to the prison and called
upon the warden, I am certain that several errors that appear in his paper
would not have appeared there. For a fact one of the inmates who furnished
him with much information, especially against the inmate physician,Mr. Dinsmore,
admitted to the judge that he had himself sold "dope" at
the pen. No matter what Mr. Dinsmore has done behind the prison bars,
no matter what crime he committed to go there, give him his dues;
and if those who abuse him could have seen what I saw, when the prison
officials lay wounded - how tenderly they were cared for by Mr. Dinsmore
those people would themselves, if possessed of a heart at all, suggest
that he be pardoned. While it is true that he is not a graduate physician,
we must remember that the great state pays its doctor only seventy-five
dollars and for that little amount he cannot spend all his time at
the prison. Rather than to let a man injured in the factory bleed
to death, is it
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not better to have him attended to by one who understands
how, even if he does not possess a diploma? The story of him administering
poison to another inmate, is too absurd to comment upon.
It is indeed surprising how the "dope" is smuggled into
the prison. Some was concealed in the coal cars and a chalk mark
made on the car. Once a negro woman left some English walnuts,
which we opened and found fined with "dope" and carefully
pasted together. Another time a woman brought several sacks of
smoking tobacco, on which the revenue stamps had been carefully
removed, "dope" inserted, and then carefully sealed again.
Warden Melick had this woman arrested and she served a sentence
in the county jail. But to thoroughly and completely eradicate
this evil, you must have the law with you, and at Warden Melick's
suggestion, a law was enacted making it a felony for bringing "dope" and
liquor into the prison and thus far no one has been
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