Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-08-06
who stole to get food for his sick
mother or wife.
Knows Convicts Intimately.


He studied the men and their en-
yironment, and worked out the result
OF the combination. He got a good
idea of the advantage to youthful con
victs of having cocaine and morphine
smuggled in to them by keepers lot
more crooked than the prisoners they
guarded. He formed some impress
sions of whether the prerogative of a
prison is to reform or create Grimm
ais, and he got to know that even a
man with a Jail sentence at his back
is human being.
These things were what made him
determine to spend the rest of his bus
mess days-when he got out himself
helping "the boys" as he calls them,
get start despite the prison which
keeps many of them crooked. He
found that a man out on parole need
ed two things, principally encourage
hnent, and chance to make an hon
est living. And he determined that
SO long as it was In his power he
would provide those dual requisites.
1ACOC al 2 SOIuO III tAC uOUIO lldQC
statistics he compiled during his SO
journ in Sing Sing cell:
Forty per cent. of the men in prison
ought not to have been sent there.
Nearly so per cent. of the inmates
of Sing Sing are dope fiends.
Twenty per cent. are dope fends
when they go there. The remaining
80 per cent. acquire the habit In their
cells.
There should be prison segregation
prisons for first offenders, places for
old-timers, for murderers, for degen-
crates. BY mixing all together, the
pestilence of each is spread to the
others, and the prison becomes a
Crime College.
Says 1t Does Not Reform.
"An investigation of Sing Sings
1000 convicts will show any fair
minded man that the penal system OF
today does not reform criminals or
benefit society" said the president of
that unique company. He is a tall.
wide-shouldered, black-haired, ear
nest-faced man. One needs but to
look at him and talk with him to dis
cover there was blunder somewhere.
Eyes; I have taken all my Office
force from Sing Sing and Elmira. I
find them good, efficient, earnest
workers. Do l have any fear of en-
ploying them direct from a cell? No;
Of course, not. I know them, and they
know me- We understand each other.
Some Of them were up there when |
was. We got to know each other, and
l could pick my men. / never have
employed one that has not proved
himself reliable.
81 suppose 1 receive several hun
dred applications for jobs from Sing
Sing yearly. l investigate them all.
If I haven't a place I find other work
for them. Not long ago I got man
out of his cell into bank down town.
He's doing well and they know his
story and trust him.
Giving All a "Chance."
"You see, took up this work after
seeing what sort Of chance the boys
at Sing Sing had. 1t was pretty plain
they needed help when they got out
Nobody wants to employ a convict, as
a rule, and if you're going 70 keep a
man who has committed crime from
going back to it when he gets out of
Jail, you must show him the world
hasn't lost all faith in him. If he sees
it has, and can't get job, and hears
his babies crying at home because
they're hungry, he's going to feed
them. And If he can't do it honestly,
he'll do 1t the other way.
What they need is chance-the
feeling they aren't blacklisted for life
just because they've fallen, and some
one to encourage them. That's what
try to give them!
'I found how it was myself, first
hand. Remember that! l had money
and a big business when / came out,
but / had that blacklist bugaboo to
face and / needed some one to encour-
age me. If man doesn't get that its
back to the old game, or-the river,
generally.
Best Way to Put Down Crime.
IF people only would realize these
boys are not so bad as they're painted
i mean the first time men who've
made a mistake. Just one little mis-
takes enough, you know. 1t would
make a lot of difference if somebody'd
help them out when they first get pa
rolled. know Of no better way of cut
ting down crime than helping the
criminals to quit 1t.
you see, I've got faith in human
beings A mans naturally honest.
But let me give you an example of
how the prison system helps them to
be dishonest! In one OF those three
by-seven cells, when was up there,
were two men. One was an old-time
safe cracker doing a long bit He
was hard as nails-mean and crooked
to the soul, and cruel. The other was