Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1914-08-06
:. A Visit To Prison :.
(By Or. William J. Robinson.)

I but the depression which the visit pro
duced lasted for a long time after,
spelling both my sleep and my appe-
| tite.
| The approach to the penitentiary
had nothing unpleasant or forbidding.
A few TRUSTEES with pleasant smiling
faces were mending the road, and, ex-
cept in their clothes, did not differ
from other Workmen. The first I'M
pleasant thing was the Warden, an ex-
tremely stout, red-headed, triple-ehin-
ned fellow with. a british face, with
cruelty and vice clearly depicted on
it. From his appearance and0from the
| the few remarks l heard him ex-
change with some guards and other
subordinates l gained the conviction
that morally he was probably as low
as any of the inmates of the peniten-
tiary, if not lower.
| We were shown to the Office, where
We had to sign our names in book
and pay rs cents each, and were told
| to wait until some more people came
and then we would be taken around
by guard. There were not many
visitors that day After waiting for
some time two young ladies came, and
| then the guard took us around. /
shall never forget the feeling / had
when the heavy doors closed behind
US.
We were first taken through the
sOhps. At one long table a number
of convicts were working, making
mats and brushes At the end of each
| table guard sat with a cooked revol-
yer in his hand, ready for instant &C.
| ton. The convicts were not simply
working, they were all the. time rush.
| ing furiously as if their very lives de-
pended upon their finishing a certain
thing at certain given second. There
was not a moments rest, it was con-
tinuous rush, rush, rush. / only then.
for the first time understood what was
meant by the term "hard labor" 1t
was not merely working, it was speed
ing ones life out to accomplish a
certain tasR in a certain given time,
with the specter of a terrible punish
ment if the task was not completed.
The involuntary glances which the
convicts cast at us-they were not
supposed to look at visitors-were not
oveTfriendly, and | felt ashamed of
myself for coming to look at human
Wretchedness when there was no DOS
sTbility to help or alleviate it.
In the laundry there was the same
terrible hurry, They were working as
| if their lives depended upon it. While
no weapons were applied to the con-.
victs it seemed as if they were prod
ded with redlhot iron Or whipped
with cats-o'-nine tails, for only under
feeling of physical pain could. hui
man beings move and work so rapidly.
The. two young ladies that were with
US giggled. To them it seemed great
fun. My friend remained perfectly
calm, 1t didn't seem to move him at
all. We were then taken to the kitch-
en-, where number of people worked,
and it was the same thing.
After this we were taken to the
tiers of cells where a number of soil
taries were locked in day and night.
A tone cell a. stout, piddle-aged
negress was Shaking the bars like
savage antmAl screaming and cursing
at the top or her voice, and as we
passed her she: emitted a horrible
yell and spat at us. l am quite sure
0hat the poor creature was mad.
The small, dark, musty cells were
horrible. The day was extremely hot
and can just imaine the sufferings
OF those poor human creatures locked
up there day and hight, thirsty, hun
CRY, sweltering, si1focating. I. was
getting sick and wanted to leave, but
was told that could not, but had to
go through the regular rounds and
then be let out by the accompanying
guard.
The faces of some or the cell in
mates left impressions never to be for
gotten. saw them in my dreams,
both by day and night.
We were taken into a special mat
ron's room, where some privileged
and welbehaved women were sewing
under her direction. l am glad to say
mat the women had the spung ito turn
their backs on us, so that we could
not see their faces The u1tra-obHging
guard also showed us the initiation of
q new prisoner A young boy of about
~ was brought in, and he showed us
now ne was measured for his prison
clothes, stripped, etc.
AS ! say, the impression OF. the visit
TO the penitentiary, which / am told is
not by any means the worst in the |
country, was to me most horrible. A |
I1OuH5uLs WHICH mQ1SI |
have, or thinks it must have, such in.
situations, is a civilization of a pretty |
low order.
But what L wanted to, bring out
particularly is the behavior of the Wis
ltors toward what they saw. The two
young ladies giggled and laugh cd
throughout. Even the unearthIy
screaming of the negress, which al
most made my blood CONCEAL. pro
duced no effect on them. They were
two animals utterly devoid of brains,
They did not even have enough prain
power for the question to come to
them whether what they saw was
right or wrong. To them it was sim
ply something strange, unusual. and
therefore funny. My friend was a man
with brains, but to him it all seemed
perfectly right. He did not enjoy these
things, but he thought them unavoid-
able, Not only unavoidable, butt as
useful and as necessary as a hospital,
A man committed crime, he endan-
yered peoples property or lives. and
hn 10I - I.