The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-12-12
TEXAS PENlTENTIARIES.
Report Of Superintendent Rice Of The 0per.
allOns for Past Two Years.
DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PRISONERS
There Iins nccn a Heavy Financial
Loss TO the system During the
Two Years--Some Statistics.

Austin. Texas. December 1i.-Following
Is a portion Of the report of the superin-
tendent Of pententiaries, }. 5. Rice, to
the comm. ssioners.
Hon. william CLEMENS. Chairman; S. Nj.
Fry and John b. Peyton, Commissioners
of Texas state Penltentiaries and House
of Correction and Reformatory.
Gentlemen; In compliance with the law
beg to submit herewith for your con-
sideraton, and for transmittal to his OK
eellency, Governor Joseph d. sayers, d
report Of the government, discipline, con-
dition and mana cement of the peniten.
tiares for the biennial period beginning
November /, 1895. and ending October 81,
1900.
Accompanying and made part hereof
are the carefully prepared reports of AS
slstanL superntendeuts j. G. Smilaer and
W. NJ. Lacy, IN charge respectively, Of
the Huntsville aud Rusk penltenderies,
making comp etc showing Of the gov
ernment, disc pine and management of
the two prisons and adjacent camps, TO-
gether WITH lab,es giving valuable sta
UstcM information; also the report OF
Assistant Superintendent l.. J. Tankers-
ley OF the House OF Correction and Re-
formatory.
Iae financial agents report included
herewith is a complete showing Ct the
business management and condition o.
finances for the two years
1t is with great regret that we are
forced 10 record so many serious mlslor-
tunes and disasters to the system tor the
past tWeny-one months, serious fer the
reason tlat they have involved The LOGS
OF life and property, and TO hurtful de-
gree brought confusion and disorder re-
peatedly to every branch of the service,
interfering VITA mlny plans FOR al yance-
nent and Improvement, and wdere. under
noimM conditions. material progress
seemed assured. TO enumerate: on Feb
ruary 10, 1899, the Huntsville Admins
tration and cell bu dings we're burned,
which was not only heavy loss. out the
rebuild ng and repairs drew heavily upon
the factories and shops for a number OF
skilled workmen aud other laborers,
q. ereoy, to some extent, Gripping the In
dustries, The cost OF rebuilding amoont-
ed to S43462.11. on March "a 1853, the
burning CT the Dunovant sugar house
brought smother loss of 100 barrels of
sugar and 26 barrels of syrup. Four
months Later. In July. came the great
food in the Brazos river. resulting in the
loss Of several conyicts by drowning, the
obstruction OF crops on a number OF
STATE and share farms, and necessitating
the purchase OF forage and seed al 4
great cost to the system. December OF
the same year another loss by FIRE Of -
bales of cotton occurred at the Farris
STARE farm. IN July of this year a small
loss occurred by the burning of taa fruit
eYaporator at the Ru5k prison. Tho great
storm OF September 5 brought further
losses Killing one guard and twenty
three convicts, and destroying property
10 me value OF 'scvcral thousand dollars.
The fires were II aceidental--carefu in
NesiigaLon by TIDE management In charge
holding the parties IN charge biameless
and disclosing the fact that in eldl in
stance It was impossible to faresee or
provide against these nl$sfortuneg In the
case Of the Huntsville IRE, which occurred
on The l3uh OF February, IL will be re-
membered that the weather at that time
was unusually cold. the thermometer reg
lstering six to eight degrees below zero,
freezing all pipes and hydrants, some
ih ng that had never occurred before,
aud making them for the time being use
less, while pre- iously they had offered
protection against all fires
Taking into consideration all thsse
facts, il wild not be surprising that the
penitentisry system Is forced TO make an
Iuntayorable showing for the per. Cd COW
cred by this report.
PRISON POPULATION.
Exhibit No. / shows decrease in prison
population during the past two years as
follows:
/ Total number OF conyicts on hand
November 1, 1898
Total number of conyicts on hand
October 81, 1900 ...................4,10 9
| Net decrease .'..-..,...,......... 1868
| The greatest number reached during
the two years ending October 81, 1900,
was on January s. 1898. being 4527.
! The least number occurred October ~,
| 1900 being 4lO8.
The per cent OF prison population Is
divided as follows: Whites, 35.5: negroes,
3d. Mexicans, II s.
An estimate OF the number OF convtots
/ in the penitenuaries at different oates,
! as compared With the total State popula-
ton:
lS7e-One in penitentlary out OF
every 1919 inhabitants. Basis. Sls,5t9
lss0-one in penitentiary out Of
every 100 Inhabitants. Basis. IA $50. 600
! lS90--one in penitenbiary out OF
! every 7O3 lnhabitanes Basis. 1880, 900
| ls00--one in penitentiary out OF
every zoe inhabtants. Basis. IS 04S, SOS
Receipts AND DISCHARGES.
Re- Dis
cepts. charges,
/ For two years ending
/ October 81, 1884. 1906 967
] For two Years endinu