CHAPTER ELEVEN

INCONTESTABLE PROOF

OUR MOTTO:

"Seeking the Lost."

"Helping the Helpless to Help Themselves."

JAILER PFLANZ PAYS A HIGH COMPLIMENT TO EVANGELIST GEO. L. HERR

Louisville, Ky., March 12, 1901.

Mr. Geo. L. Herr,

Dear Sir: I have recently been asked by several persons on different occasions if I thought much good could come out of the rescue work done at the county jail. In every instance I would answer "yes." A great deal of good is done through the Christian workers, and especially by you, who not only give your time and attention to this work, preaching the gospel on the Sabbath, but on every day of your life doing everything in your power to lighten the burden of the unfortunates confined in the jail.

-------- My glad heart says in the language of the Psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." --------

I have known prisoners of all classes look forward to your arrival each day with gladness, knowing that if you did not have something to distribute among them you would give them a cheery good morning.

As a rule you always have something to give them, which gladden their hearts and make them think better of our harsh world, wherein they are buffeted around like so many things to be despised.

I have never known you to come to this jail that you were not interested in some poor fellow's case, and often have I known you to call on either the Judge of the Police or Criminal Court to intercede for some person confined in our jail. I have noticed that whenever you come you are asked by more than one of our prisoners to go on some mission, either to a father, mother, or some other relative. Distance and barriers have no terror for you, as was evidenced in your recent trip fifteen hundred miles for one of our prisoners to see his parents.

In every case you have with promptness attended to requests, always with a cheerfulness that is surprising to those who cannot understand and will not learn. These are the things that lift up the hearts of the poor unfortunate prisoner and make him feel that there is something worth living for.

-------- Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it.--Ps. 69:18. --------

My wish and prayer is that you may go on in the good work you are doing.

Sincerely yours, JOHN R. PFLANZ.

* * * * *

Following are letters of endorsement to Missionary George L. Herr and his wife in their life-work among outcasts, fallen ones and victims of sin. Among those who have lent substantial aid and hearty encouragement to the work will be noted many of our leading citizens, men of irreproachable character and standing in society, who have not hesitated to add their quota of praise to the universal word of approbation accorded the missionary in his efforts to lead the wayward ones back into the path of self-respect and manhood.

-------- Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; Lord be thou my helper.--Ps. 30:10. --------

Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 22, 1904.

Dear Bro. Herr: I regret that you and your good wife and "Sunshine" can not be with us in our services next week at the Frankfort Penitentiary, but am glad to have you promise to be with us soon. No one understands this work for the salvation and elevation of those in our penal institutions,--the possibilities, the discouragements, the trials, the triumphs, the rejoicing--as we do who are constantly engaged in it. Your frequent visits to us are always appreciated both by the chaplain and the prisoners, and your sermons and talks and songs are blessed by God to the furtherance of the work of grace in our midst. I can truly say there are eyes that "mark your coming and look brighter when you come." I wish also to say for your encouragement and those who work with you that your faithful labors are plainly manifest in the lives of many whom you come in contact with--the deep and lasting impressions made upon their minds and hearts so we are enabled to take up the well begun work and by God's help carry it on to salvation of the soul. May God bless you abundantly in your noble work.

Truly yours, T. T. TALIAFERRO, Chaplain Ky. State Penitentiary.

-------- Forsake me not, O Lord.--Ps. 38:21. --------

* * * * *

Rev. H. C. Morrison, D.D., Editor Pentecostal Herald, Louisville, Ky., and President Wilmore College, Wilmore, Ky., says:

I take pleasure in commending my friend and brother, Geo. L. Herr, as a devout Christian and earnest worker for the salvation of men. He has had wide experience on both sides of the line, and has been greatly blessed in rescuing men who have gone down into the depths of sin. He has been especially blessed in prison work. Those who help him forward in the good work in which he is now engaged will do me a personal favor.

Wishing him and his wife great success as they shall go from prison to prison seeking after the lost,

I am Respectfully yours, H. C. MORRISON.

* * * * *

Rev. James M. Taylor, world-wide evangelist, says:

I have read with soul-stirring interest the sad, heart-rending experience of Bro. Herr, and the miraculous deliverance by the grace of God, how by a life of sin he squandered a fortune, how God found him a bond slave of appetite and other sins and delivered him, the romantic way in which his God-given companion entered his life, and how they are being used perhaps as no other persons today in helping those "behind the bars." This story will warn the reckless, encourage the "cast out" and put a desire in the heart to help the fallen.

JAMES M. TAYLOR, Evangelist. Knoxville, Tenn.

(Frankfort Journal.)

The Rev. Geo. L. Herr, of Louisville, will spend the fourth as the guest of Rev. Jos. Severance, chaplain of the State prison, today. Rev. Herr is a widely known, talented and enthusiastic prison evangelist, and has a national reputation as such. He will shortly publish his famous sermon, "Man's Worst Enemy," and will place numerous copies of it in every penal institution of the United States.

* * * * *

Prison Evangelist's Good Work

(Courier-Journal.)

Prison evangelists published in 1906-07 36,000 sermons in booklet form and sent them North, South, East and West. The Rev. George L. Herr and wife closed a most remarkable year. The meetings which they have held for the most part have been in large prison houses, erected for sinful men and women.

Mr. Herr has delivered sermons to many thousand listeners; many have professed conversion and thousands have asked for prayer. The good that this work has done will probably never be fully known until the business of this old world has been brought to a close. Influences have been set in motion that are going to roll on until time shall be no more.

Rev. W. O. Vreeland, chaplain Frankfort Reformatory, says:

It gives me great pleasure to testify of the splendid work among the prisoners done by a man I believe to be deeply consecrated to the work of rescuing the "fallen brother." George Herr is worthy of the highest commendation.

W. O. VREELAND. Oct. 12, 1912.

* * * * *

A Grand Work Highly Commended

Louisville, Ky., July 24, 1902.

Rev. Geo. L. Herr,

Dear Brother Herr: I regret very much to learn of your departure from the city, and the work you have so nobly, and for so long a time, engaged in at this institution and elsewhere. To say that you will be missed by us is but faintly expressing my feelings at your departure. You will not only be missed by myself and other officials at the jail, but by the poor unfortunates placed in my custody, for I know I can truthfully say we will never be able to get any one who will take the pains and do the great good you have done for all with whom you have come in contact.

-------- I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.--Heb. 13:5. --------

I can assure you that your farewell sermon to all of the one hundred and eighty prisoners in this jail on yesterday was the cause of great depression in the spirits of all who heard you on that occasion, for every one of them felt that he or she was about to lose their best friend, who had not only ministered to their spiritual wants but made their troubles his own, and in every way in his power relieved them of their every ailment.

You and your good wife were as father and mother to them, their guardian angels, who made their rugged paths smooth and their futures bright and happy.

It is with much sorrow that I write you today, and my only consolation is in the hope that you may some day return and take up the good work again for the betterment of the unfortunates who may be confined in this and other institutions in which you have worked in this city.

Sincerely yours, JOHN R. PFLANZ.

-------- O Lord, make haste to help me.--Ps. 40:13.

I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.--Is. 41:14. --------

"Worked Wonders"

Declares Dr. Garvin, Physician Jefferson County Jail

Louisville, Ky., July 24th, 1902.

Rev. George L. Herr,

My Dear Brother Herr: It is with much regret I have heard of your determination to leave us. You and your good wife have now been engaged, for about four years, in the noble work of saving souls in the Jefferson County jail, and to the success of your efforts I can truly bear testimony.

I must confess that at first I had little hope of much good being accomplished, but your constant devotion at all hours, night and day, has worked wonders, and I am satisfied that many who came steeped in sin and in their own minds hopelessly lost, have left the prison at peace with God, and with a determination in the future to lead a better life.

Wherever you go, may God be with you, is the wish of all who know you, and especially that of your friend,

SAM'L H. GARVIN. Physician to Jefferson County Jail.

Strong Endorsements

Evangelist Herr's work commended by Minister.

[Louisville Evening Times]

Louisville, Ky., June 21, 1905.

Rev. Horace G. Ogden, D.D., Pastor Trinity M. E. Church, Louisville, Ky., says:

To Whom It May Concern:

I take pleasure in commending Mr. Geo. Herr to the esteem and confidence of the public. I have been placed where I have known intimately his work as Prison Evangelist in Jefferson County Jail--a place incomparable in my opinion for testing the character and power of a Christian worker. I can say he has made a superb record and been able by divine assistance to rescue many from the life of crime. He has taken an enlarged field of work because he has been convinced it was the call of the Highest, and I have every confidence in his increased usefulness. I cheerfully commend him and his work. His book is true and merits large circulation. Mr. Herr is a fine public speaker.

Sincerely, HORACE G. OGDEN.

Speaks to Prisoners

The Rev. J. A. Holton, Chaplain Eddyville Penitentiary, commends Rev. Herr's work:

The Rev. George L. Herr, the well-known Louisville prison evangelist, conducted the chapel services at the Eddyville State penitentiary, Eddyville, Ky., on Sunday, February 16. Mr. Herr's address to the prisoners made a very decided impression upon the men. In a letter to Louisville, J. A. Holton, Chaplain of the penitentiary, writes of Mr. Herr's visit to Eddyville as follows:

"Brother Herr is a fluent and earnest talker and speaks from personal experience and observation with telling effect, timely words that tend to the betterment of his hearers. No one who is acquainted with his personal history and present effort in the cause of prison reform could doubt his sincerity. It is not a surprise, therefore, that from every sphere of his labor along the line of evangelistic work in the prisons of the land come unsolicited testimonials commending him and his work."--The Louisville Times.

