The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-22
KANSAS news.
improvements Being Made at
the New Prison Site.
Large Amount of Work Going
on at Leavenworth.
A HUGE sMOKEsTACK.
Rises l25 Feet Above Ground
8 Feet in Diameter.
Circular Bull Pen of Two Cir.
cIes of Barbed Wire.

Leavenworth, Oct. 22.-The new build
Angs at the new federal prison site are
going up as rapidly as 400 men can
work. but it will be no less than eight
years before all of the buildings Will
be in perfect order and running smooth
One can gain no estimate of. the enor-
nous amount of work that is being
done within the bafrieade from the OUT
Side, but walk through the ground
fenced in. innpresses one with the mag
nitude of the undertaking.
A reporter Went TO the site and was
shown over the ground by Guard Bid
die. Entering at the northeast "a te one
nrst encounters the brick making plant
where millions of bricks OF the finest
quality are made by machine that is
capable of COMPRISING and turning out
$oUOO IN a working day. Two men are
kept at work steadily taking away the
bricks formed which are hauled on cars
to the kilns, where they are burned and
then taken to the buildings
The laundry building with its thick
walls and barred windows is almost
completed and Will be used by the pris-
on authorities for the 400 convicts al
work on the buildings. The men will
eat and sleep there in order to have
more time in which to work on the
buildings and will not have the long
walk in the mornings and the even
inEs.
The northwest cell house is a huge af-
fair and 1t is said that it has as many
brick in it as there are in all of the
buildings on Delaware street. The walls
are from four to six feet in width and
there are to be 300 cells in this building
alone. Each cell is of brick and there
will be four tiers of such. Instead of
constructing the cells back to back. a.
space has been left behind them where
waste water can be taken out without
entering the cell. The walls of this
building are finished and skaters will
commence work next week 1t is about
80 feet high and is one Of two that will
be buih.
One of the greatest sights at the prison
is the boiler room. Ten boilers are to be
installed here and here also is the huge,
smokestack from which two men fell re-
Gently. The stack is built of steel and is
now its full height. 125 feet. The task OF
putting up this stack was no small one
Compressed air is forced through a hose
OF l25 feet into the air and thEre used Co
work a hammer for driving rivets The
stack is nine feet in diameter, but about
twelve at the base. It rests on a base of
concrete and the hole in which the pipes
from the boiler are to enter is so large
that horse was driven through it,
Work on the big tunnel is progressing
iapidly. This is large enough for a man
to walk through without stopping and
about five feet wide.- AnsofSthe steam
ana water pipes are to run through this
u the several buildings
One of the most interesting places with
III the enclosure is the bull pen in which
the convicts are marched when they enter
the grounds and before they leave it. It
is constructed of barb wire and is circular.
There are two circles of posts one within
the other and about ten strands OF wire
In each circle. Here the men are kept
until the guards take their positions on
the walls and until the others remove
their arms as none of the officers who
have charge of working forces are
armed.
The surface of the prison yard is a per-
Iect network OF railway tracks. The prison
mas It's own engine used in hauling stone
from the quarry on the side of the hill
west OF twentieth street and the locomo-
tive IS capable of running a the rate of
70 mics an hour The engineer convict is
no novice at the work, having been a To-
ccm0tlVe engineer and long a member of
tne Drotherhood- He receives his discharge
from the prison next Monday. Besides
engines constantly at work hosting ma
terial to the roofs of the BUILDINGS or
drawing cars to their places.
In one Of the buildings already COM
pleted are the dark cells, eight in num-
Der. The building is not a very inviting
looking place and the windows high above
the ground are heavily barred.
AT the southeast corner of the hfer in
in which guards are stationed On the
platform are brick walls and around the
walls are holes for theAguards to shoot
through in order to protect themselves in
case of an attack.
At the gate near the tower inside of a
nigh fence surrounded by strands of barb
wire the two famous bloodhounds are kept
ana are handy in the event that a convict
tries to make his escape. The dogs are
not the ferocious kind, but they have The
best OF regulations for tracking criminals.