The Sunday globe., 1901-06-02

10 life imprisonment in the Ohio Penetentiary
for hghting "a street duel in which the deiamer
Of his family was killed Pardoned aiter eighl
years imprisonment, he proposes IN the
columns OF the Globe to tell "a plain, unyar
nlshed talen Of life in a modern penitentiary
-EDITOR)
The Habitual Criminal Law Of Ohio,
as administered in that State never
catches a real, live criminal, but some
petty thief or chicken stealer, for be
it known to a civilized public, that in
Ohio, chicken stealing is a States
prison crimel The bucolic gentlemen
in the legislature were "logrolled'
with, once upon a time by a slick
member from Cincinnati, who was en-
deavoring to put a steal through the
house, and who needed the votes of the
former members. He therefore pro
posed to this element that If it's mem
bers would stand by him in his meas
ure he would put through a bill to
make chicken stealing a felony. This
is called "log-rolling" and it is by this
process so many infamous as well as
silly measures become laws.
The chicken stealer, like the burglar,
plies his vocation at night and hence
the breaking into a hen coop was de-
clared a felony, or burglary pure and
simple Heretofore it had been lar.
ceny to the value Of the chickens stO-
len, which never amounted to the
grand larceny or felonious figure of
$35, and the chicken thief was conse-
quently guilty of petit larceny only,
and generally got off with either a
fine or a work house sentence of thirty
days
When the new law went into Office
first colored brother caught was a
camp meeting eXhorter in Montgomery
county, and two previous convictions
having been proven against him, he
was sentenced to life Imprisonment
as an "habitual criminal" This was
some fifteen years ago, and he is still
an inmate of the Ohio Penitentiary.
At present there are over thirty OF
this class of life prisoners in the Ohio
prison and truth compels the admis-
sion that the majority of them are
white men and the colored brother is
in a minority, notwithstanding his
penchant for yellow legged chickens.
But, as stated there is not one first
class or dangerous criminal in the
number. And it was this very class
the law was designed to cover. No
expert burglar, safe blower, robber
forger, confidence man or other high.
class criminal ever permits himself to
be caught in the meshes of the habit
ual criminal law. AS a rule these eX-
pert professors" in the higher
crimes ply their vocations on the run,
as it were, and have neither local hab
itation or a name They play no favor
ties among the cities or States and II
unfortunate enough to be caught dead
to rights" in Ohio, when their "bit
is done, they migrate to another State
and give Ohio a wide berth. They are
proficient in changing their personal
appearance names and identities, and
as they are generally more brainy than
the detective and police they run little
if any risk in being discovered as eX
convicts.
The Bertilion system of measure
ment. which Warden Coffin introduced
in the Ohio prison, and which is in
operation in New York, Illinois, and
one or two other States, is the only
method by which these professional
criminals can be identified, but even
in this particular they are immune, for
the reason that it is only on their re-
turn to prison, after sentence, and
when remeasured by the BertilliOn
system that their previous convictions
are discovered, too late to try or in
diet them under the Habitual Criminal
Law and they give the authorities the
"felon smile" do their bits and de-
part for fresh fields and pastures new
Now, the petty criminal as rule is
anchored is a resident or sometimes a
householder in the theater of his dep
relations. He has, may be, shady
reputation for being crooked and he is
accordingly watched by his neighbors
He soon secures a police record and
the shrewd fly cops of the village, ham
let or city where he resides, watch all
his goings out and cOmings in. II a
chicken is stolen, he is arrested; If a
robbery or burglary comes off, the pO'
lice would just as soon suspect the
mayor of being the perpetrator, as the
pettv thief they know to be utterly in
capable of committing anything like a
serious crime. And yet, it is this class
of petty criminals who is solely the
victim of the barbaric habitual Grim
inal law
To cite a few cases, by way of Illus
tration, where this inhuman law makes
the State of Ohio a bigger criminal
than the poor devil it immures for life
behind stone walls, will, it is presum-
ed, convince the most skeptical Of our
readers of its great injustice.
There we're two brothers named
Kline, from Dayton. Ohio, life prison.
ers in the Ohio Penitentiary until a
few years ago, when the elder Of the
two died in the prison hospital These
two youths were graduates of a strict
religious reformatory in the Gem City
and grew up to manhood in their ma.
tive town; guilty of numerous esCa.
pades. none Of them serious enough to
merit felonious convictions they
earned a police court reputation which
in time eliminated IN their conviction
of penitentiary offense and they We're
both sent up" for a short term The
precise crime they were first convicted
of Is not now recalled by the writer,
but II happened to reach the danger
mark of S35 and grand larceny Dur
ing their imprisonment the Habitual
criminal law was enacted and on their
release they returned like all petty
criminals Of their class, to their native
town Respectfully connected, their
relatives we're scandalzed by their
criminal record and their two aunts,
maiden ladies Of social standing and
means, did everything in their power
to induce the youths to reform their
lives.
The boys however, were wild rather
than vicious, and more in a spirit of
brayado than for actual want Of the
money or valuables they pilfered, they
kept on alternately working at their
trades and taking ventures in petty