USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume I > Part 34
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
April 1, 1892, and reelected twice, his last term expiring April 1, 1898. During his administration the water works were put in and the foundation and part of the wall of the administration building were laid, and he made the cement founda- tion for the north cellhouse and the chapel and library buildings. These build- ings are all connected and together make one immense structure, requiring some one thousand, eight hundred feet of outside wall. Laying the stone in the walls does not require so much time, but the entire force of convicts may be employed a whole year preparing and dressing the stones, each for its particular place. Warden W. A. Hunter was elected by the legislature and took charge April I, 1898. Since then the state institutions have been placed under the supervision of the board of control who retained Warden Hunter. Warden Hunter finished the female building; completed the administration building, dining-room, chapel, library ; made the west gateway tunnel, and was still working on the north cell- house when he died, September 30, 1906. All the wardens have been earnestly enlisted in the work and have pushed the buildings as rapidly as the number of convicts and the appropriations of money would permit. Now that the buildings have so far progressed to comfortably accommodate the prisoners much more attention is being given to beautifying the grounds with flowers and bettering the intellectual and moral condition of the convicts. The water supply is drawn from a well two thousand feet deep and is clear and pure. The system of sewers extends to the Wapsipinicon River. They are flushed at stated intervals by means of a tank with a syphon, which empties it rapidly whenever the water rises to a certain height. Some of the sewers near the kitchen were in the habit of becom- ing clogged with deposits of grease from the dishwater. These had to be taken out and cleaned occasionally and at great labor. One of the employes suggested that he could extract the grease from the water and avoid the annoyance. War- den Hunter assisted him and set him at the task. The result is that at not more than ten dollars expense a grease trap was constructed that acts perfectly. The dishwater is conducted from the kitchen through the cellar to a sheet iron tank holding some four barrels. There it comes into contact with cold water, which causes the grease to form on the surface of the water. The water is drawn off through a pipe opening at the bottom of the tank and carried up toward the top, thus drawing off the water under the grease and leaving it to accumulate in the tank. It is taken out about once each week and sold in the market. The sum realized from this grease is about one hundred and twenty-five dollars per year.
Under the present administration it is esteemed the most essential requirement that the men should be employed at some labor. We may theorize about not al- lowing convict labor to compete with free labor, but whether it does or not, the convicts must be employed. Their health, moral welfare and prison discipline de- mand this. And to avoid competing with free labor, Warden Hunter made it . a point to have convict labor manufacture everything needed as far as possible within the prison. Scrap marble was purchased at Chicago, costing eight dollars per car at the prison. These were purchased in four different colors and ground and polished and used in finishing the rooms.
To illustrate how the work is diversified and how the men are employed the following table is given :
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Number of inmates; where employed Nov. 12, 1909.
Quarry
49
Cooper shop
27
Insane and superannuated
79
Females
31
Stone shed
58
Floating gang
9
Building gang
7
Boiler-room
16
Tin shop
4
Blacksmith shop
6
Painting
3
Tailor shop
12
Laundry
IO
Barbers
5
Receiving office
2
Printing and binding
19
Band
12
Library
2
Farm
12
Kitchen and dining-room
13
Cellhouse
15
Green house and yard
6
Warden's office
I
Deputy's office
I
In yard, extra
3
School
32
In hospital
8
Excused
9
Visiting relatives
2
Total 462
The library was destroyed when work shop No. I was burned August II, 1896, but the fee charged visitors is devoted to library purposes, and since that fire some eight thousand, five hundred volumes have been purchased. The war- den says in his last report :
"As an indication of the use made of the library it is but necessary to state that during the year from January 1, 1899, to January 1, 1900, there were twenty-nine thousand, two hundred and forty-six books circulated among the prisoners; almost as many as circulated at Cedar Rapids public library, thirty- three thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine in a city of twenty-five thousand." There are sixty-nine copies of magazines and periodicals subscribed for and cir- culated among the inmates."
