View source for State Reform School, 1898 Report



B. C White, Director
Mrs B. C. White, Matron
William Hyde, Supt. Boys Bldg
E. W. Cook, Overseer & Guard
W. H. Batchelor, Overeseer & Guard
Joseph Smith, Teacher
Mrs Fannie Dinsomre, Teacher
Mrs Kate Harlan, Seamstress
Mrs Anna Stamgreene, Cook
Fred Christopher, Cook Boys Bldg
John Biggs, Engineer
Mrs Eva Humphrey, Laundress
A. H. Humphrey, Night watchman

B. C. White sent two home-made sugar beet extractions, a syrup of 44% sugar, and a lump of brown sugar of 56% sugar, to the Montana Experiment Station.






Director's Report.
To the Board of Trustees of the Montana State Reform School.
Gentlemen:—I have the honor of submitting the third biennial report of
l.he State Reform School for the two years ending December 1, 1898.
For the two years last past, steady progress has been made by all of the
inmates of the institution, and a large amount of work has been done in
improving the buildings and grounds.
Prom September 10 until May 20, all of the inmates are in school four
hours a day, under competent instructors. Some that are committed to the
institution are mentaly deficient, but the majority of the boys and girls are
of average mental capacity and a few are very bright. The studies com-
•prise the common school course, viz., reading, writing, artithmetic, spelling,
language, geography, history and physiology. Monthly examinations are
held, and a pupil to pass has to make an average of 75 per cent.
The state as yet has made no provision for teaching the industrial trades.
The inmates are employed in the various duties incident to the management
of the farm and caring for the buildings and grounds and the domestic labor
of the school. A majority of the boys during the spring and summer are
kept employed, planting, hoeing and caring for the crops; also handling
and caring for the live stock. The laundry furnishes practical work for
some of the older boys, and quite a force of boys is kept busy in the boys'
building, and in the kitchen the boys learn the practical part of baking and
preparing food, which, however, at present can only be taught to a limited
number.
The girls are employed in the kitchen in the girls' building, sewing room
and in the general duties of hall and dormatory work, and caring for
the building generally. All of the work carried on at the institution is of a
practical nature. They prepare meals, make their own clothes, do all the
darning and mending; also make all of the coats, pants and vests for the
boys' department. All of the work, study and training is planned for the
improvement of the inmates, and to teach the practical side of life.
During the summer military drill is carried on and is also continued
during the winter, when the weather is suitable for outdoor exercise. The
military drill i^ highly beneficial, in training the mind to attention, a
better carriage of the body and maintaining discipline. The drill could be
made more efficient and attractive if we had "Quaker guns" for the two
companies. At the present time, however, we are organizing a drum corps.
and are beginning on the rudiments of music. By spring it is expected that
we shall have a fair military band, which will add to the attractiveness of
the drill.
3S REPORT OF BOARD OF
IMPROVEMENTS.
The sewer provided under the act of the legislature of 1896, with an appropriation
of $2,500, has been completed, but not within the appropriation,
an 1 does the work for which it was designed in a highly satisfactory manner,
and will have sufficient capacity to carry off all the sewage of the school
for ffty years hence. The full length to where it enters the slough near the
Yellowstone river is 0,320 feet. It is laid of 8-inch vitrified pipe, with oakum
gaskets and Portland cement around every joint. The contract for excavating
3,320 feet at an average depth of ten feet was let for 12 1-2 cents
per lineal foot, and the balance of the excavating for a distance of 3,000 feet
was done by the boys, to an average depth of four feet, and the boys did all
of the filling in.
An excavation 12 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter has been made back
of the boiler house and an 108 barrel tank set therein; connection made
with the artesian well and also with the steam pump. Stand pipes two
inches in diameter, fitted with fire plugs and hose, have been put in the
girls' building, giving us quite an efficient fire protection, which was greatly
needed. Tn utilizing the water of the artesian well, it gives to the school a
supply of pure, soft water for all domestic purposes, and avoids the large
accumulation of lime and scale in the boiler and hot water pipes that we
had to contend with while using the strong alkali water from the seepage
well in the boiler house.
Electric lights have been installed in the boys' building, thereby doing
away with the lamps, which were dangerous and a source of constant annoyance.
Window guards have also been put on the building, the floors and
wainscoting painted, transoms put in, the plastering repaired, and about
eighteen inches of sand filled in the cellar. A large sink, with connections
made with the sewer, has been put in the kitchen.