-------- And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.--Ex. 20:1-2. --------

Sad and Pitiful Stories

[The Louisville Herald]

For fifteen years Mr. Herr has carried the great truths to the outcasts, giving warning of the danger, and thousands have repented and have been rescued from lives of sin and shame and are now blessings to the community. Hundreds of thousands of tracts, sermons, books, papers, etc., have been distributed, the results of which can never be known.

"One of the saddest features of this work is that we are constantly beset by the sad-faced, grief-stricken, broken-hearted mothers and wives who have been so unfortunate as to lose their loved ones in sin," declared Rev. Herr. "They come to us and plead for us to help find the wanderer.

"The pitiful stories of disgrace, shame and disappointment that come from the broken hearts who are victims are beyond expression and almost enough to melt the heart of stone into a river of tears, and to stir us who hear them and see the helplessness of unfortunate ones.

"There never was a place where the gospel was needed more and where it would do more good, than in the prison houses of our beautiful land."

-------- Open them mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.--Ps. 119:18. --------

Resolution That Was Never Broken

"I am done with a life of thieving."--E. B.

Another of the days in jail that will long be remembered by some of the poor unfortunates who have been making this place their residence for some time. The missionary who makes prison work the work of his life preached to the men today, the service being in the place of the regular Saturday services, because the convicted men were to go to the penitentiary Saturday morning, and Brother Herr intended to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, this evening. So the good brother gave the men some good, wholesome advice.

And in opening the services, that always appropriate song of "Let a little sunshine in" was sung, and the good God knows that if any one in this world needs "sunshine" that person is the one who is behind prison bars.

-------- Thou shalt have no other gods before me. --------

I have seen some curious things in my wandering life, and some very curious and saddening sights are to be seen in jail. To see men right in the prime of their manhood going to a living tomb, to actually bury themselves for years, is a sight not easily forgotten. Oh, the misery, the shame, and the degradation of it all. It is no wonder that some of the unfortunates weep. The sight of so much misery seen at one time is enough to melt the heart of the most hardened criminal. As I watched the men put up their hands in reply to the question of "How many of you men want to lead a better life?" I could not blame any one of the prisoners for putting up their hands in a resolve to lead a clean life.

My sympathy is with the unfortunate. I have been placed in positions just like these men are placed in, but never again! Oh, I hope that when I finish this term of imprisonment that I may find some means of employment that will bring me in enough money to keep body and soul together. From this time forward I am done with stealing. I hope that my right hand may lose its cunning and my eyes grow dimmer, so dim that I cannot see anything to steal. I am done, done with a life of thieving. I don't know how I am going to exist, but I am not going to steal any more. By the help of the good Lord I intend to reform.

-------- For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will lighten my darkness.--Ps. 18:28. --------

What Is A Friend?

A friend is the first person who comes in when the world has gone out.

A bank of credit on which we can draw supplies of confidence, counsel, sympathy, help and love.

One who considers my need before my deservings.

The triple alliance of the three great powers--love, sympathy and help.

One who understands our silence.

A jewel whose lustre the strong acids of poverty and misfortune cannot dim.

One who smiles on our fortunes, frowns on our faults, sympathizes with our sorrow, weeps at our bereavement, and is a safe fortress at all times of trouble.

One who, gaining the top of the ladder, won't forget you if you remain at the bottom.

The holly of life, whose qualities are overshadowed in the summer of prosperity, but blossom forth in the winter of adversity.

He who does not adhere to the saying that No. 1 should come first.

-------- God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.--Psalm 41:6. --------

A watch which beats true, for all time, and never "runs down."

An earthly minister of heavenly happiness.

A friend is like ivy--the greater the ruin, the closer he clings.

One who to himself is true, and therefore must be so to you.

The same to-day, the same to-morrow, either in prosperity, adversity or sorrow.

One who guards another's interest as his own and neither flatters nor deceives.

One truer to me than I am myself.--Exchange.

-------- Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.--Ps. 19:14. --------

"Another Chance I Crave"

[Courier-Journal]

Austin, Tex., Dec. 2.--(Special.)--Jake McKinney, who was serving a life term in the State penitentiary at Rusk for the murder of Robert Walker in Jones county seven years ago, has just received his pardon from Gov. O. B. Colquitt on the strength of an appeal for liberty in the form of a poem that he wrote and sent to the Governor. This poetic application was turned over to Mrs. Colquitt by the Governor and it was upon her recommendation that McKinney was given his liberty. McKinney was twenty-four years old at the time of his conviction. During the last four years of his imprisonment he was editor of the prison newspaper, the Alcalde Chronicle. He attended night school while in the penitentiary. His poems and articles in the little newspaper that he published attracted much favorable attention. His pardon application reads in part as follows:

Another chance, 'tis all I ask, In freedom's sun again to bask; To hear the voice of loved at home, And amid familiar scenes to roam. What saith the Scripture? Is it wise To gain a world and lose the prize Of future Joys of Him above, Who came to save because of love For sinful men imprisoned here In sin's corrupted atmosphere? Another chance to know the life Beyond the cruel prison strife, Where Beauty, Truth and Culture reign, And pleasure comes from Labor's gain; To see the golden sun at dawn Spring forth to kiss the rural lawn, Wet with the kiss of midnight dew, And brightens to a gorgeous hue, To please the eye of all mankind. A gift of God to man so blind, Another chance to show the world That darkness hid my flag unfurled; That flame of ingenuity Burns brightest where the darkest be; As all is not as some would tell; "A soul defiled and booked for hell." Another chance I crave of thee, Oh, Governor, but feel and set me free! Make the conditions what you may, I will live up to them every day; I have no friends to plead for me, Dear Governor, can't you set me free?

Most sincerely JAKE MCKINNEY.

Letter from the Late Col. Will S. Hays

Editor, Poet, and Song Writer

My Dear Rev. Geo. L. Herr: It is a pleasure to express the sentiment of pure friendship I have for you and for the Christian work in which you are now engaged. Knowing you from boyhood, I am free to say you are one of God's chosen ones to do his will and work, and heaven never had a more faithful representative than yourself. May your words and works in the Master's cause result in adding souls to the kingdom of glory, and may God and the angels watch over and guard you through life is the prayer of your friend,

WILL S. HAYS.

-------- The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.--Ps. 19:7. --------

The Late J. P. Scheider

Captain of Police

I have met him at all times and in all places, from the palace to the prison, striving to better the conditions of his fellowmen. At the same time serving our Lord in such a noble manner as to attract the attention of the least appreciative person. He has taken for his duty the task of working principally among the criminal classes that frequent our city prisons, and to my personal knowledge has done more to benefit the inmates than any other man of his vocation. Oh! how far more pleasant this life would be if the world was full of just such noble, good-spirited men as my friend George L. Herr, whom I know to be serving our God in the most appropriate manner known to mankind.

Respectfully, JOHN P. SCHEIDER

Profanity Shows Mental Deficiency

[Louisville Herald]

The habitual user of profane and indecent language was mercilessly flayed by Bishop Charles E. Woodcock, of the Episcopal Church, at the Board of Trade noon-day Lenten service yesterday, where in the course of his sermon the Bishop pronounced the profane man to be intellectually deficient, corrupt, morally and wholly unchristian.

"No gentleman will use profane language; it is only the low-born and vulgar-minded person who will do so," declared the Bishop. "No man who believes in God and in God's commandments can be profane."

Among other things stated by the Bishop of a like nature are the following:

"The profane man in God's eyes is on the same plane as the murderer or thief. He violates the ten commandments."

"Swearing, aside from being sinful, is low, vicious, vulgar and most reprehensible."

"The man who is well thought of in a community is nine times out of ten the man who does not curse."

-------- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God In vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. --------

"The profane man is in many cases and in most cases the man who will steal, slander, lie and violate the every commandment of God."

In beginning his sermon the Bishop spoke of the work of the noon-day Lenten services. He said in part:

"By coming before you men and preaching we rectors hope to arouse, encourage and bring out all the good in you. We aim to plant high ideals in your hearts and make you better men. It is one of the greatest pleasures I have--preaching these noon-day Lenten sermons. It is my earnest and sincere wish to do good and to carry a message to you.

"Christ will lighten your eyes: He will enable you to see things worth being and worth doing. The worth while in life is what makes life worth living. He will give you a view of yourself. He will make you see yourselves as others see you. He will not only do this, but he will set a guard before your lips.

-------- The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I trust.--Ps. 18:2. --------

"No man ever regretted keeping from impure speech. Habitual obscene story telling grows like other vicious habits. It is a manly thing to possess clean lips. Does not the Bible say, 'Blessed are the pure in heart?' Well, no man can be pure in heart and impure in speech. Would you tell some of the stories you tell your fellow men to your wives and daughters? No, I do not think you would. Then say to yourself, 'Thou God hearest me.'

"Keep your lips from profanity. The profane man in God's eyes is on the same plane as is the murderer and thief. He, like both, violates the ten commandments. Swearing, aside from being sinful, is low, vicious and vulgar and most reprehensible. The man who will curse and swear is in most cases the man who will steal, slander, lie and violate every commandment of God.

