Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-02-16
EWWOMENINPRISON
DOES THAT PROVE THAT THEY ARE
BETTER THAN MEN?

A Newspaper Woman Has Been Investl
eating the Subject-A Penitentiar,
Warden Tells Her That the Courts Ar.
Lenient, but She Refutes Him Easily.
I have been studying prison statistics
and l lind the average proportion is q
women to l 1000 men. In the case of the
Columbus CO., penitentiary there are only
% women to nearly 1900 men. At tht
Western penitentiary in this state there
are 10 women to over 900 men. Talking
with the courteous warden of this latter
institution a few days since, I asked him
for his theory and got it with readiness,
1t was with a mind made up that he an
swered, 'It is largely owing to the lenien-
cy of the court that more women are not
convicted"
"But," said I, ''people must be ar
raigned before they can be convicted, and
there are proportionately 80 few women
brought to trial. Either they do not vio-
late the law, or they are more clever in COW
ering up their tracks, and this with a clev-
erness that amounts to talent, and ever if
this last be true does there not still remain
something to be said for them from a
worldly POI of view? The Spartans
taught the youth the sin was not in
stealing, but in being found out, you
know" And the warden agreed that the
Spartans We're not all dead yet, or at least
that their teachings had lived after them.
but would concede nothing to women on
the ground of morality.
Women are something of a bother to
most men. but to wardens in particular, I
nave concluded, and having known them
both wisely and yell I suppose when one
such custodian insists that women of a
low grade are worse than men of the same
grade we should accept his Judgment
without question. But what I want to find
out is why there are not us nany women
as men of this same gradc9 Warden
Wright goes further and is especially posi-
tive that women in general are not better
b men, and that once bad they are more
incorrigible, and it is his experience that
there are not so many r~nfOHmlauions aln0ng
women convicts AS rnlung the men, by
which we may infer that wo:ne love
wrongdoing.
Out of the fullness OF i!is knowledge Mr..
Wright argues that Ivy t.> time Homen
land in the penitentiary they are SO stepped
in sin as to he quite past redemption here,
and I got the impression he had not much
hope of them hereafter.
But let US see about the iniquity of wo-
men. In the first place, there are more
women than men in the world. Therefore
If women are more immoral than men
ought they not to commit at least an equal
number of crimes?
But they have not equal opportunity.
They are not in the world as men are,
therefore are not so beset by temptations,
is the reply. But we may deny this, since
there are now over 500 occupations for
women and all crowded until there is
scarcely any room, even at the top, where
as in 1850 there were but 40 employments
in which women earned a living.
They are now by the hundreds working
shoulder to shoulder with men in all the
professions and a majority of the trades.
And are they not subjected to the same
temptations? 1t is now quite the exception
to find a man on the cashiers stool in
stores and restaurants, etc., and could
there be a better card to woman's honesty?
And yet it has been said women are only
given this place and like places of respon-
s1bility because they can be hired for less
money. So more the temptation to steal
then. 1t women are SO prone to go to such
lengths to crafty their love for dress, as
has been asserted, would they not, unless
morally better, be more likely to steal than
men who are paid a living salary and have
less ~provocation?
But who ever heard of a woman running
away with funds intrusted to her? There
is no such curiosity on exhibition in the
human menagerie at the Western peniten-
tiary at least, though, to tell the truth,
there is a greater one-that of a horse
thief! The mention of this freak feminine
suggests n more t'manly pursuit" as free
to women as to men. Why do not more
women steal horses? They admire them,
and surely a stolen horse is worth as much
owned or sold to a woman who would steal
as to a man?
And are not women as clever with the
penn Then why not Jane the penman as
well as Jim? Yet how seldom we hear OF
women forging!
Prison reports the country over for
1912 show an alarming increase in the
population of such institutions, but such
statistics do not show a proportionate in
crease in crime among ONE One of the
propelling forces leading to criminality
upon which the authorities are quite
agreed is "the desire to live beyond Iegiti-
mate MEANS and ever since women began
wearing ''store clothes" they have been
accused of this very thing. Why, then,
do they not steal to crafty this desire as
,their brothers do?
Through the courtesy of the warden ]
was permitted to visit the woman's depart
ment of the Western penitentiary. So fa1
as 1 know I then stood for the first time
face to face with a criminal of my OWL
sex. I assure all who have not had the ex-
perience that it is a painful one, ever
though one cannot fully realize the situa.
tion just at the time. That character car
be read in the countenance had up to that
time been a pet theory of mine. It has
been exploded.
There they sat in the light sewing room,
working away as demurely and industri.
ously and apparently as ~contentedly as il
at a boarding school. Smiling and good
humored, too, as if never a thought Of
evildoing had crossed the mind. There
were pink and white blends, the soulful
blue eyes n reads about, and clear skin.
ned brunettes, with the equally fetching
dark eyes of that quality commonly called
m%ournful, but whether blends or brunettes
I think the most expert observer, without
having known they were criminals, coulG
not have guessed it, nor could he have
picked out from the lot those having had
murder in their hearts or on their hands,
Meg in Philadelphia Times.