The Sunday globe., 1901-06-30
PRISON REFORM.
A Problem Touching Women Up for
Solution.
THE WIVES OF CRIMINALS
And the Wives Of the Accidental Prisoner
Banker LAWYER, Editor, Farmer, and Public
Official Who FALL COntrastsd by One Who
Mas Observed Them for Over Eight Years In
Their Prison Visits.
Ninth Paper.

(The writer OF the following was sentenced
TO life Imprisonment in the Ohio Penetentiary
for fighting a street duel in which the defamer
OF his family was killed. Pardoned after eight
years imprisonment, he proposes in The
columns Of the Globe TO tell "a plain, unVar
nished tale' Of life in a modern penitentiary.
-EDIToR0
We have read, in a general way,
about everything that has been writ
ten by criminologists on the subject of
crime, it's disease, from the point of
view Of one school, and its hereditary
transmission from the Lombroso phys
ical and mental scientific standpoint,
but we have never read a paragraph
nor even a hint on the phase of Grim
inal manifestation which will he dealt
with in this paper. For the eight years
of our enforced servitude to the State
of Ohio we have seen all Cl uses. kinds
and conditions of men immured behind
stone walls, the gamut of whose crimes
emulated every offense known in the
penal calendar, There were refined,
educated gentlemen, and there were
the Lombroso alleged type Of heredi-
tary criminal, known as the "proIes-
sional.' 1t is even now painful for us
to recall the distressing scenes we have
Wllnt6bNh III Ah1 tSuul VI 4 bpAd VI NLN
prison, where the last parting took
place between the banker, the public
official, the lawyer, doctor, editor,
farmer and other accidental" Grim
inal with friends and relatives. The
anguish, of wife, sister, brother and
children or parents on parting from
the loved one, who was about to pass
through the iron-barred doors to the
interior of the prison would draw
tears from the most callous and
excite the sympathy of the cold
es heart. One unread in the tran
sient character of all earthly affections
and unacquainted with the vagaries
of human affections would feel it a
sacrilige to even doubt the genuineness
of this grief and would be willing to
pledge his soul to its lasting charac-
ter while life itself remained.
But alas! for poor, weak, human ma
ture, the wife who has tainted in her
husbands arms in that last embrace,
within a six months has applied to the
courts for a divorce on statutory
grounds, viz Her husband being a
convicted felon, undergoing penal SER
vitude. The children who wept until
tneir sobbing touched all hearts, have
welcomed the new and forgotten the
(natural) father behind the bars. Even
the sister, sweetheart and brother
have philOsophically braced up, and,
whereas their visits for the first few
months were regular, they gradually
fell off, and as the years stretched out
contented themselves with sending the
father, son or brother an occasional
letter.
re have seen the wife of a Cincin-
natl banker a refined, cultured lady,
live at the warden's residence for a
week at a time during the first few
months of her husbands Incarceration
in order to be near and see or speak
to him. Her devotion excited the writ
er's warmest admiration, and we have
pinned our faith on the loyalty of this
particular and exceptional member of
tne better or higher class, and felici-
tated ourself that in this case faith
and marriage VOWS would be sacredly
observed by the woman for the fallen
man. Fallen, too, because Of his desire
to surround her with the luxuries she
craved, but which his salary as teller
he was unable to crafty. Hence his
fall, for, in the excess of his love and
devotion he took the money of the
bank, and, as in so many similar cases
his speculations failed and discovery,
disgrace and the prison followed in
their natural sequence.
Poor Cunniham was only a type of
the members of his class; confiding
loving and devoted to his beautiful
wife, whom he knew would never de
sert him. To do her credit, she did
all that loyal wife could do to secure
his parole, and remained faithful to
him for a whole-year! Then he re-
ceived the fatal notice by the sheriff to
answer his wifes bill of divorce. And
so his romance ended, and his faith
in all womankind except his mother
All prisoners, however depraved, eX-
cept their mothers from their bills of
attainder against women
Three, four or five years is the long
est term any of these accidental
criminals serve as prisoners to the
State. They are either pardoned, pa
roled or their terms expire in from
one to five years, yet the wives Of their
bosoms, in more than 80 per cent OF
the cases coming under our observa
ton, divorced them on the statutory
grounds of criminal conviction" be
fore the first year of their imprison
ment EXPIRED And this, too, where
the large per cent had children whom
one would naturally think might re
strain the mother from putting this
additional sorrow upon the broken
heart of the husband and father, who
was generally the least guilty Of the
two, for, in the larger number Of cases
the extravaganza, frivolity, vanity ETC.
of the wife, or the expense Of support
ing the wife's relatives was the NOV
ing cause of the embezzlement or de
falcation of the accidental prisoner
We now come to the phase Of Grim
inal manifestation which we have no
where found in the books on crime OF
criminals. And that is the loyalty and
unyielding faith and devotion Of the
professional crimial's wife, woman,
sister or brother, or other knfolk, but
especially the wife or woman" as :
mistress is styled by these outlaws
and outcasts Of society. The more ais
graceful the crime the more loyal and
attentive the wife or mistress to the
man behind the bars. Every visiting
day she trudges to the prison with a
basket loaded down with eatables and
fruits Of all kinds in season. and even
when rare or high-priced, she procures
tLem somehow for her burglar, horse
thief, swindler or pickpocket husband
who probably never did an honest days
work since she knew him. and mayfair
whipped her as many times as she had
hairs in her head She embraces him
fondly when permitted, sits lovingly
by his side, caresses him with hands
over his, helps to pick out the nice bits
in the basket tn tpmnt him and nos
sibly receives an approving grunt OF
a semi-ferocious smile for her reward
We have watched these scenes by the