The Daily Transcript (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 80, Ed. 1 Monday, September 7, 1914 Page: 3 of 4
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NORMAN DAILY TRANSCRIPT
CONVICT <J\ ras
RODERT AMOUm
Hcurw oonvicr a? waketa quarry
Iff CQlfORSDO
S the old-time prison, where prig-
oners were treated like cattle,
tolerated, prodded and driven
by armed guards until all of the
manhood was either cowed out
of them, or they were made
surly, and a premium was
placed on their escape, doomed
to extinction? Will the prison
of the future be one where walls and bars and
.guards are merely incidental, and honor and manli-
ness, work and friendship are fundamental?
These are questions that have arisen as the re-
sult of the amazing prison reform methods that
have made Colorado, Oregon and Arizona the cen-
ter of attention in recent months. Strange tales
have been told of convicts roaming, without guards,
over the state farms adjacent to these prisons; of
squads being Bent as far away as 300 miles, where
they would work for weeks, and then every man
return to his cell; of the honor system bringing as-
tonishing results. And, incredible as it may seem,
these stories are true.
Not long ago the superintendent of the Arizona
state prison at Florence was called to the long dis-
tance telephone one day to receive this strange
message from Phoenix:
"Send Bob Anderson to the capltol on the next
train—this is Hunt speaking."
Now, Bob Anderson was a reputed bad man, and
the prison superintendent was revolving in his mind
■whether he had any guards that could be spared to
accompany the prisoner. But the suspense was
Boon ended.
"Give him a ticket and
some money—and send
him alone," the voice con-
tinued. "Tell him I want
to see him at tho govern-
or's office."
The life-time convict
was very ill at ease when
he arrived alone at Gov-
ernor Hunt's office, sev-
eral hours later. ~
"I want you to go up on
the Verde and get the
prison team," the recent-
ly-elected ^governor an-
nounced, after Anderson's
suspense had been re-
lieved by some pleas-
antries. "The horses are
In a pasture way up in the
mountains, costing the
state eight dollars a month—while out at tho prison
we are paying out between thirty-five and forty
dollars a month for another team to replace them."
Arrangements were soon completed. Anderson
was provided with a ticket to go as far as he could
by train. Then he was given money to buy gro-
ceries, for he was starting on a week's journey out
across the lonely desert nnd up into the wild, rough
foothills at tho edge of the timbered mountains.
It was not long before the newspapers got hold
of this scare-head story—this most rash act of the
governor in releasing scot-free, a convicted mur-
derer who hadn't been outside of prison walls or
beyond the fire of a dozen riflemen for years. The
governor's closest advisers deplored what he had
done, and the opposition newspapers hinted that
the chief executive must he either insane or secret-
ly conniving. At the very best, the opposition
boldly declared, the governor was sorely tempting
the convict—donating him money, provisions, and
the use of two of the state's horses, and, thus
equipped, Bending him off alone into the wilder-
ness.
The week wore around—and Anderson came
back with the team to his life-time prison cell.
Arizona, which has a larger proportionate prison
population than any other state in the Union, had
learned Its first lesson in the application of the
radical and bold "honor system" among convicts.
Lesson number two was not long in following.
Another Arizona state prison inmate, a convicted
forger, was released "on his honor" for a month's
time, and given enough money to carry him to
Washington, D. C., that he might file patents for
several of his Inventions. The -governor assumed
responsibility—but before the month came to an
end Roy J. Meyers had voluntarily returned to his
prison cell. A banker friend of the governor
was still critical of the new prison "honor sys-
tem," so when a certain convicted forger was dis-
charged after his prison term, the banker sent
him a bill for a formerly forged check. The next
mall brought back currency to the amount.
One might add instances from other reform
state prisons that have adopted the "honor sys-
tem." In Oregon, Governor West learned that the
shoe shops In the state prison at Salem had out-
of-date equipment. So the governor called up the
prison one day and requested that a certain life-
termer be sent down to his office, without guard.
The warden at first protested, but the convict
came. The governor merely talked with him, for a
few minutes, then sent the convict out to see the
town for an hour. At the third visit the governor
explained why he wanted to get acquainted. The
prisoner was given money to go to Portland and
buy new shoe-shop machinery in the name of the
state. It was Rosa Festival week in the Oregon
metropolis and the city was crowded with visitors.
But "No. 3615" cumpleted the business and re-
turned to his life-time prison cell.