"I have been in hotels and in public places where I have heard men swear as though they thought it a virtue. These men I find are seldom well thought of in a community. The man who is well thought of will not swear.

"The man who will swear will say mean things about his friend; he will gossip and slander. If you keep your lips clean you will never besmirch a man's or woman's character. You will never speak until you know it is time; you will be restrained from telling vicious things, because you will reason whether or not it is right, and whether or not it ought to be told."

-------- Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.--2 Chron. 15:7. --------

At Cincinnati Workhouse

[Louisville Times]

Never did Mr. Herr have a more interested audience than greeted him in the Cincinnati work house yesterday when he preached for an hour in the prison chapel. The men and women wept as his words brought conviction to their hearts. Were it not for this wonderful gospel, said the speaker, he himself might be as the worst prisoner among them. At the close of the sermon he asked all those who desired to lead better lives to bow their heads in prayer, and almost every man and woman in the chapel fell on their knees, while the eloquent evangelist lifted his voice in their behalf. The closest attention was accorded him during the whole time and when the prisoners were dismissed and passed out of the chapel amid a stillness that was very impressive, Mr. Herr spoke to a great number personally shaking them by the hand and urging them to repent and believe the gospel.

Extermination of Habitual Criminals

The extermination of the habitual criminal--his removal like a weed from a garden--was advocated today in a startling address made in Minneapolis to the Interstate Sheriffs' Association by Charles W. Peters, chief deputy sheriff of Cook County.

The unexpected suggestion that the man who will not reform ought to be slain by legal means aroused much discussion in Chicago among ministers, lawyers and laymen.

Leniency for first offenders, parole for the worthy, an adult probation law, were advocated by Mr. Peters, who then insisted that in cases where life has proved a failure, where efforts of reformation have been ineffectual and the criminal is a body sore on the social system, that extermination should be resorted to.

Only One True Reform.

Furthermore, he created intense surprise by his assertion that in twenty years' experience in handling criminals he could recall only one case of true reformation on the part of an "habitual."

In his address to the Association, Mr. Peters recommended various ways of dealing with crime and its perpetrators, and then for the irredeemably incorrigible made this recommendation:

"And then if they fail to embrace the many opportunities offered them, and after everything has been done that is possible for mankind to do, they repeatedly persist in returning to their old ways, I think in such a case life has proven a failure, and they become a menace and a burden to our social welfare and should be exterminated.

Like Weeds in a Garden.

"They are like weeds in a garden and unless removed will supersede the useful plants.

"Many students of criminology have suggested life imprisonment, but in my opinion that has proven a failure. By that method the menace is removed, but the burden remains.

"I am sorry to acknowledge that in the twenty odd years of my experience in the handling of criminals I can recall only one case of true reformation on the part of habitual criminals, and that man is employed in a bridge works, where it would be impossible for him to carry anything off."

"Judge Not," Says Pastor.

Among the ministers who commented on the startling theory of extermination were:

Rev. P. J. O'Callaghan, pastor of St. Mary's Church and the priest who saved Herman Billik from the gallows--What is man that he should put himself in judgment on a fellow and say that the culprit is beyond reformation and redemption and slay him? Man is too fallible to condemn another as an habitual criminal and exterminate him. No one knows when a man has passed beyond the pale of reform. As a matter of fact, many and many a criminal branded as 'habitual' has been saved to a useful life. I most heartily disagree with any suggestion to execute any man on the theory that he is irredeemable.

Hope While There Is Life.

Rabbi Tobias Scharfarber--In the first place I am opposed to capital punishment, but, in any event, I should not agree with this suggestion of Mr. Peters. It is much like Osler's plan to kill off men of sixty or more years of age, or Ingersoll's suggestion that when a man believed himself to be a failure and useless to the world he should go and shoot his brains out. While a man lives there is hope for him, and no one has either power or right to say that he will always be a menace to society.

"Christ in His charity taught those who came to Him, Ill deeds should pardoned be seventy times seven; Succor the least here and you do the same to Him; These are his precepts on earth and in heaven. Oh, then, when laboring hard for humanity, Never believe that your labor is vain. Kindness will conquer the criminal insanity; Speak to him gently and try him again."

Criminal Becomes Minister

[Courier-Journal]

"Do you know who I am?" once said a person in the jail here to the Rev. George L. Herr, prison evangelist. "I will tell you. I am the worst and most treacherous man in this prison." Then the Rev. Mr. Herr says he told him the story of his fearful crimes. "I have been in prison North, South, East and West, I have been in the dismal, solitary cell for one year, have been put in large tanks of ice water, have been punished over and over again, but it has always made me more of a demon. Would you like to know what the officer who last locked me up said about me?"

"'Take him and lock him up like a brute beast, for that is what he is.'"

Then he turned and said: "Do you think there is any hope for me?" "I was at once on ground where I could speak without hesitation," said Mr. Herr, "and I told him simply that if he was through with an evil life, if he was tired of wrong-doing and was determined to do right, there was a love that could forgive him, and a power that could help and keep him in the future. When at last we knelt together there I prayed that God, who could bring light into our darkness, might dispel the thick clouds that had shut in this soul from hope, and bring to him the revelation that would change his life. There were tears in our eyes as we parted, and, taking my hand in his he said: "I will try, Brother Herr."

"He did try, and, more than that he conquered. At first it was a stern battle of an awakened will and conscience fighting against desperate odds. The feeling that friends were watching and waiting anxiously for good reports proved an undoubted incentive. It was not long before he sought and found Christ as his Saviour, and he became an earnest Christian, and to-day is an ordained Methodist minister, at the head of a great rescue work in an Eastern city, and also chaplain of a model penal institution."

* * * * *

-------- "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."--John 3:16. --------

To Brother George L. Herr

By Joseph M. McGuire

The days are long and dreary, And the hours go slowly by, While the prisoner, sad and weary, Longs for the time to fly. But one brings joy and sunshine To the prisoners sad at heart, And it is but a short time 'Till with him we'll have to part. We cannot find another, Search, I care not where, Who will do as much for a brother As our Bro. George L. Herr.

He comes early in the morning, And never leaves till night; He always seems untiring, Helping wayward men do right. He is always up and willing Whene'er a prisoner call, To go and do the bidding Of a man behind the wall. And then there is another, Who shares his joy and strife; She is called by the prisoners "Mother," And is Bro. Herr's good wife.

Early Sunday morning, In rain, snow, sleet, or hail, You will find him holding meeting In the Jefferson County Jail. I love to hear him tell the story Of the "Prodigal Son," And of the "Mighty Prince of Glory," From whom salvation sprung. Round his good face there seems a halo, His work is for One on high, He makes sunshine out of sorrow, Whenever he is nigh.

Success of Reformed Criminals

After Blotting Out the Past

"Once a Thief, Always a Thief," has been disproved in thousands of cases according to Mr. William A. Pinkerton.

"Do criminals ever reform, really turn over a new leaf and become good citizens?"

I fired the question at random, little dreaming what a wealth of interesting and convincing anecdote it would evoke. I expected the time honored cynical reply, something to the effect of "Once a thief, always a thief," But I was disappointed--agreeably disappointed. For my answer was a quick, emphatic, earnest "Yes."

And the man who said "Yes" was William A. Pinkerton, and he knows.

Probably no living man knows more intimate details about the individual members of the underworld, those who are active criminals to-day, as well as the notorious crooks of the past, than the head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. And every crook will tell you, what every honest man who knows Mr. Pinkerton will tell you, that when he says "Yes" there is no possibility that the correct answer should be "No."

"I know what the average man thinks--that a real crook never turns straight. But it isn't so. Thousands of crooks--and I don't mean one-time offenders, but men in the class we call hardened criminals--have become honest men to my knowledge. It is not true, as some recent writer said, that as many crooks turn honest as there are honest men turn crooked, but I believe that one of the reasons is that so few men are willing to lend a helping hand. I don't mean that every crook is ready to reform if he is encouraged, but I do mean that society makes it hard for any man who has once been a criminal to lead an honest life.

"And I'll tell you another thing," continued Mr. Pinkerton: "I'm prouder of the fact that I have helped a few criminals to become honest men than of all the work I have done in putting criminals behind the bars. I'm proud of the fact that every crook knows that Pinkerton will deal squarely with him if he will deal squarely with Pinkerton--that I believe it is as important to keep faith with a bank thief as with a bank president.

"I know a score of business men in Chicago--not saloonkeepers, but reputable merchants--who have criminal records. These men have done time and have paid their debt to society for their crimes. I cannot tell you their names, for it would be unfair to them and to their wives and families, many of whom have no suspicion that there is anything wrong in the pasts of their husbands and fathers. Besides, when society discovers that a man is a former criminal it is not content to cancel the debt no matter how much imprisonment at hard labor the former crook may have given in expiation of his sin.

"I know men in trusted positions in New York who were convicts. In many cases only the man himself and his employer know the secret and sometimes the employer does not know it. I know men scattered all over the West--business men, professional men, many of them wealthy and prominent citizens--who have seen the inside of Joliet, Moyomensing, Sing Sing or Leavenworth. They have sons and daughters who never have suspected and never will suspect the truth.

"These are good men--as good men as any living. They have turned away from their old ways, in many cases have changed their names, and who shall say they are not as much to be respected as the honest man who never was tempted, never was forced into crime? I'll tell you about some of them.

