The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-07-22

how we died
But before the woman could reply or
any one interfere, the report Of pistol
sounded again, and the fraticide had
ceased to live On the hill near Rincon
Point we're two graves, a few years ago,
enclosed with a picket fence, and one
tombstone at their head, with the simple
inscription on-'Brothers
SHOULD ALASKA be MADE PENAL
Colony ?--In place of building new pris.
ons, why should VIC not try exile-penal
transportation We have in Alaska an
immense territory, in almost every re-
spect well suited to be the scene of pen.
al colony. 1t is isolated, and escapes
would be easily prevented; it is almost
uninhabited; it has chain of islands
suitable for seperate colonies /; its climate
on the coasts is sufficiently mild; and yet
not tropical, but bracing and healihiul !;
it offers few or no temptations to vagran-
cy and yet it is country in which con-
victs who had served out their time, or
earned their discharge, could live com.
fortably, and build up new and pros
porous society.
At present Alaska is useless and cx-
pensive possession. Two Federal artil
lery companies mold possession; but it
lies too far out of the way to tempt set
tiers. Used as penal colony, to which
the most hardened of our convicts might
at first be sent, it would offer clear field
for interesting and valuable experiments
in the management and reformation OF
criminals. 1t is not sickly, like the
French penal settlement of Cayenne nor
has it, like Australia, climate SO mild
as to enable runaway convicts to live n
vagrant life in the bush. 1t is country
in which industry and foresight are nee
essary to enable a white man to exist !;
and thus the natural conditions of life
would help in discipining the criminals
sent thither.
Being controlled by the Federal gov.
ernment, it is probable that, if Alaska
became penal colony, West Point off,
GERS would be its rulers and guardians /;
and these, who are, above all strict disci :
pinarians: are admirably calculated to
manage rightly a convict population,
which needs. above all other things to
learn obedience to authority, and to oe
subjected to rigid discipline Of mind and
body. Moreover, the graduate Of West
Point is, as a rule, man Of honor and a
gcutlcmau. He knows nothing about con-
tracts; he performs his duty he is hon
est and respectable and under his rule,
at least, the convict would not commonly
have before him a pernIcious example Of
greed, and other low forms Of vice.
There would be no lack of work in
Alaska for a penal colony, however
numerous. The country has no roads ;
it has no public buildings; it has no me-
chanic arts it would need, if it had pop
ulation, artisans of all kinds and for
half century to come penal colony in
Alaska rightly managed ought to be self
supporting, with abundance of useful la
Dor for every convict.
The question of penal transportation
has not come very prominently before the
public in recent years. 1t was not even
discussed at the recent Prison Congress
in London, though report was read up.
on it by Count di Foresta, Procureur.
General Of Ancona, who said Trans
pcrtatiop with compulsory labor in colo
ny | approve as the best punishment for
great criminals. 1t seems to me to an.
swer perfectly the double object of all
punishment-the protection Of society,
within the limits Of justice, and the refor'
nation of the convict. 1t fulfils the first
Of these objects-the protection Of society
for the most dangerous criminals are
thus cast out from the bosom OF society
the grave Inconvenience Of relapse arc
avoided. and would-be criminals are de
tered by the prospect Of banishmen,
from their country and family The sec
ond object is equally met, that of moral
izing these individuals. and giving then
hope and the means Of becoming agair
useful to themselves and society in an
other country, where, after undergoing
, part of their punishment, they can sent
for their families or found new ones, thu
; beginning another existence in an entire
, ly different atmosphere, which will no
seduce them into their former errors
0 This is the true point-to so manag
e the criminal that when he has suiiere'
e his punishment he may have, at least, tn
|. chance to begin new and better life
u and to make even mis- period Of punish
J. ment as natural and healthful as is con
0 sistent with his seclusion from genera
) society. And this can be done by exil
G or penal transportation. 1t is not don
S a. all under the State prison system,
|, Two companies Of artillery and tw
h revenue cutter now hold Alaska. Tn
force need be but very slightly increase
. to be sufficiently strong, with proper MAJ
= = agement. to control and keep under disc
y pline thousand convicts. The Aleutia
= = Isles, the island of Kodiak, and the lor
70 70 Alaska peninsula offer themselves for is
- - lated stations; and do not doubt tn
Z our engineer officers could elaborate
= plan of operations for convict color
!" which would make such colony sull.su
- porting and helpful to the reformation
80 80 the convicts, bearing in mind always the
y words Of that most successful manager
a "a penal colony, Capt. Maconobhie, und
- whose command that most terrible OF Il
~ y glish prisons. Noriold Island, was 4
- = scene OF so much genuine reform, tn
a a "the true principle is to place the priso
= ! er in a position Of stern adversely, fro
4, which he must work his way out by
. own exeriions by dilllgent labor, and
y !. constant course of voluntary sel-comma
-. ~ and sell denial"
81 During 1879. the Lake Champla
iron mines yielded 5000 tons Of or
IN oyI A7t -. ...o axt-.atad from, ,