The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-03-06
AUSTIN LETTER.

incl
cr,nes aud NauOnal,ties OF the ConNie'S-
s'.,n, Points I'm Favor of a state Reform
- for IuVcnile Ofenders-Ihe Pay OF
'Couectors-w the Out-6o,ng and
ant Comptroller Think on the SUB
- Vast Deal of Work and Resp 0Osl-
n,uty for Very little Pay.
no. SOL
.r.r,x, Mach 3,-IspsCisl correspond
- The legt biennial report OF the
Srrerintendeut ofthe Texas Stale ueni en-
,;a,ies coatains some very interesting daii
N tbs matter OF prison life. find that
,bs,s are now on hand OF CONNECTS some
> M which is an increase Of 20 over :wo
ro.rsaso. Ofthese, there are in ths prison
.,oner 1t Huntsville, SOP; on railroad con-
',,retjou trains, ca; on farms, 1858. Those
;,side the walls gre mainly engaged in the
r.,lous industries carried on by the lessees,
81, The manufacture OF wagons, iuthiture,
,ha;rs shoes. cloth, etc. Yet, cut OF tue
s9S only 312 are employed in pr,
ynciiye labor 81 indispensable la
NOR while 50 are nOnproductive
hiring the past six months there were
,siS ronyiots received, $50 discharged, 397
sscaped, "A recaptured, Ill pardoned, end
NJ In The matter OF sex, of the 227S, there
ware only % females against 2253 males. OF
vi these 0lS were white persons, 1888 col
o,sS lis Mexican, and two Indians. Thee
wsre 1909 natives of the United Sta 8,
/ while Sg were OF foreign birth. These luck
lsss people come here for ell sorts Of crimes,
/ mi the largest number are for
| horse stealing, 600 OF these poo
fellows having thuswise ridden
INTO the pentonyiary walls, Next in the
In i.t come ON number Si2 then burglary, some
| SOS then assault II murder, 20i the. ofcqt.
,le ls6. then tor miscellaneous theft, l76,
| and 90 on down. For rape there are IS con-
/ vjots, forgery, 70; unlawful marriage, s;
| counterleiting, Z; embezzlemept, 10; legal
/ voting, 5, etc. The culplits range in ala
/ nom the tenderest years, II being under 10
wears. TO the three score and ten, th3is from
4 SOTO % years old seems to have the Clll, ~
these are of these some CPS, from - to 80
wears 519, from 10 to 20, 1875. There are
/ s gray heads, ranging from 70 years upward.
Five years seems 10 be the term for which
most OF them are sent to the prison cells,
then cones the two year term; and then She
period for which Jacob first waited for
/ Rachel Ofthc black ball men thee ore
| 200 while ISL of6O years OF age and up
/ ward are put down as the red bell meu tor
| lifetime Out Of these some 2,27S conviCts,
some 7uO are registered as natives of Texas;
4 200 OF Mexico, li0 of Alabama: $50 of Ken
1 lucky; 1870 of Tennessee; 10 OF Mississippi;
A leo Of Missouri aud 100 OF Georgia.
Why the business or profession of cooFing
should predominant in the matter OF Grim
inaiitieS, outside of those who have no
Xtrade or profession, ] don't know, but so it
lis, as some seventy of these cooks have be-
)me embroiled in the meshes of the law
and got themselves into criminel stew.
Next comes servants, "a then railroad EN-.
[ployes u; then carpenters, -; then
&batchers, 10; then barOers, IS, then
painters, IS and only merchant. In tue
fOniugsl conditions, LAB are single G6G
nsrried 100 widowed; 40 divorced. OF
those with fire education there
hre 81; common, 400; while OF
illiterates there are 1,75l There are 222 set
down as temperate men, against , ,255 as
contemporaries.
Ii is to be hoped that the legislature will
at this session perfect abill fora Reiorma-
tory, house of correction, for the youthful
Offenders. Out of 1858 new cOnN cts
Received during the last two years, it win
BE seen above that q were under Is years
pt age, and 20i under %.
There are some very ridiculous features
n these penitentiary laws. | have
Dn, previous occasions adyel ted
70 the anomaly Of sometimes sending
doWna man for one year for stealing val
pablo animal or some other ugly ofiense,
pnd yet sentencing another one for ten
years Tor stealing u war IA or couple of ball
9earlings. But probably the most anus
no al l,nN q. 10 L.. L -.
erm OF service for bigamy. 1t does seem
hrce TO send Il man to the penitentiary Tor
Pne day, as is sometimes done. There
yet another strange anome'y;
turing the last two wears
en convicts have been given up upon the
fder OF district judges for other crimes,
pa in some cases have been returned for
porter terms than they already had TO
rrve.
The expenses of the penitentiary bust
eSS are a follows:
Expenses paid from January |. 1873,
Tor suEerintsndenps ofiie. ..........e 1g,D -
Npensenses paid excess reCaptures 1889 %
sh paid into state treegrry .......... 272'S rs
aployements etc, at Rusk pcniiln.
'aIl '''.. II AUS Dl
epalrS and improvements ut Hrr''-
vile ISIS ,,......,.....,..... 80. 15,lOl IS
fpSus aud improvements ut HINTS
vile 1879 .,,....,...,,,...,.,.:.,.., 1895 20
ralrS ana imp. ovemenis at Hunt
Sille, 1850; ..,.............,.,...,... 5000 70
elalrs and improvements at Hunts
yille, 1881 and 1882 .,....,...,...... 1853 GO
ew cell building al Huntsville. ..... 9jt59 S.
w dining.rcom and chapel at
Huntsville. ....,.............,. -. 1915 -
Tttll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .S3iS2c) II
r. GORGE says that at the commencement
the Cunningham Il Ellis lease the total
Iuation oflands. buildings, me 1hinery,
O, at the Huntsville penitentary was
55 wv st, while now it has increased to
enly S450,e0O. Il.
AUSTIN, March 1,-[Special correspond
ce'l-The finance committees substitute
senate bill No. $50, entitled an act to
mend article 4,767, Revised Statutes, rela.
g to the fees of tax collectors, reads as
ilows; The collector of Taxes shell re-
I've as compensation for his services. 6 per
ny on the first $4,000 of taxes collected,
per cent. on the next $1,000 col
Fted by him for the stat, and 8 per cent.
all such taxes collected over that sum.
pr collecting the county tax per cent on
9 hrst $50, } of such taxes so collected by
N, and per cent on ell such taxes col
ted over that sum; and that in counties
ing subsidies to. railroads, per cent. for
ting such r,ilroad taxes"
u is insisted By some collectors that
IS bill does not GLOW ade.
ate compensation, and they
Sing an increac of percentage, 50
~ Ley shall receive g per cent on the
81 SIX ! collected and 4 per cant on all
psequent amounts collected for the state,
the county they claim they should be
owed . per cent on the first $l0,CG0 col.
lled, aud s per cent on the balance. IN
PIE counties the request for increase does
Seem unreasonable, &c the responsible.
great, the labors irksome aud the
pa required is heavy. believe that tho
netting over S125C0J, while the tote'
to be collected by the coll ,tor will not