Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1912 — Page 3

Prison Reform in the Philippines

IF YOU go sight-seeing in Manila the guides do not fail to show 70U the Carcel de Billbid. They do so with a great deal of pride. Once Billbid, within almost a stone’s throw of your hotel, was the most hated place in existence to the natives; now it holds no more terrors than the best of prisons in the states. Billbid, in fact, has been transformed from a house of torture to a model and sanitary prison wherein the convicts are not only kept in good physical, condition, but are required to labor at occupations'which, in their later life, often prove profitable. Why the original constructors of Billbid designed it on lines which suggested the most sanitary conditions and yet turned it into the filthiest of institutions is a circumstance which made the United States authorities ponder. In the midst of the old city, lying within a circle more than a mile in circumference, nineteen long low buildings converge on an open space surrounding a large circular building and from what is said to be the largest prison in the world. There Is plenty of air space between the buildings. Besides the 19 prison quarters which radiate outward from the circular guardhouse in the center there are five other buildings, composing the administration offices, the commissary and quartermaster’s storehouses, and the ice and electric plants, all within the* great circular area. Topping in height each of these buildings there are guard towers from which can be poured any number of steel death-dealing missiles within the great Inclosure and for a great radius Without. 'There is one large tower in the center above the main guardhouse, a score or more surround the inclosure at equal Intervals, and there is not a nook or corner in Billbid which does not come under the eye of the watchful sentinels. The long, low buildings of Bilibid comprise the prisoners’ quarters. Since the American occupation of the islands, the great prison has been.divided in two parts by a great stone wall. One-half is set apart for the American military and civilian prisoners, the remainder for the native Filipino and the Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and other prisoners of different nationalities. The great prison has heretofore been given two names; the former the Presidio de Manila, the latter the Carcel de Bilibid. The whole prison is under qnllitary command, but the native section is directly supervised by native officials. Clean and Ventilated. Since .October, 1898, when the American officials took charge of the prison, Billbid has undergone a most beneficial transformation. Those quarters known as the dormitories are not the congested cells of the old Spanish regime, but have been cleaned and ventilated until there is now a free circulation of air in each. Looking from one end of these buildings to the other you. can see long rows of oots behind sections barred off with thick bamboo rods, and neatness and order prevail -throughout. Twelve wide windows line each side of each building, and in the roofs of each there has been built a continuous line of suction ventilators. • The workshops, kitchens, lavatories and hospitals have been likewise improved, each being equipped with the ipost modem sanitary appliances. oalled the “House of Torture,” as named under the old Spanish rule, is being looked upon with a sort of pride by the native Filipino as one of the model institutions of its kind in the world. "'~F' “7 r ~~ “ Its reconstruction h&s. in fact, educated the Filipinos to a considerable degree, because while the discipline -of the American officiate is strict, the *t X <••• ? . .

method of treating and caring for the prisoners within its confines has done more to demonstrate that the American people are a humane race than all other means. Bilibid has a daily routine much like other prisons. The prisoners are roused in the morning by the call of the bugle at 5:46. Breakfast follows a certain amount of exercise, and after that the prisoners go to the workshops until the noon hour. Then comes a light lunch, a siesta for an hour, rftore work until 6:30 p. m., then dinner, and they are locked up for the night Twice a week the inmates are compelled to bathe, and twice a week they are given clean clothes, not always secured by many of them while’ on the outside. There are four classes of rations -issued to the prisoners, depending on their nationality. The Americans receive the ration of the regular army, which costs about 25 cents; the Europeans receive food at the rate of about 14 cents, and the Filipino eatsto the amount of 8 cents. Death Rate Low, The employment of the prisoners consists of laundering, manufacturing bamboo furniture, weaving baskets, curtains, screens and hammocks, making rope, engraving on wood, horn, shell and silver, making fancy and useful articles from horn and shell, and wrapping coach whips, and there are also carpenters, wood turners, blacksmiths, stone masons, bricklayers and tailors, and occasionally an artist or two is found among the number and given a canvas. The articles thus manufactured are placed on sale, and from the revenue thus derived the prison often accumulates a surplus for the year. The average amount of receipts from this means is about $12,000 a year. One of the greatest testimonials to the conduct of Bilibid is the low death rate since the beginning of the American administration. Undlr the Spanish rule it sometimes reached as high as one in five, while under the American direction it has never gone above one in sixty. Billbid has seen many exciting days, and, under the Spanish rule, has had its walls so crammed at times that it seemed as if no more could be foroed' in. Yet they were. Its capacity was originally designed to accommodate 2,000, but the records of its days when resolutions existed against the Spanish government show that as many as 2,600 prisoners were confined there at one time. The prison was, in fact, designed for this purpose more than a hundred years ago, and political prisoners have outnumbered the criminals each year since, according to the captured records of the prison. When Gen. F. A. Hughes took charge of the prison for the United States government in October, 1898, he found over 2,000 pyisoners confined there agajnst whom no formal charges had been recorded. "A great inany of them,” he said, “were, heavily ironed —most cruelly ironed. For instance, there would be a man chained to the wall of a stone cell in which there was no light except through two loop holes high up and about two inofaes wide and a foot long. We also found some with bars of iron about three feet long to which were attached two iron hoops that wet* fastened around their ankles, and they had to carry these bars every step they made. The flesh around their ankles was worn altogether to the bone in many cases.” in his report of that inspection General Hughes also said that two hours after the prison had been turned over to the American authorities the irons which had been knocked off the prisoner were piled np, and the resulting accumulation measured more than a cord and a half in size. , lf‘ v‘ .

