also known as a popular employee of an Ohio river steamboat running out of Huntington. He was at one time a successful merchant, hotel-keeper, contractor, and during President Harrison’s administration as President he was an official of the Interior Department in charge of the public domain in Arizona Territory.

Prior to the incumbency of Warden Hawk the West Virginia penitentiary had for years been running behind the legislative appropriation many thousand dollars annually, and not much, if any, success was made in the reformation of the prisoners. Altogether the prison was in bad order when he took hold as warden, he not only introduced reformatory treatment with respect to the prisoners, but he has made the institution bring to the state an actual profit over and above all expenses for maintenance. Warden Hawk took hold of the penitentiary management May 1, 1897. He discovered that his predecessor’s method of punishment was principally solitary confinement. Twenty-seven or more prisoners were undergoing the punishment on bread and water, and they presented a pitiable condition. Their labor was lost to the state; their mental, moral, and physical health undermined; hope seemingly was blasted, and they were strangers to God. The warden turned the key and liberated these men and put them to work, which they gladly expressed a willingness to do.

He adopted the new and advanced method of prison management in line with up-to-date penalogists; viz., The grade system, plain clothing in lieu of stripes, more and better food, first-class medical attendance, every prisoner at work, more personal liberty and exercise granted; he made himself approachable to those prisoners having a grievance, and in so far as he could within the bounds of true discipline, rectified them. Religious worship was fostered and encouraged; punishment for willful infractions of the rules and regulations governing the prison, sure and certain, by black-listing from special privileges, for a period of thirty days or more; the lock-step, by carrying on the yard an iron weight during working hours, and in extreme cases of fighting and other reprehensible misconduct, corporal punishment with a leather strap was inflicted, or by buck-and-gag. Other changes of a minor but not less ameliorative nature were made conducive to the moral welfare of the inmates.

To bring about these humane changes many and substantial improvements were made in the way of buildings and additions without cost to the taxpayers, for the prison was more than self-sustaining, and a handsome sum of money was on hand for this purpose.

PRISON LIBRARY.

January 1, 1900, Warden S. A. Hawk completed the erection of a two-story brick addition to the prison dining-hall. The second story room, 40×40 feet, was dedicated by him to the use of a library and school. The fixtures were placed in the room but there were only a few mutilated books at hand to begin with. E. E. Byrum, President of the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company of Moundsville, hearing of the situation, offered his gratuitous service to the warden to aid him to build up the library to a respectable proportion. Upon the assurance given him that there was no available appropriation to purchase books for the library, Mr. Byrum called the attention of the members of his company to this state of affairs, and upon their advice and with their consent, a splendid lot of artistically bound religious and other suitable books valued at $1,000 was placed at the disposal of the warden for the use of the prison inmates. So grateful were the prisoners, the warden, and prison employees at the generous gift that it was

Resolved, That the prisoners of the West Virginia penitentiary, through Warden S. A. Hawk, tender their grateful thanks to E. E. Byrum and to the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company, Moundsville, W. Va., for the very welcome gift of books placed in the prison library for their use.

This fine gift of standard literature, including 500 song-books, was a nucleus for the building up of an excellent library, few equaling it in the state.

Thousands of circular letters were mailed by the warden to the leading citizens of West Virginia and leading publishing houses of the country asking for donations of literature. The responses were generous—donors sending from one book to cases containing hundreds of books. One year after the opening of the library twelve thousand standard religious and secular books and magazines were donated. It is true many of them were second-hand and worn, except those received from the publishing firms—such as the people of the state could afford to give.

The library represents to every inmate the warden’s desire that every one of them should feel that an opportunity for newness of life to them is open, and in such opportunity may be found an ample encouragement of good purposes and well-meant efforts. Better life, better men, hence a hope for the prevalence of improvement.

