El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-16
Treatment Of COnvicts
visit to the Prison ship eSuccess8
Teaches that the World is
Growing Better.
BY Chas. III. Parlzhursf-

by Chas. II FnrAhurst'
HEN king Edward went aboard


w ? HEN king Edward went aboard
w the convict ship Success. he
said: THE saddest thing about
the ship is that it was in commission
during the reign of my good mother
Yet no one VIII suppose that that
gracious Christian queen was knowing
TO the horrors that were transacted
there Much as We may eXt0l English
character in general. English govern
ment has shown itself capable OF
atrocities that viii cling for centuries
to the records OF British administra-
ton. 1t is written down black in the
tragedy of Ireland and in the inhuman
effort to crowd opium upon China
A visit to the success is not an
amusement but an education One ex
perieuces something Of the old agony
over again when Inspecting the close,
Sruesome quarters In which the pris-
Ouers were confined, the triangle on
which they were triced I'D TO be
flOgged, the cat o. nine tails in a
frame close BY, by which the victim
was scOurSed TIL mis- back was gashed
into burrows flowing with blood, OnlT
to be thrown into the bath ana
scrubbed with salt water The imple-
ments OF agony are all there just as
they were a hundred years ago.
More Than Hundred Died.
On the first voyage, made in 1887.
more than a hundred died from close
confinement in filthy cells, starvation
and torture. Imprisonment torture and
hanging constituted at that date one
of Great Britain's active lines of BUSH
ness There were As capital offences.
The 1allS were so crowded and the
hangmeu were kept so busy that the
overflow had TO be shipped Off TO Aus
rralIa, and as many as possible dis
posed of on the way.
There are two quite distinct thoughts
lll4L a Ln-l-H--l5 man VII pc nhely %
bring away with him after a visit to
the Success The officers on board
who were responsible for the fieudish
torrents experienced by the convicts
were men who had been brought I'D
on English soil who, so far as we can
ascertain, had lived in Christian com
muu1ries. and who, had their 0ccuDa-
ton In life been different and their du-
ties Of an administrative rather than
of penal kind, might have had the
reputation and have possessed Q char
acter Of consideration sympathy and
kindness
Terrible Torture.
Now that these same officials. citi-
Zens Of a country at least nOminally
Christian, should not only have ordered
the tufllctlOn of torture TO the extent
In some instances Of 800 lashes deliv-
cred on the bare back, body and legs Of
their victims. but that they should have
found amusement in the agonized
shr1eks eXrOrted BY the cat-O'-nine- tails,
suggests that every soul comes into the
world possessed Of an undeTel0ped
devil that whether that deviI VIII be-
come developed TO the point Of eXer-
cising satanic authority over the soul
that it inhabits viii depend very much
on the circumstances in which one
chances to be placed; and Furthermore,
Inar the opportunity TO deal with ones
IeuOWman lrrespOnsibly without fear
and without restraint of law is PERHAPS
the situation most likely To educate
one into a condition Of sheer diabolisrn-
That accounts for the barbarirfes
that are sometimes practised uD0n in
mates OF prisons and insane asylums
When man is so placed as to be
able to cause suffering without being
IN danger Of being called to account for
II the inner devil feels that his hour is
come and that his chance has arrived
As World Grows Older 1t Improves.
A second Impression left UPON one bv
VISIT 70 the convict ship wiz be q
confident assurance that as the world
lS growing older it is growing better.
~ nat occurred for scores of wears on
the Success and in the penal colony
could not occur now for a single
tWelFemOnth-
There are touches Of barbarftv stilI.
but the eyes OF the world are watching.
and the heart of the world has grown
sensitive to human anguish There is
no longer any continued place in sccie-
", In Jail or in hospital for men who
flni daTilish satisfaction in pure fiend-
ishness-
We have not arrived at perfection.
and we are far from having arrived.
but we are on the road