The Sunday globe., 1901-05-05

To marshal the proofs and establish
this apparently presumptuous claim will
incidentally involve interesting variations
of scenes and incidents in convict life
within the walls of the largest prison in
the United States, and which contained
at the period Of the writer's severance
therefrom, 1850 males and 30 female
prisoners. OF this number, 1914 were life
prisoners. of whom were females.
Since the close of The civil war, the
legislatures of the various States have
added to the criminal statutes number.
less offences, which involve penal i'm
prsonment. Congress, too, has contri-
buted its mite, and the laws enacted
governing the National Banking System
are so ingenuously constructed that it is
almost impossible to avoid their violation.
Hence our prisons have been crowded,
especially during the past two decades,
with all kinds and conditions of men,
caught in the meshes of criminal statutes,
a majority of the culprits never dreamed
were in legal existence.
Bankers, clergymen, editors, physicians
and other professional and educated citi-
zens were presumably supposed to know
the law, while merchants, farmers, and
mechanics were ineXcusable under the
venerated maxim that Ignorance of the
law excuses nobody" The average
citizen knows that murarr, burglery
arson, rape, and theft are penitentary
offences, but how few know that there
are not less than one hundred other crimes
punishable as felonies In the majority OF
the State. For instance, in Ohio, a man
convicted Of his third offence Of stealing
chickens is punishable with life imprison-
ment, as a habitual criminal. There are
ten such prisoners undergoing sentence
now. But this class of criminals, the
thief, the burgler, the footpad, and the
murderer, we always had with US. The
banker, the lawyer, the editor and the
physician, the college professor, and the
embezzling public official are modern ad-
ditions to the penal populations Of our
prisons. They did not materialize "be-
fore the wah" to a noticeable extent at
least. Today, however, the members of
these professions, business men and ex-
officials are the dominant element in our
Northern penitentiaries and they not
only monopolize all the clerkships and
soft places" in the various prisons, but
they influence, modify and, indeed, shape
the prison discipline And why not2
The average prison official is, to say the
least, from every point of view, the in
ferior of such class of prisoners, whereas
in ante bellum days he was not alone
physically, but mentally the superiors of
his wards,
The educated class OF prisoners in our
penal institutions leaven the whole mass
of their fellow prisoners, and as the fallen
banker lawyer, editor or business man
will not and cannot descend to the level
of the burgler or thief, etc, the latter
class--known in prison parlance as the
professional al"-in influenced by exam
Pile, association and hopes of better treat
ment to curb, modify and suppress their
msubordnate and vicious tendencies, to
the advantage of good order and prison
discipline. But the educated prisoners,
who have been annually increasing, in
exact ratio to the additions TO the crimi.
nal statutes and to the tendencies of the
times for speculation and "quick returns"
on investments, makes the prison disci-
pline bearable by their personality, as
impressed on the prison management,
seconded by the pressure of their influen.
tial friends on the outside. The "proles.
sional" criminal, silently acknowledges
his Indebtedness to the accidental" or
educated prisoner, and endeavors to con-
form in department and conduct to the
better and improved conditions of his en-
vironment. And this is the first step to
the ultimate reform of numbers of this
class
In eight years of association with
banker, and burgler murderer and
preacher, horse thief and lawyer, physi.
clan and counterfeiter, the writer had the
pleasure of fellowship with over thirty
bankers from E. L. Harper who failed
in 'cornerng' the Chicago wheat mar
ket, and drew a ten years sentence, to
the venerable Henry :. Gardes, ex-presi-
dent Of the American Bank of New
Orleans, whose aggregate sentence is 1853
years, he being sentenced to years each
on 81 counts of violation of the federal
banking laws, but as the sentences run
concurrent his term of Imprisonment is
only years, Mr.. Gardes is now in his
6Slh year.
The services Of educated prisoners in
the penal institutions are appreciated by
the prison managements. The state and
the tax payers are saved thousands of
dollars annually, which would have to
be expended in salaries tor book keepers,
stenographers, clerks, Librarians, etc.
These convict clerks, and kook keepers
are in constant touch and association with
the prison officials, and the latter are ever
responsive to suggestions and ideas from
such intellectual, experienced, and social
factors. Hence, as stated, the reforms
in all our Northern penal institutions
have their inception within the walls of
the pris ons and the criminologists who
suggested or originated them, were prs-
oners, who previous to their convictions
adorned the very highest ranks Of society.
To illustrate this point a little, 1t is only
necessary to enumerate a few of the
names of this class, the writer has known
to "have done their Bit and left their
impress for the better on the discipline of
the prison.
Clarence Overman, ex-president Of the
Hllsboro, Ohio National Bank, five