A new closet has been built for the boys, thereby doing away with the
use of a joint closet for both sexes. Over 500 feet of board walks have been
built, hundreds of loads of sand have been hauled in around the buildings,
to bring the lawns to grade; a large lawn has been graded and set out to
trees in front of the boys' building, and a new play ground made. Over
five hundred shade trees have been set out and nearly all of them are in
a thrifty condition. A tile drain has been laid around both buildings in an
effort to keep the water out of the cellars, but it has proven ineffectual, as it
was not put deep enough. To keep the water down a steam pump has to be
used for about six months of the year. Competent engineers recommend
filling in the cellars above the water line. This flood of water undoubtedly
comes from irrigation.
A large and commodious root cellar, 30 by 70 feet, has been built.
Excavation was made four feet below the surface of the ground and a solid
wall of masonry, six and a half feet high and two feet thick, was laid, for
sides and end. A roof of large pine poles was put on, the cracks well chinked
and the whole covered with two feet of dirt. The work on this large structure
was all done by the boys, and the only expense that the state had to
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. .iJ
meet was for material and overseer. This building furnishes the institution
with a necessary and valuable addition to the plant and supplies a needed
want for the storage of vegetables
The floor has been laid in the laundry, a large tank put in to heat water
for washing and bathing purposes, all of the vats have been connected with
the sewer, and a portion of the laundry has been partitioned off for a
paint shop.
A bath room has been put in for the use of the girls in the girl's building,
and an ample supply of water is secured by connection with the large tank
in the laundry. This arrangement is greatly appreciated by all, as it does
away with very primitive methods of bathing and gives us a nicely equipped
bath room. It is hoped that means can be procured to also put in inside
water closets for the girls' building.
NEEDS.
The girls' building needs a heating plant that will heat. My predecessor
called attention to the heating plant now used, and recommended that it be
discarded and steam heat be installed. I very earnestly renew the recommendation.
The hot air system now in use is dangerous, dirty and nearly worthless
in cold weather. The building is made unhealthy by the clouds of
sulphurous smoke and coal gas that pour into the rooms through the hot air
pipes. The furnaces consume a vast amount of coal with no adequate return
in heat. In cold weather, with the furnaces running to their full capacity,
with pipes red hot and pitch oozing out of the floor joist, it requires constant
and vigilant attention both night and day to prevent a fire, and the
system now in use menaces the lives of every occupant of the building. It
should be abandoned without delay and a steam heating plant installed.
Regardless of the fact that a new heating plant should be installed, another
boiler should be purchased as a measure of safety. Should anything go
wrong with the present boiler or its equipment, we have no means of heating
the boys' building or running the pumps.
A gymnasium, could be used to most excellent advantage at the institution.
as we have no means of recreation or exercise for either the boys or girls
during cold weather, except those that have details to carry on the ordinary
work of the institution. We are by degrees accumulating a library and
now possess seventy-two volumes. It is not necessary to impress upon the
minds of the board the necessity of a better library and a reading room.
We need more good books and papers. This fact is so obvious- that further
comment is unnecessary. I especially recommend that some action be taken
towards limiting the age of those committed to the school, or an equipment
furnished adequate to the demands of the institution for treating the overaged
young women and men sent here. This institution is neither a foundling
asylum for infants or a reformatory for treating adult felons. The
equipment and design of the institution is a training school for juvenile
delinquents. The practice of sending renegade boys here that are over
eighteen years of age, but whose ages are given in the commitment as sixteen
40 REPORT OF EOARD OP
or seventeen, is pernicious in the highest degree. Youth that have been
released or escaped from eastern institutions drift into the state and are
in time sent here. At the present time we have four boys here that have
been in eastern institutions, and one of them was committed as 17 when
as a fact he states that he is twenty-two, and I have every reason to think
he states his age correctly. Another class of youths come west to be dime
novel cowboys and all-round bad men. As soon as it becomes apparent tnar
hard work on the range and^expert horsemanship are the essentials for a
successful career in the saddle, these youths drift into the towns and cities
and in time are sent to the reform school as vagrants, petty thieves and
burglars. The pernicious and corrupting influence that these youths have
on the younger boys of the institution is vicious beyond the power of words
to express. If the law is not amended limiting the age to 16 for both
sexes, I recommend that an isolation department be provided, where these
young men can be treated. It is not so bad in the girls' department, but we
get a great many young women that are over eighteen, and the influence
of these is, as a rule, bad.
I tbink that at least forty acres of the farm should be fenced with an
enclosure of sufficient height to prevent escapes. The work of the institution
could be carried forward with better results, an officer could give
better attention to the work in hand, "and it would in a measure prevent the
constant efforts to get away.
