The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-27
HAS ADOPTED
10000 CONV|CTS
YOUNG WOMAN ~ HELPING iHt.w
To NV OF NEtL vtlrt
To sOCETy.

New York Hun: a group 0f OusJ New
York mon took a precious hour out oi
,h.sr money mrklGI cay not lane ugo q
near n tai Eir. y an q snil1ilh face tel
how she had sD@'.i n dollar
ghe was Miss I>c,ha Watts of itunt
lngton. W. Va. who nt % - the adoptcd
mother Of 10000 e.-conyictA. In spite
Of this Mother Goose fhmily of herr nhs
IN Jus. an ordinary giri. she insists ~
for the dollar. neither new enough o.
be shiny nor old enough 10 be interest
Ing. Il wis an ordinary coin, too. excerpt
In one particular. II happened 10 be-
the only ono she had.
Rhe didn't tell this nj the meeting. but
her account properly begins with a
spanking Hhe received when she was z
years old Aficfwafd she was not al
lowed a. have Jam Tor tea on the ground
that she had been a naughty giri. She
disputed the ruling hotly. contendlng
that the matter should have closed with
tho spanking. ~ she grew up the Incl
dent stuck In her memory: IL II always
tho jam that we didn't Ret that We ~
member. anyhow She voiced her sam"
old childish philosophy before the New
YORK business men
She Found Out.
Whatever the ofenEe for which ~
man WIS incarcerntcd. society should
regard II a. atonod FOR in "a public
sense by his imprisonment.
Il often used to wonder about the
men who came bnck from Moundsville.
our state pcnitentiary," she said. II
wondered whether after they had paid
for whatever they had done the world
let them have jam again. or even bread
and butter. And then--I found out"
For neighbor OF hers, Earl T.. bud.
ding. the father OF two ~ her school.
mates. came home from Moundsyille.
where he had served four.year term
for killing man In gelfdefense. Lctha
Watts watched him try to take up life
where he had laid II down four years
bcfore-and fail.
Pounds Organization.
fLc determined to found an Organiza-
tion which should help men like him
self TO come back. When he had bor-
rowed money enough To pay for the
charter OF the Prisoners Relief Associs-
tion he advertised for an assistant to
NOfh hitlObt pay Nlli II ntt7 if'hitt
Watts with her passionate Jam theories
who answered.
80 We sat down, and wrote the let.
ters that Mr. budding dictated appeal.
ing for money for the organization, q"
shs related. I'VE had 81; at first. OF
the money that Mr.. budding had Dor.
rowed. But the days went by and no
answers came-and did YOU ever notice
how short a time Il takes 20 spend
sI4?"
Finally there was just enough of II
left for Mr.. Dudding's ticket to n town
AT some distance. where he was going
20 make one last attempt at raising
funds. with dollar over He gave that
dollar 10 Letha watts and told her that
II was the only foundation left for her
old dreams Of Justice She was to do
the best she could with n, Tor there
wasn't any more.
When he had gone Lotha watts
Iammed her hat down on her curly
brown hair and few 10 the postonice
without an instani's indccision.
II want a dollars worth of stamps,
please" she said, and slid the coin
through the window as casually as II
dollars were a daily occurrence in her
life.
she hadn't liked to say anything
about H. but she had never cared for
the letters Mr.. budding had dictated
asking for money to keep the organlza-
ton alive. They hadn't at all satisfied
her artists soul those business-like
letters.
All Hr. Duddlng's appeals had failed
and he had been left without even the
money TO get back 20 Huntington. One
grim dime was the only coin he had
loft when Letha Watts wrote 20 him. en-
cioging the first of the answers 20 the
letters she had sent out. II was Il very
short answer. but not 30 brief that II
lid not take three figures 60 write II.
Dollar Helps 10000.
other answers came and the Prison
ers' Relief Association wns able 10 go
On with IL work The dollar that a 81.
yearoid girl spent for stamps has helped
10 900 men 10 como back, has found
them employment and helped them re.
gain their old places In society. Mr..
is now In touch with the men
II every federal and state prison In the
United States. Twenty thousand en-.
ployers have set themselves down on
air list as willing to have ex.convicts on
heir pay roll. Last year the organiza-
ion helped 5000 men get work, and
hts year IL will aid four times rs many.
The women are Miss Watts especial
.hargc. In three years she has trained
more than 100 OF them I'm stenography
md typcwriting and has found them
obs.
1T ought not TO be harder for wo-
nan TO come back than for "A man."
he declared. You just ought 10 see |
low well those women do" she added. /
With that absolute, vicarious pride that \
ou hardly ever see except In a little |
hi lost In admiration OF her dolls, or
ow and then in an older mother. They |
iake good. almost every one OF them.
ome of tho mhold most important ex-
cutive positions and get big pay;
ome OF them are working In banks.
he world trusts them again-why
houldnt ~"
FENCING A CONTINENT.