The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-05-28
Owosso, Mich, May 21, 1909.

Owosso, Mich, May 81, 1909.
Editor Times
Will you kindly allow me to cor.
rect and deny some of the state.
ments made in the article in your
issue OF the 21st under the heading
EXcnange Compliments" The
article mentioned reads, Rep. Whe.
Ian was called on the carpet by Gov
Warner several days ago. The gov.
ernor asked for transcript of the
testimony taken before the commit
tee. Whelan attempted to hedge
but finally produced the testimony. y
Now, in answer to this want to say
that, be the governor or some ire
sponsible reporter the author of this
statement, it Is absolutely false.
The governor wrote me a letter a
| few days ago asking me to give him
the names of the different parties ex-
| amined by our committee and within
thirty minutes after receiving his
letter / placed in his hands a type
written volume of all the evidence
| taken by our committee and he prom
ed me that after looking 1t over he
would return the evidence to me but
when called upon and asked to keep
his promise he replied that he had
sent it to Marquette.
Our committee differed on report
ing out certain recommendation
that were personally aimed at War
den Russell and some of his staff.
| held that they were not german
to the subject for which we were
chosen to investigate, also that they
belonged to another tribunal to rec
ommend, but our committee was
unanimous in reporting certain recon-
mendations, viz
That the contract method of hir-
ing prisoners out for so cents per
day and working them as the same
number of free laborers would not
work for, less than $500 per day.
The state feeding, clothing and fur
nishing the convicts was not a good
business method.
That the punishments known as
putting in the Bull Pen," fiogging
to insensibility, and hanging up by
the hands for sixteen hours, because
prisoners could not perform the tasks
given them by the contractor, were
inhuman and should be stopped in
every penal institution in this state.
That all contracts hereafter made
between the wardens and the con-
tractors for convict labor shall be
submitted to the attorney general for
his approval before taking effect.
That in the escape of convict Ryan
from the prison some better excuse
Is demanded than THAT the keeper
who should have been on duty was
off and the party filling his place
did not notice the dummy in Ryan's
cell, when he locked in"
That the law providing provisions
for the warden his family and guests
visiting THE prison on business
should be made restrictive and def
mite instead of unlimited as at pres.
ent, and such articles as lamb chops.
talcum powder, Strawberries, rye
be paid for by the warden and not
the people or Michigan.
Warden Russell says, 81 will do
something with this report" / hope
he will. I hope The will demand a
grand jury, not mock jury. but a
jury composed of disinterested men,
endowed with broad conceptions of
honesty and justice. who will con-
duct their investigation to the limit
and give out fair and truthful re-
port to the people of Michigan
In writing Warden Russell that
was of the opinion that nothing
would be done with this report. | |
did so with the firm conviction-that
nearly every person who has studied
the political horoscope has long since
reached, viz, That the public insti-
tutions of Michigan today form a |
great machine and the heads of these !
different institutions can be compar-
ed to a sprocket link in an endless |
chain that runs the machine. And if |
a single link in the endless chain |
goes wrong and the head of the ma
chine chooses four or five links out of |
the endless chain to investigate the |
one link, what will be the result? |
In closing / would ask you to pub |
lish my answer to Warden Russells |
open letter to me-.
r Whelan