Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-24
PATRIOTIC G N PRISON
Men In Iowa Penitentiaries Have
No Sympathy With the As.
sassin Of Mckinley.
Not One to Show Sympathy For
the Wretch Of the Bui.
falo Crime.
Warden Hunter on Patriotism
Among the Prisoners.-Prison.
Duty and Discipline.
ecial to Times-Republican

1 DeS Moines, Sept. 24-Ihe sadhess
which has overspread the land because
| of the Buffalo tragedy penetrated to the
linnermost cells of the state penitentiar-
lies, demonstrating that the crime of the
assassin Czolgosz was one so utterly
foreign to everything American that the
most depraved convicts in the peniten-
| tfaries contemplated 1t with awe. War
den Hunter, of the penitentiary at Ana
mosa, relates that when the news of the
shooting of the president Was read to
the convicts gathered for their suppers
| the scene was Impressive, and that the
! of their liberty by the state of Iowa for
various offenses manifested the tender
| est solicitude for the president. The
men were a unit in sympathy for the
lipresident and in condemning the action
| of the anarchist. On Sunday morning
| following the death Of the president me-
mortal services were hetd in the prison
chapel, to which the men gave the clos
est attention, and on Thursday the day
| of the funeral all work was suspended
| in every department OF the prison dur
| ing the time of the funeral services.
In the prison paper, edited and pub
llished by the inmates of the prison.
there was an editorial In which 1t was
declared that "the combined iniqutty
represented in American penal institu-
tions does not equal the Cain-cursed
propensities you behold in one anar-
chist." The Chinese highbinders and
| the dreaded Italian mafia united and
goaded to criminal frenzy can not be
compared with the treacherous, law-de-
lfying and murderous nature of one nor
liz d saint beside him" Not one man of
the 395 has been known to be d!sloyal
enough to speak disrespectfully" Of
President Mckinley, and the Prison
Press chronicles that:
1.-THE expressions Of opinion among
Itheprisoners are strong in denu2ciation
of the cowardly assassin. one man going
go far as to say that it wouldn't be we'll
for .Shawl-gotch' to be in this yard. y
| This inherent patriotism of the pris-.
oners has been made manifest on other
occasions. Before the last quarterly
conference of superintendents of insti-
Itutions held here, Commandant Horton.
| of the Soldiers Home. read an interest
ing paper on patriotism in state institu-
tions, and included in this was a letter
from Warden Hunter, of Anamosa pen.
Iitentlary, in which he wrote:
..At first thought the subject of pat
riotism in our state institutions. espe-.
cially in our penitentiaries might sug-
gest to our minds the idea of contra
diction of terms. The query Immediate
ly arises. how can convict be patriotic
in any sense of the word? The fact IT.
self that man is a convict is proof of
his disloyalty to the laws and institu-
tions of his country. But upon closer
Investigation 1t becomes evident that
there is sense in which the grand
passion of patriotism is known to our
prison population. Many of the inmates
of our penitentiaries are accidental
prisoners, men who have committed
crimes in the heat of passion, or because
of peculiar condition of circumstances
over which they apparently had no con-
troll. These men were patriotic on the
outside, and there is no reason why the
mere commitment to prison should
have destroyed or obliterated their in
nate love of country and its laws and
institutions.
These men. tho in prison, have hearts
and souls that can appreciate the finer
sentiments of patriotism when aroused
by patriotic themes and occasions This
was fully demonstrated at our institu-
tion at Anamosa during the stirring
events of the recent war with Spain.
When Dewey achieved his memorable
victory at Manila on May 1, 1898. the
mere announcement of the fact to our
prison population caused an outburst OF
patriotic fervor and enthusiasm scarce
ly equalled or excelled by any body of
citizenship on the outside. When i as
sembled the men in the prison yards on
July 4, 1895, and announced to them the
victory of our American arms at Santi-
ago on July g. their patriotic demon-
strationa We're simply unbounded, and
they evinced an eagerness to give vent
to their feelings of love of country and
its flag by giving three. cheers for the
Stars and Stripes, even tho the emblem
of freedom and liberty was proudly
floating over their gloomy imprison-
ment at that very moment. presented
to each prisoner on that occasion tiny
flag and many of those flags still adorn
the walls of their cells. an emphatic in
dication that the sentiment of patriot
ism is not wanting in the unfortunates
who breathe the atmosphere Of prison
seclusion and confinement.
But there is another, more limited
and technical sense in which our prison
population is capable of patriotic sem
timent and feeling. The convict is nee
essarly under the strict system of pris-
on discipline and government. While
the free man and citizen on the outside
10 accountable to the powers of govern
ment in county, municipality, state and
nation. the convict is amenable to a sys-
tenn of prison rules and regulations adj
ministered and executed by prison of
flcials. If he is loyal to these, he is in a
sense neutrality-suspicious. to the admin-
is.ratfon that is over him. That such is
the case in our penitentiaries is seen
from the fact of the marvellous success
of the grading system which is the con-
crete expression of prison government
in our own and other states. IT, as
noted writer aptly says, loyalty to ones