The "honor syst-vn" has probably never had a
more thorough an 4 satisfactory test than at the
Colorado stato prison, in Canon City, under War-
den Thomas J. Tynan. During the past three
years this prison has had over 1,000 individual
prisoners in tho c< vlct camps. These men, with-
ort guards—some 40, 100 and even 300 miles away
the prison—oave created a national reputa-
U for loyalty. 1 .us than one per cent have vio-
k 1 their pledge? by successful escape.
■„st outside of )anon City, whera one would
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look for the rough baseball field that every suburb
boasts, can be seen the big, black score board,
the worn base lines, and the benches. But there
on the outskirts of the town it's a prison diamond,
not the village baseball field. Across the fields,
on the distant plateau, the huge gray stone cell-
block looms up. Lower down, backed up against
invitingly sheltering woods for those that might
want to run away, is the diamond.
Here, at once, the great significance of the new
era at this state prison bursts upon the visitor.
Measuring the distance from prison to diamond
with the eye, one puts this proposition to himself:
"If the state of Colorado can march convicts with
a band a half mile to a ball field; if the warden
can umpire the game and escape alive; if the boys
can promise to refrain from swearing, and really
cut It out; if several hundred supposedly desper-
ate characters—the stuff the gunmen are made of.
In the popular imagination—can yell and howl
and jolly the players, and, when the game is over,
return without the loss of a man to the cell-block,
and preserve In the long, vast building a silence
throughout the evening that causes the proverbial
pin to echo—well, what of our traditional distrust
and dread of the convict?"
Entering the stockade between the huge cell-
block and the smaller buildings at the Canon
City prison, another surprise awaits the visitor.
Perhaps 60 men, all In gray, are moving without
restraint within the enclosure; It makes one think
of a big city schoolyard. Some of the men are
playing at quoits; others are chasing each other
and boxing Intermittently; pipes and cigarettes
are much in evidence.
Warden Tynan is big-bodied, big-hearted, and
Jovial, and has much to tell and rejoice at In the
Canon City experiment. He invites the visitor to
stay overnight with him. "We'll drive over the
farm after luncheon," he says, "and this evening
I'll take you down to my club." Just where that
club may be the visitor cannot fathom—but he
usually stays.
It is now the dinner hour. The trumpet blows
for all the world like the dinner call of an Atlantic
liner; the men in orderly fashion cease their
games, their walking and their smoking, and fall
into line in the cell-block.
Contrast with what you will read in a minute or
two the recent prison riots in another state, where
the militia had to be called to restore order, and
where flogging was re-established. Contrast the
old days at many state prisons, under the contract
system, where men were worked, practically, from
eun to sun, and threw themselves from second-
story windows to malm themselves that they might
not be obliged to do the racking, deadly work of
the contractors. Con-
trast even the woll-man-
aged prisons today in
some of the more pro-
gressive states, where
the prison walls are the
restraining bonds of,
probably, 95 per cent of
the inmates, and where
many of the cell houses
half century or a century
are of the pattern of a
ago, with small, tomb-
like rooms, not large
enough for a man, and
In the past often occu-
pied by two.
At Warden Tynan's
residence, the houseman Is a colored convict, faith-
ful In every way; the butler Is a convict, formerly
the warden's clerk; the cook is a convict, and he
certainly is a cook. The warden's coachman Is a
convict; the chauffeur Is a convict. Indeed, wher-
ever one turns, one finds the prisoners filling places
of trust. The houseman closes up the house at
night, locks everything up, goes up to the prlBon
half a mile away, and is the first one down in the
morning. And the warden's club is nothing else
than a fifteen-minute gathering of the house boys
and himself in his kitchen after the work of the day
Is all done.
After luncheon the warden ordered a carriage and
drove the visitor several miles around the farm.
Wherever one looked were seen prisoners at work,
without guards.
"That mountain over
there," the warden said, "is
our sheep range. The
sheep boy is a convict. He
goes clean over the moun-
tain after the sheep. Of
course," he continued, point-
ing toward the east,
"back of the mountain there
is now a gang cutting wood.
They have no guards. About
half-past four you will see
them coming down the
mountain. Look at that old
man in the garden next my
house. He works there all
by himself, and you have to
drive him away from the work. All the men,
wherever they may be, are working like one big
family. Of course, the fellows would rather have
their liberty, and be away from the prison, but
some way or other they have all developed the
sense of honor, and they stick."