There has been apropriated by the legislature and exended at the Anamosa penitentiary from the beginning to the present time, the sum of six hundred and
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sixty-eight thousand, three hundred and thirty-one dollars and seventy-one cents, in buildings and land and property. The value of these now, estimating them as if builded with free labor, is one million, eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
On May 13, 1873, twenty convicts were transferred from the Fort Madison penitentiary to Anamosa for the purpose of building the "additional penitentiary," authorized by an act of the Fourteenth General Assembly. From that date to the present time there have been received into this institution six thousand, three hundred and fourteen prisoners, by years as follow :
1873
33
1892
144
1874
43
1893
219
1875
44
1894
299
1876
I16
1895
340
1877
138
1896
284
1878
1 56
1897 1898
307
1880
98
1899
224
1881
77
1900
236
1882
128
1901
184
1883
138
1902
208
1884
139
1903
191
1885
172
1904
173
1886
162
1905
179
1887
118
1906
187
1888
109
1907
176
1889
106
1908
248
1890
IIO
1909
241
1891
105
Total
6,299
The seeming discrepancy in the total is due to the fact that some of those re- ceived have been paroled or escaped and were afterwards returned and entered as received.
Wardens: Martin Heisey, A. E. Martin, Marquis Barr, P. W. Madden, W. A. Hunter, Marquis Barr.
Deputy wardens: L. B. Peet, Carl Barr, George Andrews, Z. H. Gurley, H. P. Smith.
Clerks: Lewis Kinsey, W. H. Pearson, D. H. LeSeur, T. E. Patterson, H. M. Vaughan, C. A. Beems.
Chaplains : Anna C. Merrill, W. C. Gunn, J. M. Crocker, E. G. Byer, F. H. Pickworth.
The present warden is an enthusiastic advocate of the grade system. Under directions of the board of control this system was put in force February 25, 1900. The prisoners are divided into first, second and third grades. The first and second grades are clothed in a respectable gray suit instead of the unmis- takable stripes of infamy. Each grade has a distinct bill of fare, the first grade
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1879
124
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being the best. The third grade are not permitted to eat in the dining-rooms, but have their food in their cells. The men are promoted or reduced in grade according to their conduct. On November 13, 1909, the number in each grade was as follows:
First grade 346
Second grade 105
Third grade 3
The system has aided much in maintaining discipline.
The Prison Press, a weekly paper is now printed under the supervision of Chaplain Pickworth. The library books are rebound when this is necessary in the bindery. Some three thousand bushels of potatoes were raised on the farm. Onions, cabbages, green corn, etc., are raised in large amounts. The farm will soon supply all such vegetables. A large stone hog house twenty-three feet wide and one hundred feet long has been erected on the farm. It has feeding floors surrounded by a stone wall, stone cribs attached, and is divided into very con- venient pens. A stove is placed at one end to keep the temperature warm. This hog house is a model house, the plans having been made by Hon. John Cownie of the board of control. There are two hundred and seventy-two hogs kept now, but the number is to be increased. The slops from the prison are hauled to the farm every day.
The large safe used in the clerk's office has a history. When the writer first saw that safe it was used in the office of the secretary of state in the old Stone Capitol building at Iowa City, in the year 1855. When the capitol was removed to Des Moines, this safe was placed on an immense wagon and hauled with teams to Des Moines. There were no railroads then in the state. When crossing the Skunk River the safe by accident went to the bottom and remained there several months. It was used in Des Moines until the new capitol building was occupied. When the penitentiary was started at Anamosa, it was shipped to Anamosa, and is still in use.
Great pains are taken to make the courts attractive between the large build- ings with flowers and fountains. When the flowers were taken up this fall the prisoners were permitted to have flowers in pots in the cellhouse, dining-room and shops. The empty fruit cans are taken to the foundry and melted down and run into window weights. The intention is to utilize everything possible.
Warden Barr's officials consist of two deputies, clerk, physician, matron and chaplain. There are five overseers, three turnkeys and a hospital steward, a su- perintendent of schools, a musical director and fifty-seven guards, of whom eleven are officers, making a total of seventy-two under his command. The peni- tentiary is a little world unto itself and the history of each convict would read like a romance. The inmates are well fed and comfortably clothed. They have steam heat and electric lights. Notwithstanding the ever present fact that they are deprived of their liberty, they appear reasonably contented and happy.
The institution continued to be a penitentiary until July 4, 1907, when the law which had been enacted by the Thirty-first General Assembly changing it into a reformatory for first offenders between the ages of sixteen and thirty, became
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effective. During the years from 1872 to 1898 but little attention and very little effort was directed toward the reformation of the criminal. The predominating idea then was that the infliction of physical punishment as a penalty for the vio- lation of laws was the only effectual method to be pursued in order to deter the committing of criminal acts. A code of discipline was then in vogue which was consistent with the then generally prevailing idea as to what the treatment of criminals ought to be.
