, 1888-06-19
TIE COUNTY SIEVE.

$1,000 l 49, aRSANa "
ed that the fare provided for them rarely
included potatoes or other vegetables.
Three of the inmates, who apparently
saw no signs of relief notwithstanding
the recommendation Of the grand inquest,
took it into their heads to have potatoes
or blood. Therefore they wrenched the
locks off their cell door Sunday evening
and squeezed their way through into the
corridor within the iron cage. Then they
calmly tore away such iron bars as i'm
peded their progress, mounted to the
roof of the cage and thence dug their
way through the ceiling to the roof.
1t is u matter capable of historic proof
that when an otherwise meek and humble
prisoner once sets his mind on securing
potatoes as part of his diet he will obtain
the enticing e~sculent even though forced
to break through iron bars and subse-
quently wade through rivers OF gore. To
the mind of a Laramie county prisoner
potatoes carry all the sensuous luxury that
appertains to pie in the contemplation of
a citizen who is at large and in the full
possession of his faculties. The first fatal
mistake made by our capable aud efficient
sheriff was in Understanding the
effect which might be produced
on the brooding mind of a
man immured within the county bastile
when he feels himself deliberately denied
even casual contact with a popular vegeta-
bic. Take away potatoes and the prison
er may be dosed with the iuciest soups
the ingenuity of the jail cook can concoct;
he may get whole slabs of shin bone and
be deluged with inexpensive beef; on rare
and stately occasions he may even appre-
ciate the gastronomic delights of half
soled custard pie, but omit
potatoes from the bill of fare
and there Is a p%ervading feeling
of brooding sorrow, the cauker worm of
d~isconten. lakes root and opportunity
alone is needed for him to skip what is
technically known as the tralaloo. OF
course expensive cages such as the county
commissioner have provided and guards
without cotton in their cars who have a
well established reputation for bringing
down game when they go out cunning
all these are important but secondary con-
siderations. Traced back to its ultimate
origin it will always be found that
lack Of vegetable diet is at the bottom of
the trouble.
A valued correspondent suggests hat
fla trtZ.para 10 r..1.l lI ~
evening on retiring as an inexpensive but
effective method Of keeping them from
skylarking with the boys when the jail
officials are enjoying their slumbcrs. For
our wi part, from principles of human
ity we should favor the suggestion that
the prisoners be either glued into their
beds at night or forced to wear sleigh bells,
Economy is of course an important con
sideration and from that standpoint the
former method will perhaps meet with
most general favor. Glue is not a very
expensive article and when bought in
wholesale quantities could be secured at
very reasonable figures.
The reward of merit system might also
be adopted. Such prisoners as stay most
closely in Jail at night for a given length
of time might be given a red, or blue, or
green card, the possession Of a certain
number of which would entitle them
to pie or potatoes us they
might prefer. This scheme has been
found to work well in other directions and
might be tried with good results IN the
county Jail.
The check system also finds many ad-
vOcates. Each prisoner on retiring at
night might be given a brass check, The
duplicate of which would be kept on a
rack in the corridor. This would force
him to appear and redeem himself regu-
larry every morning. If he failed TO APP
pear his check might be held us collateral
and turned over TO the county treasurer
to advertise occasionally in the delinquent
list. If this scheme were adopted the
only loss would be a prisoner or batch of
prisoners as the case might be, against
which would be the set of of his or their
checks, still as the case might be. As
the prisoners set of without the checks,
the checks would naturally be held as a
set off against the prisoners. In
some such way this scheme was
explained to us by "a friend.
1t seemed very plausible at the time but
somehow appears less reasonable now that
it has got into cold type.
However these are only suggestions and
may be taken for what they are worth.
Every sheriff feels the difficulty of keep
ing his boarders home at night. Some
yeats ago the question Uf how to keep
husbands at home was discussed with a
good deal of vigor and enthusiasm. The
conclusion then reached a. we r~ecollect it
was to make home more attractive han
the public resorts and not to meet hus-
bands with complaints of sick headaches
or such trivialites. The most enthusias.
tic admlrer of Jail architecture will never