"When I was a boy in Chicago there were two brothers, neighbors, about the age of myself and my younger brother, and we were friends. When the civil war broke out I went into the army secret service at the age of fifteen, and the older of these two boys, John, enlisted in an Illinois regiment. Jerry, the younger, was not old enough, but a little later, when the government began offering a bounty for soldiers, he became a bounty jumper. He would enlist, get the bounty money, then desert and enlist over again under another name. He was with a band of young fellows who were engaged in that way of getting easy money, and who found it so easy that they turned to other kinds of crime.

"When the war was over John came back to Chicago and settled down as a rather plodding sort of a mechanic. He tried to get Jerry to straighten out, but the younger brother was too far along the road to prison.

"In those days the Northwestern Railroad used wood for fuel, and the wood agent of the road was Amos Snell--the same Snell who was later murdered by 'Willie Tascott.' He lived in a suburb of Chicago, and one night Jerry and his crowd went out there and 'stuck' up the whole family--robbed them of everything they had. John was along with them, lying in the bottom of the hack. The police got a clew through the hack-driver and rounded up the whole band. All of them, including John, were sentenced to five years each except Jerry. When he came into the hands of the police a citizen who had been held up on the street some time before identified him as the hold-up man, and on the strength of that the Judge gave him fifteen years. It was an unjust sentence, for Jerry had not committed the hold-up--that was found out later.

"Well, John's old Colonel and some other army men and my father got together and got a pardon for John, who had merely gone along with the crowd and had taken no part in the robbery. He went back to work at his trade of brass finisher, but Jerry stayed in Joliet, rebelling against those long unjust years of his sentence.

Jerry was put to work in the engine room of the prison and soon displayed great aptitude for machinery. He served out his term with time off for good behavior and finally got out. I met him in Chicago. He was despondent. He felt that he had no chance to be anything but a crook, but he knew the terrible chances a once convicted man runs if he returns to crime. I told him the best thing for him to do was to go to New York, and I sent him on to my brother Robert, who had also known him as a boy.

Reform of Jerry.

"Now, here's a part of this story that will interest you. Robert had a friend who was chief engineer of a building in Ann street. He told this friend about Jerry, and the engineer said he'd take a chance on him. He put Jerry to work stoking the boiler at a dollar and a half a day. After a year or so there was a vacancy and Jerry became assistant engineer. A little while later the chief engineer resigned and Jerry after awhile, the ex-crook, became chief engineer. He left there after awhile to take charge of a big plant on Long Island, and he sent for his brother John and gave him a job.

"A few years later the two brothers called on me in Chicago. They had saved about $6,000 between them and were on their way to a new town in the West to start a manufacturing business of their own. Each had married a girl who knew nothing of their prison record and had children. They prospered exceedingly. John died several years ago, but only a few months ago, when my brother Robert died, an old man, whom nobody but myself recognized, came from the West for the funeral and shed tears at the grave. It was Jerry. He is still living, and is the leading citizen of his town and worth at least half a million dollars.

"Criminals who reform? There are thousands of them. I remember a little Liverpool Irishman who was a pickpocket around New York. He was known as 'Jimmy the Nibbler'. The police picked him up in Tennessee, where he lifted somebody's pocketbook, and he was sent to Nashville for seven years. In the prison they put him to work in the hospital. Then the cholera epidemic broke out. "Jim" helped the doctors and nurses, and when the doctors got sick he nursed them and the warden and his family and helped save a good many lives. After the epidemic was over the warden and the Prison Board were so grateful they got "Jim" a pardon and made up a purse of $350 for him. With the money in his pocket he came right to Chicago to see me. I began to lecture him on the futility of going back to the life he had led before.

"'I've cut that all out,' he said. 'I'm not going to be a gun any more. I've been studying medicine down there in Nashville. The doctors have been telling me things and giving me medical books to read and now I want to get into one of these colleges where I can get a diploma quick.'

"There were a number of diploma factories, as the lower class of medical colleges were called, running in Chicago then, and Jim found he had money enough to go through one of them--in the front door and out the back. But he got his diploma and license to practise and started for one of the new towns in the West. I looked him up a while ago. He comes pretty near being the most prominent citizen in the town. He is a director in a national bank and the leading physician, and has officiated at the births of half the present population. Moreover, he is an enthusiastic church member. But how long do you think it would take for the whole town to turn against him if they should ever learn out there that he is 'Jimmy the Nibbler'?

"Crooks that turn straight? Your next door neighbor, your family physician, even your clergyman, may be one of them. The world is full of them. There was one man, a professional thief, a fellow who had done time in half a dozen State prisons and penitentiaries, whom I used to labor with earnestly every time he got out, but he apparently never tried to reform. He was always doing time, it seemed.

"I lost track of him for several years. Then two years ago, when the National Association of Chiefs of Police was in session in Buffalo, I found a note in my box in my hotel signed by this man's name. He said he was going to call at seven o'clock. There was a banquet on for that evening, and hundreds of police officials from every part of the United States were there. I wondered if he knew what sort of a lion's den he was walking into. Sure enough he came into the hotel and spoke to me.

"'Don't you know that you are surrounded by policemen, some of whom are sure to spot you?' I asked him.

"'You're the only man in the world who knows me,' he said, 'My name now is So and So'--giving me another name--'and I'm a respected and prosperous man. I just wanted to let you know before you found it out for yourself, for I knew you'd be on the square with me.' And I was. So far as I knew he was not wanted for anything, and what good would have come of exposing him?

"Thieves who resist the temptation to steal? Hundreds of them. There's one right here, only a few blocks from where we are talking. He's the watchman in a big silk warehouse--and if there's anything your professional thief likes to steal, short of money or diamonds, it's silk, for you can get so much value into so small a package. This man was a professional safe blower, and did several big jobs. When he got out of prison I helped him to get the job he has now. His employer knows his record. I told it to him on the man's own request. When work stops for the day this man is left alone in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of valuable silks. He isn't bonded, for he couldn't get a bondsman if he wanted to. He has held the job seven years now, and not a cent's worth has been taken from the warehouse in that time.

"You may say that he does not dare to steal--that he knows a single false move on his part will bring instant punishment. But I say he has no desire to steal--that he has reformed. And thousands of other criminals would reform if society would give them half a chance.

Baffling Hotel Robberies.

"Several years ago there was a series of hotel robberies in New York that baffled the police. The thief always worked with keys, opening doors and then unlocking baggage left in rooms, and he always got away with the goods. At last one night the word came to headquarters that a man had been caught in one of the big hotels who was suspected of being the author of all the robberies. I was visiting Chief Devery at the time and he asked me to go with him to the West Thirtieth street station to look the man over.

"The man arrested was a well dressed, respectable looking little man, with a white beard--the last man who would be taken for a thief if seen in a hotel corridor. His face was vaguely familiar to me, but I had some difficulty in placing him. Finally it struck me. I had seen him nearly thirty years before on the occasion of a big prize fight in New Orleans, when he had been arrested for the same trick. It came over me like a flash and I told him I knew him.

"'What's the use of making trouble?' he asked. 'These fools don't know anything about me unless you put them wise.'

"I told Chief Devery what I remembered about the man, who protested violently that he had never been in New Orleans in his life. Then another thought struck me.

"'You've been in New Orleans more than once,' I said. 'The last time was about six months ago, when you got Denman Thompson's diamonds in the St. Charles Hotel.' I remembered the report of that case, but it was a chance shot on my part, for no one had seen the thief. The old fellow denied this vigorously.

"He was wearing a new derby hat. I don't know what impulse prompted me, but I took the hat off his head and looked inside. It bore the mark of a New Orleans hatter.

"The Chief and I left the station and had just turned into Sixth avenue when I remembered the old fellow's name. We went back to the station house and I confronted him again. I told him his name. He denied that it was his.

"'What's the use of making trouble, Mr. Pinkerton?' he pleaded. His inadvertent use of my name, which had not been mentioned there, gave him away.

"'I don't know what kind of a case the police here have on you,' I told him, 'but we are retained by the Jewelers' Protective Association, and if you get after any jewelry drummers I'll make it hot for you.' And as a precaution I got his photograph from the New York police. They didn't have much of a case on him and he got off.

"Not long after a jewelry drummer was robbed in a Chicago hotel of about three thousand dollars' worth of diamonds which he had carelessly left in his grip instead of putting them in the safe. The same day a friend of mine who was stopping in another hotel lost his new overcoat and told me about it. I thought of the old man in the first job, and found a chambermaid and bellboy who had seen him on the floor, but didn't connect him with the second because he had never stolen anything but very valuable articles, so far as I knew. My friend had to leave for New York that night, and some time in the evening I got a telegram from him which had been filed in Fort Wayne.

"'Positive man who got my coat is in same sleeper, ticketed to New York,' it read. I wired my friend at a point further along the line to get off at Pittsburg and hold a white handkerchief in his hand so he could be identified and be prepared to point out the thief. Then I got in touch with Pittsburg by wire, and sure enough back came a wire after a while to the effect that they had got the man, whom my friend identified, and found on him besides the overcoat about $3,000 worth of diamonds. I asked for a description and the one they wired fitted that of the man I had seen in New York. I referred Pittsburg to the man's photograph, which had been published that week in a police periodical, and they were sure they had the same man. And so it proved. He was brought back to Chicago and convicted of the jewelry theft. He served a short sentence, and when he got out he came to me.