In 1898 Mr. William A. Hunter was elected by the state legislature to take charge of the Anamosa penitentiary. During his administration many changes were made in the discipline and in the manner of treating the prisoners which were looked upon by the puble at large as impractical, but which since then have been generally conceded to be sound, practical and beneficial to all concerned- both to society and to the individual.
During Warden Hunter's administration a printing office was established and a paper published then called the Prison Press, later, when the parole and inde- terminate sentence law took effect, its name was changed to the Reformatory Press. An orchestra was organized. The school, which had fallen into a state of decline, was reorganized and many other features were introduced which tend toward the moral and the intellectual uplift of the inmates. It was due principally to the efforts of Warden Huner that the reformatory was eventually established, and the idea that the object of maintaining penal institutions should be, not merely to punish, but rather to reform the offender by giving him a new vision of right and wrong, and to instill into him a self-control, a self-reliance and a wholesome respect for law and order-an obedience to moral as well as legal codes which would perpetuate his ambition to do right-began to take a firm hold upon the minds of the people at large.
Warden Hunter, after having laid the foundation for this great humanitarian work, passed into the great beyond September 30, 1906, without seeing his ideals realized. But fortunately Iowa had another man in Mr. Marquis Barr, who, when formerly warden of this institution, had been seriously thinking of adopting the plan which Warden Hunter afterwards followed, and he was wisely chosen to succeed him and to carry out his policy. Today, as the results of the untiring ef- forts of these two men, the Anamosa reformatory stands in the vanguard as one of the best managed and one of the best equipped institutions of its kind in the United States-showing nothing but the best results for the efforts expended looking toward the reformation of its inmates.
The reformatory is known as "the white palace of the west" and those who have had the privilege of visiting it can easily comprehend why this expression is peculiarly appropriate. Its massive stone, fire-proof and beautifully designed buildings ; its large airy, well lighted shops and its hygienic location; its beauti- ful lawns and flower gardens, and its two hundred and fifty-seven acres of land make it an ideal place to arouse the latent good in the criminal defective and tend to impress him with a new ambition to be restored to an honorable place in so- ciety.
A day school has recently been inaugurated where the unfortunates who are confined here may, at least, obtain a rudimentary education. A superintendent of schools, Mr. C. C. Taylor, has recently been engaged for this purpose by the
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
board of control at a salary of one hundred dollars per month, also an instructor for the female department at a salary of fifty dollars per month.
From the facilities thus offered to the inmates to improve themselves men- tally much good is expected to result. They are given ample opportunity to develop any talent they may have. The Reformatory Press gives them an excel- lent medium through which they may express their thoughts. It furnishes them with an incentive to enlarge growing ideas and to attain a literary education. The superintendent of schools is assisted by a corps of inmate teachers and the school is in a flourishing condition.
The state use and contract systems of labor are in vogue. It is designed to place each man where he is most fitted. This cannot always be done because the facilities are not yet adequate enough. Although much has already been accom- plished under the able leadership of Warden Barr, much more needs to be done before the institution will be all that the name "reformatory" implies. Taking into consideration the fact that it is but recently, comparatively, that the change from the penitentiary to reformatory has taken place, the state has every reason to congratulate itself on the progress which has been made. Altogether it may be truly said that it is an ideal institution of its kind and is pregnant of much com- ing good. Its administrative head, with the hearty cooperation of his subor- dinate officers, is doing a great work for the betterment of his charges.
PEOPLES GAS COMPANY.
This company was incorporated on the IIth day of May, A. D. 1909, and re- ceived its charter from the state of Iowa on the 14th day of May, 1909, author- izing it to do business for a period of twenty years. The Peoples Gas Company contracted with the American Construction Company of Newton, Iowa, for the erection of a Tinney Gas Plant in Anamosa, which plant was completed and in operation by the - day of , 1909. W. A. Cunningham was the chief organizer and promoter of this company and received a franchise from the city of Anamosa for said gas company on the - day of -, 1909. The price of gas is one dollar and forty cents per thousand feet if paid during the first ten days of each month and one dollar and fifty cents if not paid during said time.
