Arizona republican., 1913-01-12

Where would YOU expect to see the most wonderful demonstration of the Christmas spirit"
 Would you look in the cathcdrals. the candlV-lit churches, the glaring. sarish hotels the holly decorated homes. the blue walled hospitals? In cities in towns in villages or on the deserts2 Or would you go to the steel cells and changing doors of prison?
 Down in the state prison at Flor tucr the holiday season has brought happiness and q future ro one not an inmate. \ social outcast, made such ty conditions of society itself has heeu lifted out from the circum- .tauces that bound him into an as ~ued future He has been rescued by those of whom he was not part
 the conVicte themselves,
 But 10 the story.
 In d ward of the prison hospital, prostrate ou his bed. lies Alberto Pa checo A boyish, impish. lovahle grin plays on his lips, for he is but a lad ut l4, What. l4-ycar-old boy in peuitentiary? Yes. but to save hoy's life and assure him of a mans future, The boy is happy. despite th,. fact that even though he grows To mans estate he will be but an apology for the physical man. He lacks an arm IL was amputated at lho shoulder and there is no chance for an artificial aid. Smallpox. the scourge of unsanitary towns. has pit led him deeply and the scars stand uut in the darkened sick room like frecklrs under summers tan In the last six years most Of his weeks and months have been spent in hospitals county hospitals and state institu- tions.
 The boy is eXuberant with youth joyous despite his tremendous handi- caps. The vim that makes him a dynamic force would have lifted him. to leadership had not society crippled him. The grit that makes him grin and bear would have meant uncon- querahlr ambition and stern deter ninatiou-and these are NOT dead vet,
 An orphan boy. mere "greaser. who has lost both parrnts-Who cares for him? What matters II if he does become confirmed criminal? No relatives. no friends-yes. he has friends. 225 of them, who are going to stand shoulder to shoulder and see that he gets his chance for his white auev"-225 gray clad convicts.
 Albert Pachaco was born in Mexico, of obscure but honest parentage. When lad of he was injured by a .mrltcr dump cart. A boy frolic that meant being a cripple for life, and uo recourse for injury from the driver. Both his parents having died about this timf-the most critical period for the lad-he was helpless. and county hospitals are notoriously moi the most charitable institutions. Necrosis of the bone had set in-the trouble would not heal, but kept spreading and spreading and then why. the arm was gone-taken m an effort to save the body.
 Frankly. what COULD this boy this cripple. this young unfortunate te without strength or body or will. this chiId-vhat could he do to live but to do as would any other gamln STEAL? What would YOU do? Al the formative period of life, before he was able to understand right from wrong. he is deprived of his strength his power to help himself, and ne sinks and is sent to the state reform school at Benson.
 While at the school necrosis deVei- ops in the bone of the leg and an "p- eration is considered necessary. but because the facilities of the hospl- tai at Banson are not of the best the boy is ordered to the state prison Severe classicists on penology have always been quick to demand a sepa-