Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-02-09

"Not yet though we have often
threatened to do II. Hitherto che threat
has Iroved sufficient"
l was next taken into q kftcheh
and shown the food served out 10 the
prisoners. 1t seemed To mo OF Iair
quality, but l could imagine mat IL
would be a long time BEFORE men nc
customed to luxury could bring them
selves % touch 1t, much less 70 eat ~
with relish,
"You would like to see the men Ut
work, wouldn't you'll" asked my gulue,
and on my saying that l would' NO
tool ME out Of a side door. l at once
found myself in a passage some twenty
feet wide, the walls OF which were ~
least ten feet high. There was no
roof to this passage, the object OF
which I saw was 10 isolate the prls-
oners as they went TO and from Heli
work, and prevent any chance OF CO
cape.
We went up this queer alley for per-
haps a quarter OF a mile, and then Won
Mitschka suddenly stopped. stoppeu'
also, and peered over his
This was what saw:
In the bottom OF a natural nono"
fifty or sixty yards below me, were
some twenty men, o or them Wear
ing chains, hard at work ~excaVallhs
the granite which formed he SUD
stance of the hill. Some We're porlhs
holes for the blasting powder, others
were dragging with ropes at the nuse
fragments which a former explosion
had dislodged, others We're welding
the chisel and mallet. h iabor-mas-
tei. as | took him to be, was sitting on
a rock In the middle or the laDoreTs, u
rifle laying at his side. Ana upon
knobs. from which b whole area Oh
the quarry could be commanded, sen
tries were posted. Each man had MS
bayonet fixed, and q had no doubt q
ball cartridge in his rifle. Not a SOUND
Of any kind except the faint, metaiilc
tap-tap-tap-of the pauets, reacheo
the ear. They were silent as souls In
purgatory toiling in expiation or uer
sins.
For some time / stood watching the
terrible scene. To witness forced Ia
Dor is as painful as 1t is TO witness any
other form of human suffering. Ii Is,
to a sensitive and generous minn, uls-
tressing to watch the conyicts at part
moor at their amending toll, anu the re-
Election that they have in every, or
very nearly every, case richly deserved
their fate. does but little to lessen the
regret, and nothing TO lessen the pity,
with which we regard them. But heie
were men who, according TO uhe ac-
cepted rules of human ndu were
innocent. No properly-consrututeu trl-
blnal had condemned them They had
but done their duty; and IT, In some
cases. they had done IL in a harsh ana
offensive manner, this, surely, was ex-
cssive punishment for such an oHense.
Looking up suddenly, / found that
my companions eyes We're hxed on my
face. | could guess that he had Deen
reading my thoughts.
"You must not imagine" he salu,
%grayely, that these men, many Oh
whom are now engaged in honest toll
for tie first time in their lives, are all,
or nearly all, men OF family n POSI-
ton. such as your friend, the Prince.
Several Of them are ex-turnkeys, con-
yicted of cruelty to the prisoners they
IiU III lUtlE CllstN ". pAf ltN ~
victed spies. And in III code OF ethics
the mar who pays a spy Is exactly on
the same level as the spy himself-eX
cept that he generally has not got a
tenth part OF the spy's brains. WHAT
he does for another is quite the same
as If done for himself. We make no
distinction between the governor who
uses these infamous instruments and
the Instruments themselves. There Is
not n man there" cried Won Mltschka,
raising his voice and stretching sls
right hand toward the hollow, who
does not richly deserve, M the life OF
labor. merely, but death itself. Not 4
man of them all who, under a just sys-
TEN of government, would not have
forfeited his life. A more splendid act
of retribution, a more just punishment
Of guilty men who thought themselves
secure to work their W cruel VIII on
their helpless fellow creatures. has
Y been witnessed since the crea.
ton Of the world"
If there was something theatrical in
the chiefs words and bearing, there
was. OF the same time, something I'M
pressive in his boast; and i was
forced to own to myself that. granting
that the facts were as he stated them.
there was a great deal TO be said of his
view of the cas-
| said nothing. however. and Won
Mitcshka, making no further remark,
turned on his heel and led the way to
the prison.
Rut he walked with dowrcast head.
and | felt tolerably certain that his
thoughts were still busy with the same
subject.
AS we reached the prison he stopped
and looked me straight in the face,
with q defiant air, as if had in some
way contradicted or opposed him, and
said.
what is the difference between his
convict settlement and that OF any 9TH
err in the world?"
"Why. for one thing. / suppose In
other prisons the culprits have G
regularly tried and sentenced" / re-
piled.
$50 have the criminals here"
.But not by a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
tribunal
swhat do you mea by regularly
constituted?'
THAT question would take us back
TO the origin OF human society, and
the right OF the King-or the chief pow
er I'm the State-to preserve order"
After all, isn't their right $ on
this-that they have the power TO pre-
serve order, as you call ito punish
those who inure or Cypress their fel-