The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-06
DO THE CONvICTs WHO LAND ON
CAPT. COLES FARM AT
FERGUS.
TEN HOURS ARE A DAYS WORK,
AND GOOD BEHAVIOR AND INDUS
TRY WIN THEIR OWN RE
WARD.
Who Were There, According to the
NOtatiOns of the TeII-TaIe
Registers.

One of the warmest supporters of the
system Of paroling convicts from the
state prison is Capt. A. H. Cole, we'll
to-do farmer of Fergus Falls He is
stopping at the Merchants for few
days, and to G. o b reporter talked
entertainingly of his experiences with
paroled convicts as Iaborers on his
farm.
To be eligible for parole a convict
must have served at least half of the
minimum sentence for his crime and
his conduct in prison must be eXem-
plary. Before he is released. employ
ment is found for him, and he is still
under the watehful eye of the state
and his employer, the latter signing
written agreement to look after his
charge and to report the slightest vio-
lations of his conditional pardon
which would result in the return of the
offender to prison to serve the rest of
his full term. At the expiration of the
time for which he was sentenced full
freedom and citizenship is restored to
him.
Naturally, the first difficulty encoun-
tered with the system was to secure
employment for the paroled men; no.
body seemed to want a estate prison
bird" In this situation Capt. Cole was
called upon as being admirably stu
ated to make the experiment He is a
single man; owns a farm of $40 acres,
about three. and a half miles from
town, and his natural ability, coupled
with his experience in commanding a
company of Maine cavalry during the
war, gives him that disciplinary ability
necessary in looking after hired men.
He has "a superintendent on his farm,
and the latter's wife acts as house
keeper.
Capt Cole has now had about thirty
of these paroled convicts in his en-
ploy, three being the number at pres
ent. They work the farm exclusively,
no citizen labor being employed, with
the exception of the foreman and his
wife referred to. The "boys" receive
wages ranging up as high as $40 a
month, are we'll fed and cared for, just
as though they were free American
citizens without a blot upon their rec
ords. The experiment has proved a
thorough and gratifying success, and,
in speaking of it, Mr. Cole says
Il would rather have my present en-
ployeS than the average lot of hoboeS
that roam through the country, for
naturally my boys all want to make
record themselves-they know if
they don't behave they will be sum-
marily sent back to prison-while of
the hoboeS you can reckon upon a large
percentage being hard cases. 1t was
not known for a couple of years that L
had paroled cOnviCtS working on my
farm, and when it did leak out it
caused a tremendous sensation in my
vicinity among folks who didn't have
any idea of the nature of the case.
Why people would stop me on the
street and ask me if 1 wasn't afraid
of being murdered or robbed by the
prison BIRDS and one lady said that
she would never dare to go by the
farm again, but she could hardly be-
lieve the news, because my men didn't
wear stripes. and they looked just like
anybody else. 1 kept explaining the
plan and telling them that my farm
hands were better morally than the
average lot of hoboes, until 1 got tired
of it.
my men have an easier time of it on
the place; 1 never require them to get
UP in the morning before o'clock and
they don't go into the fields until 4;
they have a full hour at noon and we
come out Of the field at 5 in the after
noon and have the chores all done up
and supper eaten by Z o'clock, even
during the harvest season, While the
neighbors are still at work in their
fields. They draw their wages as they
need money to buy clothing or tobacco,
but Of course, 1 am required to super
wise their finances, and when their
term is out they have nice little stake
and a good supply of working clothes.
Occasionally, of an evening, the fore
man will hitch up team to the double
seated buggy or light wagon, and ask
the boys to go to town with him, and
they will thus have a little recreation,
buy few glasses of sodawater or a
little fruit, and will meet at an agreed
on place at a certain time, to return
home They cannot go to town with
out permission.
drunkenness is unknown among
them; no liquor is allowed on the farm
and the provisions of their parole for
bid their drinking it. They get along
nicely and are a happy family togeth-
err, although, of course, like any other
group of men, they may have their
little spats. I never had any trouble
with them. except with one fellow,
who was by disposition mean and
ugly. and l was finally obliged to no
tify the prison authorities to come
and get him. 1 couldn't have him on
the place any longer None Of them
ever ran away from the place. Re
Gently fellow jumped the train while
on his way there, but he was recap
tured by the authorities and taken
back to prison.
81 treat the boys just the same as
I would any wOrkmen. l don't hold
any prayer meetings, although occa-
sionally 1 give them little advice, in
diyidually. When man comes TO the
farm, I endeavor to learn for what
work he is best adapted and then give
him that John the garden, milking,
taking care of the stock or in the
fields. Frequently a man whose time
expires will hire out to me to work
by the month or by the year, and
MANY of the boys who left the farm
are now working in other places and
doing well. Their past history is I'M
known. and they have begun life
afreSh
"You see when a man comes out Of
prison he is smooth-shaven, is pallid
and has convict stamped all over him,
so that he is spotted wherever he goes.
A few months on the farm will give
him a healthy coat of tan, his whis-
kers or mustache grows out and he
again feels like a free American citi-
zen Warden Wolfer and the board of
nrison managers seem very well
nleased with the result of my expert
ment and have offered me all the pa
rolled convicts 1 can care for.
SGT am somewhat of a student of hu-