The institution needs more land, if we are to raise all of the hay that is
required for the stock now on the premises. We have the necessary labor
and teams, and if the state will furnish the land we can raise all of our hay.
I recommend that the 20 acres adjoining the farm on the south be purchased.
I also recommend that the name of the institution be changed from the
Montana State Reform School to the Montana State Industrial School. The
notion always prevails, and undoubtedly is to some extent just, that a boy
or girl that has been in a reform school is to some extent a criminal, or
very bad, and has needed vigorous treatment. This is probably true, but
when an inmate is paroled it is something of a stigma upon him that he has
been in a "reform school," whereas if the name "Industrial School" were sub- ,
stituted, I am of the opinion that it would be for the better welfare of the
boys and girls sent here.
The health of the institution has been exceptionally good. We have had
no epidemics of any kind, and no serious accidents, greater than an injured
thumb and a few sprains. There has been but one case of serious sickness in
the past two years, and with regular habits, a reasonable amount of exercise
and good food the inmates are very healthy and strong.
Sunday-school and religious services are held every Sunday in the chapel.
The Sunday-school is conducted by the employes, and the afternoon service
is conducted by one of the ministers of Miles City. Rev. Charles Quinney,
rector of the Episcopal church, officiates on the first Sunday of the month.
Rev. Henry James, of the Methodist Church, the second Sunday; che Christian
Endeavor has the third Sunday; the fourth Sunday Rev. Edward McSTATE
PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 41
Cullough Calvin, of the Presbyterian Church, and upon a fifth Sunday occurring
in a month, the Woman's Chrustian Temperance Union conducts a
service. Rev. Father VanDenbrock, of the Catholic Church, conducted services
at the institution until poor health compelled him to relinquish the
appointment.
We have also been favored with services by Dr. Reed, president of the
Bozeman College; Rev. Dr. Gwynn, of Great Falls; Rev. Bennett, presiding
elder of the Bozeman district, and Dr. Martin, of the Presbyterian College at
Deer Dodge.
Mrs. Mabel Conklin, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Maj. Hilton, of San Francisco,
temperance speakers, have delivered addresses at the school.
Donations—Gov. Smith sent us a box of books, papers and magazines; the
Miles City Club a large number of magazines and illustrated papers Mr. C. R.
Middleton, magazines; Mrs. Jepp Ryan, books, papers and magazines; the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, papers; Mr. Edmund Butler, ninetyseven
volumes of "War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies."
Cash contributions have been made by the following gentlemen to purchase
instruments for a band: W. B. Jordan, $10; W. H. Bullard, $10; D. W
Stacy, $5; H. R. Phillips, $5; Dr. W. L. Andrus, $5; W. E. Savage, $5; Chas. J.
Smith, $2; Samuel Gordon, $5; King Bros., $2.50; H. W. Mclntyre, $5; B. K_
Holt Meat Co., $5; Miles City Lumber Co., $5; F. Orschel, $5; Albert Kircher,
$2; Judge C. H. Loud, $5; A. Farnum, $5; Truscott & Harmon, $5.
In conclusion, I wish to state that it is a source of very great gratification
to the Matron and Director to note the many evidences of interest and cooperation
in the work of the institution, shown by the Board of Trustees.
At all times the members of your board have shown an interest and disposition
to aid the management in carrying forward the work, and have heartily
co-operated in all plans for the advancement of the welfare of the inmates.
I wish also to call the attention of the board to the earnest work done
by the ministers of the town in their work at the institution, and I wish to
acknowledge the fact that they have greatly aided in stimulating and
building up a good moral tone and sentiment among the inmates, and the
Sunday service is a source of great profit and enjoyment.
We have every reason to be grateful for the success that has attended
our efforts in the management of the institution, and the absence of all
serious calamity.
BURTON C. WHITE.
Director.

42 REPORT OF BOARD OF
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
1897. 1898.
Dry goods $1,730.59 $1,180.63
Groceries 3,284.55 3,227.85
Meats 849.60 733.55
Salaries 7,884.88 7,360.15
Trustees 195.00
Fuel 2,026.68 1,478.38
Lights 959.80 685.50
Hardware 552.70 792.99
Feed 269.93 609.29
Furniture 73.30 140.75
Physician 1,033.00 107.00
Medicine 189.80
Building and improvements 907.81
Blacksmithing 121.75
Irrigation 375.00
Insurance 1,110.00
Sundries 325.82
$19,541.27
Appropriation 16,222.00
16,875.00
348.64
736.72
90.90
290.50
$20,118.79
Deficit $3,898.79 $2,666.27
Tbo following appropriations will be necessary to carry forward the work
of tho school for the next two years:
T.
