The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-11-05
10 sAYE TIE WOMEN.
A Home to BE Started for
Unfortunates.
WOMEN TO BE IN CHARGE.
Prominent Citizens Who Are Lending
Their Influence to the Project.

walks OF life. 1t - TO be known as the
Kansas Women's Industrial home
The idea is not new one. It was in
augurated by Mrs. A. @. Lord more than
two years ago, but an appropriation from
the state was made impossible by the
legislative war of thai time and it be-
came necessary to postpone the matter
till the next meeting Of the legislature in
1895.
The idea IS to establish a home for
fallen women of all kinds. Women that
commit theft are as eligible as those that
are arrested for disorderly conduct, and
for all crimes except murder The in
stitutiOn is to be educational, industrial
and refOrmatory. Besides the legislative
appropriation there will be a change in
the police laws that Will empower a DO
lice Judge to commit to this home wo-
men, rather than TO send them to jail
where they will be kept in idleness.
There are to be three grades Of the Grim
inal classes and they VIII not be allowed
tOgether;the whites and the blacks will be
kept separate and all departments of the
institution will be governed by women
exclusively. The court will not commit
for any specified length of time, but the
women IN charge will be obliged TO
Judge for themselves as to the time that
a prisoner shall be released She may
be released at the option of the presi-
dent, superintendent or board on proba-
ton and dismissed at the pleasure of the
same authorities. The idea is to educate
walks of life before she is allowed to go
and also reform her 50 she will not 90
back to her old life from choice
Mrs. A. @. Lord is president Of the
society and DR.. Ida G. Barnes is the sec
rotary. The original promoters were
Bishop w. x Ninde, r. B. Welch. Mrs.
w. X. Ninde, T. +. Carver of Salina,
Deborah Longshore, III. D., J. II. Lock
wood d. d. of Salina, Mrs. Margret II.
McCarter, J. W. Gardiner Mrs. J. d. Ella
]. r Mulvane, Mrs. Blanche Windsor, P
l. Bonebrake and Samuel 7. Howe.
Mr. and Mrs. Ninde and Mrs. Windsor
have since removed from the state.
Over twelve hundred persons, many of
them prominent in the state, have signed
the following petition:
To the Legislature of the State OF Kansas:
We, the undersigned citizens of .
county, Kansas, recognizing the defects
Of the present laws of the state, concern
ing many criminal offenses of women,
and the total absence of any provision
for their reformation, and realizing the
great need of Legislation, which shall
make special and adequate provision for
a state ref0rmatory for women over the
age of sixteen, to which they may be
committed when found guilty Of certain
Offenses. with Ia veW to their moral re-
form alton instead of being sent to the
a
hne and pursuing their former life Of
crime; and recommending for considera-
ton the marked success of WOmen's re-
formatories esta blished in other states;
we therefore, respectfully petition the
senate and the house of representatives
to enact such laws upon the subject as
will correct the evils of the present sys-
tenn. and make ample provision for the
establishment of an institution of the
character herein suggested.
Only girls over the age Of sixteen will
be admitted.
The amount that will be asked of the
legislature for the building has not yet
been agreed upon but it has been spoken
OF by Mrs. Lord as $4,000. The loca-
ton has not yet been decided on.
No Limitation as to the number of in
mates has been made The furniture of
the old waits home has been donated to
this prospective institution.
I The following is the explanatory cir
cular that was addressed to the citizens
of Kansas:
attention is called to the following
defects in the laws Of the state, in regard
to provision made for certain criminal
/ Offenses of women, with a view to the
reformation of the same. Under the
/ present system, woman committed to
! Jail for certain offenses serves her time
IN idIeness, or pays a fine and leaves the
prison walls and usually returns to her
| former life Of crime.
<Her life results in repeated incarcera-
\ tiOns by which she IS hardened and de-
based; an outcast from society, no incen-
/ tives are presented for return to a bet
ter life. No provision is made by the
state for employment in the jails, or for
moral culture during retention.
mo provision is made for aiding the
outgoing prisoner in obtaining a posi-
ton where reputation and character may
be regained
"There is no need OF reminding the
public how much more helpless woman
is than man under the same circumstan-
ces.
at seems absolutely essential to es-
tablish a reformatory, with graded sys-
TEN, where all women over sixteen years
Of age. guilty of certain crimes may be
committed, under such regulations as
may be most conducive to their refOr-
nation and encouragement to the lead
ing of better lives
at is the aim of the friends of the
movement to have the institution as far
as possible, under the immediate super
vision of women as officers and attend
ants, special provision being made for
training in Industrial arts. and for intel
lectual and moral culture
whenever satisfactory evidences of
moral reform are manifested, IN the judg-
ment of the authorities of the ref 1rm a.
tory, they may suspend sentence, on con-
ditions named. and secure the prisoner a
situation that will afford an opportunity
to build up character and reformation.
Attention is called to the fact that in
stitutions of like nature, notably in Sher-
born, Mass, and Hudson, N Y, are doing
a work similar IN character to that pre-
prosed for the Kansas reform story, and
are eminently successful
sAFor the good Of the criminal classes,
as well as for the protection Of society,