A night school from 5.30 to 7.30 p. m., for two hundred and more illiterate white and colored inmates, ranging from seventeen to seventy-two years of age, was begun in the library at its opening, without intermission during every week-day of the year. The good result has been more satisfactory in the teaching of spelling, reading, arithmetic, geography, and writing than the most sanguine could have anticipated. Every one of the illiterate prisoners at the end of the year can read. The attendance of the pupils, thirty-two white and forty colored, being voluntary on their part, alternate nights. The prisoners are visited at their cells every Saturday evening by assistant librarians (who are employed in shops during the day), with slips in hand, and their order taken for whatever book or magazine they may ask for. The magazines are securely bound, three in one volume, minus the advertisements. The number of the cell is taken down with the prisoner’s serial number. The literature is carefully selected by the librarian and made ready for his assistants to place in the inmates’ cells, and each book is charged to the prisoner by his serial number, to be kept for one week. If, however, the book is one that can not be read during the regular period of time, upon application, a further period of a week is allowed. The books issued the previous week are collected and returned to the library, there to be carefully examined, for intentional mutilation the culprit being black-listed and deprived of the use of books, at the pleasure of the warden. At the first and several issues thereafter illiterate and mischievous prisoners marked their books, but by judicious use of the black-list and reprimand the practice on the part of these culprits ceased, and they cheerfully refrained from committing themselves again, and they are now most careful of their literary treasures. For a period of seven months of the year no reports for mutilation of books have been made.

The following are most in demand: Mothers’ Counsel to Their Sons, Pilgrim’s Progress, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, The Kingdom of God, Divine Healing of Soul and Body, Grace of Healing, Boy’s Companion, and Letters for Our Girls—the last being in demand by the female inmates, there being twenty-seven white and colored of them. Many books on tobacco and its effects were also issued to the inmates above named. The books are a part of the Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company’s donation. From close observation of the readers of all this admirable literature the good results are carefully and conscientiously given as follows: Mothers’ Counsel to Their Sons is in constant and steady demand from young men to the “manor-born” of West Virginia. They are a unique, original, and reverent body of criminals. Far too many are illiterate, possessed of high, lofty, and impulsive dispositions, their very souls throbbing with vitality, their eyes beaming with inspiration, doubtless inspired with the magnificent scenery of their native and well-beloved state. Their hearts and minds seem to expand with the thought ever present with them, “Mountaineers will ever be free.” While restraint is irksome to them, they are, however, sensitively susceptible to kind treatment. They love their mountain homes and hearth-stones and cherish with fond remembrance the parents at home, and they are keen to read literature that brings these close to their prison home.

Pilgrim’s Progress is called for by older inmates from other states, white and colored alike, and also those from foreign lands, some of whom have enjoyed the benefit of early home religious training or have been picked up during their wanderings around the world and about the country. They seem to get much good from their reading of John Bunyan, his temptations, trials, and triumphs. All of these men continue in their demand for Gospel Trumpet literature until they have read all of the different volumes of the donation. A marked and decided improvement is noted in the good discipline and the attendance at religious services of all of the readers of good literature and the warden and guards are pleased with their exemplary behavior. The warden has found it convenient to stop altogether the issue of tobacco to the inmates, doubtless accounted for by readers of “Tobacco and Its Effects,” who are now non-users of the weed. It is to be hoped that the contractors do not issue to their employees as much tobacco as heretofore. May the use of it grow less until in as well as out of prison its use may be entirely eliminated.

RULES TO BE OBSERVED BY PRISONERS WHEN USING THE LIBRARY.

Rule 1st. Upon entering the library prisoners must promptly remove their caps and go to their seats in a quiet manner.

Rule 2d. Chewing tobacco, smoking, or spitting on the floor is strictly forbidden.

Rule 3d. Books, papers, or stationery required by any prisoner can be had by raising the hand and asking the librarian or teacher.

Rule 4th. Undivided attention must be given to the teacher; his instructions promptly and respectfully obeyed, and the whole time of the prisoner who is learning must be devoted to study.

Rule 5th. Books, magazines, and papers will be issued for not longer than one week. Care must be exercised not to mark, tear, or mutilate them in any way.

Rule 6th. Should a violation of any of these rules result in a prisoner being reported for punishment, he will be black-listed, and denied the privilege of school or library.

Rule 7th. The privilege of the library will be given to prisoners of exemplary record, where they will have free access to books, magazines, and papers, after working hours.

S. A. Hawk, Warden.

LITERATURE FOR CONVICTS.

