Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1884-01-27
o.gnn PRISON SYSTEM.
The Crying Necessity FOR Radical Re.
form in All ffs Branches.
Tte Convict Leasing System i'm the
S0nth-Its Political Effect.
70 the Editors of the Appeal /:

To the Editors of the Appeal:
There appears in the last number of The
Century (Scribner's) an article Of great
length from the pen of George w. Cable,
that is calculated to have IN effect Upon
the public mind OF a nature so peculiar
and ol arousing sentiments so diverse and
opinions so conflicting in character as al
most to cause one to term this bold paper
a ''gage Of battle" TO come as
it does in leading magazine
and from one whose opinions none dare
question for honesty, whose right to
such opinions none dare deny, and who
has backed up opinions by facts that are
irrefutable, makes this paper OF greater
moment to the twelve States holding pris-
oners under the leasing system than any,
thing that has appeared concerning the
South since the close of the war Coming
now, as it does, in the very opening of the
momentous year of the Presidential can
vass, it will be seized upon as cam
paign document by the Republican
press that, like a sea-gulI, watches
for every floating fragment on the
wave of public opinion. Let none
deny this, Tor if every man that thinks
will recall the effect of Albion Tourgee's
Fools Erraed that appeared five years ago,
he will see the truth Of my statement; !;
lOI d8dlL anu dgdlI1 L was dSSuTou Dy
young men that they were influenced by
this book to vote against the Democracy.
Whether such motive has in any way
actuated Mr.. Cable, for one care not l
write. with no such thought in view,
for my experience teaches me that
there is power mightier than man that
seize5 upon his puny efforts, and from
them outworks results so mighty that the
human mind stands awed and silent be-
fore them, paralyzed almost, as the child
upon the rail, that feels and sees the
mighty engine dashing full upon him,
when all retreat is cut off. Working
among and investigating conditions of
prisoners for many years, this paper is to
me perhaps freighted with Il deeper mean
ing, and causes sense of overwhelming
awe that the careless and Indifferent
will fail to see or realize. Four
years ago l was one of the women
invited by the superintendent of the Sher-
born prison of Massachusetts to visit that
institution, where we were entertained for
day. 1t is model prison, reformatory.
| was only little while from Louisiana,
and l knew something OF her prisons, and
Pierre Betram's story was still in the short
! road of the past years news, telling, what
was afterward denounced as an untruth, a
tale of shame for women that might
have made devils shrek with pain
and hide their faces behind the
the stain of murder. That our people, the
women, the men; the pastors, the editors,
| are largely ignorant of this condition, is
| our only excuse; and with aching hearts
we must cry, "Peccdri, peccaUi." But we
sinned ignorantly, may well be added.
| The JonesSoro DemOcrat, for more than
two years, has been calling on the people
of Arkansas to right the hideous wrong
| that is staining the escutcheon of their
State with lasting shame. The editor
| gave, among others, a letter from DIR.
| Meek, OF that State, with statements in IT
| concerning the treatment OF women pris-
oners - one case IN particular, where
the greatest shame that can ever
! be inflicted upon a woman was
enacted by a negro, under the com
mand OF the keeper, in the presence oi
| the ass .mbled prisoners. Remember now
| this statement was made openly in the
Legislative Hall by A!r. Fielder, member
| of that body, in presence OF maEy report
ers, and yet such statement was sup
| pressed. You. my brave APPEAL have
ever championed the helpless, the
| wronged, the prosecuted. You have ever
and under all circumstances, been willing
TO temper justice with mercy. You
motto has been, "Let justice be done.
| Be Just now. Our prison system every
where is rotten through and through. The
reports OF our grand jury in every Stats
tells this. We put prisoners in the prison
and when they leave it they are ten times
more the Child OF the deviP' than wher
| they so in. Liquor is not only allowed
| but brought in, as any prisoner may
desire it and is able to pay for it. In som,
instances / have found that the thin!
looked vastly as if the authorities owneC
the saloon that supplied the drinks within
| the jails and prisons. Mr.. Cable canno
be attacked He has not entered int,
the alinaiY of the prisoners life
yet read what he says of th,
women in our own Tennessee peni
| tentiary, quoting the words OF tht
warden. clad | the pardoning power,
the warden says, 81 would reprieye every
woman now i'll the peRiteRtiary, and thos
| who may be sentenced, until the Stat,
can, or will provide place to keep then
in keeping with the age in which WI
live" The chaplain reports these womel
as having abandoned all hope and givel
up to despair, their conversation obscen
and filthy, and their conduct controlle,
by their unrestrained passion" From m,
own personal experience, | dare make thl
| statement. From out these pits OF gloom
rife with the passions OF hell that Dant'
failed to portray, ! have come with tn
one feeling in my heart. The system j
rotten through and through, and Go,
will curse any people who tolerate
knowingly in their midst. Religion is
farce; sobriety and honesty, integrity anC
love are to count as idle boasts in the fu
ture il this thing is to continue whel
our good men and women are once arouse'
to the facts as they stand out in colors o
flame aud blood. There are women an'
men who will read what is written her
and cry out in horror against the bare fac
of = woman using such language, seeini
such sights, having such knowledge as
show here. Men of Tennessee-everym mai
that rules, or sins, suffers or dies, was borl
of woman, for every soul that agonizes il
these dens of horror woman's hear
bleeds and breaks outside. And not a mal
that is familiar with prison institutions
with the 'ieasing" system, that will no
say, unless his heart has grown hard ant
cruel, from judge to sheriff, 20 the loves
officer, but will assert that | speak trul,
when | say the hard and bitter things tina
do. Now, let us be fair. Prisons are in
tended for place OF punishment, correC
ton and reform. Massachusetts and Penn
syivania have such. We have none
few States have any, North or South
Sentenced for life, and the fact of hun
dreds upon hundreds of prisoners BEN,
under fifteen years of age in our prisons, i
an awful thing to contemplate. Many
very many, are negroes, which will caus
this paper of Cables, in its whole aspect
II