Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-13
THE PEN TAKES WELL.
Visit Of the Prison Congress to the
Far-Famed Riverside.
PLEASANT JOURNEY On THE BOAT.
Baltimore Selected as the Place for Next
Years Meeting
ADDRESSES AT THE EVENING SESSION

National Prison Association was the mos
interesting since the opening session
About $50 members and delegates wer
present when General R. d. Hayes, Presi
dent of the Association, called the mornin;
session TO order at Carnegie Hall yesterday
In opening the meeting Mr.. Hayes brief,
congratulated the congress upon the beauti
ful Indian summer weather and the oppor
tunities presented for bettering the con
dition of criminals confined in the pena
institutions of the country. Following
this short prologue Rev. Father Voight, O
SewJersey ,oferedan impressive Invocation
The regular programme was then taken
up commencing with the report of the
Committee Oh Criminal Law Reform, con
sisting Of Francis Wayland, ofNew Haven
Conn, Charles Il. Reeves, of Plymouth
Ind, and Henderson NJ. Somerville, Mont.
gomerv, Ala. Judge Wsyland responded
for the committee, and upon being intro.
duced read a lengthy and interesting paper
on the subject. The address, coming from
the dean of Yale law school, received, as ii
deserved the closest attention The
question of better emigration laws, speedy
trials and certain punishment for offenders,
prison labor, terms of imprisonment, educa-
tion, association of the young with hardened
criminals and permanent reformation were
all ably discussed.
CARE FOR CHILD CRIMINALS.
A discussion of the question, Chow shall
the children of viciouT or cruel parents be
prevented from becoming criminals" fol-
lowed, in which Col. Gardner Tufts, of War
nervilie, Mass, made the principal speech
Brief and interesting informal talks on the
same subject were also made by w. NJ F.
Round, State Inspector of Prisons in New
York; NIE. Washburn, of Ohio; Judge Brin-
kerhoff of Mansfield, O., and Mr.. Fulton,
who was on the program for a
paper on THE Earliest Prevention
OF Crime in the Smallest Children. 1"
apologized for not having his address COM
pleted, and was requested to present it at a
future session. He took occasion. however,
to discuss the subject at some length. Short
speeches on the same subject were also
made by Rev, Mr.. Green, of Indiana, Chap
lain Howell, of Nebraska, Rev. 7. X.
Beecher, of Elmira, \. Y; Miss Carey, of
Boston: Rev. Father Canevin, of Pittsburg,
and others. Judge Wayland was speaking
on tie subject of intemperance and its in
tiuence on the criminal classes when the
hour for adjournment arrived.
The excursion to Riverside and Davis
Island dam in the afternoon on the steamer
Maytiower was a delightful trip President
George A. Kelly and the other members of
the local Entertainment Committee had
provided well for the comfort and pleasure
of their distinguished guests When the
boat left the Wood street wharf there were
about 200 persons aboard, including the
members and ladies. The Cathedral Band
discoursed lively airs as the good shin
tiOated down, and all were much interested
IN the busy industries which line the river
banks.
INSPECTED THE PENITENTIARY.
Two of the Western members said that it
was their first experience aboard steam
boat. Arriving at the wharf at Riverside.
Warden Wright conducted the party to the
main entrance of the Western PENNSYLVANIA
Penitentiary, where arrangements had
been fully made for a complete inspection
of the institution by the entire congress.
Dividing the party into several squads of
about 30 each, the Warden SO arranged that
all could have ample time and opportunity
20 examine every department without
overcrowding any of the workshops or
other apartments visited. Warden
Wright and ex-President Hayes headed
the first division that entered the prison
department from the main corridor. The
workshops where mating and brooms are
manufactured were first visited
Everything was working like clock
work. The men were found to be under
thorough discipline, the machinery was in
perfect order and the shops were as neat and
clean as parlor. Great interest was taken
IN the manufacture of door and window
mats and office and church mating, which
is made of the fiber of cocoanut hulls. ana
woven in fanciful figures of many colors
The womeC's building, hospitals, en-
glne rooms, cell departments, ven
t'lating apparatus commissary rooms,
bakery, dungeons and all other
apartments of the institution were
visited and fully explained bv the Warden
and his deputies. Everywhere the same
good order was found and the visiting
priscn officials universally pronounced Il
the finest penal institution in America.
Before leaving the yard a large photograph
of the members of the congress was taken
while they stood on the lawn with |
uncovered heads and the wall of the prison |
for a background.
SOUVENIRS TO ALL vTsrToRs.
Upon re-entering the main corridor War
den Wright distributed souvenirs of the |
visit among the members in the form of |
large combination photographs, containing |
I group of scenes about the penitentiary.
1t was after 8 o'clock when the Nav |
Hover pulled away from the wharf at |
Riverside and started for Davis Island |
Dam. An elaborate dinner had been
spread in the dining room by J. b
Schlosser, and covers had been laid for
serving almost the entire party
at once. The boat tied up
ut the dam while the dinner
was being served, after which all went ON
deck and witnessed the steamer Bennett
with half dozen barges in tow, pass mn
through the lock.
On the return trip meeting of the Ex-
ncutive Committee was held on the
boat for the purpose of selecting a
place for the next Cangress. Denver and
Baltimore were the only competitors for the
prize and the latter won with hands down.
The committee promised to take the con-
gress 10 Denver in 1894, all agreeing upon
chicago for '93
Ex-President Hayes, who has visited
nanv of the most prominent penal in
in this country had never before
1een through the Western Penitentiary,
He said to DESPATCH reporter coming up
o the city that he agreed with all he had
alked to on the subject that it is the best
in points of construction and
in America,