The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-02-22

dred ''bad men," and out of all that num-
ber, less than ten have come to join this
colony, and there remains in the Jail at this
time awaiting trial but four of the original
number. Strange, but true. Oh! l wont
take time to tell you about the many ways
by which they We're kept out of the ''peh. /"
Those who came here, except one, had
neither money or friends OH the ground.
Great thing! this criminal law. Great
thing!
Ii you doubt it, just watch the municipal
court proceedings in the larger cities of this
state and see the number who are charged
with crime; follow them through to their
discharge or conviction, strike general
average, and by very simple algebraical
solution you will find that
Man accused OF crime plus guilt. plus
money, plus friends, equals Not guilty."
Man accused of crime. plus or minus
guilt, minus money, minus friends, equals
Guilty"
We eliminate the policemen and detective
from both problems, for they can always be
eliminated from the first. while in the last
they act Oh a principle known to them as
''ralrOading." II they desire to railroad
man they are usually ready to swear long
is right" if he drops the ruling spirits of
the police and detective force ''V' or an
~" now and then, they will often
do him good turn."
Great people! Great people.
How much we owe them?
The great majority of them should be
penSiOned for life-On an island in mid
ocean. They would soon disappear. JeRl-
Ousy, corruption, and unadulterated mean-
ness would start the war of determination,
and the last representative would commit
suicide when there was NO one lett to eXer-
else his meannesS OH.
Excuse me for telling you so much about
how the recruits for this post" are obtained,
but l wanted you to know, so you could
better understand the place itself. All these
things have told you give lis something to
think of.
We draw comparisons between Jail life
and ''pen' life as follows: When l was in
"Vermonville" l did not get enough to eat,
and what did get was one continued mo-
notony. Here we get enough to eat, and
each day of the week has its bill of fare
True, we do not get twO-dOlar-a-da day board.
and all get very tired of pen" food; but no
one will starve to death for want of suffi
cient quantity. The visitor might see the
food furnished every day in the week for
one week. and he would be compelled to
say at the end of the week. That is good
and sufficient food" but come into my cell
with me and eat that same food for so
weeks, and then multiply this by the num-
Der OF years of each mans sentence, and
you will be forced to say there should be a
greater variety. TO be palmer: Say you
have five years sentence, and during that
five years you will never eat piece of beef
steak, piece of toast. piece OF pie. nor
drink a nice cup of coffee. with cream and
sugar-nOne of those things, which every
BODY Graves and but few are entirely de-
prived OF. Nothing but the plainest food.
Then, add to this that you are never to con-
verse with any one OH topics which elevate
and strengthen the purer, better nature III
man; never to be in the society of those
who are refined and educated. that you may
catch spark OF intelligence or CLEAN of
pure sentiment, and all the while spend
from twelve to sixteen hours a day in a
square hole in the wall 5X7X7! Think,
think, think. Grow wild and rave; grow
penitent and pray; grow bitter and hate;
grow tender and pure, and love, and weep,
and despair; sleep, and dream OF the clear
brook laughing over the pebbles; hear the
merry shout of school fellows, chasing the
chipmunk along the ZigZag fence; awake
see the iron door. hear the blood curdling,
agOniZing cry OF some fellow with the night
mare; sleep again, and dream of being
chased by blOOdhounds, shot. hung. thrown
from precipice: hear the rumbling of the
waters; awake, and know that the rumbl-
ing is caused by the coffee carriages run
ming over tine iron floor of the corridors;
arise FROM your couch; realize that one more