The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-03-25
THE W0REH0ySE.
Mayor Butts Claims Wheeling Can
Have a Model Prison
AND MONEY WILL Be SAVED.
cost ofFssdlnE the CITY Prisoners e tlls
oounty san wspla 10 Forty 70 Flftg
Gents nay, wIllls the Average Cost 70
city Prisons IL Less Thau Flnssn Cent?
lie Would IIays BropmS and HFu'hSs
sfauamsturSa w the PFISOnOFs.


Mayor Butts is stlll sanEulne OF the
success Of the movement for a new and
up.to.date city prison, or Workholse,
ns II IL more generally known here. Last
Sunday the mayor went 10 GAINESVILLE,
where he inspected the prison there. 10
wns delighted with what he saw and
predicts that wheeling Will have an In
stltutlon that will compare with II on
an equality.
"At the GAINESVILLE prison" said the
mayor yesterday afternoon 'tHe p!lg,-
0nerg are kept constantly employed.
The DriBon IL more than Belf-SupportinG
and turns into the city treasury aeN-
erai hundred dollars every ye9r. The
principle article manufactured In the
prison Is brOOtnR, and the entire demand
for bFooms In the town Is supplied by
the prison factory. Brushes are made,
too. and the demand for tho prison
product became 40 great that the
authorities have been receiving prison.
erR from adjoining counties, who work
out their sentences at labor IN the
GAINESVILLE prison workhouse. For these
conVIcts forty cents o day u paid 10
the counties whence they come.
III uAH uGGAL NWlN ALtAk ~ W0SAA ~
cheaper and better for the city 10 aban-
don the prison and send the prisoners
to the county Jail" continued the may
or, ''but this II not true. With city
prison economically administered and
the inmates kept At work making
hrooms ana brushes. which could be
done with only small investment for
machinery. the prison could be made
uelf-suppOrting.
II understand the county would
charge forty 10 nifty cents . day for
keeping the city prisoners. Why, even
now. with q management that until
quite recently has not boon a. economic
a. u could have been, the cost per CAD
tia for prisoners at the wOrkhouRe 70
only thlrty.thFee cents per day. And
this has been greatly reduced recently
by the system OF buying supplies on
orders from the clerk Of the police COM
mtttee instead Of the old system, BY
which the superintendent bought what
he wanted without consulting anybody.
II have been receiving letters from
the authorities OF other cities regarding
cost of maintaining prisons and cost OF
provisions. At 81. Paul II costs q little
over eight cents a day to feed the pris..
oners: at GAINESVILLE about ten cents, and
at Toledo less than ten cents.
n we'll CVnuuGleu WoThuuuSt heGpS
trampS out Of 4 community. For IN
stance, at GAINESVILLE there art no
tr1mps now, for the name and fame
OF their workhouse has gone abroad In
tFampdom. II IL customary there for
three or four cops" TO be a. the depOts
on arrival Of freight trains. and every
Weary Willie" 10 n0bhEd and sent TO
the wOrkhouEe In short order The fact
that the mayor gets 81 for every arrest
may account for this In a measure, but
at any rate the tTamp9 now give ZansE-
willie q wide berth. Before, ZHneRville
was UVeTTun with trampa.
II an In favor OF buying ground In
South Wheeling or out on the PSnim-
sula. where an up-to.datP workhouse
could be erected, though It may be that
there Is enough ground on the hillside
at the present location for the erection
OF u prison large enough to accOmmO-
date the prisoners and to put in mHchln-
cry for the manufacture OF brooma and
brushes. One thing Is certain. the pres
ent workhouAe iP disgrace to Wheel
ing and the city must do something at
nnra -