The copper era and Morenci leader., 1921-01-07
HUNT, MINISTER ID. SIAM, WRITES 0F. BANGKOK PRISONS

nor of Arizona, now United States minister to Siam, has written an in teresting letter from Bangkok, to Frank Walsh ,of Bisbee. The letter was mailed et Bangkok on November T. and took about SIX weeks to reach here At the time of writing Hunt | did not know who had been elected president of the United States, and was doubtful about the race for gov ernor in Arizona. The. letter follows: l q have your letter from Murietta Springs of September 5, so you see it was about two months on the way I spent two weeks at those springs lastl year and enjoyed myself very much. l Long before your letter reached me you have returned to Bisbee. Both !, the primary and the election must be all over but the shouting. 'I did not know who was nominated in the primary until October 2S, SC you see we are out of the world en- . tirely. It takes two months for mail to reach us; nearly 30 days to Hong Kong, then it takes the boat nine days steady sailing to get to Bangkok, and with the delays, two months are gone
 "So far we have not been able to learn who was elected President. of partment will send us a cable. soon
 Yes, I have often thought of you and Brewery Gulch: John Twomey and host of others come crowding to my mind, and the many exciting times that have taken place in the wonderful street in the past.
 Wants Political Dope
 sI have been like a lost sheep dur ing the time that you have been hav-I ing the election, for here was in the Far East, and not knowing who was nominated. My last advices said that Windsor was defeated, but to this day I do not know who was nominated for mine inspector and school sup erintendent.
 Well, Frank, while I was in Pek- in visited their No. 1 prison and was greatly surprised for it was a model. There is no other like it and I guess the rest of the Chinese pri- sons are bad enough, still it was a hopeful sign to see one in China not only run on modern lines but in sons ways far in advance of our prison ir 2 Florence.
 Since coming to Siam 1 have visit ed two prisons, one in the north, that thought was very well con1ucted. The housing and sanitary conditions. were good. and really think it was run on progressive lines, which is going some for Siam. attribute this to the fact that the Vice Roy of the northern province is a rather eXcep tional ruler. Here is Bangkok I m ale application through the foreign office and after nearly two weeks I was noti fled that they would be glad to let me inspect their prison. I informed them that I would like to inspect some on a certain day, which was granted.
 ''Yesterday I went with the official interpreter of the legation I found all the lifers and the lo4g term men assembled. They all had on leg irons. There were Ss1 lifers and POI long term men.
 Death Penalty Rare About 2642 prisoners an1 all the buildings are in the heart of the city and cover 12 acres. As I noticed on the visitors book that. the lasc visitor had been there in March. don't think they have many, and while everything looked clean and there was nc prison odor, felt that it was run on hard lines They seemed very anxious to please, and when I left he intimated to my interpreter that he woull be pleased if I could say good word.
 'In that bunch of prisoners there was 20 who were heavily ironed, and they were brought out. These are the ones that will have to suffer death and the way they kill theIl here is to cut off their heads with huge sword. However, I was informed that none of them could be decapitated unless the king signed the death warrant, and although he is a despot he rarely signs one, so you see that even in this country, there is difficulty in getting a man killed.
 
 "All the prisoners were working, making furniture, baskets, mats and