Wichita eagle., 1888-12-20
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Daily eagle
|, TO SAVE THE BOYS. "
A CHICAGO LADY SUGGESTS A PLAN
TO REFORM BAD URcHlitS.

The System Of Placing Them in Contact
with Adult Wrong Doors Damrs Them
for All Tine-An appeal to the on.
cials.
Your editorial Of the 9th inst on "a House
Of Detention for Children Accused of Crime"
touches most important point, might say
vital one. Certainly il is that to the chill
5 dren themselves. There are now in the boys
ward of Cook county Jail twenty-four lads
ranging from Q to II years old-bright, &C
tive, bad children Some Of them claim &c
be in On suspicion, others are held as wit
nesses; but all are prom iscuously huddled to
gether. Brazen, self confessed thieves talk
and whisper with the new conner who seems
ashamed and sorrowful; but how long will
that last in such company4 These under
graduates for the penitentiary are busy work
BIS, faithful in their vile teachings; many
time has a larger boy pointed out q smaller
pne and said;
THAT teller got me in here.n
Last week q boy told me with quite de-
gree Of pride that he had spent sixty hours
In the dungeon Cause he was so bad" and
the boys around him looked admiringly at
him.
Many of these lads are there by inherit
pee. Their fathers and mothers were and
70 criminals. They have inherited their
iminal tendencies just as much as they
SSIave their physical peculiarities. Others are
here through associating at night with
groups OF good and bad mixed, and it is the
good who always suffer by this association.
HARDLY MORE THAN BABES
Many little fellows are brought in so small
that their toes cannot touch the floor while
sitting on the benches, ard are kept in jail
until called before the grand jury OF a judge,
when, after kind but earnest reprimand, if
1t is their first offense, they are dismissed
with warning of what viii happen next
time" All this has taken weeks, as the
kIaw's delays are proverbiai and these boys
ave during this time been in jail. They
ave seen, heard ard learned that which in
such boys will never be forgotten. Some
men are in the boys ward, and q boy of II
has less shame as a wicked teacher than q
man has, and the boys are put into cells two
by two, 80 that night and day the work of
corruption goes on.
Since 1882 there has been a school held in
this ward, at first one session, and after q
time two every day, but now only one, and
that in the morning. The teacher endeavored
TO train, first of all, their moral nature
Much time is spent in that direction, and the
singing Of Gospel hymns is great delight to
the boys Then reading spelling, writing
and arithmetic are as thoroughly taught as
the short time will permit These bows chevy
1obacco like veterans and smoke cheap cigar
i, cites till the air is blue and choking, but
when the teacher opens her school with a
pleasant "Good morning, boys" hats are
taken off, tobacco is pushed In a great lump
into the cheek cigarettes are pocketed and a
general attempt is made TO ''straighten up"
and appear a little better, which shows that
some self respect is left
APPALLING STATISTICS.
Since 1889 there have been 1920 bows in
this ward OF the Cook County jail, many of
them, am sorry 10 say, for the third and
fourth time, SO that their faces have become
quite familiar, and they recognize the teacher
an old friend. In this state according to
the latest census, there are 8270 minors in
prison, 7333 of these being between the ages
of u and 10 years. These figures do not in
clude those who are temporarily in the vari-
Gus jails Of the state. The superintendent
of the State Reform school at Pontiac says
that fully so per cent. of the boys who get
into trouble are within the pale of hope. a
fact that certainly affords stimulus to earn
est effort IN their behalf.
Let it be remembered that boy who is
put in jail is corrupted, depraved, and in
tured fer hfe-here and hereafter Is he
helped by being sent to the reform SCHOOL,
A thousand times mol There, instead Of
forty fifty boys, there are hundreds
Cook county alone has over 100 all of the
time. The lowest light in which one can
survey this frightful question is that of econ
omy, and to the tax payer let me appeal
b. A DETENTION SCHOOL.
1t costs great deal more money to carry
boy through the jail, to the reform school,
TO the penitentiary. and perhaps to the scat
fold than it does to save him from such
fate. Ii building, or rooms, With the ne
cessary locks and keys, aid must add bars
also, but called ''The Detention Manual
Training school" of Cook county, were to be
furnished by the county and well equipped in
an inexpensive manner. so that these BOYS
could be taught not only the simple but
necessary English branches with this same
moral training in a wise and brief manner
and could at the same time learn q trade or
part Of a trade, so that on getting out they
would not be obliged TO steal TO get some
thing TO eat and to wear it would not only
xlso be a financial saving to the county
Many of them have no homes, even Of tho
poorest and meaneSt kind, and what place is
open to them bat their old haunts. and with
them their old comrades9 A trade Of some
kind is what is needed. for these bows are
busy, active fellows, and are not unwilling
10 work.
If the county viii help me in this matter
the daily morning school shall cost them
nothing. We have carried it on through all
these years, and viii continue 10 do so. This
question is so important, relating IS it does
60 the future mon and women of the city,
that | am sure of a kind consideration from
the thinking ard wise people of Chicago
Adelaide B. Groves in Chicago Tribune.
y Ancient Roman Plank Roads.
The PruSsian minister of education, Won
Gossler, having learned that Professor F.
Knoke had lately found traces of old Roman