Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-13
TO SAVE THE BOYS.
A CHICAGO LADY SUGGESTS A PLAN
TO REFORM BAD URcHINS.

TO REFORM BAD URCftlNS. ,
The System of Placing Them in Contact
with Adult Wrong Doors Damns tThem
for All Time-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
u vital one. Certainly it is that to the chill
dren themselves. There are now in the boys
ward of Cook county jail twenty lads
ranging from 8 TO II years old-bright, ac
tive, bad children. Some of them claim tC
be in on suspicion, others are held as wit
nesses; but all are promiscuously 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 companya These under
graduates for the pententiary are busy work
ers, faithful in their vile teachings; many
time has a larger boy pointed out a smaller
one and said:
THAT feler got me in here"
Last week a boy tod 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 al
him
Many of these lads are there by inherit
ance. Their fathers and mothers were and
are criminals They have inherited their
criminal tendencies just as much as they |
have their physical peculiarities. Others are
there through associating at night with |
groups of good and bad mixed, and it is the |
exN tyt-ax- frar hx
HARDLY MORE THAN BABES
Many little fellows are brought in so small
that their toes cannot touch the floor while |
sitting on the benches, and are kept in jail
until called before the grand jury or a judge, |
when, after kind but earnest reprimand, il
it is their first offense, they are dismissed
| with warning of what will happen next
| time" All this has taken weeks. as the
! Flaws delays are proverbial, and these boys
| have during this time been in jail They
| have seen, heard ard learned that which in
| such boys viii never he forgotten. Some
| men are in the boys ward. and boy Of II
| has less shame as wicked teacher than a
man has, and the boys are put into cells two
| by two, so that night and day the work OF
| corruption goes on.
Since lsS2 there has been a school held in
| this ward, at first one session, and after
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 a great delight to
| the boys. Then reading, spelling, writing
and arithmetic are as thoroughly taught as
the short time viii permit. These boys chew
tobacco like veterans and smoke cheap cigar
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 little better, which shows that
some self resnect is left
APPALLING STATISTICS.
Since 1882 there have been 4,620 boys in
this ward OF the Cook County jail, many of
them, am sorry to say, for the third and
fourth time, so that their faces have become
quite familiar, and they recognize the teacher
as an old friend In this state according to
the latest census, there are S,270 minors in
prison. 7S3 of these being between the ages
e of l2 and Is years. These figures do not in
clude those who are temporarily in the vari.
| 4
p of tho State Reform school at Pontiac says
that fully 80 per cent of the boys who &c,
into trouble are within the pale of hope q
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
jured for life-here and hereafter. Is ht
helped by being sent TO the reform school
! th1,, al
forty or fifty BOYS, there are hundreds
Cook county alone has over 100 all of thu
time. The lowest light in which one car
survey this frightful question is that of econ
omy, and TO the tax payer let me appeal.
DETENTION SCHOOL
It costs great deal more money to carr
a boy through the Jail, to the reform school
TO the penitentiary, and perhaps to the scaf
:, fold than it does TO save him from such
fate If building. or rooms, with the ne
cessarv locks and keys, AID 1 must add bar
also but called "The Detention Manua
Training school" of Cook county, were to b
furnished by the county and well equipped il
an inexpensive manner, so that these bov
could be taught not only the simple bu
necessary English branches with this sam
moral training in awise and brief manne
and could at the same time learn trade o
part of trade, so that on getting out the
would not be obliged to steal to get some
thing to eat and TO wear, it would not onl
save many of them from life of crime bl
also be a financial saving to the county
Many Of them have no homes, even of tn
poorest and meanest kind, and what place
open to them but their old haunts, and wit
= them their old comrades2 A trade of som
kind is what is needed, for these boys ar
busy, active fellows, and are not unwillin
to work.
If the county will help me in this matte
the daily morning school shall cost theI
nothing. We have carried it on through a
these years, and will continue to do So Th
! question is so important relating as it do,
to the future men and women of the cit,
that am sure Of kind consideration frol
the thinking and wise people of Chicago
Adelaide B. Groves in Chicago Tribune