Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1907-10-24
SOCIALISTS SCORE AT SEATTLE
City Base Condemned From Exposures nade Imprisoned
sociaIists-chef of Poncet tand nayor worsted

in the jail under the present state of
affairs.
"The city JAIL" declared DIR. Titus,
"is a place of dentention and not of
punishment. The man incarSerated
there goes in with the presumption
of innocence upon him and not the
verdict Of guilty. Such men as are
sent there for punishment are minor
offenders They have transgressed
only the ordinances protecting the
peace and quiet of the community,
and yet / say to you, as fellow physi.
clans, that a sentence to that awful
place is often a sentence to death.
81 am informed upon authority
that the county Jail has aceommoja.
tions for 100 or more prisoners than
are at present housed there. Chief
Wappenstein declares that il the city
jail is closed he can keep the prison
es in greater comfort and in better
health in an old stockade he has his
eye on. IL this is so, gentlemen, what
is to prevent you condemning that
plague stricken hole as a nuisaneei
No one will object to such action. The
police themselves favor it; it is killing
many Of them. Wherever you 60 you
win hear the people demand it. 1t
would be humane and popular act.
"We do not ask anything imprac-
tieal at your hands. We do not ask
you to turn these prisoners loose upon
the streets, although God knows it
were better to 10 that than keep them
where they are"
Professor Curtis Protests.
"If there was private stable in
this city conducted in as unsanitary
fashion as the city Jail, you gentle
men would not tolerate it one day."
said Mr.. Curtis. "Mr. Osborne is a
blind man and a cultured gentleman,
and he was forced to stand for eight
cen hours, because there was no place
for him to sit and his self-respect
would not permit him to lie down amid
the filth Of the floor, reeking with dis
ease. In all that time, while he was
given kind of food and coffee, he was
not given a drop of water, which was
monstrous.
Cozy Place For Socialists.
"There will always pe a cozy place
around here for these socialist street
speakers, no matter how much they
condemn this Jail, ''said Chief of Po-
lice Wappenstein last night. "It may
be all right to condemn this place. i
do not say that it is sanitary. But
there certainly must be some provi.
sion made for Jail for the city pris.
oners.
"This agitation at this time is due
to the socialists and they believe they
can cripple us SO that we cannot han
die their cases. They can take il
from me that il they hold street meet
ings here Oct. Is, as they say they
will, there will be a Jail somewhere
for them to be taken to. II is uptc
the council to provide me with jai
that is satisfactory to the health
board. Until they do that I guess the
old one will have to do"
| wappy Walls.
"It will be almost impossible for nj
10 conduct business at the county
JAIL" said Chief of Police c. W. Wap
penstein this morning before the ac
tion Of the board, "in the event thai
the board Of health orders the city
Jail closed. When we are makinS
from thirty to forty arrests day W,
couldn't drag every prisoner up tha
hill. There must be plenty Of offc,
room and We couldn't get that at tn,
county jail.
"f the old Jail is closed at ono,
there will be only one thing to DO anC
that would be to establish a stockad'
and guard the prisoners within the en-
closure. Now, that the cold weather il
coming on, don't see how we could