An appropriation of $20,000 for general maintenance for 1899 and $21,000
for the year 1900.
II.
An appropriation of $2,500 to install a steam heating plant in the girls'
building.
III.
An appropriation of $1,000 to purchase machinery and material for the
manufacture and repair of boots and shoes.
IV.
An appropriation of $250 for a gymnasium.
V.
An appropriation of $1,000 to purchase 20 acres of land adjoining the
school farm on the south.
VI.
An appropriation of $800 to build a high wire fence around 40 acres of the
farm.
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 4.,
TABLE NO. 1.
Boys.
Showing number received since opening school 124
Number in school Dec, 1, 1897 49
Number in school Dec. 1, 1898 62
Received during year 1897 , 19
Received during year 1898 25
Total number cared for during year 1898 74
Total number cared for during year 1897 71
Number paroled in 1897 19
Number paroled in 1898 12
Number escaped in 1897 2
Number escaped in 1898 1
Number pardoned in 1897 1
Girls. Total.
25 149
12 61
12 74
5 21
3 28
15 89
15 86
3 22
4 16
2
1
1 2
TABLE NO. 2.
Showing age when committed, as stated in commitment form, Dec. 1, 1896,
to Dec. 1, 1898.
Boys. Girls.
Eight years old 1
Nine years old , 2
Ten years old 2
Eleven years old 5
Twelve years old '
.
.
3
Thirteen years old 5
Fourteen years old 7
Fifteen years old 5
Sixteen years old 7
Seventeen years old 7
Unknown 2
Total . , 46 7
In the above list there are two boys and one girl that are over 18. The age
is given as 17 in the commitment.
44 REPORT OF BOARD OF
TABLE NO. 3.
Whole number received, and counties from which they have been committed.
since opening of institution to Dec. 1, 1898.
Boys. Girls.
Beaverhead 3
Broadwater
Carbon
Cascade 15 3
Choteau 5
Custer 11 3
Dawson
Deer Lodge 11 4
Fergus 3 3
Flathead , 2
Gallatin 10 1
Granite 4
Jefferson 3
Lewis and Clarke 19 • 1
Madison ' 1 1
Meagher , 2
Missoula 7 2
Park 7
Ravalli 1 1
Sil v er Bow 13 5
Sweet Grass : 1
Teton 2
Valley
Yellowstone 4 1
Total 124 25
TABLE NO. 4.
Offence, as stated in commitment, of those received during past two years..
from Dec. 1, 1896, to Dec. 1, 1898.'
Boys. Girls.
Incorrigibility 25 4
Incorrigibility and mendicancy 2
Incorrigibility and vagrancy 3
Forgery 1
Burglary, 1st degree 4
Burglary, 2d degree 3
Grand larceny 5 1
Felii larceny 3
Assault, 3d degree 1
Receiving stolen property 1
Total 46 7
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 4.,
TABLE NO. 5.
Showing scholarship of inmate when received.
—Reading
—
Boys.
Could not read or write 8
Read in First Reader 10
Read in Second Reader 5
Read in Third Reader 15
Raad in Fourth Reader 15
Read in Fifth Reader 4
Read in Sixth Reader 4
Total 61
—Attainments in Arithmetic
—
Boys.
Never had arithmetic ' 18
Knew numbers 3
Far as Addition 9
Far as Subtraction 5
Far as Multiplication 7
Far as Short Division 2
Far as Long Division 5
Far as Fractions 7
Far as Decimals 2
Far as Percentage 3
Total 61
—Attainments in Writing
—
Boys.
Could not write 17
Write name only
Write legibly 9
Write well 35
Total 61
—Relating to Parents of Inmates
—
Boys.
Father intemperate 32
Both father and mother intemperate 5
Unknown 12
Temperate ' 18
Total 61
Girls.
V
1
3
1
3
12
Girls.
2
Girls.
2
2
12
Girls.
7
3
1
1
12
46 REPORT OF EOARD OP
TABLE NO. 6.
Birth Place of Present Inmates.
Boys. Girls.
New York 1
New Jersey 2
Pennsylvania 2
Ohio 4
West Virginia 1
Michigan 3
Illinois 1
Wisconsin 1
Minnesota 3
Kentucky 1
Missouri 2
Texas 1
North Dakota 4
South Dakota 2
Montana ".
.
15
Nebraska 3
Wyoming 1
Kansas 1
Colorado 3
Utah 1
Nevada 1
California 1
Washington 1
Canada
England 1
Treland 2
Germany
Russia 1
Unknown . 3
Total 62 12
TABLE NO. 7.
