The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-17
Centenary of Eliza Farnham, a Pioneer
 in Prison Reform

Thomas Mott Osborne's sociological experiments as warden of Sing Sing Prison have aroused international at tention, and the result of his attempts to substitute kindness and considera- tion for brutality and indifference in l the treatment of conVicts has brought upon him both praise and censure. MT. Osborne is not the first to make this experiment in New Y orlz States famous prison, however, for as early as 1S44 Mrs. Eliza W. Earn ham attempted much the same sys- tenn in dealing with the female in
 mates of Sing Sing.
 Today marks the centenary of the birth of that pioneer prison reformer, who also noted as an author. Eliza Woodson Burhans was born in RensseIaerVille, near Albany, N. Y., Nov. IT, 1915. At the age of twenty she went to Illinois, and in the fol- lowing year was married there to Thomas J. F'arnham, a native of Yer mont and a lawyer by profession, who afterward attained some fame as "a pioneer in Oregon and California Mrs Farnham returned to New York in 1S41, and became interested in pris- on reform While travelling from city to city, featuring to women, she took advantage of every opportunity to visit and investigate the conditions in prisons and jails.
 She became a staunch advocate of the theory that prisoners should be treated with kindness, and that it was the duty of those in charge of prisons to miss no chance to appeal to and develop the latent fself-respect of the ma1efactors consigned to their care.
 In 1844 Mrs. Farnham was afford ed the opportunity for testing her theories, for she was appointed ma tron of the female department of Sing Sing prison, in order that she might demonstrate the possibility of governing such an institution by kind ness alone. She filled the position for four years, and, much to the sur prise of the other prison officials, she met with eminent success. Thanks to her Influence, many erring women were permanently reformed. While some of the more hardened sinners among her charges rejected all her advances, the great majority looked upon the matron as an agel of mercy, and when circumstances forced her to reIinquishs the position there was much weeping and wailing among the fair convicts.
 Mrs. Farnham's husband had led a small expedition across the couri- try to Oregon, and later went to California and aided in securing the release of a large number of Arneri- cans and .Esng1ishmen held in Mexican prisons. He died in California 1S48, after having written three volumes dealing with the Pacific coast coun- try After her husbands death Mrs. Frarnharn left Sing Sing and settled in Boston, where she became connected with an institution for the blind. In 1S49 she followed the gold rush to Califcr1ia, where she remained six years. While at Sing Sing she had published Life in Prairie Land ,'' dealing with her experiences in Hi nofs, and in 1857, upon her return to New York, she. published California Indoors and Out In order that she
 might be better fitted to continue her labors among the outcasts and un- fortunate, she studied medicine. Later she organized a society to aid desti- tute women in emf migrating to the West, and at different times accompanied several expeditions to the far West, again visiting California While not prominent in the s'cause,'' she be- lieved in woman suffrage. Mrs. Earn ham died in New York city in 1864.