The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-08

product of Colorado's convict road
camps.
Besides their interest to students of
penoiogy Colorado's convict road camps
contain hope for those thirty or forty
States whose roads have fallen into
disrepair because OF inadequate road
funds. The road labor OF 800 convicts
costs the State OF Colorado s77.67 a
day. including initial equipment and
overseers' pay. 1t costs the benefited
counties an aggregate of s72 a day to
feed the 800 convicts. Competition with
free labor is avoided because at 50 o
day the price of free road labor Is pro-
hibitive in Colorado. Thus Colorado Is
enabled to put on Its roads $500 worth
Of labor day for sl+9.G7 a day
Colorado's scenic resources enab!ed
its convict gangs to build the Sky Line
Drive. a huge Corkscrew OF road
which winds out OF Canon City along
a narrow. tortuous hogback. climbs $500
feet in seven miles and ends at a dizzy
point among the peaks. There one may
stand at the brink OF a sheer precipice
which drops 5000 feet to the Denver
and Rio Grande Railroads hanging
bridge at the bottom OF the Royal Gorge. |
When the Sky Line Drive was for
mally opened 700 convicts ,aI except
the incorr!gbles) were lined up I'M
guarded along the drive. Clad in their
penitentiary blue and adorned with
badges bearing the words Reception
Committee" they received Gov. Shat.
roth and his stan. The Sky Line Drive
has become one OF the sights OF Colo
RADIO. Convicts built 1t for $1,000: by
private contract the cost would have
exceeded $4,000.
Tertiary presents an equally Interesting
situation.
When Tom lyman was appointed
warden on March 20, 1909, he found 500
idle convicts. seventeen OF whom were
insane: he found guards who swore at
the convicts. spies who peeped at night
into their cells. whips for fogging them,
convicts sleeping two In a cell, unsani- |
tary cell houses, an old hospital build
ing with plenty Of typhoid cases. the
dungeon crowded. the usual number Of
short time TRUSTEES. and the lowering
stencil Of a penitentiary graft investi-
CATION.
lyman at once abolished spies. stool
pigeons and guards within the grounds.
Yet not n single convict escaped In his
first two years az warden.
He forbade oversecrs to swear at the
convicts on any provocation whatever.
He relegated the zebra suits to the in
corrigibles. EVERY newcomer ! shall
clothe In blue" he said. unless he
proves himself deserving Of stripes"
He instituted audiences one Sunday
morning each month. at which any con- |
Wet Is allowed to write his name on n
slip. file into the warden's office. see the
warden alone and file out. His cOnvicts
soon learned that audiences were not in |
tended for fawning and petty tale hear |
ing. and knives were laid on the warden's
desk by cOnvicts who had been willing |
for revenge to give up every hope Of
freedom.
He opened the dungeons and among
other untamables he found Tom. an
Irishman whose backbone had not been
broken by every conceivable form OF
modern prison torment from fogging
and bed mating with a negro to the
dungeon itself
Then he set his convicts at work. and
exclusive OF road building. this IL what
they did in the years 1909 and 1910:
Built for $l6.059.45 a modern SIS, 900
hospital building, measuring 1873 by 4S
feet, containing every hospital necessity |
from sun parlOr to mOrgue. and de- |
signed by Francisco. No. 65l5, life |
termer. who had learned all his archi-
lecture at the penitentiary; laid $3.50
square feet Of cement floor In the prison |
and 42.775 square feet Of cement side |
walk outside; installed a complete du- |
plicate electric lighting system through |
out the penitentiary. SO that darkness
need permit no escape II one system |
should break down; installed a complete |
new heating system; laid 1904 fire
brick; built a railroad spur to the peni-
Tertiary quarry. enabling him to sell
$4,000 worth Of stone a year besides
supplying his own needs: screened every
prison door and window: planted Ivy |
vines around all Of the stone buildings:
drove a tunnel far into the Royal Gorge. |
obtaining the purest mountain water |
for Canon City and the penitentiary: |
dug and operated twenty acres OF irriga.
ton bitches: put half carload Of glass |
In the prison windows; worked four
ranches outside the prison walls on a |
half crop rental ARRANGEMENT. from |
which in 1910 the penitentiary sold l.eo0 |
pigs and stored 100 barrels Of sauer. |
kraut, 100 barrels Of vinegar. 80 barrels |
OF apple butter. &C.. and earned $4,000
besides.
Ana ~ nresent his cOnylcta are build-