The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-12-03

good. should be unannounced, we trust that
this visit was sufficiently unan1ounced to be
satisfactory even to the Journal For oureelf,
we must confess that the properties and
conventional ities OF life were not sufficiently
observed to he pleasing to us. And we
submit 1t TO the venerable editor Of the State
Journal, General Atwood, as well rs to peo-
pie Of fair share of modes.y, in general,
whether he would be pleased to have tie
same visitors usiered, unannounced. into bis
sleeping room, at the same hour of the morn
ing and under The Same circumstar ces. 10
say nothing about the rights of the Sheriff
and his family and the public. This visit.
being typical, on the part of the Board, It is
not necessary to speak Of any of theil other
visits
| The statement of the Board OF The situa-
ton OF the Jail. being underground, is entirely
untrue. The Corrl House stands on sandy
ground descending from tue west 10 ne east.
The Jail is the basement story of the Court
House. The floor OF the jail, on Abe west,
is liz tie higher han the ground adjoining
1t, ind, as the ground de>cends to the cas- ),
the floor of the jail on The east, must be still
higher than the grouid, probably twelve to
eighteen inches. And the ground, thoagh
sandy, is well provided with drains and is dry.
"The black hole under the Kenosha Court
House," so called: What is it! What was The
| Black Hole of Calcutta ? On the capture of Cal
cutta by Surajah Dowlah, June Goth. 1855, the
British garrison. consisting OF 146 men, being
made prisoners were locked up at night, in a
small and close room in Fort william, only 10
feet square, and poorly ventilated aud never In.
tended to hold moe tt an two or three prisoners
at time. In the morning, of the 146 imprisoned,
only % were found alive. IF the succeeding
fatality it Is unnecessary to speak. This small
and close dungeon, is, by name, the original
Black Hole, and the type OF alb Others.
| Now, why is the Kenosha Jsil the black hole
under the Kenosha Court Honse! The Sherif's
kitchen, in which the Sherlff's wife and domestic
help, and children, do their cooking and washing
and the most of the work js In tn" basement story
Of the Court House and alongside the Jail. And
on the basement floor the Sheriff and his family
eat their meals. 1t was on this Goor and on the
most underground part of 1t the Sheriff was eating
his breakfast, when the Board made their frat
visit. Did the Board Of Charities and Reform,
at their first or any OF their SUBSEQUENT visits,
fine the Sheriff or any Of his famly dead? Did
they find sixth seventh. or five sixths, OF the in
( mates, of the black hole under the Kenosha
Court House, dead Did any of themselves,
on entering it, drop down deaGl Did any o.
them die afterwards from disease, or suffer long
from fever, caused by entering it +? II none OF
these dire calamities or sad events happened,
why is the Kenosha Jail called the black hole
under the Kenosha Court House We answer,
simply because the State Board Of Charities and
Reform were so lily informed, or so wicked and
cruel, as to call it so, without even the shadow
of a justifable reason.
So far from the Jail being properly characterized
as the black hole under the Kenosha Court House,
we believe there has never been death in the
/ jail. And there has been remarkable exemption
from sickness in the jail. We are informed that
there has scarcely been Gaze of sickness in the
| Jail for years. And, in its freedom from deaths
and sickness. we invite comparison with The
Madison Jail, and with the most model ails In the.
State, according the reports of the State Board
of Charities and Reform. The comparison will
demonstrate the great and gross injustice done
by the Board in characteriz,ng the Kenosha jail
as the black hole under the Kenosha Coult House.
Words have teen cheap with the Board of Char
tiles and Reform, and they have used them with
out knowing their meaning, or else they have
! intended to SANDER the Kenosha County Jail and
the people of Kenosha county. Their reports are
| a "a ha 6iQnr0cn
to the State. In their last report they have
embodied communication from Ell. Il. Giles, one
of their number, to Hon. 1. W. Webster. County
Judge, which was published in the Kenosha I'm
ion. We were furnished the same communication
for publication, and declined publishing it, on
account of its untruthtnlness. And now, as the
truth of their reports Ia called in question. in
many ian portant respects, it is Incumbent on them,
to establish their truth, or to acknowledge their
falsity, and to apologize for their untruthful
statements.
The Kenosha County Jail has one real defect,
which the Board of Charities and Reform, judging
from their reports, have never seen and OF which
they have no knowledge. The upper floor Is ncs
twenty feet above the lower floor 1t lacks so
much of it that it is considerably too low, and
prevents securing free ventilation. And this rs
a defect which cannot be remcdied. The lower
floor can not be lowered without endangering
the foundation of the Court House. And the up
per floor can not be raised without raising the
whole building, and the building will not admit
of being raised. Consequently, the great defect
of the Jail will have to remain till new jail can
be provided.
i Notwithstanding the defect of email space
between the lower and upper floors, the Kenosha
4 County Jail answers passaby well the purpose
for which it was originally intended. It was
intended for place Of confinement, for prisoners
not bailable, or who could not obtain bail, till
their trial. 1t never intended for . place for
| III c,>naoapoap+ and cara nf tho inconn Inf