The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1913-12-18

man. S cell. -
81 want no more Jail keys. For the rest
of my life want to get little nearer to the
forgiving spirit that Christ expressed
Elaborated almost to the point of the
melodramatc, as this confession is, there
is a note of sincerely in it that few fail to
recognize.
The Works of the Helpin& Hand
And now, leaving this Ruef incident be-
hind like lantern that has served us, we
come upon that which has seemed to make
this story worth the writing. the personal
work of MIR. Older in the rehabilitation
of criminals, and his really great newspaper
campaign for more sympathetic, helpful
and constructive attitude on the part of So
clety toward the prisoner.
In one of Older's visits to San Quentin
to see Ruef, his attention was called to a
clerk in the bookkeeper's office who was
serving fifteen years for second conviction
of burglary, but who had literary ambi-
tons, and from the prison had actually
been able to sell story or two to the
magazines. This man S name was Donald
Lowrie. Older heard his story. and de-
Gliding that he was not criminal, at least
not a necessary criminal, besought the
prison board for his parole, promising to
give the man work on his paper and stand
sponsor for him.
The Making OF a Man
This parole was granted. Lowrie went
to work on the Bulletin as special writ
er. His first assignment was to tell in
daily installments the story of "My Life
in Prison. The 'Life' was simply
written. The very style had prison pal
lor. The convict husk was in the throat
of every sentence.
The largest value in his narrative lay in
its depletion of prisoners as essentially hui
man, with sorrows and hopes, desires and
despairs, whimsicalities and sentiments like
those of people outside of prisons. Low
rie' S story took his readers with him; they
were shorn and measured and striped and
stalled and strait-jacketed and lock-stepped
through all the weary, wearing years, and
came out to stand blinking in the fierce
light of liberty, robbed of initiative,
drained of courage, stained with spots that
would not out.
The story created an instant sensation;
it was syndicated through the, daily papers
of many cities, and it came TO publication
III OOOk do q iiOuSoeiy
stated but powerfully convincing arraign-
ment of the prison systems of our day.
And Lowrie did all this over his own
name. He publicly confessed himself an
ex-convict who was DESTROYS of earning
place in the world and in the respect of
men. Requests began to be made upon
him for lectures. He was without conf
dence in himself as a speaker; but as he
stood upon the platform, slender, pale,
hesitating, careful for the truth, his dark
eyes burning while he delivered the mes
sage which had come to him as conse-
quence of his own sin against society, and
which he had expiated at the cost of years
that were not astronomical periods but i'm
measurable cons in length, his hearers,
like his readers, got sense OF what 1t
meant to bear the load. of conscious guilt
and feel the impulse to reform, but all the
while compelled to look at life through re-
straining bars till the good impulse was
dead of hamilton and only desperation and
bitterness remained,
The New Hunt
But Lowrie, gradually building his char
acter straight and strong again, was only
the first fruits of Older's new policy. The
editor begain deliberately to 60 at the
problem of the rehabilitation of prisoners,
and to extend as far as possible his personal
touch with men in prison who seemed
worthy of parole, or with men about to be
and to prepare to help them. I'm
der the supervision of Lowrie, an unofficial
bureau was organized to which men as
they were discharged or paroled from the
prisons of the state might come for assist
ance; lists of employers were obtained
who would give work to ex-plisoners, and
modest funds were gathered by which the
railroad fare of man to the place of en-
ployment could be advanced him. This
work of reconstruction among what may
be termed hand-picked criminals has gone
on until the number SO assisted is more
than one hundred in two years.
"What percentage of them have failed
your asked Mr.. Lowrie.
''Not one, was the reply. "A few
have violated parole by getting drunk, but
the parole board has dealt with these laps
es with constructive leniency, recognizing
that where the state licenses saloons some
of its wards may at times yield to their
AS an instance of the kind of experiences
that come to MIR. Older now, man APP
piled to the editor for help little more
than year ago. He explained that he
was an honor man from the Colorado
state penetentiary, graduate of Warden
school of kindness and common
sense; that he had been unable to get work
at his trade, was in desperate straits, and
felt the new moral structure in him to be
in danger of breaking down.
A Trophy of the Chase
Mr. Older named a gentleman who
would employ him, and said: GO tell
him your record frankly, and he will find
you place and give you chance. -
"Well, said the man, wetting dry
lip, 81 think better tell my record first