Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1889-10-25
ST. CLOUD REF)lsNl.AIORY

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ST. CLOUD REFoltNl.AlOIiY.
ST. CIouD, Oct. 20. The seventy
four cpnvicts recently transferred
from Saltwater to the st. Cloud re-
formatory are already acclimated,
and Judging from appearances are
contented las much so indeed az any
one could be under the circumstances.
Your correspondent called on Princi-
pal Keeper Garvin day or two ago,
and found him almost sweating blood.
After seventeen years experience as a
prison official he acknowledged to me
that the events of the last few days
had kept him humping And no
wonder. Here is an experiment in
penal science in Minnesota. The OBJ
jects Of that experiment are convicts
who came here swayed by u thousand
Isuspicions. It was first necessary to
gain their confidence by showing
them there is no intention to render
their situation worse than it. was at
Saltwater. As matter of fact you
can't reform people with club. Mr..
Garvin is q very humane official, but
a strict disciplinarian withal. Rumors
had circulated in Saltwater that the
icons" who were selected for transfer
were but to enter a lower circle Of
hades. Not so. They came in fear
and trembling; they are already con-
WINGED they have nothing to fear from
Garyin, so long as they perform their
allotted tasks and conform to the
necessary rules Of the institution.
| While I have little faith in the re-
deeming influence of any institution
Of this character, believing as 1 do
that convict naturally hates himself
and thinks only of getting even, there
is just possibility that small pro-
portion of the prisoners sent to ST..
Cloud may be morally benefited.
How will this be done? Well, they
have formulated system by which
the convicts are graded in three
classes, a sort of brevet promotion. 1t
remains with the man himself to
which class he will belong. On en-
tering he is placed in the second class
and advanced or put back to the first
or third according to the credit marks
he earns each month, $50 being the
maximum. Of the seventy-four con-
victs already received some are al
ready at work in the stone quarries
while others are employed within the
prison proper in domestic duties.
The dollhouse is a model building
splendidly lighted and ventilated,
and painfully neat. There are 12S
cells,each having cot, . closet
and a stained pine stand
with drawer for knife, fork and
spoon and salt and pepper. I was
present when the ICONS" got their
dinner, consisting Of meat, bread
! gravy and potatoes in a tin dish with
three compartments. They took their
rations, and all stood with their hands
on the cell doors. At given signal
they entered and closed the doors be.
hind them. A hall guard with one
motion of the lever locked every
door. The noon banquet was served
The principal hall keeper is also
the mental instructor, school room
having been furnished in the large
hall over the kitchen and store room
From chaos order is being rapidly
evolved. Mr.. Garvin has been
obliged to instruct all the employees
Of the prison, no mean task when it is
remembered that every mothers son
Of them was absolutely without ex.
periencc ten days ago. The prisoners
have to be instructed as to their new
duties, and there are a thousand little
petty details that outsiders never con-
ceive Of On the whole the St. Cloud
institution promises to exert at least
one good influence in that it will
separate the more hardened and in
corrigible convicts who remain at
Saltwater, from the younger members
Of the criminal fraternity. Some Of
these hitter may be reformed. Tn
any event there will be no lack OF
exercise for the next hundred years
for the fellows with superfuous mus
Giles, as the quarries within the stock
yards are practically inexhaustible
and harder than pawnbroker's
heart. .
| The whole institution is in charge
Of Hon. D. E. Meyers, Of St. Cloud,
superintendent, who is we'll qualified
| for that n]ano