Soon tho pig shed was reached, and the visitoi
was earnestly urged to get out and inspect eight
tiny porkers hardly able to waddle, and about 10C
other pigs, all under the care and training of one
prisoner, who grinned all over In his pride.
"You have seen some of the prisoners who art
working here," the warden said. "About 400 oth
ers are at work on the various road camps
ranches, etc., some as far as 300 miles away
Three years ago our road camps were largely
experimental. Today the success of the plan, from
every standpoint, is definitely established.
"Colorado owes many of its wonderful thorough-
fares and access to its scenic beauties to the men
who are housed in the gray prison at Canon City.
"Many states have found convict labor outside
the prison wells unprofitable, because they have
paid too much attention to guarding the convicts.
"Work on the roads Is sought for by our prison-
ers. We make it an object for them to do good
work and not attempt to escape.
"I personally have had many talks with each
and every prisoner before he leaves the prison for
the road camp, and this talk is the keynote to the
whole situation. The prisoner feels that he Is talk-
ing to one that has his interests at heart, and the
very best in him comes uppermost.
"So much for the reformative features of the
'honor system'. Society asks—what is the finan-
cial benefit to us? During the 1909-1910 biennial
period, our convicts built 50 miles of finished road-
way at a total actual cost to the taxpayers of the
state of $56,700, a saving of $155,460. In ranch
products they earned $16,890. In saving on im-
provements they earned $106,746, and in cash earn-
ings they made $38,125.
"During the biennial period of 1911-1912 we
greatly exceeded our former record, having con-
structed in the neighborhood of 300 miles of
permanent roadways. Considering the situation In
Colorado, and basing our figures on actual ex-
perience, we are confident that we can construct
5,000 miles of the very finest roadways In the next
ten years for less than $500,000, and this without
adding anything whatever to the burden of the
taxpayers. Taking it all in all, the 'honor system'
has proven eminently successful from the soundest
financial standpoints. The country has been en-
riched; broken and sin-laden men have been re-
formed, and society has been guaranteed a greater
measure of good and willing citizens than ever
beforo."
I TRAVELED for a month through
tho heart of Mexico looking for the
women of beauty and romance of
whom I had heard so much. In
all that month I saw not one of
them. Instead, there was always a
horde of sad creatures, child-laden,
prematurely old, who hung about the
railway stations and repeated the
plaint, "Tin centavo, un centavo," al-
ways begging for a mere penny. And
further back there v.as tho hovel
where the mother presided over the
destinies of a large family and at-
tempted to make ends meet on the
small and Irregular earnings of her
men folks, writes W. A. Du Puy In
the Detroit Free Press.
There are two dominating ideas In
the mind of the resident of the United
States with reference to the people of
Mexico. Light opera Is responsible
for both. The first is the picture of
the man—a creature of an inconceiv-
ably wide hat, of trousers skin tight
to the ankles, of flowering, scarlet
Bash and colorful blanket. And the
picture Is true In its minutest details.
No stager of light opera has ever ex-
aggerated the man of Mexico. He
loafs today In magnificent ennui about
the railway stations at Chlhuahu:. and
Baitillo and San Luis Potosl so ar-
rayed as to defy exaggeration.
The second Mexican Idea of the
man from the states Is of the senorlta,
gay clad, bespangled. Jangling her
tambourine nnd with a dagger, for
Jealousy, hidden In her bosom. But
this maiden Is as conspicuous for her
absence as is the male of the species
for his omnipresence.
Poverty Prevents.
For it must be remembered that the
people of Mexico are Inexpressibly
poor. It is of the masses I am writ-
ing, the 98 per cent. When Diaz be-
came president there was an occasion-
al opportunity for the native to earn
15 cents a day at hard labor. Diaz
let In foreign capital for the develop-
ment of Industry and in 30 years these
same men could earn 60 cents a day
and had more opportunity to work.
Yet even this was not luxury.
And the boys and girls grew up as
has won an International reputation.
When the traveler alights In Tehuan-
tepec he is met by peddlers of opals
and beads beaten out by native gold-
smiths from the metal of tribal mines,
and the fruits of the "tierra caliente."
Soon he notices that these peddlers
are all women and that many of them
are young and beautiful. He paBseBi
Into the market place, where he flndri
Innumerable stalls, also presided over
by women. There is tha appearance
of Immaculate cleanliness and the air
of business efficiency. Near by are
native stores, also presided over byi
women. There Is hardly a male crea-
ture anywhere to be seen.
