The herald., 1895-05-20


matter of the police matron, who she re-
iterated lived on the other side OF the
river, and her visits can only be in the
nature of calls, since there is no place for
her to stay.
1t takes her nearly an hour to get to the
station after she has been telephoned for
AS she is whenever a woman is arrested
and in the case OF an emergency there
is no matron there.
Here Miss Demmick gave graphic and
detailed account of a woman who was
taken to the station with delirium tre-
mems and Immediately after reaching the
place was taken with violent hemor~
rhage. She was cared for as tenderly and
decently as might be-but it was by the
men about the place, who had relieved
her to some extent before the matron
reached the place. 1t wasn't Mrs. Gray's
fault, but it was an unfortunate condi-
ton of things. to say the least and an
emergency of some kind is liable to oc-
cur at any moment
"Why, look here" said Mrs. Dnmick,
suddenly. here are some printed rules
and regulations regarding the duties of
matrons in the Chicago statons-there
are twenty-four of them there and she
read the following: ''Matrons must not
leave the station while on duty. day or
night, except on business connected with
the department. and then only by con-
sent of the officer in command. Constant
vigilance is demanded from the matrons
at all hours of the day and night"
"They have two matrons in all their sta
tons there" interpolated Mrs. Dimmick.
at must therefore be clearly under
stood that no matron while on duty
should retire to room to rest or recline
upon couch or bed. except in case of
sudden illness. The fact that there may
not be women prisoners under arrest
should not cause the matron to swerve
from her duty.
"She must always be at her post, ready
for any emergency.
"Female prisoners once booked pass di-
rectly into the care of the matron. Girl
prisoners under Is years of age must be
taken into court by the matrons and re-
main under their protection until the
case is disposed Of.
"And yet" said Mrs. Dimmick, fold
ing the list which she read no more,
"When l visited the Jail about three
months ago found a girl there only 16
years old She had been arrested for
petty larceny, but she was already on the
downward path morally, and there she
was, doomed to spend 60 days of close
confinement with four other women, each
of whom was much older, and all the
hardest kind of characters that you can
find in city prison. There they were in
that Sxl4 cell. five of them no exercise,
no room to do anything but sit and talk
with one another. or to the men in the
cells across the hall, and cared for by
men. | tell you, it's Il horrible state of
hi ngs.
'The women ought to be out of sight
and soUnd of the men, otherwise they are
worse off than they would be at large,
and in more desperate temptation, espe-
cially a girl like that-what is to become
of her when she has served her timer
Mrs. Dimimck only paused for breath
and then said:
81 suppose you know there is state
law which distinctly says that female and
juvenile prisoners shall be kept entirely
apart from the males, yet here are our
prison officials obliged to break that law
every day in order to punish those very
people for having broken other laws.
But don't want you to think that am
making any reflection on the prison
officials believe them to be good men
from Chief Glass and Captain Roberts
down. who are doing honestly che very
best they can with state Of things they
are absolutely powerless to make better.
They are uniformly courteous and kind
to everybody as far as have been able
to see. The fault doesn't lie with them,
but with eyery man and woman. in office