The officers of the company are: president, W. A. Cunningham; vice-presi- dent, F. G. Ray ; treasurer, E. K. Ray ; secretary, J. E. Remley. The directors are: W. A. Cunningham, Anamosa, Iowa; F. G. Ray, Vinton, Iowa ; C. L. Niles, Anamosa, Iowa; E. K. Ray, Anamosa, Iowa; J. E. Remley, Anamosa, Iowa; J. A. Belknap, Anamosa, Iowa; Wm. Thomas, Anamosa, Iowa.
THE ANAMOSA FAIR ASSOCIATION.
The first association regarding the Anamosa Fair was on the 5th day of Au- gust, 1879, when the Anamosa Driving Park Association was organized and in- corporated under the laws of the state of Iowa.
The following is the published notice of incorporation :
"First. The name of the corporation is the 'Anamosa Driving Park Asso- ciation.'
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
"Second. The general nature of the business of said association is as fol- lows: The purchase, improvement and fitting up of grounds to be used for fairs, agricultural exhibitions, for the training of horses, and for the purpose of a driving park generally, with power to lease said grounds for the above said purposes and such other uses as the executive committee may determine.
"Third. The authorized capital stock of this association is three thousand dollars, with power to increase the same to five thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each, payable on the call of the president.
"Fourth. The time of commencement of said corporation is August 5, 1879, and the same is to continue for twenty years.
"Fifth. The affairs of the association shall be conducted by one president, one vice-president, one secretary, one treasurer and five directors, which five directors, together with president and secretary, shall constitute an executive committee. All of said officers shall be elected by the stockholders of said asso- ciation on the first Monday in January of each year.
"Sixth. The highest amount of indebtedness to which the corporation is at any one time to subject itself, five hundred dollars.
"Seventh. The private property of the stockholders shall be exempt from the payment of corporation debts."
The following are the officers : president, N. S. Noble; vice-president, J. P. Scroggs ; secretary, William McIntyre; treasurer, L. Schoonover.
Directors : George Watters, L. N. Pitcher, Patrick Washington, John Foley and Samuel Tucker.
The Anamosa Driving Park Association held title to the land now used for fair purposes, consisting of about thirty acres, until the 21st day of August, 1880, when they appointed C. L. Niles trustee of the Anamosa Driving Park Association for the purpose of holding title to said land, who held title to the same until the 29th day of December, 1889, when C. L. Niles, trustee of the Ana- mosa Driving Park Association, deeded the premises to T. E. Watters as trus- tee for the Anamosa Driving Park Association, a corporation, and the Anamosa District Fair Association, a copartnership, who held title to same as trustees until the 7th day of August, 1895, when T. E. Watters as trustee deeded said premises to the Anamosa Fair Association, a corporation, which corporation now holds title to the same.
In the year 1895 the young men of Anamosa desiring to improve the Anamosa fair and make it one of the best fairs in the state organized themselves into an association under the name of the Anamosa District Fair Association. These young men took an active energetic interest in the Anamosa fair, improving its grounds, built a large amphitheater which would hold ten thousand people, moved the horse stables from the north side of the fair grounds to the south side as they now stand, planted elm trees so as to make a nice shady park and improved the grounds in every particular. The Anamosa District Fair Association and the Anamosa Driving Park Association were merged into one body and the same members owned the property and belonged to both associations.
The members of the Anamosa District Fair Association and the Anamosa Driving Park Association were as follows: E. R. Moore, T. E. Watters, J. E. King, F. J. Cunningham, T. W. Foley. J. R. Washington, F. M. Rhodes, W. H.
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Prentice, A. C. Watters, Bert Scott, D. B. Sigworth, W. S Bromily, W A. Miller, J. A. Belknap, John Z. Lull, Wm. McGuire, S. T. Mclaughlin, W. D. Sheean, A. M. Simmons and M. J. Campbell.
The Anamosa District Fair Association continued until the 7th day of Au- gust, 1905, when the present Anamosa Fair Association was incorporated under the laws of the state of Iowa, at which time Clifford L. Niles, James E. Remley, Dr. T. C. Gorman and H. E. Beam were added to the list of members. The officers of the Anamosa Fair Association under said incorporation were: presi- dent, H. E. Beam; vice president, John Z. Lull; secretary, A. C. Watters ; treas- urer, Clifford L. Niles.