The Greenbrier (W. Va.) Independent says: “A short time ago Judge McWhorter of our town shipped to S. A. Hawk, warden of the state prison at Moundsville, a lot of books, magazines, etc., donated by himself and others. We are permitted to publish Mr. Hawk’s letter to the judge in acknowledgement of the donation:

“‘Your fine donation of literature came to hand to-day (March 10), for which please accept my sincere gratitude. I am gratified to inform you that from donations received from the generous people of West Virginia and some few publishers, I have about 10,000 volumes of books and magazines—the latter securely bound and covered. The library is indebted to the Wheeling Intelligencer and News for very many daily exchanges. The library room is 40×40 feet, handsomely furnished and fully equipped.

“‘I have an evening school of sixty pupils—thirty colored and thirty white, boys and men—the hours being from 5 to 7.30 p. m. Their progress is very satisfactory. Taking into consideration that I sent out my appeal for literature January 20, 1900, I think that I have met with unprecedented success, for which I am certainly grateful.

“‘I feel conscious that the new and more liberal system of discipline inaugurated by me since my management of the prison, and the many improvements made, is a duty I owe my charges and for the future protection of society, because these men feel that the hand of every man is not raised against them and that upon their release they will be encouraged to make of themselves useful citizens.

“‘Assuring you that I completely appreciate your kindness, I am sincerely yours,

S. A. Hawk.’”

THE BIBLE CLASS.

Had been in an intermittent state of organization from 1890, with but moderate success. Some two years ago (1899) the Gospel Trumpet people took an active interest in the welfare of the Bible class, which meant that henceforth renewed and intelligent effort was to be made for the future. The class under the new order of arrangement and new infusion of God’s Spirit greatly increased in membership in a short period of time. To this class of earnest Christians the Gospel Trumpet people and denominational ministers of Moundsville give their attention and best effort in their respective turn, every Sabbath morning from 8 to 9 o’clock. The commendable progress the members of the class have made in their work is to a large extent due to these ministers of God. Very many remarkable conversions have been brought about, and baptism given by the ordained ministers from the Gospel Trumpet office.

NOTABLE REFORMATIONS.

Serial No. 2282—A veteran inmate from Randolph Co., aged 56 years, received at the prison in 1892 to serve his natural life for the crime of murder, this being his second term for the same kind of crime. About twelve years ago he was pardoned by the governor upon well established grounds of mitigating circumstances connected with the alleged crime.

For the second term he has been an inmate for nine years. He is a large man, six feet in height, with a good looking face and possessed of a warm and tender heart. His prison record is exemplary, and he is employed in the tailor shop, filling a responsible position. Four times has the Bible class selected him as their class-leader, recognizing his Biblical learning, industry, and signal ability at prayer and exhortation. He says that during the years prior to the aid given to the class at the hands of the Gospel Trumpet people, he was somewhat lukewarm in his class work. However, with their hearty assistance and material aid he took on a new spirit and inspiration for more and better work for God. He is much encouraged by the many conversions made and by the growth of the class. He canvassed for subscribers for very many Gospel Trumpet literary works; of these and the Gospel Trumpet paper, he is a constant reader.

Serial No. 2320—Received from Cabell Co. in 1892 to serve a life sentence for murder, is a young man of fine education, culture, high resolve and noble purpose, a scion of Christian family residents of Ohio. The crime into which the unfortunate man was probably led appears to have been a concocted scheme made up and he enticed to join in, for the purpose of putting him out of the way in order to accomplish certain designs his enemies had against his life and property to be inherited by him. To make sure of their work the railroad officials and detectives were put on the job, so, when he and his companions made the attempt to stop and rob the railroad passenger train, they were fired upon by a posse of armed guards, which they returned, killing one of the passengers. He was seriously wounded, losing the use of his right arm.

He was converted several years ago and baptized. His health has long since been undermined by confinement and he is in a precarious condition, but above all things else he is a true Christian and child of God and entirely fit to be pardoned and restored to society, home, and friends. He has served one year as leader of the Bible class, and owing to his lovable disposition, learning, and industry he gave entire satisfaction to his classmates.

