The Sunday globe., 1901-05-12

Hon. f. G. Coffin served eight years
as warden Of the Ohio penitentiary,
four years under Governor NOW Sena.
tor Foraker and four years under the
notedly successful administr ton Of
Governor Asa s. Bushnell. Mr.. Coffin
is now close to his three core and ten,
and fol- more than half a century he
has been connected, as sheriff, consta-
ble, warden, etc, with the custody,
control, and discipline Of prisoners. He
is a practical penologst and the first
prison warden in the United States to
introduce the humane, or common
sense sys EN-, a. Mr. Coffin very ap.
propriately calls it, into the discipli
nary management Of convic.s.
Like all new inoyations, this humane
system and its father came in for the
unqualified condemnation Of the con.
servative element, in and out of the
press, but Mr.. Coffin persisted under
the most trying circumstances until he
had demonstrated the benificence both
to the prisoners and to society of the
new system. In this experiment he
was ably supported by the humane and
enlightened governor Of the State, Hon.
A. $. Bushnell.
1t il of the latter four years Of Mr.,
Conin's administration, therefore, that
this icle will deal, and illustrate by
the actual knowledge and experience
of the writer the superiority and adj
vantages of treating prisoners like hu
man beings instead Of brutalizing them
as under the oppressive or old system
of prison discipline.
The Nicomte de Villain XIV, first
sheriff of Ghent, Belgium, intr )duced
humane methods in the new prison
called Rasphuys." Many of the pres
ent modern reforms were then and at
that period applied with success. The
NiscOmte held that the main object of
imprisonment was the reformation of
the prisoner and that work and moral
suasion were the two great factors to
attain this desideratum.
Mr.. Coffin ampliied on the Belgian S
theory and endeavored to restore the
selfrespect Of the prisoner, inspire him
with the ambitions at least, to be a
human being and inculcate in his
mind the lesson that "2rime doesn t
pay.n In pursuance Of his plan for the
restoration to society Of fair per cent of
the criminals entrusted to him redeem
ed from crime and rehabilitated in
manhood Warden Coffin abolished the
striped clothing and the corporal pun
ishment inflicted by his two predeces-
sors. He held out system Of rewards
for the well-behaved aud deserving, and
by a iudicious use of the pardouing
power by the governor, the Ohio pene-
tentiary containing the lay gest popula-
tion of any prison in this country or
Eurpe became model penal institu-
tion,
Under the administration of Gov
ernor Mckinley the prison discounted
in horrors the prisons of Paris in the
"Reign of Terror While men were
not actually taken every morning to
the guillotine for decapitation they
were taken to the cellar underneath the
chapel and there compelled to await
their turn, in nude condition, the
"paddlingn Of their naked persons by
brutal lutlian named owen Stack
house, from McKinleys own county of
Stark, and who was indebted for his
appointment as a deputy warden, to
his gigantic anne and ferocious tenn
| perament. This man Stackhouse was
the personification Of cruelty and igno-
rance. He could barely sign his name
i'm large struggling capitals and had
never read a book or newspaper in his
| life. Such was the man Governor
Mckinley selected as assistant to c. c.
: James, his warden James was a
! gloomy taciturn, broodiug and partially
insane friend of the governor. " of large
frame and vacant mind" He is now
in the insane hospital, where his
brother was and is still an inmate.
The governor knew Of the famiiy y insan-
ity and he nevertheless clothed this
man with more than autocratic power
! over the lives of 700 hapless prison.
ers. An aut0crat is more or less con
, trolled by public opinion in his pur-
posed cruelty aud injustice, but a war
+ den Of penitentiary is under no such
restraint and is controlled alone by his
conscience and sense Of justice.
Every few months during Governor
McKinley's administration there was
am execution in the prison, and the
convicts were on these occasions nota.
, bly, excited and demoralizsd. Every
, man sentenced to death during the
governors four years was executed, not
single man commuted to life impris
Onment, although there were many
cases in which n humane executive
could have exercised clemency The
writer witnessed the execution OF the
following named persons within the
enclosure Of the prison, each and all of
whom appealed in vain for clemeucy to
the tender hearted Mckinley:
Jacob Harvey, June 2S, 1892.
Edward Mccarthy, Sept. 8, 1892.
Chas Craig, Sept 8, 1892.
Frank Van Loon, Aug 4, 1898.
VIM, Whaley, June %, 1891.
Chas Hart, April Il, 1895.
Geo. Geschwilm, April 26, 1895.
Lafayette Prince, May 25, 1895.
John Molour June 20, 1895.
Michael McDonough, June 2S, 1895.
VIM. Taylor, June 20, 1895.
Isaac Edwards, Sept. H., 1895.
Martin Adams, Sept 27, 1895.
VIM. Paul, April 20, 1896
Governor McKinley's administrat ON
was noted for another popularity IN its
treatment of prisoners. This was in
the exercise Of the pardoning power.
In Ohio there is a Stale Board of Par.
dons, which meets quarterly TO hear
petitions for clemency and recommend
those deserving it to the governor who
thereupon promptly issues n pardon.
In the case Of Foraker and in all other