Evening star., 1924-07-05
WOMEN IN PRISON .
ALLOWED TO SMOKE
Man SIayers in San Quentin
Get Same Tobacco
Ration as Men.
By Consolidate<i Press

BY Consolidated Press
San RAFAEL, Calf, July 5.--The-
ranks of woman cigarette smokers
throughout the country have lust.
been augmented by the fifty-two fe-
male inmates of San Quentin state
prison here. twenty-eight of whom
arc in for killing their husbands or
other persons-mostly husbands.
The innovation of woman convicts
being allowed to smoke is an en-
tlreiy new one. and was made possi-T
Die through a ruling of the liberal
minded California state prison board.
Heretofore man conyicts have hem
permitted to smoke and even have
been furnished by the state with A
monthly supply of tobacco and cigar
ette papers-but not SO the women -
Widely Known SIayerx.
Among the nationally known womman
siayers within San Quentins forbidding
walls, who now roll their own with
adept nimble fingers, and who daily
nave chance to mediate on their less
restricted pasts behind clouds of to-
bacco smoke are Clara Phillips, famous
Ilger woman" hammer murderess of
Los Angeles; Mrs Louise Peete. for.
mer Denver woman who was con :"
Victed OF the murder of Jacob Denton,
Los Angeles capitalist; Mrs. Virginia
clark, husband slayer from Oakland,
ana Eva Nalling, petite bobbed hair
bandit from bakersfield, who led two
male companions in daring bank
hold-up
according to the members of the
state prison board who have Just ac-
corded woman prisoners the right 70
smoke. their abolishment of the old
m n N IL
the fact that virtually all women
entering the state prison already are
addicted to the cigarette smoking
habit and that suddenly denying the
privilege entails considerable nervous
suffering. The viewpoint of the
prison directors is that if man con-
Victs are permitted to smoke, women
should be permitted also.
Must Roll Their Own.
The feminine inmates of San
quentin. however, are permitted to
smoke only home rolled fags. Tailor
made cigarettes are barred Each
woman prisoner is allowed one sack
or tobacco weekly, the same ration
accorded the men, together with a
sufficient number of cigarette papers.
The brand of tobacco furnished them.
however is only vaguely reminiscent
OF the smokes which they once en-
Joyed outside prison walls 1t is a
formerly popular brand. once analyzed
by government chemists as consist
ing of ground alfalfa and tissue
paper. soaked in strong tobacco juice
and then dried
The same tendency toward feminine
modernism which has just resulted in
the California prison board according
woman prisoners the right to smoke
also resulted recently in permission
to bob their hair. All but two of the
hfty-two women in San Quentin now
have shortened tresses. The two ex-
ceptions are Mrs. Louise Peete. who
is declared to be the most beautiful
woman convict in the United States.
and an Indian woman from San Ber-
nardino County. who is serving a life
term for Staying her husband with a
butcher knife. The latter refused to
accord with fashions dictates on the
ground that it was violation OF
tribal customs. Mrs. Peete believes
bobbed hair "unwoma My
Although they are privileged to bob
| their hair. San Quentin inmates arc
| not permitted curling irons-which
any woman minus naturally wavy
locks will tell you takes all the joy
out of abbreviated tresses.