Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-02-11
TEIE WARDENSHIP.


The readers of the SENTINEL have
been advised by telegraph of the pro-
posed change in the Wardenship OF
the State Prison. In pursuance of the
law recently passed by both houses oil
the Legislature, and approved by the
Governor, the Legislature will. to-mor-
row, at II o'clock, meet in joint conven
ton in the Assembly Chamber to
choose a Warde en- who shall serve for
two years, or until his successor shall
have been elected by the two houses
of the next Legislature. The new law
is, in many respects, an improve
ment on the old. Its chief feature is the
curtailment of the powers Of the War
den. Hitherto the Warden has as
sumed supreme control. Under the
new statute he is made the chief exec
utive officer of the prison, being su
preme in nothing save as relates to the
police regulations of the institution.
The Board of Prison Commissioners
are charged with the duty Of p~urchas-
ing all supplies, and they have also to
look to the sale of all manufactured
goods. These are wise provisions, as
they must tend to put an end to pecu
lat;on in the management of the Prison
in the future.
The coming fight to morrow prom
ises to be a spirited one. There are
already, as We hear from Carson, sew
eral candidates in the field. On the
Republican side, General c. c. Batter
man, Chairman of the Republican
State Central Committee, seems TO be
the most prominent aspirant. General
Batterman Is an avowed candidate for
the g~ubernatorial chair two years
hence. For this reason some of the
warmest Of his political friends doubt
the policy of giving him the Warden.
ship at this time, arguing hat no man
who has been connected with the man
agement of the prison has ever es-
capped unsmirched. Slingerland, Den
Q and Hyman are all cited rs no.a-
BILE instances. However, Batterman is
reported to want the office badly, hav-
ing. been severely crippled in stock
transactions of late, and it is most
likely, therefore, that he will be the
GrYn.asaful mon Tho Ranrhlino nc
have a majority of nineteen III joint
ballot. If ten of them should ''fall
down." so to speak, the Democrats
might elect their candidate, but this is
not at all likely. The Democrats in
the passage of the bill, seem to have
surrendered all claim to the further
management Of the prison. Under
Hyman, many thousands Of dollars Of
the States money have been spent in in
vestigations, and the Democrats weary.
ing of this kind of thing, concluded
that the best, cheapest and most expe-
ditious method of getting rid of an
unworthy official was to legislate him
out. Hence it was that so many Dem
ocrats supported the bill. Who the
Democrats will put forward for the
doubtful honor Of a complimentary
vote for the Wardenship is not known
at this end OF the line. Captain Lloyd
Rawlings, formerly of White Pine,
but now of Storey, is talked Of; as is
also Colonel Milt. Elsner, of Ormsby.
No Democrat, however, is likely to
succeed, so it is not probable hat there
will be a strong struggle from that
quarter.
General Batterman, If chosen, will
make an excellent Warden. He is IA
strict disciplinariAn, and, above all, he
Is an honest man. At the time of the
Rhodes defalcation in the State Treas.
ury, it was General Batterman who
undertook the difficult task of unrav.
the much mixed condition Of the
State funds. He accomplished this
work in an admirable manner, and we
have no doubt that he will also, il per-
United, inaugurate an improved sys
tenn in the management of the affairs
OF the prison. ignoring all political
predictions, the SENTINEL desires to
the nomination of General Bat