AWFUL TOLL OF RAIL

NEARLY 3,000 KILLED AND 40AW0 INQUIRED IN QUARTER. Alarming Increase In Number of A©raitments and 550 Miacellaneoua Accidents in Three Months. The Interstate railroad companies duly reported to the interstate iota-

course, being a federal board, the commission has nothing to do with accidents occurring on interstate railroads, and the law excuses the interstate ones from reporting any accident to a man in their employ if he’s fit for work within three days after his injury, In the last quarter of 1910, the number of persons killed on the rights-of-way of the interstate railroads was 2,766, and the number hurt was 40,321. Train accidents were responsible for 248 of the deaths and 3,729 of the injuries. There were 1,834 collisions in the three months, and 1,532 derailments, -andL 550 “miscellaneous” accidents —boiler explosions and such. Ninety-six passengers, postal clerks, express messengers, newsboys, etc., were killed in the accidents —30 or them in the train accidents- —and 3,348 were hurt. Of the unlucky railroad servants, 201 were killed in train accidents, 935 in bridge accidents, etc., 60 while coupling cars, and 107 in “Industrial” accidents; the number hurt in the train accidents was 2,054, and in all the accidents, 34,276. The number of tramps, other trespassers and casual careless citizens killed in the three months was 1,628, and the number hurt was 2,699. Of the quarter’s collisions, 212 were of the “butting” kind, 405 of the “rear end” kind, 102 were caused by train breaking in two, and 1,115 are classed as “miscellaneous” —whatever that means. The report as to the quarter’s derailments is that 15 of them were caused by “malicious” obstructions on the track, 58 by “unforeseen” obstructions, 108 by negligence of trainmen, signalmen, etc., 297 by defects of roadway, etc., and 709 by defects of equipment. Somebody was responsible, of course, for every one of these defects. The report leaves 345 of the derailments unexplained; they were “miscellaneous.” The interstate electric railways reported 70 accidents in the three months, 69 of them train accidents. In these, 42. passengers and 72 other persons lost their lives. 673 passengers and 358 other persons were hurt One of the accidents was a head-on collision of interurban cars, each running at about 35 miles an hour. A motorman forgot his orders in that instance, and the conductor inferred that the orders must (or might) have been changed. “The conductor started toward the front of the car to inquire,” we are told; “he was stopped, however, by a passenger who askedhim a question, and before he had fin> ished talking with the passenger the collision occurred.”

A Restive Engine.

There was a strike in force, among the engineers of a certain railroad, and in order to keep things moving the management were employing men who had had experience running any kind of engines. One man secured had been engineer at a sawmill where his work consisted mainly In pulling the lever and starting the log against the saw, then pulling the reverse lever when the plank was cut off and running the platform back again. The yardman gave him an engine and told him to run it into the roundhouse. He climbed into the cab, pulled a lever, In obedience to which the engine slid' slowly into the roundhouse; arrived there he saw something must be done, and acting on previous experience pulled the-reverse lever. The engine promptly backed out again. “Here!” shouted the yardman, “what are you doing? Why don’t you put that engine in toe roundhouse?” “I did put her in," yelled the sawmill engineer. “Why In thunder didn’t you shut the door?*’ '

The Highest Railway Station.

The site of the highest railway station In the world, was pierced recently at Jungfrau Hoch, Switzerland, 11,400 feet above toe sea. The new tunnel of the famous Jungfrau railway emerges right among the glaciers. The construction of this railway has penetrated Mounts Eiger and Monch. Ah observation house will be built on ■the ridge by the terminal station commanding a wonderful view cff toe entire Bernese Oberland, with the city of Interlaken nestling in the valley below.

New Line From Rome to Naples.

