Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-18
PRICED AS SOUVENIR
QUEER STATE PRISON IN THE
HEART OF A MOUNTAIN.
Prisoners Receive Humane Treatment
Men Given Chance for Redemption
Use of Bloodhounds.
Special Correspondence of The Star.


makes a curiously pretty souvenir, but you
cannot properly appreciate It's value as
gift unless like the Vice President. you
meet the man who made II.
To find him you must follow the poplar
shaded road leading from the town until
you come to a big iron gate. II you are
lucky. !. man in uniform will allow you
to ride through and get out before vel
'owish building with a horseshoe over its
door. laborer. raling grass across the
road. will give you a friendly stare and a
kennel Of wired-in dogs will yelp fraternal
greetings. You have no time for social
amenities. however. for a second man
ushers you In the building and turns you
over to a third.
This guide leads you along rock-walied
Corridors across a sunshiny court whose
ground and feudal-like walls are of yell
lowish stone. and into ROOM also Of
stone and sunshine. where sits the man
who makes canes OF cuttleshell and abelone
"a life convict In the state prison Of Ne
vada.
The handsome, kindly guard who is to
show you through the prison says a good
natured word or two. the worker smiles In
appreciation OF your compliments, and you
wonder what peaceful-looking a man
could have done to put himself in stripes.
You are not informed and you know bet
Ter tnan 10 ASK
The guard pilots you back to the court
and, with wave Of his hand that takes
In the building and feudal-like walls. whore
Q swarm OF mon are breaking stone, re-
marks that he Is about to show you one OF
the Queerest sights in the world You tell
yourself that you have just seen ono OF tina
saddest.
This prison was originally a mountain.
It has been Quarried down and hewed out
you see, until 1t makes one OF the
strongest and best institutions OF It's kind in
the country. The ground you are standing
on was what you might call the heart Of
the mountain. When excavation was made
to this strata these fossil footprints were
found. They were made by prehistoric
man."
You look down at the huge and clearly
defined impressions, and as you place your
foot in the nearest a chill creeps down your
spine.
Man Twelve Feet Tall
The man who made that track was
twelve feet tall. He wore moccasins. Sci
entists came from Washington when the
find was made and explained that this was
once the bed of stream Here's the prlnt
of some aquatic fowl. These straggiy
things are water weeds. Tlds tremendous.
deep-bedded track was made by a masto-
don. The scientists had this little tunnel
here under the wall scooped out 30 as TO
continue the mans steps. Stoop or you'll
bump your head and upset the bros
nest"
1t is a sudden Jerk from fossils to feath-
ers. but when the guard tells you that the
young ones nested on board across the
arch are the special care of one convict
and the delight OF all the others. you feel,
some way. that the mother lark, lowering
near, Is of vastly more interest than pre-
historic man who apparently had nothing
better to do than wade around with mas
todons and fowl.
That some convicts have fancy for
irdu L. avid "
posie boxes blooming among the rocks.
There 10 no soil to speak OF, as the noun
tains, out of which the prison was hol-
lowed. is volcanic In origin and grows
nothing but stone and hot water.
There Is something else you proba bly,
never saw before" says your guard, taxi
ing you to a covered under place where
you look down on a quarter acre of water.
This Is a natural bathing pool of hot wa
ter which the boys are required to make
use Of at set intervals. and where II any
fellow cares to, he can have his extra
plunge. Nothing like hot bath after
breaking rocks all day. We are supplying
stone for the Orphans Home. which will
net about $1,000. to be used toward the
support OF the prison. l would IKE e 20 car "
is worked by a convict who has GOO trou-
bles. There are the troubles"
He points to an adjoining Enclosure. where
yellow legs and swelled-out craws. They
make you sorry for the cabbage.
Almost all the convicts have some way
Of earning money. There are many my oe Mca:
iariats Of horse hair and beads. harness
trappings. shell Jewelry and such like.
When a visitor buys anything the convict
who made II can either have his money
credited to his savings, or the warden will
isue what we call prison brass. and he can
blow II In.
Ways Of Spending Money.
"oh. yes. there are ways OF spending
money here We have the Poodle Dog res
taurant. kept by one of the old boys; can
ned goods tobacco, etc We don't issue su-
gar nor butter for the table and some OF
the boys spend their cash that way. One
mana life convict. by the way-has over
thousand dollars in our Home Bank.
May be we are prejudiced. but we believe
this TO be the best conducted and most hui
name state prison In America. A convict
doesn't lose his Identity when he comes
here. He keeps his name instead of going
by number. We are doing away with the
lock step, and while we continue stripes they
are not the glaring kind that eat into a
fellows nerves The convicts here can
compare favorably with the same number
OF soldiers at any army post In the coun-
try. 1t encourages both long and short
term men TO make a good record, because
when they have served time Nevada VIII
give them another show.
"A convict Is not barred from regaining
his MANHOOD IN this state. one or our
leading professional men once served twelve
years. and he doesn't try to hide It. Gu,
in this country we give a man credit for
redeeming himself, instead OF everlast-
ingly remembering his fall
II Is cheerful to talk out In the sunshiny
court, but when you go In the building
you see forbidding iron doors that shut In
sleeping hunks scarcely larger than graves
you walk on small grated openings to dun
geon cells beneath: a Cain marked face
scowIs at you further down a corridor. and
when at last you get back under the blue
sky, and to the friendly faced laborer and
the sociable dogs you feel In a vague way
the blessed meaning of freedom.
You learn that the laborer Is q trusty
and that the dogs are bloodhounds. You
are asked to admire one "oid girl" a liver
and white spotted Siberian who will never
be allowed on another man hunt because
she accidentally killed her last victim and
has had a taste OF human blood. II waf
this old girl who ran down Tracy. the out
law. who killed himself rather than be cap.
tured.
Yes. it's pretty hard lines to be hunted
down by bloodhounds," admits your guard
in a voice that makes you like him, but
the boys know what's before them before
they start. and they seldom bear Us Ill