Serial No. 2547—Received from Fayette County in 1894, for murder, to serve his natural life in prison, age at the time 20 years, is a notable example of complete reformation within the prison-walls. He is a native of Virginia, raised to do hard work in the coal mines, where he was without much, if any, advantage to enable him to obtain an education. Possessed of natural abilities and doubtless awed by the shadow of the gallows from which a loving sister saved him, and the prison environments, he purposed to obey the prison rules by industry at his employment and civility toward the prison officials and his comrades. It seems also that early upon his entrance into the penitentiary he resolved to be a godly man. He taught himself how to read his Bible while in his cell at night. Attending the Bible class he learned how to pray. He gave his heart to God one Sabbath day while listening to a sermon. His classmates selected him as their leader and he served so satisfactorily that during the end of Governor Atkinson’s administration he was pardoned by and through the untiring effort and devotion of the sister who had saved him years before from the gallows. One and all rejoiced and prayed God that the Governor, at the end of life’s journey may be rewarded for the mercy he granted even unto the poorest and lowliest prisoner in the penitentiary.

Serial No. 2504—Received from Berkley County in 1894, for grand larceny, to serve a term of twelve years, upon entrance to the prison started in to make it unpleasant for the prison officials by stubbornly refusing to work and by violent acts of misconduct. It was found necessary to punish him severely several times. He was one of the prisoners in solitary confinement when Warden Hawk took hold of the prison. He was released with others, and at once taken in hand by the warden for individual treatment. A good position was given him in the laundry and other privileges granted to him as well as good counsel given and amiably received. It was soon observed by the prison officials that he was a constant attendant at the chapel Sabbath services, then at a pathetic and prayerful invitation went forward one Sabbath day and gave himself to the service of God and was baptized. He was in charge of the Bible class for a while. He was recently released by habeas corpus proceedings on the ground that having been committed to the penitentiary on two sentences, one for four years and the other for eight years, from different counties, the greater sentence embraced also the lesser one, in that the date of sentence in each case commenced from the day of sentence.

A close Biblical student and possessed of considerable natural ability, power of prayer and exhortation, it is hoped and expected that he will continue to be a worker in the Lord’s vineyard.

Serial No. 3595—Received from Monongahela Co. in 1898, to serve a term of four years for grand larceny. Upon entering the prison he became an active worker in the Bible class. He is an exemplary prisoner and thought well of by the warden and prison officials. It is expected that, upon his release, his experience in prison will make of him an efficient Christian worker. Possessing some ability and ambition as a hymn-writer, herewith is a sample:

“A BROTHER OF JESUS.”

A brother of Jesus, a comrade to fight,

A brother to conquer, and strive for the right,

A brother in daring, a comrade indeed,

A brother to venture, whatever the need.

A brother in spirit, when dangers surround,

A comrade in courage who stands his ground,

A brother who’s faithful, loyal, and true,

A comrade who fights, and fights his way through.

A brother for heaven, who stands by the cross,

A comrade obedient, whatever the cost,

A brother who’s ready and willing to die,

A comrade who will not his Savior deny.

A brother on duty, by day and by night,

A comrade who’s trusting in Jesus’ great might,

A brother so Christlike, O Savior, I’ll be

A comrade in purpose, sacred to thee.

DEGENERATES.

Serial No. 4035—Was received from Pocahontas County in 1898, to serve two years for horse stealing. He claimed upon his entrance to the prison to be a “preacher.” It is alleged by persons who know his life and character that he is an old and experienced horsethief, who had served many terms of imprisonment in the different penitentiaries of the country, and was looked upon from a criminological point of view as a moral degenerate of the first degree. While playing the role of a “mountain evangelist” in the county from whence he was committed to the penitentiary, he there applied his first and only calling, as a horsethief of the first degree. Upon his introduction to the prison he professed to be very religious, and stoutly maintained that he was an innocent man much maligned and persecuted. He was made janitor of the chapel, doubtless owing more to the fact that he was a cripple, having only the use of his left hand, and a glib talker and not of use elsewhere.