A new line is being built between Ttome, Italy, and Naples which will shorten the present distance of 155 miles by about 24 mil as. This road skirts of Naples to the tenter of that city, and a number of underground passenger stations will he built — Railway Age Gazette. ---- -V; _--

merce commission their last year’s accidents, as the act of congress requires them to do. In “Accident Bulletin No. 38” we get a boildown of the reports, with the commission’s annotations and other interesting * matter. Of

OUR illustration is a flashlight photograph of the Memorial day dinner given by Congressman A. W. Rucker of Colorado to 12 men in Washington official life, who, like himself, are survivors of the Confederate army. The only flag that appeared in the decorations of the host’s apartment was Old Glory.

SEEK ASTOR WEALTH

Heir to $100,000,000 Receives Letters From Many Persons. Women Propose Marriage and Men Ask Him to Become Partners in Business—Others Make* Odd Requests. New York. —Vincent Astor’s latest troubie is a deluge of letters from persons anxious to advise him as to the best manner of spending his SIOO,000,000 Inheritance. Many of the letters are from women, telling of their great love and conveying offers of marriage. Old women and young women, brazen and demure, thin and fat ones, pretty and ugly, have taken their pens in hand, not without hope of gain. Some have pretended to bespeak Mr. Astor’s interest In behalf of causes other than purely personal ones, but most of them have been frankly smitten in the. desire to call the young man’s attention to certain persons that he otherwise might overlook. • ' Some of the writers have waited in front of the estate offices in Twenty-sixth street for a glimpse of the boy. Most have mistaken the handsome “Nick” Biddle for the object curiosity, much to Biddle’s embarrassment He is an executor of the Astor estate, is about thir-ty-four and looks younger. And it isn’t only through the medium of letters that women have pressed their suits. The telephone has been kept pretty busy, both at the offices and at the Fifth avenue house, with girlish voices whose owners were anxious to have opportunities to meet the heir of millions. The reasons assigned were as many as the letters contained. Some of the writers want the young man to “do something worthy of his name.” There have been suggestions that he finance toe suffragette cause. Others want him to use his fortune to buy up breweries and distilleries and put them out of business for toe sake of promoting the cause of prohibition. Comparatively few of the letters written by women are from* inventors. This

TO FORM FLAG ASSOCIATION

Patriots Will Erect Monument and All Will Be Asked to Fight Anarchistic Principles.

Spokane, Wash. —The Grand Army of the Republic, the Spanish War Veterans, American Flag association. Daughters of the American Revolution and other local members of patriotic organizations will organize a flag association in Spokane in which every national society will be a member. They also will fight anarchistic organizations and teach all people and societies to respect toe fiag» A proposition to erect a big monument on the high bluff in Summer avenue between Washington and Bernard streets, to be called “Flag Day” monument, Is being considered. Downtown buildings will be decorated and every national society in the city will be asked to take part of a parade and program.

WEAPONS ARE FROM 1000 B. C.

Austrian Explorers of Imperial Mu-' seum Make Rich Haul l*» Karat Mountains. .'- . Vienna.—An exploration by members of the Imperial museum Into the cavern of St. Kanzion in the Karst mountains has yielded more than 1,000 bronze Implements such as swords, axes, lance heads and vessels supposed to date from 1000 B. C. They were all found at the bottom of a pit ISO. feet deep within the cavern. JR is suggested they were thrown In there as a sacrifice to a subterranean deity.

MR. RUCKER'S MEMORIAL RAY DINNER

class of communications almost always bore a man’s signature. Things suggested for a worthy use of the money ranged from patent bung-starters to methods of bridging Behring strait Included in the appeals are those of professional beggars. Churches, schools and libraries divide honors as to the numbers of their letters with propositions from business houses that olfer him interests for ever so small a sum. Most of these letters, of course, need no answer. Those from women on subjects of the heart are entirely Ignored. Many of the latter come accompanied by photographs. Two of the fair correspondents sent as their own postcard, pictures of Lillian Russell, from which they had forgotten to scratch the name. -----

SPURNING DARE; SHE WEDS

Girl Is Won by a Youth Who Collected Her Fare—Leave Ball and Get Knot Tied. Winsted, Conn. —On a dare, her friends say, Miss May Emma Corbat, who lives with, her widowed mother on South Main street, became the bride of Jesse T. Rose of Torrington at midnight recently. Both are In the early twenties and popular in their respective towns. On attaining his majority recently Mr. Rose came Into possession of about $50,000, left him by his grandfather. He owns two automobiles. Before he was twenty-one he worked as a conductor on the trolley line between Torrington and Winsted, and often collected fares from Miss Corbat. ‘ Miss COrbat went to Torrington the other evening and with Mr. Rose attended toe annual ball of Company M, Second regiment, C. N. G., In toe armory. In an intermission Dan Cupid prompted Mr. Rose to pop the question. Daring her, as friends assert, to go and get married, Miss Corbat, not to be dared, left toe armory with Mr. Rose. Rev. Albert Todd, pastor of Calvary Baptist church, was routed out of bed at midnight and he tied the knot,, after which Mr. and Mrs. Rose returned to the dance.

