Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of LoveWheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Religion
Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of Love
Wheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Evangelistic work; Prisons
Forty men were whipped in one day on two occasions, and on an
average there are from six to eight every day. These men are not
murmuring, I gave them no chance to tell me of this. But the
officers and their wives told me. I saw with my own eyes. The
water in those mountains is very impure and many of the men have
died from mere neglect. Many more will die soon unless something
is done for their relief. Governor, for God's sake, please look
after the temporal interests of your prisoners. I would have come
to you face to face and talked these things over if possible.
Recently I have been to see governors of several of the different
states. They are not aware of the treatment of convicts in their
own states, but I have seen it all these years of my pilgrimage.
The awful suffering I see is just breaking my heart. Poor lost
men and women! Who is responsible for the sin and crime and
suffering? Largely the saloon. Men and women are born in sin and
conceived in iniquity; shut in for years and years for some
little crime, and subjected to the hardest labor, serving out
sentence in prison under whip and lash. It is inhuman and unjust.
What will God Almighty require of you and me in the day of
judgment, For surely we must meet it and answer for our
stewardship here on earth. May God help me to deal faithfully and
do my duty by all classes--to those in authority as well as those
in bondage. Now, understand me, I have no personal grievances to
bring to you. It is simply mismanagement and the desire to run
these prisons on as cheap a scale as possible, to save money for
the State and hold position; and something must be done soon.
I told the men to be obedient and faithfully discharge their duty
as prisoners. In all my work in every state and territory,
Europe, Mexico and Canada, I have never had any trouble; and can
go again to all these prisons where I have held services. What
object have I? None, but the good of the souls and bodies of
those in bonds. They are my children, given me by the Lord, and I
feel as much compassion for them as you would for your child. All
the officers and people were kind to me and treated me with the
utmost respect. All I desire is that you obey God and cause this
starving and brutal treatment to cease. Please say nothing of
this letter but investigate for yourself and see if these things
are not so. Two meals a day (and very little then) for a sick man
is not enough.
Yours for humanity,
MRS. E. R. WHEATON, Prison Evangelist.
The following is an extract from the letter I received in reply to the
above, from the general manager of the prison mines referred to:
----, ----., ---- 22, 18--.
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Wheaton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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