"Mind you, this was an old man, who had been a thief all his life--I had known him as a thief more than thirty years before. It is criminals of that kind that are commonly regarded as the most difficult to reform, but even hardened and lifelong offenders like this man will go straight if they get the right kind of encouragement. I found this old man apparently anxious to be honest, but he had never had a chance after his first slip as a young man. I determined to do what I could for him and I got him a job in New York. He is more than seventy years old now, but he is still holding that job, and he hasn't made a false step since he got out of prison the last time.

"Do criminals ever reform? I think I have told you enough to prove that they do--and I could tell you of hundreds of other instances if you needed any further proof."

* * * * *

A LETTER FROM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE "STAR OF HOPE" PAPER PUBLISHED IN SING SING PRISON.

Ossining, N. Y., April 9, 1906.

Dear Brother Herr:

Your book, "Light in Dark Places," received. I do so much appreciate your kindness in remembering poor me in durance. I not only voice the sentiments expressed in this precious book, but add thereto my message of Christ's power to cleanse the wicked one and bring back into God's path the weak and unfortunate. May God spare you and yours many years, and give you manifold blessings in your great work.

Sincerely yours, 54179, Editor in Chief.

"Lost and Is Found"

Noted Prison Worker issues an Interesting Book

(Louisville Herald)

An interesting booklet containing the sermon "Lost and Is Found," the newest publication of the Rev. George L. Herr, the noted prison evangelist whose home is in this city, has just been issued from the press. The sermon is one of the strongest yet issued by the Rev. Herr, and is written in the characteristic vein which marks all those issued by the prison worker.

Rev. Herr holds a unique position in the evangelistic field. He is considered the greatest evangelist among prisoners in the United States. Scarcely a big prison in the country has not been visited by him in his work, and the number of men in stripes who have been reformed by the indefatigable prison worker reaches into thousands.

Some of the most notable redemptions of so-called "hardened criminals" known to evangelistic work have been accomplished by the Rev. Herr. All of the booklets by him have been extensively read and quoted, and it is probable none will attract more interest than that which has just been issued by him.

Christmas at Frankfort Prison

The prisoners had what was unanimously voted the best Christmas dinner in many years. There were 1100 lbs. of turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes, oranges, and bananas. There were about 75 fine cakes, 68 of which were sent from Lexington by Mrs. Frances H. Beauchamp, Pres. W. C. T. U. The entire dinner was well cooked and heartily enjoyed by all.

At 11:30, Bro. Jos. Severance, Chaplain, Bro. Geo. L. Herr, of Louisville, Mrs. M. B. R. Day, of Frankfort, and Miss Nellie E. Williams, Junior C. E. Superintendent, of Maysville, entered, and took seats on the stage; these are four of our truest and strongest friends and are most heartily welcomed.

Bro. Severance opened the services by reading the Christmas lesson, i. e., the 2nd chapter of Matthew, which gives the most beautiful description of the birth of the lowly Jesus.

Bro. Herr then offered a fervent prayer.

Bro. Severance' remarks were few; he is still grieving over the loss of his two children, and simply said that this Christmas had lost all of its charms for him, for instead of feeling joyful, he felt sad all of to-day and yesterday, and that we understood why, for instead of four little girls, he had only two. He felt his inability to proceed further, and gave the meeting over into the hands of Bro. Herr to conduct as he saw fit, and catching an idea from the foregoing remarks, Bro. Herr referred to the fact that years ago, Christmas was very sad to him. That he was lying in a saloon in the city of Louisville without friends and without hope. Then in a jovial manner showed by comparison what a difference then and now.

He then said: "I am so glad that Jesus said: 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out; I am so glad that he is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. He said: 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. There is not a man behind prison bars that Jesus Christ cannot clean up and make him a man."

The audience sat up and took notice when he mentioned a man who had been a homeless wretch, and a degraded sinner, who had spent thirty-two years of his life behind prison bars, but had been converted in the Louisville jail and was now a man of God, the leader in a Rescue Mission in one of our largest cities, and had the financial support of eight of the wealthiest men in that city. He said that whenever a man goes blind, or deaf, or is afflicted in any other way, he is sent to a hospital for treatment, and that this prison is a sort of hospital, and that some of us are so blind that we cannot tell the difference between our own and other peoples' horses. This simile was put forth in such a humorous manner as to cause much laughter.

He then launched into an earnest exhortation to the men to do better. To quit their meanness, as Sam Jones said. "Cease from evil and learn to do well." That to quit one's evil ways was only half the duty, and that the remainder consisted in doing the right thing, and you may have this assurance that the man who is serving the Lord will not get into trouble. "An idle mind is the devil's work-shop." In this connection he gave a very pretty illustration of how one's energies are used in either the right way or wrong way; that if you build a fire under a steam boiler, place the proper quantity of water in it, and then open the throttle and allow the steam to get into the engine, the entire machinery will perform a good work, but if you shut off the steam and tie down the safety valve, the steam is going to exert itself in a disastrous manner by an explosion, and the killing of several men.

"The wages of sin is death, and if you can only open your eyes and see that, you can also see that "The gift of God is eternal life." The only way under heaven by which a man can be saved, is to come over to the service of God and begin to do that which is right.

Now what is the purpose of Christmas day? The world has agreed that this is as near the birth of Christ as we can possibly figure it; it means that 1907 years ago Jesus was born into the world, and the star of Bethlehem came and stood over the place where the young child lay; the angels sang "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will towards men," and we celebrate the day in memory of that event.

What is the trouble to-day that causes all these penitentiaries over our land; why all these jails and the strong arm of the law? It is because men will not allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to reign in their hearts. As long as the children of Israel served the Lord, they were happy and prosperous, but as soon as they turned to the flesh pots of Egypt, they began to despair and shame came upon them.

If you were asked what you would rather have above all things, you would say, Just a piece of paper with the great seal of the state impressed upon it, and the signature of the Governor attached. Why? Because prison life is a hard life and you are tired of it. If I were a prisoner, I would want to make my confinement as pleasant as possible and I would become converted immediately, for of all men on earth the man in prison should be the quickest to accept Jesus Christ. I would not want to be a prisoner all my physical life, and then a spiritual prisoner throughout eternity. Did it ever occur to you that hell must be infinitely worse than it is pictured? We read of a place "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." If this is a picture of hell, then what must the reality be? There is a chance for every man to get out of this prison, but there will be no chance whatever to get out of hell.

-------- The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.--Isa. 61:1. --------

Oh, my friend, there is hope, Will you come this hour; For Jesus is yours With all His Power; Look upward, not back. Or in, or around; But up to Christ, Where hope is found.

Hundreds of Letters

Below appear but a few of the Hundreds of Letters we have received from those Helped by Our Work

If you have asked the question, "Does it pay to labor among the fallen ones in prison--are the results from this work permanent in character?" let the answer be found in these letters. They come from writers' spontaneous offerings of gratitude, who have been restored to society as useful respected citizens:

My Dearest Friend: It is very gratifying to find myself alone long enough to pen you a few lines.

Arrived at 6:05 p.m. Well, I cannot tell you how very pleased everyone was to see me. Went in at once to see the president of a concern and told him everything. He was entirely satisfied and told me to commence work in the morning, which I did. They all have used me fine, and I would never know I had been away for no one mentions it. Brother, I think of you fifty times a day, of the unselfish, never fatiguing interest you manifested in my behalf, of the hundred and one favors, and when I think that was only a single factor in your work, I cannot but wonder how you stand the strain.

Cannot tell you how much I prize liberty, and I owe having it, to a great extent, to your dear self. I assure you your efforts and prayers of yourself and wife for me done wonders. I have fully resolved to be a good man.

Brother Herr, I am going to close, for I am going to write to you every few days, as I consider you as dear as an own brother. Give my sincere regards to any inquiring friends. My heartiest to your dear wife, and may God bless you both. I do.

I am affectionately yours, W.

A TRIBUTE FROM JOS. M. O'HARA.

The success that has attended the efforts of this truly pious and angelic woman in her noble and heroic work of rescuing sinful men and women from the vortex of ruin and perdition is marvelous; and her labor among the prisoners of the county jail is not less remarkable. Mrs. Herr, unlike many religious workers, realizes that before attempting to moralize with a prisoner, his confidence must first be gained, and to accomplish this she invariably succeeds in dispelling that false and erroneous opinion so prevalent among criminals, that they are held in contempt by society and are considered undeserving of sympathy and assistance; then, by kind and encouraging words and gentle deed, instills, not by the dry and laborious way of the brain, but into the heart, the story of the kind and loving Saviour.

Like her contemporary, Mrs. Ballington Booth, Mrs. Herr possesses that divinely urgent and persistent, yet gentle and sympathetic spirit that can persuade where others cannot convince; that can subdue where others cannot conquer.

The writer of this article through her kind and encouraging words, has been led from the error of his way, and to take up again the thread laid down in early years; has realized that though the fruitage of the tragic and pathetic life that ended in the ignominious death of Him who was the grandest character, the most sublime ideal and the highest type of humanity the world has ever seen--Jesus of Nazareth--we can, if we come with faith and hope, be cleansed from our sins and iniquities. May the Omnipotent God, who holds the destiny of nations, pour out his blessings upon this saintly woman and her noble hearted husband and guide them through long and honored days, and when the "shadows of even" gather and the sun of life is setting, show them in the darkness of the end, "words of light we never saw by day."

JOS. M. O'HARA.

FISHING FOR MEN.