He soon ingratiated himself into the good graces of the visiting ministers, who looked upon him more in pity than aught else, and they extended to him charity which covers a multitude of sins. He did active and good work, however. Upon his release from prison he made loud professions of reformation and made pretense of going to serve God and by so doing become a good citizen. It was, however, soon after his release observed by persons interested in his welfare that he was secretly treading the path of wickedness. Soon he was a fugitive from justice with big rewards offered for his apprehension and conviction for the larceny of many horses from the farmers of the state and of Pennsylvania. Sheriffs of many counties were on the lookout to apprehend him. Recently the sheriffs ran their quarry down and landed him in the Mineral County jail and doubtless he will soon be returned to his old familiar quarters, there to once more ruminate the error of wrong-doing. It might well be said of him with Pope, “Why formed so weak, so little, and so blind.” He has received another sentence of ten years in state prison.

PATHETIC.

Serial No. 3984—Under sentence of death for the murder of his brother-in-law, is an object of great pity. This man for the love of his sixteen-year-old boy murdered a man, for which deed the law demands his life. He and the man murdered were both wealthy farmers at Terra Alta, Preston Co., West Virginia. Last November (1900) his boy was arrested by the brother-in-law for breaking into the cellar of his house and getting drunk on his cider. He had him indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of one year, which angered his father, who took a shot-gun and shot his brother-in-law dead in his own barn in the presence of a hired man. The father escaped and lived in the mountains a month, gave himself up, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to be hanged Feb. 15, 1901.

His neighbors, who were kindly disposed to the erring man, at once put in circulation a petition to the Governor praying for a commutation of sentence to life imprisonment. His wife signed a remonstrance against granting the petition of her husband’s friends. However, the governor, in order to enable the condemned man’s friends to present the petition to the advisory board of pardons for their consideration, granted him a respite until April 13. Upon his arrival in the penitentiary he was permitted to see his wayward boy, and the scene between father and son was truly pathetic.

HUMOROUS.

Serial No. 3715—An illiterate white boy from Calhoun County, to serve two years for grand larceny for stealing a heifer, sensibly availed himself of the privilege afforded by the warden to attend the night school. He made remarkable progress in his studies, so that he could read and write a legible hand. He was so elated with his success that he stated before his release that he was glad he was sent to the penitentiary for stealing the heifer to procure money to take his girl to the county fair, for now he had a fair education and could get on better in the world.

MEN EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The West Virginia Legislature passed an act February, 1899, viz.: “The sentence of death shall in every case be executed by hanging within the walls of the penitentiary and not elsewhere. The officers of the court imposing sentence may be present, and twelve respectable citizens, a physician and surgeon, and such representatives of the press as the warden may desire; and the condemned may by request have his counsel, ministers of the gospel, and such relatives as the warden may deem prudent.”

Serial No. 3745—Colored, of middle age, who had served a term in the penitentiary for stealing, was brought to the prison in 1899, from McDowell County, to suffer the penalty of death Oct. 10, 1899, for the unprovoked murder of a “scarlet” negro woman. Upon his entrance into the prison he asked for and was given a Bible, which he constantly read during the time he awaited to be executed by mandate of the law. Ministers of his race paid him frequent visits, anxious to aid him in spiritual and temporal affairs. He professed sincere religious belief and that upon confession of faith he would be saved, yet he did not seem to accept with good grace the assistance offered him by the negroes.

During his former imprisonment while he was employed to clean and scrub the guard-room and the main-building hallways, he frequently met the chaplain; so he made request to the warden that he be sent for to pay him a visit. The chaplain responded at once and devoted much of his time to giving religious consolation and words of good cheer. He, however, constantly maintained that he was innocent of the crime charged; that the negro with him at the time of the shooting was responsible for the woman’s death, by means of a shot-gun. He doubtless was possessed of a scheming mind, and hoped that he might by some means escape the penalty for his crime. Many negro prisoners as well as white ones deeply sympathized with him, for he was considered a “good fellow” when they knew him in prison as one of their number.

