The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14
BY TARLEToN COLLIER.

A great, square, tree-filled court with buildings set here and there-a church. an ofice. sleeping quarters; white-w wash on buildings and trees giving the appearance of scrupulous nsatness: a long low structure of the age of three generations. with a foun- tain and a white picket fence in front. bordering one side; great splotches of alternating sunshine and shadow over all--such is the setting of the Alabama State penitentiary at Wetumpka.
 For all the world like a huge sani- tarium. the State prison Is a revela- ton to those who have seen prisons elsewhere. No rigid martial law ex- ists there, no shaven polls, no clank of chains nor creak of heavy doors closing upon the convicts-only the bars in the windows overlooking the two hundred odd men, who sit and lounge about, mark the place a. a prison.
 There are only two comp ulsory func- tions attached to the prison at We tumpka-church-g going, and punctual- arity as to hours of retiring and ris- ing. And the prisoners have waxed ana grown tht many cases.
 The State prison houses 210 con- wicts at present. all male, of whom forty-six are white. It has grown to become a hospital for the States pris- 0ners, who are i'll or disabled or in firm in mind or body, so that work in mine and lumber camp and plantation Is impossible. Therefore there are few in the prison who can perform a full days work; there are cripples, thAr ftrtao tvxra dc- but there Is probably the most con- tented set of long-term prisoners, all in all. on the face of the United States.
 It all comes however, of seventy years of system. a system which has become so imbedded in the government of the place that 1t Is almost impercep tible.
 But the system has worked. 1t has summoned and driven the convicts since the days of aboriginal Alabama, and they have grown so as not to realize they are driven
 They eat and sleep. and sit on benches under the trees, but all work according to their ability. The able bodied few are in the fields of the nearby prison farm; others ply their trade as best they can In the carpen- ter shop attached to the prison; a few work in the tailors shop, where the striped clothes are sewn together about the yard and buildings the oth- CTS move, in odd jobs of the prison household, while the blind, the maim- ed and the halt-and there are many In such condition. are exempt.
 Alabama sends its strong and healthy prisoners to the mines or the lumber camps or the farm: to Wetump- ka go those who are not what the convict employers call "able- bodied"
 Ard so they live within the walls" IS the Wetumpka citizens designate the prison. They mix In fellowship that Is marred by few difficulties and differences, for all are brothers in misfortune. They fill the great square court, the negroes playing and prank ing according to their wont; the white men more aloof and sober, but still without grimness Sometimes the prison string band gathers, mandolin, violin and guitar twang into harmony, and the court Is filled with a tinkle of School days" or "S'wanee River" or some other of the well-known mel odies, old and new.
 The building with the fountain and the picket fence is the hospital. Even tually most of tn ose convicts who go to Wetumpka find their way to the hospital At present there are over thirty tuberculous patients, mostly ne- groes. The i'll can not mingle with the others. but they lie, With a strange contentment prevailing. about their quarters awaiting a cure. the end of all prison life. of the earth.
 Fatty" the cook. clangs his bell for. meal time; from bunk and bench the striped people roll, or from shop and farm they come, to the long table. If they are indisposed, or have no desire for the meal. theyl are not re- quired to attend. Eating is not con- pulsory
 At evening another clang calls the men within doors. This is the com- pulsory usage. The count Is made.