Sunday Washington globe., 1902-04-27


home
Many men get no mail and night after
night as pass their cells aud see the pale
anxious faces and heaf the repeated query
of Anything for me to-night2' and reply
No, my boy, not tonight, hasten on, try
ing to forget the disappointed look that
steals over the face of him who has been
condemned by the world and forgotten by
those who once knew him when he num-
bered one Of the great multitude in the out.
side world. No mere human being can
fathOnl the ceaseless and narrowing anguish
in the hearts of these forgotten ones, and
there are many such in this abode of the
condemned.
Many of the prisoners are hard to please
and very exacting about their mail. If to
some letter they have written no answer is
forthcoming, they conjure up all manner of
ways in which their mail is being tampered
with. Held up in the office; misplaced;
forgotten given to some other prisoner, or
else lost Very few men in prison can be
made to believe that after year or so rolls
by their frieuds--and in many instances
their kith and kin-6rst neglect and finally
forget them Such, however, is the truth
in many cases. Then it is that the poor
his mail Is not being sent out or that il is
held up" in the prison post-ofice.
Quite a goodly sum of money is sent to
the men during their confinement, ranging
in amounts from ten cents upwards. Many
letters are found containing small change,
whicn the postmaster places in a small en-
velope, placing the envelope containing the
money in the letter received, after having
se \ A..
the outside Of the envelope, stamps it with
the date of receival; and the letter and con
tents are then ready for delivery to the
prisoner addressed. To the letter a receipt
is attached for the prisoner to sign All
amounts under one dollar are given to the
men. Amounts over one dollar are sent to
the front Office and placed to the owners
credit and a receipt is sent him from there.
The average amount of letters received
yearly for prisoners is 43,5ooi papers, 70, 900,
packages, 200. The average amount of
cash S4,683o4, So it can be readily seen
that the 0. p post-office is no small affair.
The post-Ofice is not as is generally be-
lieved, government affair. We have no
direct relation with the Government of the
United States. It is purely a state product
The postmaster is appointed by the honor
able Board of Managers and is paid from
state funds. All cancellation of stamped
matter is done by the Columbus Office
The prisoners who are in the first grade
are permitted to write every second and
fourth Sunday in each month. Second
grade men on the third Sunday of each
month Third and fourth grade men not at
all On writing days men pass writing
pl. ,o Sc who have writing permits,
nd n ih4 following morning the prisoner
a etter to the captain of his COM
an whc places 1t in boxes provided for
aipcae. One of the men from the
collects the letters from these
takes them to the office.
hs the busy day begins. The letters
ded, placed in stacks upon a desk
hen ready for the postmaster's in
He, after reading them, turns
yer to his assistants l will here
iat the inmates are not allowed
ppes, but the writing paper is so ar
that the prisoners name and num-
9f IN one corner of the sheet while in
the opposite corner are four lines for the
name of the person addressed, town, county
and state. From these directions the en-
velopes are addressed, sealed and stamped
and are then ready for the regular post Office.
The average number of letters on each
irst-grade writing day is 1850, and when
It is taken into consideration that many of
the men are unlettered and can scarcely
write, one can readily see that it is no easy
task to decipher their chirography. The
composition of some of the letters might be
properly described as grand gloomy and
peculiar. Some are sad appeals for help,
while others are but the dying vail of lost
soul Yet others are certainly attractive
Tor the humor and sang Iy0id displayed by
the writer The rules of the Office prohibit
the giving of a sample letter While all
letters are read 5efore being sent out or
delivered to the men the contents are
sacredly kept by those connected with the
Office
Many complaints have been made by
prisoners that money was sent them which
they never received The complaint is
usually made to the warden, who zealously
guards each prisoners interests. The
warden forwards the complaint to POST
master Brannan, who sends for the prisoner
and learns the particulars from his stand
point. The letter generally states: En-
closed you will find a dollar" or It might
be half-dOllar. or ten cents. Then Mr.
Brannan writes to the party who says he, or
'4@~t 0~AN NA~ AAAShNys e9Q AdA AAGIE mas not
been an instance but what the party in re.
plying states that they forgot 70 enclose
or neglected to send the money in dis
pute, aud the incident closes satisfactorily
to all but the prisoner who failed to get the
money, and he attaches no further blame to
the post-Ofhce department
"One amusing instance / will relate,
omitting the names of the parties con-
cerned. A young man handed Mr.. Branuan
a letter in which it was stated that two dol
lars were sent him. There being no two
dollars in the letter the young man felt
aggrieved. Mr.. Brannan turned the case
over to the writer Of this article, directing
me to communicate with the party who
claimed to have sent the money. l wrote
to the party, asking particulars. A reply
soon came from a lady saying she had
given papa two dollars and he had sent a
money order several days before" The
following day papa" wrote, and said in his
letter / sent two dollars by the post
master some time ago, and enclosed is the
receipt he gave me for the money And
the receipt the poor old man sent as proof
was the pOst-ofice money order itself that