The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-06-04
WILDE TELLS TALES.
THE LATELY RELEASED NOVELIST
SCORES BElTl3H JAIL SYSTEM.

Child Prisoners Are Treated with Afro
cious Cruelty--Iong Hours In . Dark
ceIi--Wsrden Dismissed For Feeding
Starving Boy-A stern Arraignnsnt.
Whatever may be the truth in regard
to the personal morals Of Oscar Wilde,
who was released from prison on May
10 after serving two years for "a heinous
crime, be has done service 10 human
ity by writing remarkable letter about
the almost fendish cruelty Of the Eng
lish prison system In tho treatment Of
child prisoners.
A warden named Martin, who was
employed at the Reading jail, where
Wilde was confined, was dismissed re-
Gently for giving two or three biscuits
to q starving child In one Of the cells
The whole convict system Of England
Ia too barbarous for belief in civilized
country and age. but when It IL applied
to a child Of II years, as In this case. 1t
IL inhuman. In the course Of bis long
letter Mr.. Wilde says:
II saw three children (referring TO
the Monday previous to his release) who
had just been convicted. They were
standing in q row In the prison dress
They were all small. The youngest. to
whom the warden gave the biscuits. was
a tiny little chap, and 1t was evident
that the prison officials were unable to
find clothes small enough 70 fit him.
1.-THE present treatment Of children ID
terrible. Children can understand pun
ishment inflicted by an individual;
what they cannot understand Is punish
ment by society. A child IL taken from
its parents by people whom it has never
seen. and, finding itself in q lonely cell
and ordered to be punished by the rep
resentative Of a system that 1t cannot
understand, becomes q prey to the first
and most prominent emotion produced
by modern prison life-the emotion Of
terror.
1.-The terror of child in prison ID
limitless. ! remember as Twas going tc
exercise seeing In dimly lit cell oppo
site my own small boy. Two wardert
were talking to him with some stern
ness. The child's face was like white
wedge. There was sheer terror in It,
and in the eyes was the terror Of Q
hunted animal. The next morning
heard him at breakfast time crying and
calling to be let out. The cry was fol
his parents. From time to time could
be heard the deep voice Of wardel
telling him to be quiet, and yet he hai
not even been convicted of whatever
little offense with which he was charged
He was simply on remand.
"This terror that seizes and dom
mates the child, as the grown man, il
also intensified beyond power Of expires
sion by the solitary cell system. Every
child is confined in cell for % hours
out of the "a. This is the appalling
thing. To shut q child in dimly lii
cell for 23 hours day is an example O.
cruelty and of stupidity.
"Inhuman treatment Of o child is al
ways inhuman by whomsoever infict
ed. but inhuman treatment by society
is to child more terrible, because M
appeal to tho parent can be made to le
out the child from the dark room. A
warder cannot. Most warders are font
Of children, but the system prohibit!
the rendering of the child any assist
ance. Should they do SO, as Martin did
they are dismissed.
"The second thing from which {
child suffers in prison is hunger. The
food consists Of piece Of usually badly
baked prison bread and tin of water
for breakfast. At noon he gets dinner
composed Of tin of coarse Indian mea!
stirabout and at half past piece Of
dry bread and q tin Of water for sup
per. This diet in the case Of strong
man always produces illness, chiefly
diarrhea. In fact, in big prison as
tringent medicines are served regular
ly as matter of course. A child, as 6
rule, is incapable Of eating the food. A
child who has been crying all day and
perhaps half the night in a lonely cell
and who is preyed upon by terror sim
ply cannot eat food of this coarse, hor
rible kind.
I'm the case Of the little boy te
whom Martin gave the biscuits, the
child was crying from hunger. He wal
utterly unable to eat the bread and wa
ter served for his breakfast. Martin
went out after breakfast and bought &
few biscuits for the child rather thar
see him starving. 1t was a beautiful
action and was so recognized by thu
child, who, utterly unconscious Of tht
regulation Of the prison board, told one
Of the senior wardens how kind tht
junior warden had been to him. Tht
result was report and Martins dis
missal. New York Sun.