An American Prison Scandal.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3523, 30 May 1890, Page 2

An American Prison Scandal.

A seandat of no small order has ■ ■ just been brought to light,in tlio United States, or rather has had fresh light" turned upqr, ft, for the abuse has been known to a good many persons for a long time past,' ' A. reporter of a newspaper was sent to make an investigation into the, treatment of prisoners in. the county gaol in consequence of many roporta that those with money could secure ' any indulgence they were willing to pay for, and if any prisoner was known to have money that he did not disburse a pressure was brought upon him until ho disgorged. ■ The reporter found on actual triaj of the gaol thai by paying liberal fees he could havo his dinner from the best restaurant in the city, could have a luxurious apartment, and a might even go about the city by day r or by night in company with a " deputy sheriff, who was.liberally paid, of course, for his services. Tab ' newspaper that employed the reporter published the lull'aocount, an investigation'followed, showing that ' all the ohargea of that sort were ■ more than true, .and, like the Queen ofSheba on her visit to King Solo, mon, the half bad,-ngthecn tolpY One wealthy defaulter, who bay just been released after- several ■■•'•- months' incarceration,' testifies thaj' he has spentsourje IO.OOOdoI (£2000) v for, indulgences. "'ln him-lot b v '*i}%%m -lit «WW'JO".(O §j

theatre whenever he lilted abd to other places of entertainmont, and he used to go to his bouso to bave interviews with his- lawyers. On one occasion he gavo a dinner party at his house, his guests being a dozen or so of the men who had made money through his schemes, and lie was permitted to attend the return dinners, whioh were given by some of his Mends- Ho lived in gaol as well as he would have Ws& at a first class hotel, and when ho'had visitors they could remain as long as they chose, while visitors to ordinary, prisoners wore compelled to depart at 4 p.m, Tho keeper of the gaol has resigned in consequence of the investigation, and eovoral of the deputy sheriffs implicated in the extortion and bribery havo followed his oxamplc.

THE RAILWAY MEN(From tho Catholio Times) ft: Tfil[ executive of the Hail way Society declared promptly that thoy had no intention of' organising a strike. Had they not? They appealed to their rulo on tho subject of disputes, We append it:" Should tho company or Railway Department refuse to consent to arbitration or ignore the requests made for reference to arbitration, it shall be open fur the members affected to *jfßt>l f ° 'he society through the Executive Committee, to support them' from' the "Protection Fund should they deem it desirable to withold their services from the company or Bailway Department till such time as the arbitration or their demands have been acceded to, It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to submit tho circumstances of the disputes to the branches of tho society and take a vole of the members on the appeal of those members affected by the dispute, The vote shall bo by ballot and be open for four successive daya at the respective branch meeting places, The votes shall be returned to the Executive Committee for a scrutiny and counted, A majority of three f/fcis vote shall determine whether ornot assistance shall be given from the Protection Fund to enable members to withold their labor, If tho consent of a majority of three fourths of the members in tho movement ha obtained, members part in it can be supportedfrom the fund. Tu the event of members sanctioning the withdrawalof the men from work, it shall be a paramount duty of the Executive Committee to uso every lawtul me he to assist tbctn in their struggle-. T Execntive Committee are hereby empowered to employ the fund for that purpose, and such members shall also render such assistance as tho j Executive Committee may require of them during the continuance of the dispute." Now if there is anything in that ruin it implies that before there shall be even talk of striking or any extreme measures,, such talk must be preceded by some attempt to follow a refusal of rodress by getting the matter referred to arbitration, The executive, however, without waiting for even a refusal, much less saying ut word about arbitration, prepared for extreme measures by sending out a circular with demand for a reply upon an early datfr; They prepared war before tJL#was any thought of danger to p™o. They broke their own rule, the most sacred and the most important of all their rules; broke it utterly in the spirit, and according to any reasonable judgment of the letter. Yet when taxed with arranging a strike by a certain date, they plead the rule to prove that their motives are fair. But by breaking the rule they have deprived theinsnlvcs of any benefit to be derived from the same. The circular, hower, makes no mention of the rule. It may fairly be regarded as a .request to the railiray men to decide whether the rule Bhall be passed over. '