The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-07-21
THE wH1PP1No-Posr STATE.
New York Evening World.

Ocl&W6Ic 16 Holu CO uHV6 buS mOSI iniquitous prison system of any state iD the Union. The work house scheme is adjudged the best plan for punish ing criminals, but Delaware has none. What is more, the state believes that it is not able to build and sustain one. The system in vogue there is as an- cient as the Mason and Dixon's line, which bounds the state. Each county has an old fashioned jail in which an ingenious convict can set his own term of confinement. Jail- breaking is an industry which Delaware has pro- tected. It is we'll remembered that the famous bank burglar, Big Frank, several times clandestinely took leave of his host, the sheriff.
 The writer recently visited the jail at Dover, and saw in it's entirety the working of that fossilized' prison sys- tenn for which, after her Bayards and her Saulsburys, Delaware is the widest known. The building is two stories high and of stone. Joined to it at one end is 8 brick residence for the sheriff. The jail contains nineteen cells, and, as the prisoners exceed this, two are crowded into some of the small cells. On each floor there is corridor, which is only good sized cell, but which allows the inmates some pacing room. The building is clean, and the prisoners seem to be fed sufficiently well; but the abject idleness in which the prisoners are kept is itself crime.
 If for petty larceny-the theft of chicken or pair of shoes-a person is given six months in a Delaware prison he is very apt to come out confirmed criminal. In absolute idle- ness the inmates while away the time. Even no gymnastics are provided. The felons, except an occasional des- perate character, can congregate in some ones cell or in the corridor, where they play cards and gamble. The latter is necessarily conducted on 8 small scale. Thrown thus together and having an abundance of leisure, each relates his criminal career. What one person lacks of being 8 full. fledged outlaw can be gained from another's experience. There are youths who have been committed for carrying con- cealed weapons or fighting. These persons have for their intellectual pabulum the fascinating stories told by the burglar, the horse thief and the highway robber.
 A Delaware prison is sort of char itable home for knaves, etc., where immortality and indolence are fostered. In conversation with one of the pris- oners he said that he would prefer to serve double his term if given work than to languish in idleness. He said he had insisted on the jailer's putting shackles on him and let him work in the yard or garden, and the earnest ness with which he expressed himself made one realize what a boon is the privilege to work.
 The whipping-post flourishes in Delaware. The whole of America has always welcomed England's oppressed people, but the Diamond State alone has cherished the whipping post with maternal pride, even after the bar barous child has been disowned by it's mother, England. This mode of pun ishment was legally adopted in 1717, while Delaware was still province of "Penn's Woods" The post is neces- sary concomitant of the prison system there in vogue. A prisoner is cared for as no other of her citizens. The whipping post is necessary to put a damper on the eagerness of the vaga- bond class to gain state support. Plugging "Old Hannah" is kind of bear expedient to prevent too high premium on crime.
 The post resembles the top of an old log pump without the handle. It is not incased in cabinet, as its an- tiquity should deserve. A stranger, knowing it only by reputation, could be ushered into it's presence and would still inquire for the whipping post. The historic object stands in an open yard adjoining the jail, and the semi annual lashings are given some pub- licity. The leniency or severity of the stripes, which number from five to twenty, according to the crime, de- bends upon both the muscular devel- opment of the sheriff's biceps and his temperament. The writer found that some suffered severely from the lash, while others did not mind it. One, a negro, frankly told how he passed through the ordeal. "My fren's sneaked quort ob dat gud old tan- gleleg in to me on the day fore 1 hugg'd Ole Hsnner,'" said he, ''and Pse SO drunk when dat whip tanned my black back dat I never feeled it."
 This picture of prison system which is disgrace to the progressive United States may not be pleasant to behold, but it exists, to the shame of the Diamond State. The state has been remiss in introducing new sys- tems, because of the increased expense which would attend the introduction of improved systems on such a small