Murderer Forgives His Daughter, Who “Caused It All ” t ' ~ 'r Dramatic Meeting In Prison Before an Artist’s Death—Pivtures of Himself on the Gallows Painted by Jan Ribarich. Washington, Pa. —Jan Ribarich, an Austrian, artist and thrloe a murderer, who will be hanged here, was converted in his cell by his daughter whom he had vowed he would kill because she was the “cause of H all." A visit from his daughter,, a prayer and the tinging of "Nearer, My God, to Thee,” caused a dramatic incident Ribarich, who had fitted hit cell Into a studio, for weeks past occupied his time in painting pictures and presenting them to his friends and jail officials. He always spoke jokingly of the gallows and had persuaded the sheriff to allow him to look at the gallows from a window several hours before the hanging was to take place. Ribarich had painted many of his friends and had drawn a sketch ot himself dangling at the end of a rope with his body half concealed through the falling of the trap. Rabarlch shot and killed Michael Novak, his wife and stepson, Stanjovi. whom he blamed for harboring his daughter. After his conviction, the father said his only desire was to kill his fianghter before he died, as she bad disobeyed him. The girl visited her father, accompa-

Man Near Death Relents

CZAR’S INCOME FROM VODKA

t. . - l&j* Russia’s -Ruler Is, Given $400,000,000 Annually by His .Subjects - -—Per Drink. SL Petersburg.—-Public opinion*.« strongly expressed In the dtuna and* the press, has at last aroused the government to take steps to fight the vodka fiend. A home for Inebriates will be started and an ; institute for anti-alcoholic research will follow. Over 80 per cent, of the city popula* tion of Russia become confirmed vodka fiends before they are twenty-five years old, while 45 per cent, of the girls fall into the habit between the ages of seven and twelve. Recruit* are drived to drink through tnsufli» cient food and cold barracks, because : four-fifths of the coal and meat allot* ted to them are snapped up by officers and purveyors before It reaches the stores. Vodka has been a crown monopoly ' since the sixteenth century. The czar has now 30,000 vodka saloons and controls 4,000 distilleries, on which he realizes $400,000,000 a year. While the government spends only 3% cents per head on education, each Russian citizen carries between 36 cents and, $7. ft year into the czar’s saloons. The vodka spirit Is distilled from potatoes,, and cereals. \ • 1

85,000 PIECES PUT IN TABLE

Part of a Pennsylvania Prison Exhibit k Is Much Admired—Made by a Convict. - Pittsburg, Pa.—An exhibition of the v| work of prisoners of the western Penn- J sylvania penitentiary, was opened re- | cently. One article which attracted' widespread comment is a table made / of 85,000 pieces of wood. The surface of the table contains ten Masonic devices and insignias. Thousands of visitors attending the fifty-ninth annual 7: Pennsylvania state conclave of the 1 Knights Templar admired the table. A well-known judge visited the exhlbltion. "Didn’t so and so make this table?* he asked. When asked how he knew he said m he had the counterpart of It Th»4| judge had sentenced the talented vrU&m oner to a life term for murder and. later had it commuted to twenty year*. §s

■ nied by guards. When he saw herhd|| broke down. A Methodist minister 1 prayed, “Nearer, My God, to Thee,**! was song by visitors and jail guards, and the condemned mnTi embraced his daughter. Before leaving the jail toe daughter,* eighteen years old, promised her fa-' ther to bring her fiance to the jaiL It will be the first meeting between Bfcp barlch and the young man who vrilß take his daughter as a bride soon aof| er the hanging.

DIES BY OWN BURGLAR TRAP

Memphis Grocer Fatally Wounded byShotgun Set Near Window for M an Intruder. Memphis, Team.—A burglar trap set by Ray S. Brooks caused the death of Brooks in his grocery store la the- ? outskirts of town. His body was found on the floor when his wife went to toe 1 store to find out why he had not gone to supper. A shotgun arranged to discharge In the direction of a windowjg should an effort be made to raise the window, was empty, Its load hattoll entered Brooks’ body. It Is supposed that he stepped on the string In passing between the gnu and Su»'f i a„ _. -* vSSgH w IDQQW» . „ -- ■

Dirigible Break Record.

Paris.—The French dirigible balloon, Clement-Bayard HI., beat the world’s dirigible balloon record tor altitude. Carrying six passengers the craft ascended to a height *t Mlil feet