The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-04-16
RATE OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.

SCI 4.a :
RATES OF ADVERTISING.
One square, one time, 20 line or les 70 con,
Bdtute q square, ,I...................u 90
each additional time, e,......,.-... 50
one eek,-.-.-..---...... 3 90
Two Weel ...--.......--.--- 01
e. ..-.............' Q W
WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY.
lilarij iE5tA J-h5i AEii
The Late Report of the Directors.
ThS Plan OF BuiIdinE Ad6pted.--
Other PenitentiarIes and Their Con-
yIcts-.-E Executive asAppOInfments----
Necessity foraThOrough REFORM
The Next tLeSiSlnture.
Editors Intelligeacer: o.
The estimated amount Of stone re-
quired TO complete the Penitentiary. in
my remarks to the Herald yesterday, I
took from your paper of the 9th inst.
1t struck me at the time as large, but as
extrayag agance ts the order of the day
with our public servants, and your
statement so uniformly correct, I Yen=
tureH to take it as a basis of calculation
NOT having seen the Directors, re.
port, which, 1t seems by your paper to-
day, WAS. made,t to the last Legislatures.
For some cause or other they don'tsend
me copies, Butthe advertisement they
put in your paper was for 500 perch
of dimension stone=T1, SOC. perch more
than their reported estimate; and be-
fore making their rreportitappears they
had contracted for 4, 900 perch of stone
Of some kind. q These facts show al
ready consid derable enlargement Of
the" Innate made in the report, aud
with other facts that appear, may, make
the estimate of s., 900, as stated in your
paper of the 9th inst, not far from cor
rect, in reality. .liltr'a
the plan which L see Is proposed
In their report, a copy. of which has
Just been handed me by friend, looks
70 me very Objectionable in many re-
spects; and especially its size and style
Of finish, They say II is the plan
adopted by the State OF Illinois-which
now contains about 9, 600, 600 OF people
-fn constructing its Penitentiary re-
Gently built at Joliet and which I'm '6S,
contained over 100 conyicts, Why did
they not copy, SO far as size Is concerned, /,
from some State containing a popula-
ton something near the number of
ours, as Maine, with population, in
go, OF 81, ,266-nearIy double that of
ours-with one States prison only, and
that at ThoWAston, in which, in 81,
was an average number OF 1l2
'convicts, and conducted on the Auburn
plan; or New Hampshire, with a
population of 326, ,0sS, which has but
one States Rrfson, which is at Concord, !,
and has an average OF about 119 con-
victs; or Vermont, with a population of
315, JIG, and one States Prison, which
Is Windsor and has an average of
about 95 colivicts; or Connecticut, with.
a populstion of 460, 147, which has but
one States Prison, and that at Wealth
erstield, In which are on an average 100
conytcts? The epopulatioho of these last
named States tapproach most nearly
that of ours, (Which is not more than
$40, ,000,) and like ours, are rural and ag-
ricultural people. AI4
Let us now examine the plan the Di-
reCtors report they have adopted. And
first, its sizer 1t is the plan, as before
stated, recently adopted7by the great
State Of Illinois, which has six times as
many people as ours, and probably ten
times the wealth, and with all her other
public buildings built and paid for.
The Superintendents house is to be s.
feet in front, and three stories high.
above the basement. ~ On the right and
left of the Superintendent's house are
to be cell-buildings each 1S4 feet long
by 90 feet wide, and four stories high
above the ground, and each wing or
cell-building to contain 240, or both 4S0
Cd4AdA ANAlGA WIZ ut tleflSL
4S0 convicts at a time. Is 1t to be ax-
,pected that our population is to. sup
ply this number Ofc onvicts-four times
the number of the other States named
after expending the large amounts of
money and making the efforts to build
churches and schoOl-houses that we
have and are doingP trust not. Be-
sides these buildings, the Directors pro-
pose to inclose seven acres of ground
with wall 80 feet high, including the
portion below ground, 8 feet 9 inches
thick, which is TO inclose the various
WORKSHOPS. z - 55t eE Y
But the Directors say the Superin
tendent's house and one wing, with 240
cells, is all that will be needed for some
time to come, and SO propose to erect
the entire walls of the WholeF building,
and finish and complete the exterior
now, but to finish, fit up and furnish
for the present, only the Superintend-
ent's house andEon wing, and leave
the other for postertty to finish and fill
up. What complimentary legacy to
transmit to our posterityi The crum-
bling, ,iinteriofally unfinished and un-
tenanted wing of that Penitentiaryl
Besides how profitable to the State Will
be the Investment
But they propose to complete and fin
I6H.NHG CAlGAAOA Vi -Gh6
inc1uding the Superintehdent,s house
and both rings, in The ''eGStelLGted gothic
8tyLeJni. The word "castellated" means
s'adorned with turrets and battlements,
like a acastle',-a sentiment akin TO the
one OF our Legislature last winter on a
subject itindefinitely it postponed. Who
would not be a convict with such en-.
couragement and baronial accommodA-
ions provided for himf. The moral
sense and taste of the world heretofore
have been, to make their Bastiles and
State Prisons objects OF. terror and re-
pulsion, rather than ornamented, in
Wiling retreats like the plan proposed.
Who can doubt but that 1t Is another
hospital folly Or swfndle2 II,
Robert Hosea, Esq, of Bethany, an
experienced stone mason. informed me
to-day that he is, now engaged for the
Pennsylvania Railroad in building
abutments, composed of dressed stone
which he furnishes, prepares and lays
fol, $3.50 a perch. lsE a1
~ Isubmit that our people have butone
course to pursue, which Is to elect men
tothe nextLegisl shall pledge
themselves in writing beforehand, and
whose established character shall be
their guaranty, to arrest at once the
present fatal course, clean out all cor
ruptionists and constitutiOn-breaker
Of whateyer party OF. religious denomi-
nation they may profess to be, take from
the Executive most OF his present ap-
pointingpoWer, obligetha department
to see that the laws are faithfully and
impartialiY executed against corpora
tiops as well as ndtYiduals, compel all
public moneys, whether belonging to
State, county, city, township or school
district, to be faithfully accounted for
and "accurate and detailed statements''
of its expendi tipub blished' and laid
before the people, and bring the State
in all respects back to Its Constitution
and to the model OF purity, simplicity
and economy, its makers intended.
Have our pe6pie the courage and virtue
to do II The oecasi ion for crying Rebel