The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-05-17
THE PENITENTIARY
Management Praised in Highest
Terms by One of the Prisoners Who
has Just Finished Bis Term Of

management Erhseu III 64SheSI
Terms by One Of the Prisoners Who
has Just Finished Bis Term Of
Confinement.
To the Editor OF the Intelligencer.
sIR:-If you will kindly permit me
the use of your columns for brief
statement of my treatment at the state
prison, at Moundsville, from which in
stltuuon 1 have just been discharged,
after a service there Of one year, shall
feel under great obligations to you as
enabling me In n slight degree to pay
debt Of gratitude which l owe to the
warden of the penltentiary, to his fam
lily and to the people Of Moundsvilhe.
To the uniform kindness Of the former
to all of the inmates is due in !. large
measure the mental and physical WE'LL
being of the $50 convicts now confined
within the prison; and to. the latter (the
citizens OF Moundsvllle) Is due the BEN
ehcial effects which are felt by every
prisoner rs the result OF the weekly
visits to the prison by these good peo-
pie, their wives and their children. The
Sunday services which these children.
attend. alike in bad weather as good,
to cheer by their presence and gladden.
with their voices the unfortunate In
mates of the place, have produced re-
filming and ennobling influence upon
the boys which no other method OF
lending 4 helping hand to the fallen
could possibly have brought about.
Their bright faces, their fresh, clear
notes when engaged in song, as well as
their words OF comfort and encourage
ment, have all tended. ard are tending
to-day. to make better men Of every In
divldual confined within the walls.
It is to Warden Hawk, however. and
to hts noble wife and interesting family
that the great Improvement In every
department OF the prison is due, and
also that the material condition Of
every prisoner has been so greatly
ane'io!ated. OF Mrs. Hawk In partic-
ular it would be impossible to speak
too highly. She Is the embodiment Of
! all that is good and pure in woman
hood, and her constant sollcitude for
the comfort OF the sick and frlendless
has endeared her to the hearts of hun-
dreds OF human beings who will re-
member her many acts OF graciousness
when the horror of prison existence
shall have become but a dim recollec-
ton Of the past.
As colored man, may perhaps be
permitted to believe myself competent
to Judge OF the treatment accorded to
the members of my own race. and in
this particular I am constrained to say
in view of the discipline necessary to
be maintained In 4 prison. 1t could not
be better. Every consideration and
every privilege consistent with abso-
Lutte duty has Invariably been shown
to the coiored people. and many OF
them occupy las did there) the most
trusted positions In the penitentIary.
In conclusion, Mr. Editor, hope that
the good work being carried on in the
! state prison will continue to endure.
for time, In my opinion, will vlndicate
the truth of the prncple that kind and
Just treatment, such rs exists under
the auspices of Warden Hawk. viii do
the more to reform men and eradicate
crime from the community than all the
harsh and repressIve measures which
were formerly in vogue under previous
administrations.
AN OLD KENTUCKY BOY.