The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-17
SOME OTHER KANSAS PEOPLE CURED

| served in such fashion as to make
| them appetizing. A hundred pounds
| of sugar has been added to the allot-
ment each week. The cost will be
! saved in better work and less meat
| consumption. The men had been
fed plain rice until they choked on
| it. The new cook makes a plain rice
| pudding out of some of that extra
sugar and serves dried fruit occasion
ally. That saves medicine and sick
calls. The men were served with iced
tea the other night Why not? The
penitentiary manufactures its own
ice at $50 per ton. The men worked
better next day.
ed from the flies and the men now
eat out of dishes instead of tin
plates and cups. They appreciate the
difference and make less complaint
about their food
Marching to Dinner.
It is sight worth seeing to watch
the convicts march in to their meal
at the stroke of the bell. They march
in companies from the different
shops and factories, seven hundred
of them, white and black, all ages
and conditions of men. Not a word
spoken, keeping perfect step. Only
dozen guards are visible in the
court to keep them under control
and these are not armed, but the
men file into the dining room quick
ly and quietly and all are fed and
march back to work in less than an
hour.
The hospital ward of the peniten-
tiary is big, airy room and will
bear comparison with the ward of
any hospital in the state. An cleo
trio fan cools the air these hot days.
There was not a single patient in the
ward yesterday, and only three pris-
oners were on the punishment roll.
Warden Codding pointed with pride
to that record. Only two men were
on the punishment roll the day be-
fore.
Prisoners Answered Questions.
The newspaper man wandered
away from his guide after dinner and
talked privately with convicts of
chance. That was what Kate
Bernard did, only the answers she
received were different
Not one of the men refused to talk.
Their conversation was full of in
terest. A burly negro in the coal
yard at the mouth of the mine, in
answer to the question as to how he
liked his food and treatment now
was emphatic and to the point. He
said: 81 wants to tell you dat de
grub am a whole lot better dan it
was I likes it. I gets little sugar
now ebbery day. De new boss makes
a hit wild me-
Three other negroes Joined in the
the same way. They talked too fast
and too strong to be putting on or
lying.
bore testimony to the fact that the
grub was a - sight bet
ter than it had ever been before and
that the new chief was a - --
fine man and that the speaker, for his
part, was for him good and strong.
In the tin shop. the kitchens, the
meat shop and the shoe factory it
was the same. The men did not
know who their questioner was, nor
did they inquire. They answered |
without hesitation. The improvement /
in their meals was a big thing with |
them. A little bright spot in a cheer |
less existence.
How the TRUSTEES Feel.
Among the better educated men |
doing lighter work, the TRUSTEES" in |
other words, there was not so much /
talk about the food as Of the treat |
ment they now received. In all these
little things that go to make the bur-
den heavier or lighter they had |
found a change and gave thanks for !
it One would never take some of /
these TRUSTEES for convicts unless /
warned beforehand of the fact You |
will find them everywhere throughout /
the institution. There is one on the |
elevator. in the office, in the hall as
boy, in every department /
of the institution they are working
at every kind of a job under the SUM- /
A '.trusty waited on Warden Cod /
ding's private table and he was a |
star on the job, too.
Evils That Cannot Be Corrected Now