A collection amounting to $50.00 was taken up from among the prisoners to pay a lawyer to procure a copy of the record of his trial to enable him to file an appeal to the Supreme Court for a new trial. The lawyer received and acknowledged the receipt of the money, making in return therefor full and profuse promises what he would do to save his life. He took and spent it for liquor, became drunk on the money, and did not turn a hand to save the life of his confiding client. The unfortunate man, hearing of the reprehensible conduct of his attorney, and the time near at hand for his execution, grew despondent and weak mentally and physically. He was baptized, professed repentance, confessed he murdered his mistress, and the night of his execution between the hours of 12 a. m. and 1 p. m. it was found necessary to administer powerful stimulants to brace him up for the trying ordeal. With zeal and courage his spiritual advisor prayed, counseled, and assisted him to the scaffold. His neck was broken by the fall and his death was painless.

Serial No. 3746—A splendid specimen of the young mulatto, possessed of a fair education for one with the limited opportunities within his reach, by occupation a coal miner. He was received into the prison from McDowell County under sentence of death for the willful murder of a sixteen-year-old negro boy, while he was in an intoxicated condition; also to be executed Oct. 10, 1899. He asked for and was given a Bible. He was a musician, playing the guitar with skill, and possessed of a fine tenor voice he was fond of singing hymns, which he did with pathos, rhyme, and music, to the delight of his hearers.

He stoutly maintained that his victim was not intentionally but accidentally shot by him; that he accidentally fired his pistol into the dwelling wherein the boy was domiciled out of his sight. Upon learning that the boy was wounded, perhaps fatally, he procured a doctor to whom he paid $50.00, all the money he had saved from his earnings, to save his life. The boy proved to be wounded beyond the hope of recovery and soon died. The chaplain also ministered to the spiritual welfare of the prisoner and became much impressed with the young man’s apparent religious sincerity and his plausible story of innocence of murder. So much was he interested in him that he made personal and strenuous efforts to save his life. The Governor was appealed to, the Attorney General was called upon for assistance to procure a copy of his trial record, and statements made by him were investigated, and the whole matter submitted to the pardon board for their consideration. After an exhaustive and painstaking consideration of the facts submitted to them the pardon board concluded that he lied and was in fact guilty, and should suffer the penalty for his crime. The Governor, after the conclusion of the pardon board was made known to him, paid the prison a visit. He called upon the doomed man in the death-cell, and the latter made to the Governor a most eloquent and pathetic plea to save his life. With tears streaming down his cheeks, the Governor kindly said, “Would to God I could do so, my boy, but the facts as presented to me are undeniable as to your absolute guilt.”

Now knowing that all hope for escape from the gallows was gone and that he must die, he read his Bible, sang gospel hymns, and played his guitar. He confessed that he was in fact guilty of the crime and was now content to suffer death, as he believed he had made his peace with God. He was baptized, and his demeanor to the scaffold from his cell was admirable and brave. He firmly ascended the stairway leading to the death-trap, stood over it without a tremor while his hands and legs were strapped and the rope adjusted about his neck. When asked by the warden if he had anything to say, he replied in a manly and firm voice, “I have made my peace with God. I am guilty. The causes of my downfall were whiskey and women. Jesus will take me and I am ready and willing to die.”

Serial No. 3772—Colored, was received at the prison in 1900, from Fayette County, to be executed for the willful murder of a prominent negro saloon-keeper who refused to furnish him more liquor when he was already drunk. He asked for a Bible, and when it was given to him he seemed to be pleased, and constantly read it. His attorney, however, was skilled in criminal law, and was an indefatigable worker. The prisoner, an intelligent colored man, peaceable and quiet when sober, believed that he would not have to suffer the penalty for his crime. Strenuous efforts were made by his attorney to save his life. The Governor and the board of pardon were respectively appealed to, but the guilt of the man was so conclusive, and the murder so unprovoked, that at all points his appeal for clemency was refused. He bravely and uncomplainingly paid the penalty decreed by the law and professed his belief in the saving power of Jesus.

UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.

