INDIANS IN THE PENITENTIARY

John Washington and Simmons Wolf are two young Indians tried and
convicted in the U. S. District Court on the charge of rape. They were
sentenced to be hung. After conviction these Indians were taken to the
penitentiary to await the day set for their execution. In the meantime
an application was made to the President to change the sentence of death
to that of life imprisonment. The change was made. These two Indians
were placed in the coal mines on their arrival, where they are at the
present time getting out their daily task of coal. They both attend
the school of the prison, and are learning very rapidly. Prior to
this, Washington served out a one-year sentence in the Detroit house of
correction for stealing. He is a bad Indian.

At present there are fourteen Indians incarcerated in the Kansas
penitentiary. The Indian pines for his liberty more than the white man
or negro. The burdens of imprisonment are therefore greater for him to
bear. One young Indian was sent to the penitentiary whose history is
indeed touching. Ten Indians had been arrested in the Territory by U. S.
marshals for horse-stealing. They were tried and convicted in the U. S.
District Court. Their sentence was one year in the State's prison. On
their arrival at the penitentiary they were sent to the mines to
dig coal. This was a different business from being supported by the
government and stealing horses as a diversion. The Indians soon wanted
to go home. One of them was unable to get out his task of coal. The
officer in charge thought he was trying to shirk his work and reported
him to the deputy warden. The young Indian was placed in the dungeon. He
remained there several days and nights. He begged piteously to get out
of that hole of torture. Finally the officers released him and sent him
back to the mines. While in the dungeon he contracted a severe cold.
He had not been in the mines more than a couple of days, after being
punished, when he gave suddenly out and was sent to the hospital, where
in a few days he died. That young Indian was murdered, either in that
dungeon or in the mines. A few weeks before, he came to the penitentiary
from roaming over the prairies, a picture of health. It did not take
long for the Kansas penitentiary to "box him up" for all time to come.
He now sleeps "in the valley," as the prison graveyard is called.

Another one of the same group did not fare quite so badly as his
associate. Th