Dear Brother Herr: We, as prisoners in the Jefferson County Jail, desire, for your encouragement, and because it is the spontaneous expression of our hearts, to thank you for your continued, untiring and unselfish devotion to our interests, spiritual and temporal. We desire in this manner to show you and the public that we thoroughly appreciate the efforts of those who try to draw us from the broad road of vice and crime into the narrow path of virtue where we are satisfied alone peace and happiness can be found. Many persons, Bro. Herr, who have attempted the task of rescuing the fallen have become discouraged and given up the work because they could see no good resulting from their efforts. Those persons had not the faith to continue their work and leave results with God. A prisoner who was an inmate of this jail several years ago recently found himself again an inmate, and expressed surprise at the changed tone, as it were, of the jail, and he laughingly asked if the world was getting better, for he said the men now in jail were more refined in their conversation, more unselfish in their actions toward each other, and of a higher moral tone generally. What this man said is undoubtedly true, and it is the result of the efforts of yourself and other Christian workers who do not become weary in well-doing. But it is you, Brother Herr, whom we especially desire to thank, because you are with us daily and no day passes that you do not perform some act of kindness for some one of our number, who, but for you, would have no friend. That perfect man, Jesus of Nazareth, has said, "by their fruits ye shall know them," and it is by this standard we as prisoners have measured you and have not found you wanting. You have gained our confidence and we have proved your sincerity and we love you, Brother Herr, because you daily prove your love for us. Prisoners are naturally inclined to suspect the sincerity of those who profess an interest in their welfare, but when once you gain their confidence they are teachable.

A London lawyer who wrote the tragedy "Ion" makes one of his characters say, "It is but a little thing to speak a word of kindness which by daily use has almost lost its sense, but on the ear of him who thought to die unmourned will fall like sweetest music." Many are the words of kindness which daily fall from your lips, by which we are soothed and blessed, and we firmly believe that they do not fall upon stony ground and that the good God will reward you in his own good time with a bountiful harvest of redeemed lives.

Your grateful friends, JAMES L. DORAN HARRY GRAVEN JOHN CARTER JOS. M. O'HARA JULIUS PHILLIPS Committee of Prisoners of Jefferson County Jail.

Branch Library in the Jail

[Courier-Journal]

Prison libraries are nearly always more or less poor, indefinite sort of affairs, with a questionable lot of reading matter, mostly paper-backs and second-hand magazines, forming its contents. But the Jefferson county jail has marked a departure from the routine of prison life in the establishment of a library station for its inmates.

This little institution is a remarkable affair. Mrs. Chester Mayer is responsible for its organization. Mrs. Mayer is a member of the visiting board at the county jail, and noticing the absence of good reading matter, the continual idling of prisoners, she took up the matter with Jailer John R. Pflanz, who approved the idea of a library station. Then she approached her husband, Dr. Mayer, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Louisville Free Public Library.

When George T. Settle, the recently elected librarian, was approached, he gave his hearty consent. One hundred volumes were sent immediately for the men's department and fifty for the women prisoners. The books were selected by Miss Annie V. Pollard, former acting librarian, who gave considerable time to a study of the most desirable literature. The books sent were non-denominational, nonpolitical, and mostly fiction, works of the popular authors, but nothing too heavy for the mental appetite of the inmates. The books were taken from the open-shelf room.

As these books are used they are changed. Since the establishment of the jail library station the circulation has reached 2,000 books. Of course, the same book is read by nearly all the regular borrowers.

An interesting sight is presented when the prisoners are at liberty in the open places at the jail. About 75 per cent. of the prisoners can read. The other 25 per cent. gather about an appointed reader, who reads aloud.

How much better is this for those unfortunates than idling their time, brooding, planning evil deeds, perhaps, or thinking criminal thoughts!

The Rev. George L. Herr, prison evangelist, is in charge of the work and he and Jailer Pflanz have made it a success.

CHANGE COMES IN CURT JETT.

[Courier-Journal]

Frankfort, Ky., March 14.--(Special.)--Although he is serving two life sentences for murder, Curt Jett, "the wild dog of the mountains," has not yet abandoned hope of getting a pardon and being given another chance to show that his reformation has been sincere and final. He says that God has pardoned him for his crimes and he thinks the Governor ought to.

"The best thing ever happened to me was when I was sent to the penitentiary," said Jett last night in his cell in the prison here as he was talking to some newspaper men, who were inside the cellhouse for another purpose than talking to Jett. "I realize that I never would have been reformed but for being put in here," continued Jett. "I only wish that they would give me another chance to show that I really have changed my ways."

License To Teach Sunday-School.

Jett showed the newspaper men who had stopped to talk to him, when they saw him lying on his cot reading, a certificate from the International Sunday-school League entitling him to teach in a Sunday-school. He was prouder of that than he ever was of his ability to shoot and he showed it with great pride. Jett recently wrote out his religious experiences for the Rev. Geo. L. Herr, the prison evangelist, and last night Jett said he would give the story to the newspapers if Col. E. E. Mudd, the prison warden, had no objections. Col. Mudd was with the newspaper men and readily consented to Jett giving out the story. He had written it with a pencil and gave it to the newspaper men, desiring that it be published.

Jett's cell is covered with pictures, most of them selected with care as to their beauty, and he has shown taste in arranging them. One of the newspaper men remarked on the decorations in the cell last night and Jett said:

"Yes, it cheers this cell up a little and makes it brighter."

Expression On Face Changed.

Even the expression of Jett's face has changed and he has none of that hard look that he used to wear. He is bright and cheerful and Col. Mudd says there is not a better prisoner in the penitentiary than Jett. Col. Mudd said that he could not say that Jett's conversion was genuine from a religious standpoint, but he says Jett has certainly changed inside the prison. The Rev. Joseph Severance, the prison chaplain, says that Jett is one of the best Bible scholars he ever saw and knows more about the Bible than many earnest church workers.

In his story which he gave out last night Jett freely admits his guilt of the crimes that are charged against him. He added, when he said that it was a good thing that he had been put in the penitentiary:

"I do not mean that it was good to kill men."

He said that whisky was largely responsible for his misdeeds and he wanted to do good now that he had done so much harm. The following is Jett's story as he wrote it in his cell:

Jett's Story.

"State Prison, Frankfort, Ky., March 13, 1909.--To the Whole World: I want to let the whole world know what God in his great mercy has done for me, and prove to you by words which are true that Jesus is willing, able and does save to the uttermost. After a life of sin and shame, God sent his Holy Spirit into my soul and made a new man out of me. It was in this wise: A dear, good woman who is dead now, but who then lived in Lexington; her name was Mrs. Fanny A. Penn--I shall never forget that name--she wrote me a good Christian letter, full of good advice, and begged me to become a Christian. I had never seen her, or she me, as I know of; she had only read in the press regarding what a desperado and outlaw I was. I read her letter and it sounded like a fairy tale to me, with no sense in it; but after reflection, I answered it, and we began to be good friends, and she kept begging me to turn from my sinful ways and be a Christian man.

Read New Testament.

"I want to state right here that because a man is in prison, he don't have to be a Christian or behave himself; and Mrs. Penn sent me a small revised Testament and begged me to read it. At first I laid it up and would not read it. I don't remember of ever reading a whole chapter in a Bible up until that time in my whole life; and at last, by her begging me in every letter to read my Testament, I began to read it, and started out with a resolution to read it through, and after I began to read, I became interested in it, and the more I read it the deeper I became interested in it, and God's Holy Spirit began to work in me, and I began to pray. At first it seemed that I was afraid that God would not answer my prayers, but still something made me pray anyway, and it wasn't long until I was praying to God every night from one to three times, from the depths of my heart. I had taken his name in vain ever since I was a child, and I asked him to make me quit taking his name in vain, and after a day at my work, and when I would curse God, I would think of my prayers, and then at night when I would go to my cell, I would let my thoughts wander over a day that had just passed, and I could tell after reflecting that I hadn't cursed so much that day. And little by little God removed that evil spirit, cursing, from me, until one night when I went to my cell and my thoughts wandered over the day that had just passed, and not an oath had I uttered, and I was happier than ever before, I fell on my knees on the hard stone floor, and thanked God for His goodness and for removing that swearing away from me.

Quits Smoking Cigarettes.

"I had smoked cigarettes for at least fifteen years and I quit them. I was full of revenge and hatred, and I cried aloud to God in my lonely cell to redeem my soul, which He did, and it wasn't long before I was a friend to everyone and praising God for full and free salvation. He has made a new man out of me. The Holy Spirit is like a fever, and it is all and all before a man gets right with God. Condemning and deceitful spirits will rise up in a man, but all we have to do is to ask God and he will remove them all; to live a true Christian life is the straightest life that anyone ever tried to walk. It is a great warfare. I read and study my Bible and have learned a great deal about God's word since I joined the church, a few short months ago, under a great, good and noble man of Frankfort by the name of C. R. Hudson, and I love him as a very dear brother. There is not a man in all this world that I hold the least bit of malice against, and before I got right with God I had revenge in me against many.

Warns Young Men.

"Young men, as you read this, from one who has done many and great wrongs, take warning; shun evil companions and don't do as I have done in days gone by. Don't be led astray by older heads, for the man that will advise you to do a wrong is not your friend; but I could not see it that way. God has given me a new mind and I know as well as I know that I am living that religion is true, real and no fake, as I once thought.

Has Been Born Again.

