Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-01-19
Penitentiary a Comfortable and Well Managed
 Institution.
BETTER THEN SAN QUINTIN
It's Condition a Compliment to the Officers in Charge and a Credit to the Administra-
 tion.

| nen Just men. Oucn are the mn ate
 of Yuma prison. They are not lot (
 men that one would pick out as villains They look no worse OF better than tn
 ordinary male pedestrians on an
 street. They are boys and men and ol | men; Mexieans, A mericsns and Indians
 But for the ignomini"us stripes and tn 1 stigmatzlng nun bers stencilled on thei
 backs the lot of them would not attrac
 the lest notice anywhere.
 But their numbers include some har
 offenders. Let every crime of any not
 committed in Arizona in the last tel
 years be recalled. Call to mind tn
 murders, the foul taking of life befor
 it's legitinats time; the offerings, th
 burglaries and robberies; let ever, arson, every sssa"lt, every perjury forgery and foul deed whatsoever be rec ol.ected. Not ten of hundred of tb, whyle of them but have their represent atives among that crowd of convicts.
 The prisoners are, 1 judge, orderly and fully mp to the good average fol for convlcts. They are to 8 goodly extent employed, though not fully Frank Armer, the Msricopa trHir robber, was pointed out to me. He i. buyishlooking, about 20, apparently and is in for thirty years. Ills hair will probably gray when he comes out, and the best of his life Will have gone ir penance for that one rash act he dared He Is engaged in cutting stone.
 The stone is quarrled and brought to the yard for DO contract, being only to keep the surp us men busy. It will be be sold as dressed stone to whomsover may wish to purchase, or used for prison nprovements, the men thus helping to make themselves more secure from liberty.
 This stone cutting Is the employ ment of two or three score of the men.
 Kit Carson, who shot Captain Burgess, IS m charge of the laundry. There is H blacksmith shop emplo, ing several men. The onyx and wood polishiue shop are pest known, some of the work being beautiful. In Tucson now is a car bing set, of ste =l made In the prir on, and polished there, the handles of oynx. It is beauty. Of canes, cabinets and trinkets there are no end. Notable among the wood workers is a negro ex- ldier, wLo h. d DO conception of any. tnIng outside of post life and "hog ranches" before his arrival at Yuma. He is now 8 skiiful cabinet maker and soue of his work is very handsome The bread for the prisoners is better Lban many outside get. It is the old fashioned ''home made" article, in big loaves, several ioaves to the pan.
 Every obtainable went of the prison CTS IS supplied within itself. They have drug line in the prison, and it is in cDarge of one Of their men stripes. Do they want thsir teeth pulled; there is a set of instruments, ard convict draws them. Any work to be done is again to the man most apt for the purpose.
 The pride of Superintendent Gates, Assistant Shaw and General Moore Is the new prison farm. At the foot of he prison hill, just over the Gila, is a fine flat, densely covered with under growth. The iand is an island, and nearly enough fiat to be available for irrigation. The soil Is the richest in he United States, and probably abou sedimentary formation, of leaves and rich soil brought down year after year by the Colo ado al Gia It exceeds in fertility the belaud Nj e. If stable manure were worth S2.50 ton for fertilizer, this land would be worth 60 cents s ton, for it is quarter as rich.
 At the prison they have A great deal of talent labor. It serves two purposes keeping the prisoners employed and the results of the l.bor itself. It has therefore been pr posed, and yer com mepdable project it appears, to put the prisoners 1t making farm of thirty acres on thIs island. So gang of short term men are out daily. under charge of William Moore, a rucsonite. clearing the land. The work is nearly done. but au acre or two being left to clear. It consists of cutting the trees and brush close to the ground and burning them. Afterwards the men will be put at grabbing the roots out, and the who @ land will be broken the first time by hand. Labor is cheap at the prison and may be thus utilized.
 After the land is cleared levee vii. will be put around the whole, several feet in heigh., which will cost practic- ally nothing, being question of labor Ony.
 A pumping plant will be put on, to raise the water about seven feet. which can be be run for a nominal sum.
 Later the institution will come io for products of it's own. The meat ration may be cut down from its stipulated one and quarter pound and the allowance of vegetables increased, through the products of the farm.
 MORE HOTEL THAN LABOR PRISON.
 In comparing Yuma prisoners with others, 1t may be stated that they have nothing like the contracts and continued employment most such Institutions have. A prisoner sent to Yuma rather than to San Quentin is in luck to go 10 Yum8, so far as work is concerned. The prison at Yuma is far from beings labor pen. In fact it is more of a big hotel. Probably g. me of the prisoners got one meal day on the outside, whereas they now get three. No doubt some of them like 1t. A Mexican was recently sent from Tucson for his third term. On his return he said: "Boye, I can do bet ter here than outside" Probably he got back purposely. There are said to be seen men outside today who would gladly go back. And they may be ex- pected to c. mmit further offeDses to get there. Thus de the wheels of justice move backwards.
 BISON CHARACTERIsTICs
 Some of the prisoners there have str, ng rsonslites. There is Frank Leshe of Tombstone, who years ago kill ed woman he was living with, and shot h's ranch foreman, man named Neal. He IS model prisoner. He has charge of the drug department, handles it to perfection, making no mistakes, inten- tionally or otherwise. He is of fine edu- catioo, and a smart man-smart enough to be first class prisoner. Years ago in Tombstone he went on a spree and started for his ranch in an ugly mood He shot and killed the woman who lived with hIm in some dispute, and then