Serial No. 3944—Committed from Wirt County, under sentence of death for the brutal murder (by means of an ax) of his wife and step-son, a child in years, the motive being to obtain money to be inherited by them, is a constant reader of the Bible, and at all times is ready to argue passages of the Scriptures with any one who will do so with him. His attorneys secured for him a stay of execution pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Serial No. 3972—Colored, was committed from Kanawha Co. in 1901, for the brutal and unprovoked murder of a negro on account of some money won by gambling. He is a large, middle-aged, gross-looking negro, who has served a term in the penitentiary for stealing. From his life record he appears to have been a vagabond, gambling, preying on the people of his race for a living. He is possessed of some education, a glib tongue, and appears to have made some friends among white people, whom he says are his only friends and are the only persons who will give him any assistance in his effort to escape the gallows. He was to be executed March 22, 1901, but his attorney procured a stay of execution until April 25, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. He is a constant reader of the Bible.

AN INNOCENT MAN.

Serial No. 3789—Committed to the prison in 1899 for twelve years, from Jefferson County, for the alleged crime, in company with other persons, of entering the Potomac river bridge toll-house at Shepherdstown and robbing Richard Morgan and wife, whom they bound and gagged, is an unfortunate victim of untoward circumstances. Evidence has come to light, proved by affidavit, that he is innocent.

THE PRISON CHOIR.

The prison choir is made up of a number of good singers, white and colored, the latter predominating. They are under the skill and direction of Mr. Chas. E. Woodburn, a well-known business man of Moundsville, who has devoted a number of years of his valuable time to these boys as well as to the chapel services, and aided the warden in providing amusement on holidays for the inmates.

APPEAL FOR A PAROLE LAW.

West Virginia Penitentiary,
Moundsville, Jan. 1, 1901.

Dear Sir: Gratified that the generous people of West Virginia have in response to my letters of appeal to them dated Jan. 20, 1899, for donations of literature enabled me to build up a library for my convict charges to 12,000 volumes of books and magazines, I desire to further trespass on their generosity by asking for your support to bring about another measure of reform, viz., a parole law.

The parole law is in force in a number of up-to-date state penitentiaries with remarkable success, bringing protection and good results to society. It saves trouble to prosecuting attorneys and criminal judges, and enables convicts to gain their liberty solely through their individual efforts. For instance, by virtue of the criminal statutes a convict may be sentenced for the minimum of one year or the maximum of five years. The criminal judge upon conviction of the prisoner on trial imposes an indefinite sentence. The convict after the expiration of one year may become eligible to parole if his record is exemplary. Two reliable citizens are required to become surety for the convict’s employment and future good conduct, then he is paroled.

Upon violation of any of the parole conditions, he is returned to prison to serve the maximum sentence. If the convict is a man of family, he is enabled to provide for them; and if he is a single man, he has a chance to become a respected member of society and no longer a menace thereto. Respectfully yours,

S. A. Hawk.

THE WRITER’S LIFE.

That the reader may know and perhaps become interested in the writer of this sketch of the West Virginia prison, he herewith respectfully and modestly submits to them a sketch of his life. I was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1844. My parents, possessed of more than the ordinary education the poor people of Ireland were enabled to receive, journeyed across the American desert to California, having their troubles with the Indians and their Mormon allies. My father hoped to strike a gold mine and become rich, and in the new Eldorado build a home and surround his wife and children—a girl and boy—with all the good things of earth that money could buy. Soon after our arrival at San Francisco, the cholera made its appearance, the plague having been brought to the golden shores of California by emigrants traveling from the east by way of Central America. My father was stricken with it and died. In the Lone Mountain cemetery, of the metropolis of the Pacific coast, he has lain buried for years. The remainder of the family escaped the dread fifty-one disease. Mother was left to struggle alone in a strange land and among strangers to provide for her children. Not afraid of work, she did her duty to her children nobly, faithfully, and well. She now lies buried beside my father in Lone Mountain cemetery, twenty years gone by.

