Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-07-05
TO NINE MORE COAL
Warden Codding Would Close
State Brick Plant to Re-
lease the Men.
SHORTAGE OF FUEL THE CAUSE
State Prison Head Believes That Stu
alton Will Be Serious Next
Winter in Kansas.


So serious has become the situations
in regard to coal production that War
den COdding will ask permission of the
new board of administration to close
down one or two departments at the
penitentiary and put all the men pos
sible at work in the prison coal mine.
THE mine is not conducive to good
said the warden, but it
is now a question of getting coal, and
all other considerations must be
showed to the background for that"
One department that will close, if
the warden has his way, is the brick
yard. 1t takes 500 tons of coal a
month and fifty-five prisoners to oper-
ate the plant The brick go into the
new buildings at the various state in
situations.
But we do not get enough for our
BRICK said the warden. For in
stance, we were only allowed 81
thousand for them at one institution,
while we could probably have sold
them right at the prison gate for $3.50.
1t is almost a scandal to make brick
under such circumstances. If the brick
500 tons of coal month. The fifty
five brick makers can be put to work
in the mine and they will mine LOO
tons of coal a month. This would
make 1900 tons of extra coal we could
be piling up each month this summer
at the state institutions as a buttress
against a coal shortage next winter.
1t ought to be done by all means and
1 believe the new board will grant me
permission to do So
The Irvine plant will be kept in oper-
alton even though the brick and other
departments are closed down. A big
purchase of sisa1 has just been made
and the warden wants to manufacture
as much Irvine as possible. "1t takes
Irvine to save the crop after we raise
it, said he, land Hoover is pounding
Kansas on the back 10 raise all it can,
not only this year, but next and the
next. 1t would be unwise to shut down
the Irvine plant. Everything else at
the prison could be closed except the
mine and the farm and the men could
be used to good advantage in those
departments"
EIdorado Gets City Manager.-Bert
c. Wells, for several years city engi-
neer of Wichita, announced that he
will resign his office at once and be-
come city manager of E1dorado, Kas.,
on July L Mr.. Wells is a native of
Butler county, near Eldorado. His sal
airy there will be $4,000 per year.
x X
Kansas Postmaster Dead.-Joseph
R. Kerley, SO years old, who has been
postmaster at Peck, Kan, for the past
fourteen years, died in hospital at
Wichita after short illness.
* X
Kansas Farmer Badly injured. F.
Henderson, a farmer living near Bur-
den, was seriously injured recently
when thrown out of a buggy in a rum
away. His recovery is doubtful.
X X X
Put Towns in Darkness.-A crow
tried to roost on the electric lighting
wire to Wellington the other night and
was electrocized. The body fell across
the alternating wire, completing the
circuit, and Argonia and other towns
fed by the Wellington plant were in
darkness until the sun came up.
X x x
4. Raze Wing of Prison.-The north
cell wing of the Kansas state peni.
Tertiary at Lansing, the oldest por-
ton of the prison, is being RACED in
preparation for the erection of a mod
ern dormitory. This part of the in.
stitution was built in 1864 1t has
been responsible for most of the criti-
cism directed at the penitentiary by
reform workers. The cells are barely
four feet wide and the entire structure
is antiquated and insanitary.
= X 4
Dexter Sapp Dead at GaIena.-Dex
te- Sapp, 25 years old, son of the
ex-judge of the Cherokee County Dis
trict Court and nephew of the late
William F. Sapp, Democratic national
comitteeman from Kansas, died recent
ly in his law office at Galena of heart
disease.
A Kansas Home Blown Up.@The
two-room house of G. w. Jones
near Treece, was blown up the Other
night Of the five occupants, Willie
Jones, eyears old, is dead; his brother
Earl, IL is probably fatally injured
and the other members of the family
badly bruised and cut.
X. U. Loses Engineer Dean.-Kan
sas University must look for a new
dean of it's engineering school as the
result of the appointment of Dear
P. F. Walker as a major in the engi
neering corps of the United States re
serves.