The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-09-21

ands and then 90 home aud dispute |
with their servant about Two pence ,
half penny; and beat them out OF their
wages on some flimsy te~cnnicality.
But let them come down with their
cash in this world-they can't buy
their way into heaven-they will not
get into heaven by their technicalities !
1t is something ] cannot understand
and | have thought it out in a thousand
different ways, why friends and KIN
bred desert. forget a man as soon az he
is behind the walls of the penitentiary 4
when they will flock to his bedside
when death claims him and shed
hvpocritical tears over his bier. IL
they understood the philosophy be-
tween q dead man and a man III the
penitentiary II would not puzzle me al
bit, but | know they do nothing OF the
kind. If they would say that sin dying
he has only paid the debt he owes ma j
ture, but in going TO the penitenliary he:l
has done something that he could haVe'l
avoided, consequently disgraced hlm-,1
self and us in the bargain, therefore u,
let us forget him, he is unworthy OF,
our remembrance" | could understands
WHY h man rarely has a friend or rel,
alive, save his mother, who will not
soon forget him when once the gates OF
the penitentiary have shut him out
from the view of the world-when he.o
has, in penitentiary phraseology, be-3
come a Ground man, which has more
truth than poetry in it. | have at least
a hundred relatives living in Ray, Jack
son, Lafayette, Henry and Bates, and
numerous friends in each II of the
counties named, and | don't suppose
INV of them would turn their hands
over TO serve me; yet, if L had dled
before | came to the open" l suppose
some of them would have attended my
funeral and shed a few crocodile tears
over my grave, and perhaps some OF
them would have laid a few fragrant
flowers on my grave for a few years III
token of kind remembrance. Buf no
token of kind remembrance, no words
of hope from them have ever greeted
me here. !
My case, or experience, isn't an
isolated one; it is the same with ali
those who have no money. Yet 1t can
NOT be money in every instance, be,
| cause we see the mOneyless wretch
| condemned to expiate his crime at the
| rope g end, the recipient of tokens OF
svmnstbv from kind and generous men
| and women we see the preacher hold.
;nu ont the fallacious hone TO him, that
he con lean from the scaffold into
heaven. while the warm blood of his
victim ia trickJino from his fingers:
This in NV mind ~ rank hypocrisy.
T, ;s a moral blot on religion and COM
MON CONGO for IL NOT onlv deceiyes the
cnInrit wbo has broken the severesS
To- w of man and God. but holds out liz
con,;yeo to othprs IN follow i'm his foot.
sta,s
have often wondered what becomes
of the men who have done their s.bitY
and GONE forth into the world again.
7 ouesu tho majority of them have dom
sd tho nuisa of honesty. and try 10
toraot the nas,-to hide their identify,
like the Cbinaman who was up before
the police Judge, and who thought 10
propitiate his honor by saying" Judge,
me alice anne as Mclean man-han
cut short, drunk like hell" guess they
have come 10 the wise conclusion that
though san peut etre Plus FIN que an
autre, mais- non pas plus Jim que touS les
autTeS."
There are but few men who have
come to the penitentiary, unless they
were innocent, but what thought they
were smarter than other people. There
has been 16, 433 men sent here since Il
establishment of the prison here in
1886. Of this number, 1915 have been
discharged under the three-fourtbs law
5S7 by military authority; 122 by as
OF congress-; taken to Fort Leaven-
worth 80; on writs l31; escaped 545
died 636; taken 10 insane asvlum ~;
sentences cominuted 4S. There havt
been 5000 come here since l did; 69at
discharged under the three fourth
law; 35S pardoned and 39l have gone
over the hill to the ''papaw patch"
OF this large number of men WHO
have broken the laws of their state
less than one per cent. ever return
wbicb IL a prettv good showing, con
s;dering the banelal influence the pen
~;lentiary has On .ssuuare" men, dogs
ca,s and all species of animals tina
come here. You might AXE the bes
81, Bernard dog that ever existed, hi
Uood qualities NAV those .
!, The traditional Tray, and let him sta,
f in the "pen" for one day, and he woulC
not be worth the powder and lead j
wnuld take IN blow him TO Halifax =