"I was raised on a Bluegrass farm in Madison County, Kentucky, and my parents were as good a father and mother as ever lived; but my father died while I was young and I went from bad to worse, committing crime after crime, and I am guilty of the charges against me, but God has forgiven me of every wrong I ever did. Why won't the Governor? All the punishment that I will ever have to go through with will be on this earth, for God has forgiven me of every wrong and I have a clear conscience now, for I have been born again. There are so many men in prison that trample the lowly God under foot to try and gain their freedom in that way, and I hope that no one single person that reads this will think that I am making mockery of God's love, for I am sincere with God, as I used to be with Satan. I wish that every paper in the whole world would publish this so that it could have a chance to touch the hearts of many sinful men; I long to tell the story to young men, from East to West, from North to South, how God redeemed my soul.

Refers to Scriptures.

"We have organized a Bible reading circle here in the prison which is a grand and good work. Now I refer you to some Scripture which I hope everyone will read carefully, and it will show you how God will forgive a man for the crime of murder and for all crimes except one.

"Read Exodus ii., 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; II. Samuel xi. and xii.; Ezekiel xviii., from 20th verse to end of chapter; Jeremiah xxxiii., 8, 9; Mathew xii., 31; Luke xv.; Acts vii., 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60; Acts viii., 1 to 7; 16, 17, 22; Galatians iii., 24.

"I ask for the sincere prayers of every good Christian in this whole world; pray for me, that I may be true to God the rest of my life. When I was repenting my whole face would draw and I could feel the hot, burning love of God in my whole being. I am in prison, maybe never to hear the birds sing or the rippling of the water again, a free man, but I say unto you that I am a free man in Jesus; I have found a friend that sticks closer than a brother. People, let your light shine, for I believe that there are many diamonds in the rough. I am yours in Jesus,

"CURTIS JETT ."

Christian Endeavor at Frankfort Prison

Frankfort, Ky., Penitentiary. Rev. Geo. L. Herr, Prison Evangelist, Louisville, Ky.

Dear Brother Herr:

As you have been so kind to me and have asked a somewhat detailed account of Christian Endeavor work in this prison and my connection with same, it is my pleasure to comply, especially as you do not visit us as often as we would like and cannot see for yourself all that goes on.

When I commenced my life sentence here, February 6th, 1901, I fell in love with our Christian Endeavor Society at first sight, and in all those 104 months I have only missed about 15 meetings, due to unavoidable causes. I was ill for three months with malaria and could not go at all.

During the early days of my imprisonment our membership at its best averaged about 100, but during the summer months when the boys were given their choice between the open air of the yard and attendance at the meetings the average was less than 20.

In the summer of 1905, and at the instance of Mrs. M. B. R. Day, of Frankfort, I organized and managed a memorizing contest in which a number of prisoners learned and recited verses of scripture, and I obtained a number of handsome Teachers' Bibles and other presents which were given to them as prizes on Thanksgiving day. I continued this work for the three following summers, and in all forty-five prisoners learned and recited a grand total of 33,332 verses, (over four times as many as are contained in the New Testament), which is an average of 741 verses per man. The men studied so hard that some of them injured their eyes, and it was thought best to discontinue the work for a while.

I was Corresponding Secretary of our Society for about two and one-half years, and last December I was elected its President by the largest majority ever given any candidate for the office.

I started in to raise our membership to two hundred, and succeeded in getting it as high as one hundred and sixty-six. It was also my desire to have better attendance during the hot months, and I used every means I could think of to make our meetings attractive, and I was frequently both pleased and surprised to count from sixty-five to seventy, more than three times what it used to be. Some of our members being delicate are in great need of all the fresh air they can get and remain in the yard all day Sundays in pretty weather although their hearts are with us.

A part of our pledge binds the members to carefully read the Bible every day, and I wondered how they were going to keep that pledge without the Bibles, so I set to work again writing letters in every direction, and almost before I knew it our Ky. C. E. Societies sent us 50 Bibles, and Miss Mary B. Rohrer, of Franklin, Pa., sent me 150 of the prettiest Bibles you ever saw; they have flexible, over-lapping backs, red-under-gold edges, maps, and other helps. This is the most magnificent present we have ever received from outside parties, and besides all these, the Prison Commissioners offered us 100 more, which we could not use. One thing that has impressed me very forcibly is the fact that the Christian people outside are ready at all times to shower blessings upon us, and all we have to do is to ask for them.

At the suggestion of Bro. Jos. Severance, our splendid Chaplain, I numbered the Bibles and gave them out to the members, keeping a careful record of them, and the men were instructed to return the Bibles to the Society on leaving the prison, and although about a score of our members have gone out since then we have only lost one Bible, which speaks volumes for their honesty.

A few Sundays ago I proposed that the Society set apart a small sum of money for prizes, and that all the members who wished to do so would be invited to write compositions on the subject, "What Christian Endeavor has done for me." Nine brothers entered this symposium, and their compositions signed, "Amo Rolo, Sunflower, Rhododendron, Laurel, Merry Heart, Happy Bird, Mizpah, and Christian, aggregate about 7,500 words, and make fine reading; Bro. Severance was appointed Judge.

This summer I organized a little band of workers who go with me to the hospital every Sunday, where we hold little services of song, prayer and Bible reading at the bedsides of those who are ill, and I have found great joy in this work.

We have had some splendid C. E. meetings, the best ones being those when the Senior and Junior societies of the Frankfort Christian Church and the Epworth League of the Methodist Church united with us. Of course, we could not go to them, but they came to us, and gave us rare spiritual and intellectual treats. The music was specially beautiful.

Quite recently I assisted Bro. Severance in re-organizing a Bible class, of which I am Secretary. We are studying Moninger's "Training for Service," and have 52 members. Splendid progress is being made. So you see my hands are pretty full, and when Sunday night comes I am about ready to drop in my tracks. Of course, it is all voluntary, and I do not have to turn my hand over if I do not want to.

I am going to add a "Soul-winners Department" to our C. E. Society for the purpose of assisting Bro. Severance in the conversion of the men, but I am in some doubt as to how to proceed as there is no chance to get at the men in the winter time. However, I am determined to find opportunity somehow.

We have a new Superintendent of Prison C. E. work, in the person of Miss Georgia Dunn, of Marksbury, Ky. She is the most energetic little Christian lady I have seen in a long time, and our society will surely hum this winter under her guidance, as we are all very proud of our good little sister.

January 1st, I commenced to read my Bible through, at the rate of three chapters each week night, and five each Sunday night, in order to get through by December 31st, but I read more than that and finished up three months ahead of time. Although I have read the good book constantly during the last eight years, this is the first continuous reading to completion that I ever did.

I have enjoyed Bro. Severance's sermons very much and I believe there is nothing that thrills and inspires me with enthusiasm like fine preaching, and right here I am going to tell you something which you must keep under your hat; one Sunday Bro. Severance was unexpectedly called away, and asked for a volunteer to fill his place, and I was delighted at the opportunity, and although I could not fill it I "rattled about in it," for about 30 minutes, and one dear fellow accepted the gospel invitation and joined the church. As soon as my sermonette was over quite a number of friends crowded around me and showered congratulations on me. This was a temptation to try again, and the next time three brothers joined the church, and that pleased me immensely, you know.

I have many good friends in Louisville, including Dr. Powell, of the Christian Church; Dr. T. M. Hawes, of the Highland Presbyterian Church, whose C. E. Society sent us $7.50, and, say, there is a pastor after God's own heart. Give them all my love when you see them, and say to them that while I am ashamed of the sins that brought me here I am trying to leave foot-prints that I will be proud of in the great day of judgment.

The Christian Endeavor Societies of Newport, Paris, Winchester and Lexington have helped us wonderfully. Lexington is the principal center of Christian Endeavor activity, from my point of view, and I have an especially warm place in my heart for those societies.

How is Mr. John R. Pflanz getting along? He is another whom I love, and I hope that he will get every office that he goes after.

Be sure and give my kindest regards to your most excellent wife; she is certainly a queen among women.

Trusting that I have not tired you, and that you will excuse my remissness in failing to write sooner, I am,

Most respectfully yours, H. E. YOUTSEY.

Capital Punishment

The following forceful expressions regarding capital punishment by Gov. Geo. W. Hunt, of Arizona, are in exact keeping with the thoughts of the author. "Thou shalt not kill" applies to governments, corporations, societies and individuals alike.

Capital punishment is simply the commission by the State of an act which is regarded as a horrible crime if committed by an individual. One man must not kill another man, but several men vested with official titles can hold a conference and send a soul to eternity. The State says: "You must not kill; but if you do, I will kill you." This theory of a State's power or duty owes its origin to the lowest class of barbarians in the early history of the world. Their logic, if it may be called that, sprang solely from a spirit of revenge. The idea that a legal execution would deter others from committing murder probably never occurred to them. Their crude minds did not rise above the thought that the victim should be avenged, and that adequate vengeance could be found only in the hangman's noose or the guillotine.

There are a thousand other practices originating with barbarians which the footsteps of civilization and progress have crushed. But capital punishment, the worst heritage of the dark ages, lingers with us, betraying one of the spots in humanity where the veneer of civilization is thin. I am inclined to think that the spirit of revenge still is the ruling motive back of the legal execution, even though pleas are made in its behalf which barbarians never thought of. They could not very well think of such punishment as a curb to more murders, for even they could not help seeing that the beheading and quartering of offenders had no such effect. The legal execution has no such effect today, a fact which any fair-minded man will recognize after proper investigation. And if that plea falls down, as it does and must continue to do, what defense of the legal killing of our fellowman is left us? The moment we are convinced that the number of murders is on the increase, or does not decrease, in spite of the rope and electric chair, we will have to justify capital punishment on some other ground. What is that other ground, if it is not the old savage impulse of meting revenge--a species of revenge, at the last analysis, confers no good whatever upon society as a whole, and is of no consolation or comfort to the family circle most affected by the original murder?