In 1905 it was thought advisable to raise the price of general admission from twenty-five cents to thirty-five cents and since that time the price of general ad- mission has been thirty-five cents. The following are the rates of admission to the fair for the year 1909:
First day free. Admission each succeeding day: Single tickets, admitting one person, thirty-five cents; children under fourteen years of age, fifteen cents ; horse and rider, fifty cents ; horse and wagon or buggy and driver, sixty cents ; two horses and wagon with driver, sixty cents; single ticket to amphitheater and quarter stretch, fifteen cents.
The following is the list of officers of the Anamosa Fair Association for 1909: president, Frank Johnson ; vice president, J. A. Belknap; secretary, L. W. Rus- sell ; treasurer, A. C. Watters ; marshal, W. A. Hogan; superintendent of amuse- ments, Wm. McGuire; superintendent of concessions, H. E. Beam; superinten- dent of advertising, J. E. Remley ; superintendent of amphitheater, J. I. Hay; superintendent of stalls, Joe Tyler; superintendent of floral hall, Mrs. A. M. Simmons ; superintendent of stock, W. M. Byerly ; chief of police, C. H. Hast- ings; superintendents of fair book : Arthur Remley, T. E. Watters, Edgar Tar- box ; superintendent of base ball. E. R. Moore; superintendent of heralds, Clif- ford Niles.
The following is the present list of members of the Anamosa Fair Associa- tion : Wm. McGuire, W. B. Scott, T. C. Gorman, H. E. Beam, Gildner Brothers, John Baumann, R. Henricksen, R. E. Giltrap, M. F. Meredith, J. I. Hay, Wm. Helberg, W. F. McCarty, J. A. Belknap, T. W. Foley, James E. Remley, John Cartano, Russell & Son, Frank Scott, Park Chamberlain, W. M. Byerly, Harper Smythe, E. R. Moore, S. T. Mclaughlin, C. H. Hastings, Meek & Beam, W. S. Barker, H. A. Zinn, T. E. Watters, W. T. Bromily, Ben Haigh, W. D. Sheean, Paul Kiene, C. R. Howard, F. J. Cunningham, Ralph Simmons. Tyler & Down- ing, J. E. King, G. W. Walker, E. K. Ray, Arthur Remley, H. G. Halsey, Tarbox & Ireland, D. B. Sigworth, J. Z. Lull, A. C. Watters, Clifford L. Niles, Morey Sickle, Thoeming & Buckner, Shaw & Dutton, W. A. Hogan, C. P. Scroggs, Robert Johnson & Son.
The Anamosa Fair Association is one of the most successful fairs in the state of Iowa and has been for a number of years. This is the fair that originated the vaudeville attraction at fairs in the state of Iowa and became noted as an attraction fair. It has been somewhat unfortunate for the last three years as it has rained every year and interfered more or less with the attendance.
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ANAMOSA CEMETERY ASSOCIATION.
Pursuant to adjournment, the citizens of Anamosa convened at the Methodist church on the evening of the 11th of May, 1863, for the purpose of completing the above organization, G. W. Field, Esq., in the chair. C. R. Scott was made secretary of the meeting.
The committee appointed at a previous meeting to draft articles of incorpora- tion, made a report through W. G. Hammond, Esq., chairman of the committee, which report was received and the committee discharged. The articles of incor- poration were, on motion, adopted seriatim, and signed by E. B. Alderman, J. E. Friend, A. Spalding, D. Kinert, S. G. Matson, J. J. Dickinson, George W. Field, W. G. Hammond, H. L. Palmer, S. A. Pope, Jacob Gerber and C. R. Scott as corporators.
The committee appointed on cemetery grounds, through J. J. Dickinson, Esq., reported progress, and the committee continued under former instructions.
On motion, the association proceeded to elect nine trustees for the ensuing year. E. B. Alderman, W. G. Hammond, Alonzo Spalding, J. J. Dickinson, Israel Fisher, G. P. Dietz, J. E. Friend, C. R. Scott and G. W. Field were duly elected trustees of the corporation.
G. W. Field, W. G. Hammond and C. R. Scott were appointed to draft by-laws for the government of the corporation.
The secretary and treasurer were instructed to open books for subscription.
The association adjourned to meet again in one week.
On the 12th of May, 1863, articles of incorporation were filed for record with the recorder of Jones county, Iowa, at 12 o'clock M., and recorded in book 22 of deeds, page 123.
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