Eventually the traveler learns that
thlB Is a city of pretty women. There
are 3,000 of them and but 500 men.
They have assumed the reins of gov-
ernment and the responsibility of pro-
viding for their own support. They
have done both so effectively that
Tehuantepec is the cleanest, best gov-
erned, moBt prosperous community
between the Rio Grande and Guate-
mala.
And the beauty of these self govern-
ing, self-supporting women llfta the
traveler out of his boots. They are a
remnant of the unsullied blood of the
Aztecs, that race of high civilization
that suffered so tragically when It fell
under the all-blighting domination of
Spain. They are a remnant of the
people who built pyramids that rival
thoBe of Egypt and temples of such
decorative beauty as to draw students
from the world around into the Jun-
gles of Yucatan. And these women
have a classic delicacy of feature and
a dignity that is in accord with this
ancestry.
A Diaz Tragedy.
This maniess Eden is also a heritage
from the Diaz regime. President Diaa
sent his younger brother to Tehuante-
pec as governor. Tills latter was but
an unlettered Indian nnd possessed
none of the unusual qualities of Por-
firio. He governed his Aztec Bubjects
with aboriginal cruelty and stupidity.
His many atrocities came to a
climax when, one day, he shot and
mm
V ..
Seme. IN SOUTHERN MEXICO
do the herds In the fields and mated
long before they had reached matur-
ity. Sometimes there was the formal-
ity of marriage, but more often there
was not, for tha fees were prohibitive.
It was rare that a peon girl passed
the age of fourteen without having
found herself a mate.
This Game girl at twenty was the
mother of four children. At that age
she should have Just been coming
into her maturity, blossoming into
whatever of beauty lay within her.
But the girl of twenty who, In pov-
erty, has brought into the world four
youngsters and cared for them, has
had little chance for the flowering
forth of the latent beauty that may
have been her birthright.
This Is the condition that Is almost
universal among the people of the
masses. It Is because of this condi-
tion that one lookB in vain for the
dream maiden of Mexico who burns
up her soul In Jealousy for her sweet-
heart and Blips the stiletto between
his ribs rather than lose him.
It Is a condition almost universal,
but not quite. There Is the town of
Tohuantepec that saves the day, for
Tehuantepec is the home of women
who throw down the gauntlet to all
the world for beauty and for those
characteristics of leadership that dom-
inate all around them.
Where Mexico grows narrowest to-
ward the southern end the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec separates the main body
of the country from Yucatan. A rail-
road crosses this isthmus and makes
a short cut between New York and the
Orient. At the top of the divide there
Is a native Indian town and here re-
side Mexico's amazons. Here are
found those rare natives with the
(luted and extraordinary headgear that
killed one of these women of Tehuan-
tepec as she passed his dwelling. The
shooting was done on a wager and
merely to prove his marksmanship.
There is a touch cf cruelty In even
the Aztec when aroused. The people
rose as a man and went for Governor
Diaz. When they had captured him
they performed an operation that Is
not unpopular In Mexico. They
skinned the bottoms of his feet and
then forced him to walk to his execu-
tion.
To avenge the death of his younger
brother President Diaz dispatched an
army to Tehuantepec with Instructions
to kill every male in the village. The
orders were so effectually carried out
that the only men left were those who
fled to the mountains.
Since then the town has been a com-
munity almost without men. As I
walked the streets of this native city
of the tropics one of the most pe-
culiar of the efforts of Nature to keep
her balance was thrust upon me. The
male children of the Tehuanas go
stark naked, but the little girls wear
a skirt about their waists. I noticed
that there seemed to be many mora
male children than female. So great
was the apparent difference in numbers
between the Bexes that I began to keep
a tally. At the end of the day I had
seen four times as many boys ai girls.
Patented by Woman.
Once in a while a woman patents
something that one would only expect
a man to know anything about. An
example of this is the patent of Miss
Anna R. Tye of St. Joseph, who has
patented an automatic stop for trol«
leys on overhead wires, combined wltl(
a switch to move the stop.
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Burke, J. J. The Daily Transcript (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 80, Ed. 1 Monday, September 7, 1914, newspaper, September 7, 1914; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc112791/m1/3/?q=%22new-sou%22: accessed July 3, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.