Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-22

Is necessary 10 nunG down some great
criminal, hire q house in the sus-
pected neighborhood and live there.
One of these men loses caste very
much in his Office. if he does not suffer
an actual degradation Of position, by
failing to return with Information he
is dispatched to secure. Besides these,
however, there IS regular staff of
private police correspondents in all
parts of the country. and one whole
bureau at the Department of Police is
devoted to receiving. ordering. CLASH
flying these and taking action upon
them. A good deal Of information
must be picked up from the tea-houses.
each of which is center of gossip,
and in one or other of which almost
every male well-to-do inhabitant of
Tokyo is an habitue. The Yoshiwara.
again, is of course police hunting
ground, and the most interesting hour
l spent in the Police Department was
in conversation with the officials of the
bureau which controls this. and in
watching the sad and secret spectacle
of young girls coming up for permits
sion to enter it as recruits. In the
"rogues' gallery of Tokyo alone, l
may add, are the dossiers. or complete
records, of 10000 criminals, admir-
ably arranged as a card catalogue,
like the latest device of American Ii
brary cataloguing.
With the exception of the Yoshi-
wara the two prisons of Tokyo are the
most interesting things have seen in
Japan. These are, first, the great
prison upon the island of Ishikawa, at
the south of the city, and second. the
convict and female prison of Ichi-
gawa, in the center of the city itself.
The former is completely isolated, all
communication with the mainland be-
ing by police-ferry and contains 2.O52
men and boys, all of whom are serv-
ing terms of ten years or less The
latter contains 1,40O' men and 100
women, among whom are many serv-
ing life sentences. There is q convict
farm attached, and it is here that cap
ital punishment is inflicted. Other
wise the two prisons resemble each
other so closely that it is not necessary
to distinguish between them in de-
scription. Mr.. Suzuki vice-president
of the prison, did me the honors at
Ishikawa, and Mr.. Adachi. the d.
rector, at Ichigawa.
The entrance is through a massive
wooden gateway, into a guard-rOOm,
adjoining which are the offices of the
Director and officials. The prison
itself consists of score or more of de-
tached one-story buildings, all of wood
and some of them merely substantial
sheds under which the rougher labor,
like stone-breaking, ls performed.
cages, the front and part of the back
formed of bars as thick as ones arm,
before which again is a narrow COW
cred passage where the varder on
guard walks at night. There is not a
particle of furniture or a single article
of any kind upon the floor. which is
polished till it reflects your body like a
mirror. No boot, of course, ever
touches it The thick quilts of futon,
which constitute everywhere the Jap
anese bed, are rolled up and stacked
on broad shelf running around the
room overhead. Each dormitory hold S
nj v,rfcarors <ho,.o -
long row of them. The sanitary ar
rangements are situated in little ad-
dition at the back, and I was assured
that these had not been made pleasant
for my inspection. If not. l can only
say that in this most important re-
spect a Japanese prison could not well
be improved. In fact the whole dor
mitory, with its perfect ventilation. its
construction of solid, highly-polished
wood, in which there is no chance for
vermin to harbor, and its combined
simplicity and security, is an almost
ideal prison structure. OF course the
fact that every Japanese. from the
Mikado to the coolie. sleeps upon quilts
spread out on the floor. greatly simpli-
fies the task of the prison architect in
Japan.
On leaving the dormitories we passed
a small, isolated square erection.
peaked and gabled like little temple.
The door was solemnly unlocked and
flung back, and l was motioned to en-
ter. 1t was the punishment cell. an
other spotless wooden box, well venti-
lated, but perfectly dark, and with
walls so thick as to render it practical
ly silent. "How many prisoners have
been in it during the last month"; /
asked. The Director summoned the
Chief Warder and repeated my ques-
ton to him. "H'tori mo gozaimasen
none whatever" was the reply.
What other punishments have your"
None whatever"
A japanese prison may be divided
into two parts-dormitories and work.
shops. OF cells or prison buildings
properly speaking, there is nothing
whatever. 1t is place of detention,
of reformation. and of profitable labor,
and in the latter aspect one of the great