The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-11-02
FEW WOMENINPRISON
DOES THAT PROVE THAT THEY ARE
BETTER THAN MEN2

A Newspaper Woman Has Been Investi.
eating the SuhJect--A Penitentiary
warden Tells Her That the Courts Are
Lenient, but She Refutes Him Easily,
l have been studying prison statistics,
and | find the average proportion is 20
women to 600 men. In the case of the
Columbus co. penitentiary there are only
% women to nearly 1000 men. At the
Western peuitentiary in this state there
are ~ women to over 900 men. Talking
with the courteous warden of this latter
institution few days since, | asked him
for his theory and got 1t with readiness.
1t was with a mind made up that he an
swered, at is largely owing to the lenien-
cy of the court that more women are not
convicted. ~
But" said !, people must be ar
raigued before they can be convicted, and
there are proportionately so few women
brought to trial. Either they do not VIC
late the law. or they are more clever in COW
priug up their tracks. and this with n clev
erness that amounts to talent, and even If
this last he true does there not still remain
something to be said for them from
worldly point of view? The Spartans
taught their youth the sin was not in
stealing, but in being found out, You
know. " And the warden agreed that the
Spartans were 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 bother to
most men, but 70 wardens in particular, !
have concluded, and having known them
both wisely and well | 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 want to find
out is why there are not rs many women
as men of this same grade? Warden
Wright goes further and is especially posi-
tive that women in general are not better
than men, and that once bad they are more
incurrigible. and it is his experience that
there are not so many reformations among
women convicts as among the men, by
which we may infer that women love
wrongdOinC.
out of the fullness of his knowledge Mr..
Wright argues that by the time women
land in the penitentiary they are so stepped
in sin as to be quite past redemption here,
and 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 crmess
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 fol
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 n 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 SAINT
temptations: 1t is now quite the exception
to find man on the cashiers stool II
stores and restaurants, etc, and coult
there be Il better card to woman : honesty
And yet it has been said women are onl,
given this place and like places of respon
sibility because they can be hired for les
money. SO more the temptation to stea
then. If women are so prone to go to sue
lengths to crafty their love for dress, a
has been asserted, would they not, unles
morally better be more likely to steal tina
men who are paid a living salary and hay
less provocationy
But who ever heard of a woman runnin
o,,-ov with funds intrusted to her? Thel
is no .uch curiosity on exhibition in Il
human ,renagerie at the Western penitel
tiary at least, though, to tell the trut
there is greater ohe-thaU Oh nor
thief! The mention of ms freak lelhlnli
suggests one more "manlv pursuit. as fr
to women as to men. WHY d" not mo
women steal horsesS They admire then
4 FOL iG W. "a :
owned or sold to woman who would ste
as to a MANI
And are not women as clever with Il
pen? Then why not Jane the penman
we'll as Jimy Yet how seldom we hear
women forging
Prison reports the country over f
1912 show an alarming increase in Il
population of such institutions, but SUI
statistics do not show a proportionate i
crease in crime among women. One of &
propelling forces leading to criminal
upon which the authorities are qui
agreed is "the desire to live beyond legi
mate means, and ever since women beg
wearing ''store clothes" they have be
accused of this very thing Why, the
do they not steal to crafty this desire
their brothers doS
Through the courtesy of the warden
ment of the Western penitentiary. So
as know then stood for the first til
face to face with a criminal of my o'
sex. | assure all who have not had the {
perience that it is painful one, ev
though one cannot fully realize the stu
tion just at the time. That character C
be read in the countenance had up to tn
time been pet theory of mine. 1t
been exploded.
There they sat in the light sewing roo
working away as demurely and indust
ously and apparently as contentedly as
at n boarding school Smiling and 60
humored, too, as if never a thought
evildoing had crossed the mind. Tn
were pink and white blends, the soul
blue eyes one reads about, and clear SIX
ned brunettes with the equally fetch
dark eyes of that quality commonly cal
mournful but whether blends or brunei
think the most expert observer, with'
having known they We're criminals, col
not have gUessed it, nor could he hi
picked out from the lot those having l
murder in their hearts or on their hands
Meg in Philadelphia Times.