The war-bugle of the Rebellion rang in my ears and woke me to the realization that I had a country to protect and to save. I enlisted in a California regiment of cavalry and served three years with some merit. Upon my discharge from the army I entered an Illinois college to perfect my neglected education, and after graduation I located in Kansas City, Mo. I began at newspaper work, and have continued in that line of work to the present time, with occasional lapses from it to engage in other and more lucrative employment. A soldier of the civil war, having been wounded, injured, and having contracted disease in the line of duty, I was prompted upon McKinley’s election as President to apply for a pension. I went to Washington, D. C., to press my claim in person with the Commissioner of Pensions. He turned me down after I had some words with him relative to his delay in granting to me that which was mine by legal right and title, expressed by the American people through their representative in Congress assembled, and in fulfillment of promises made to the men who saved the nation. Somewhat addicted to the drink habit, I became drunk at my disappointment and the next day I found to my surprise that I was in the police station charged with breaking into and entering a small grocery in Washington City, two miles from my place of dwelling. The alleged damage inflicted was small, but Justice Clabaugh, who had recently been appointed from Maryland, said to me that five years was little enough for the alleged crime.

Serial No. 378.

LETTERS FROM PRISON OFFICIALS.

PRISON LIBRARY DESTROYED BY FIRE.

Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Lancaster, Neb., March 7, 1901.

Dear Sirs: Your consignment of eight books at hand, which is very much appreciated. We are doubly unfortunate at the present time, as we have just lost our entire library by fire. We realize too with you that imprisonment is the turning-point for the better in some men’s lives, as we see it exemplified here. At some future time we will send you for publication the views of some of the above men who believe they have been benefited by their prison experience.

Thanking you again for the books sent, and in advance for any books you may see fit to send us, we remain, Yours respectfully,

——, Librarian.

Clinton Prison.

Dannemora, N. Y., March 8, 1901.

Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co.,
Moundsville, W. Va.

Gentlemen: The books and tracts so kindly forwarded by you for the use of the prisoners in this prison have been received, and the note enclosed to the warden handed me for reply. Having charge of all literary material that comes into the prison, I take great pleasure in acknowledging receipt of same; and would extend to you my personal thanks, as also the gratitude of those whom this material was designed to benefit.

I am glad that the spirit of the “inasmuch” as inculcated by the Lord Jesus, in relation to those who are in prison, is occasionally manifested, and that the rush and friction of wordliness does not wholly shut out from view the moral and religious needs of the “men behind the bars.” The good people to whom you refer in your letter, who are endeavoring to supply our prisons with good and wholesome literature, are entitled to great credit for their efforts in this direction, in these last days of the dispensation. May the blessings of our Divine Master be with them in their good work. Sincerely yours,

——, Chaplain.

Iowa State Penitentiary.

Fort Madison, Iowa, March 17, 1901.

The Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co.,
Moundsville, W. Va.

Gentlemen: The books sent by you to the penitentiary have been received, and will be placed in the hands of the men. Thanking you for the same, I am, Sincerely yours,

——, Chaplain.

Onondaga County Penitentiary.

Syracuse, N. Y., Jan. 17, 1901.

Dear Sirs: Received three packages of books from Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co., Moundsville, W. Va., for the benefit of the convicts in our institution. Hope the gift is accompanied by the prayers of all concerned in the donation. Yours truly,

——, Chaplain.

Kansas State Prison.

Lansing, Kans., March 6, 1901.

The Gospel Trumpet Pub. Co.,
Moundsville, W. Va.

Gentlemen: We have received to-day your donation of books to this prison. We assure you that this gift of books is highly appreciated by us, and will be of great benefit to the inmates of this institution. We wish to thank you and others who are placing these books in the prisons of this country. Thank you for donations of the “Gospel Trumpet” to prisoners each week. Yours truly,

——, Chaplain.

BOOKS WANTED FOR FEMALE PRISONERS.

Penitentiary at Anamosa.

Anamosa, Ia., March 6, 1901.

The Gospel Trumpet Pub. Co.,
Moundsville, W. Va.

We received this day one copy each of “The Kingdom of God,” “The Better Testament,” “Mothers’ Counsel to Their Sons,” “Divine Healing,” “The Secret of Salvation” (English and German editions), “Songs of the Evening Light,” a Bagster’s Teachers’ Bible. I find we have now seven copies of the book “The Secret of Salvation” in our library. We are obliged for copies of these and shall hope to inclose them in our revised catalogue which we hope soon to publish. You perhaps are not aware that we have a female department to the prison, but seeing “Letters of Love and Counsel for Our Girls” listed, leads me to refer to this fact. Your letter to the inmates is appreciated. Yours truly,

——, Acting Chaplain.