Arizona has taken most advanced ground upon social and economic questions, and while the old territorial law, permitting capital punishment, is still on the statute books, it must be remembered that statehood has been in operation less than a year, and that the first State Legislature was overwhelmed with work during the comparatively short session prescribed by the Constitution. I am confident that public sentiment in Arizona is opposed to capital punishment. During the special session of the Legislature, which will be held early in 1913, an effort will be made to repeal the old law. If the Legislature is too busy to give the matter attention, or is disinclined to assume the responsibility, the initiative provision of the State Constitution will be invoked, thus putting the question square up to the people. I have no fears for the outcome. Arizona citizenship has proved itself too intelligent to lag behind the advanced thought and progress of civilization.

GEO. W. H. HUNT, Governor of Arizona.

Indiana Reformatory

Inmates Subscribe for Pipe Organ

Each one a Carnegie in proportion to his ability to give, a majority of the 1,204 inmates of the Indiana Reformatory yesterday voluntarily contributed toward the purchase of a pipe organ for the handsome chapel of the institution, the total offerings approximated $900. When the contribution cards were checked up by the Rev. W. E. Edgin, chaplain of the reformatory, he was surprised at the generosity shown by the inmates. The individual sums given ranged from 25 cents to $35.

When Gov. J. Frank Hanly was a guest at the Reformatory recently he was asked by Mr. Edgin as to the best plan to pursue to get from Andrew Carnegie a contribution sufficient to buy a pipe organ. Gov. Hanly replied that this sum could be raised in Indiana, and he started the list with $100. It then occurred to Mr. Edgin to ask voluntary contributions from the inmates, and permission was given by Supt. Whittaker. Cards were left in each cell, with blanks for subscriptions, but it was distinctly stated that all offerings should be entirely voluntary. A great many of the inmates bring money with them to the Reformatory, and this, with that which they earn by overtime work, which is considerable, is credited to them.

When the success of the offering was learned the inmates were as much pleased as Chaplain Edgin. The new organ soon will be forthcoming.

* * * * *

PROGRAM.

Indiana Reformatory Chapel Services.

Sunday, April 14, 1907.

March--"Camp Organ" Narovec March--"Steel King" St. Clair

Musical Selection.

Paraphrase--"Melody in F" Rubenstein

Doxology.

The Lord's Prayer.

I SHALL BE LIKE HIM.

When I shall reach the more excellent glory, And all my trials are passed, I shall behold Him, O wonderful story! I shall be like Him at last.

Cho: I shall be like Him, I shall be like Him, And in His beauty shall shine; I shall be like Him, wondrously like Him, Jesus my Savior divine.

We shall not wait till the glorious dawning Breaks on the vision so fair, Now we may welcome the heavenly morning, Now we His image may bear.

More and more like Him, repeat the blest story, Over and over again, Changed by His Spirit from glory to glory, I shall be satisfied then.

Prayer.

Piano Solo J. S. Hathaway Selection--From "Romeo and Juliet" Gounod

THE VIRTUE OF SHAME.

Confession is a duty too little regarded even by many Christians. Some men are ashamed to confess that they have done wrong. Sir John Lubbock says: "It is well to be ashamed of yourself if you are in the wrong; but never be ashamed to own it." The Bible says: "Confess your faults one to another."

CONQUEST.

Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine.--Goldsmith. All things are yours.--Paul.

The world is mine. I hold no title-deed To one small acre, yet have all I need, And should Dame Fortune proffer me her store I could not linger wistful, at her door.

Unfortunate is he beyond compute, Whose love of fortune makes his conscience mute. I will not look to fortune. I will do My best, though small that best to her or you.

All things are mine. I walk with firmer tread Than Caesar at his best; for I am led By mightier One than Fortune or than Fate, And I shall conquer all things, soon or late.

All things? Yes, all. Then well may Fortune frown, And clutch with trembling hand her imperial crown. I will stoop to conquer. I will rise And climb the rugged path where duty lies.

Sermon Geo. L. Herr

Benediction.

March--"Boston Press Club" Rollinson March--"Yankee Grit" Holzman

"CLING TO THE BIBLE."

Tis the anchor of hope and the lamp that gives light, Tis the star that will shine thro' your life's darkest night, If you follow its guidance, you'll always be right, So cling to the Bible and walk in its light.

To neglect, reject or doubt the Bible in any particular is but an entering wedge to spiritual apathy. The "Bible tinkers" of this or any other age have been men whose hearts are cold and whose soul saving powers were limited.

To obey the Bible, will lead to a perfect salvation, make possible a victorious faith, surmount the difficulties of life and gain an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you."

Watson says, "The Bible is a rock of diamonds; a chain of pearls; the sword of the Spirit, a chart by which the Christian sails to eternity, the map by which he daily walks; the sun dial by which he sets his life; the balance by which he weighs his actions."

The Bible contains 3,566,480 letters, 810- 697 words, 31- 175 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 66 books. The longest chapter is the 119th Psalm. The shortest and middle chapter the 117 Psalm. The middle verse is the 8th of the 118th Psalm. The longest name is in the 8th chapter of Isaiah. The word "and" occurs 46,627 times; the "Lord" 858 times. The 37th chapter of Isaiah and the 9th chapter of the 2d book of Kings are alike. The longest verse is the 9th of the 8th chapter of Esther and the shortest verse is the 35th of the 11th chapter of John. In the 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra is the alphabet. The name of God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. The model prayer is the 17th chapter of John. The 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians is the most practical. It Contains Knowledge Holiness Wisdom and Love The Tree of Life and Knowledge

"DO YOU KNOW THE WORLD IS DYING FOR A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE?"

Practical results are happy homes, husbands and fathers restored to their families, wives and children made happy, multitudes rescued, and the world made better.

The magnitude of this work will never be known until Eternity's records are disclosed. Little did we think twenty years ago that so humble a beginning would be attended with such remarkable results.

Rev. Herr holds a unique position in the evangelistic field. He is considered the greatest evangelist among prisoners in the United States.--Louisville Herald, May 17, 1909.

When you help the missionaries, you help the poor fellow in trouble. When you help those in trouble, you help yourself, and when you thus help the missionary, the outcast, and yourself, God will help you.

OUR MOTTO:

"Seeking the lost." "Helping the helpless to help themselves." All along life's pathway there are men and women in need: Go and help somebody just now. With a word of kindness or a loving deed, Go and help somebody just now.

Dear Friend--Our country is taxed with a burden of thousands of prisoners. These people are crippled, not in body, not in mind, but almost always in morals, which is the most serious. It is to help or recover them that we are giving our lives. Our labors have not been in vain, as the testimonials will show you. We want you to "hold the rope while we go down into the pit," by subscribing for our support and transportation in this work of prison evangelism; and in so doing you become the benefactor of a submerged class.

May we not hope to have your check to help in this concerted effort? I am,

Yours sincerely, GEO. L. HERR, Louisville, Ky.

* * * * *

-------- "He that hath the Son, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."--1 John 5:12.

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"--Heb. 2:3.

"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"--Mark 8:36.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."--Matt. 6:33. --------

GET REV. HERR'S NEW BOOK.

Entitled "The Nation Behind Prison Bars," for your good; but chiefly for the good of others.

The nation behind the bars is an interesting nation, a pitiful nation, a needy nation. Help them and interest yourself in them by buying and reading this book.

"You have a superb record."--Rev. Horace G. Ogden, D.D.

"He has wide experience on both sides of the line."--Rev. H. C. Morrison, Editor Pentecostal Herald.

"His labors are abundantly blessed."--Rev. Joseph Severance.

"The large number who have been helped by hearing your message will be still further benefited by reading your book."--Rev. Albert J. Steelman, Ph.D., Chaplain, Illinois State Penitentiary.

"You and your good wife were father and mother to the prisoners."--John R. Pflanz, Jailer.

"George L. Herr is not the man to do anything in an ordinary way."--Rev. D. J. Starr, D.D., Chaplain of Columbus, O., Penitentiary.

"His work among prisoners has been very successful, and through his efforts many erring creatures have been induced to reform."--Charles F. Grainger.

Transcriber's Notes

Table of Contents (Practical Religious Work in County Jail) Pratical changed to Practical.

Page 7 (glorified by the presence) glorifield changed to glorified.

Page 144 (Hundreds of Letters we have have have changed to have.

The following are used interchangably:   today and to-day,   exconvict and ex-convict   cellhouse and cell-house   brokenhearted and broken-hearted

Several unbalanced quotes were left as in the original.

Page 128 (Jerry was put to work in the engine room) This paragraph appears to need an open quote. Unchanged.

Page 141 ("The wages of sin is death,) Phrase seems to need a closed quote. Unchanged.

Page 161 ("Amo Rolo, Sunflower, Rhododendron, Laurel, Merry Heart, Happy Bird, Mizpah, and Christian,) List of names seems to need a closes quote. Unchanged.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Nation Behind Prison Bars, by George L. Herr