| Show Convicts Become Expert I II I I I In Trades and Profession JS i iBy By Lenore B. B Christensen I WHAT HAT chances has a man sentenced to a term in prison W V y ten to thirty years to make something of himself f This query was propounded to a Telegram girl girt reporter S 5 d she Ill go find out And here is her story g Stone walla walls do not a prison make Nor iron bars a cage Lovelace editor said ald Write a lot lotof lotof lotof THE of sob stuff and embellish It occasionally with a fit tit quotation quo quo- tation Well theres there's your quotation Its It's the only one I 1 know I 1 hope it fits I dont don't see why object so 50 strenuously to going to prison I went went and twice and It didn't hurt hurta a bit up there Why people up there on the hill hlll hillare hillare are so kind and courteous that ItIs It Itis itis is a real pleasure to go to prison Of course I shouldn't like to ta have to stay there all the time but some som of ot the prisoners seem to ta like Uke It But I guess maybe women dont don't because of ot the one hundred and thirty-odd thirty prisoners In the Utah state penitentiary only one Is a a. female Which proves I guess that women women women wom wom- en are one hundred and thirty times better than the men men or or something Anyway the editor said I wonder wonder wonder won won- der what those fellows up there do dota doto doto to ta fit tit themselves for the world after after arter aft art er their incarceration And I said I dont don't know ex know ex But Ill I'll go find out That's what I said all aU right but finding out out wen out well that isn't so easy as it sounds Now when I first started writing little stories and the like the editor Impressed upon my mind the ne necessity necessity necessity ne- ne of ot obtaining correct names and dates and things SCORES FIRST DEFEAT So the first thing I did with m my assignment was to ta fall down on it Warden Storrs said it wouldn't be exactly a fair deal to the prisoners to give sive names and dates and I couldn't have gotten them If I had wanted to and to-and and I didn't want to The first man I talked to showed me a photograph of his wife and two small children And nd a painfully painful painful- ly scribbled letter from his little daughter She was begging beggIns daddy daddy daddy dad dy to come home She didn't know ho he was in prison That was the reason I 1 didn't want names and dates But I got a story from the next one I asked him boldly what ho was doing with his opportunities I suppose you'll laugh at that word opportunities Because no doubt you ou think there are no op opportunities opportunities opportunities op- op In a prison If Opportunity Opportunity knocked on a jail door It wouldn't do any good you say Well Vell that's all aU you know about it Listen This man is a slayer He killed a man in a fit of frenzy Just i. i l. l before he planned to take his own life lite He was se ser serto si sito to ta prison for tor life Ute M mm I But the fact tact that to all aU Intent and purposes he must remain I hind those stone walls till tin cleat deat claims him did not deter him him frog taking up half halt a dozen correspondence correspond correspondence ence school courses And In every one of ot these received nearly per cent ir Ills his examination tests Amon Among Amon these courses were one in adverts and ono one in salesmanship Which If you ask me me Is the v verl ri acme of optimism Think of ot grad grads In salesmanship in prison And the very next man I inter Inters viewed also was a lifer That I 1 In prison for tor a lifetime He lie was sent t t to the the penitent in his youth Apparently he is nov non J middle aged He had a very limit limitt ed education most education most people who g to prison are handicapped thai that way dont don't you think and think and he dif not know which way to turn UTILIZES LIBRARY v But his first move was to pro procure procure pron cure some valuable books from tb prison library which he read with Ith avidity Ho He mastered the rudl mesas merits of English fairly well well and ami then became obsessed with the Idea that he wanted to write M But his common sense taught taugh him that he must study and study he did for four long years Ht Hf H read so much in fact tact that th theother the other prisoners began to ta dub him the book worm Of Ot course all his reading leading an an ami studying must needs be done atei his regular working hours order to hurry those hours along he employed the simple expedient of working faster taster thereby gaining gainIng gain gain- Ing more time for tor reading H Near the end of ot the fourth year of study he wrote an article foga fog for fora a prison magazine which was p pubs b much to his delight Later Laten he wrote a poem which appeared in one of ot the local That was ten years ago since which time he has written and had published many short stories storie articles verse and editorials Q employ his own words he had has received for his work all the ways from nothing to a hundred an and fifty dollars for a single product product t tion n J His writings have brought him money that runs into fou four figures figures' Besides a snug sum as proved by the tho prison accounts he is th holder of ot several hundreds of dolf lars' lars worth of Liberty bonds an and he has contributed to the Red flea RedCross RedCross Cross and various other chari charif ties At least a dozen of or the men have become most excellent farmers Continued on page 9 CONVICTS BECOME I Continued from page vage S. S 8 i farmers who understand soils iOUS and I crop production In technical terms and who v when they they- are released I will be bo amply fitted to carry out their share of ot tho the worlds world's work al allotted allotted allotted al- al to every man Some Som have havo become cobblers V some weavers others are studying professions all all are learning some some- thing The Utah state prison is isone one ne of the busiest industries in the state and If It the men who are to tobe tobe tobe be released sometime apply themselves themselves themselves them them- selves as diligently outside the prison as ds they do inside inside- the I grounds they need not fear tear the law An Incident lent of ot more than passIng passing passing pass pass- ing Interest was the presence of a life making baby shawls Think of ot A Little flit of Heaven In a penitentiary But perhaps one young man sent to the penitentiary for forgery forgery for tor- gery has the most laudable ambition ambition ambition ambi ambi- tion of them all He Ile is striving manfully to cut down his sentence so that he may devote the balance of his life lite to carIng for his aged parents His Ills mother he says does not know he Is behind the prison walls his father Is keeping It from her It was for tor them that ho he forged a check while check while he was was' intoxicated and and it was for th them m he went vent to prison N Now w it Is for tor them that he heIs heIs heis is exercising his best qualities to get out Being a woman with only one vote to my name I suppose I may not be permitted to reason but if it itI I were I would kindly suggest that every state in the tho Union establish a sort of school like the Utah state prison and COMPEL some individuals Individuals individuals In every county to attend it for fr br a certain period But I dont don't suppose anyone will take this seri seri- I cant can't think of any more quotations quotations quotations quota quota- that will apply here I forgot to mention that the editors editor's teachings are to the ef effect effect effect ef- ef that PLACES are one of ot the necessary elements in a story aswell as aswell aswell well as names and dates I just want to call the editors editor's attention to the fact that I didn't fall down on naming the place |