Showing Pecuniary Circumstances in Ancestry.
Boys.
No accumulations 48
Forehanded 12
Unknown 1
Total 61
Girls.
10
2
12
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 47
TABLE NO. 8.
Showing Religious Training.
Boys. Girls.
None 15
Attended church and Sunday-school occasionally 41 7
Regular attendance at church and Sunday-school 5 5
Total 61 12
TABLE NO. 9.
Showing Religious Faith of Parents.
Boys. Girls.
Protestant 29 8
Roman Catholic 22 3
Hebrew 1
None , 3
Unknown 7 1
Total 62 12
TABLE NO. 10.
Showing Home Life and Conditions.
Boys. Girls-
Both parents dead 8 1
Father dead—step-father 9 2
Mother dead—step-mother 2 1
Both parents living, separated and father remarried 1
Both parents living, separated and mother remarried 7 1
Both parents living together 18 3
Mother dead, father unmarried 11
Parents separated 4 1
Eoth parents in penitentiary 2
Father unknown, step-father and mother in penitentiary 1
Knows nothing about parents 1 1
Total \ 62 12
48 REPORT OF BOARD OF
TABLE NO. 11.
Showing those Received at Institution from Following Named Counties for
Year Ending Dec. 1, 1898.
1897. Boys. Girls
December—Silver Bow 1
1898.
January—Silver Bow 2
January—Missoula
February—Silver Bow 1
February—Park 1
March—Lewis and Clarke 1
March—Custer 2
March—Silver Bow 1
April—Gallatin 2
April—Lewis and Clarke 1
May—Deer Lodge 1
May—Gallatin 1
June—Lewis and Clarke 1
July—Park 1
July—Silver Bow 1
August—Park 1
September—Custer 1
September—Teton 1
October—Gallatin 1
October—Custer 1
October—Deer Lodge 1
October—Lewis and Clarke 1
October—Flathead 1
November—Yellowstone 1
Total 25 3
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 49
TABLE NO. 12.
Showing Those Received at Institution from Following Named Counties, for
Year Ending Dec. 1, 1897.
1896. Boys. Girls.
December—Silver Bow 1 2
December—Meagher 1
1897.
February—Silver Bow 1
March—Silver Bow 2
March—Cascade 2
March—Custer 1
March—Missoula 1
April—Deer Lodge 1
April—Missoula 1
May—Lewis and Clarke 1
May—Silver Bow 1
May-—Yellowstone 1
June—Cascade 1
July—Cascade 1
July—Lewis and Clarke 1
September—Ravalli 1
September—Gallatin 1
October—Gallatin 1
October—Sweet Grass 1
November—Lewis and Clarke 1
. Total 19
50 REPORT OF BOARD OF
TABLE NO. 13.
Showing Number of New Garments Made in Sewing Room from Sept. 4, 1897,
to Dec. 1, 1898.
Coats 87
Pants .. ... 108
Vests 57
Boys' shirts 181
• Night shirts 95
Dresses : 37
Nightdresses 29
Aprons 106
Mittens 76
Kitchen aprons 30
Petticoats 25
Shirt sleeves 18
Pillow cases ...:...... 99
Sheets 18
Towels .. ... 69
Apron sleeves 28
Waists 6
Drawers 3
Dress skirts 5
Sun bonnets . . 1
Total ......1,077
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 51
TABLE NO. 14.
Showing Number of Garments Repaired in Sewing Room from Sept. 4, 1897,
to Dec. 1, 1898.
Coats 181
Pants 593
Vests 117
Overalls 124
Shirts , 1,340
Night shirts 715
Under shirts 506
Socks ...., 3,880
Drawers 587
Dresses ... 63
Night dresses 22
Dress skirts 10
Aprons .
.
124
Kitchen aprons 31
' Sheets 147
Pillow cases . . 69
Table cloths 14
Mittens 7
Hose '. 102
Petticoats .:.- 77
Dress waists 13
Towels 32
Hats 13
Sleeves 2
Wash clothes 4
Sweaters 2
Miscellaneous 32 v
Total 8,808
52 REPORT OF BOARD OF
TABLE NO. 15.
Showing Amount of Work Done in Laundry from Aug. 23, 1897, to Nov. 27,
1898.
—Clothes Washed
—
Sheets 5,045
Pillow slips 7,995
Aprons 2,400
Socks 7,550
Shirts 3,488
Towels 4,587
Night dresses 719
Under shirts 925
Boys' underwear 1,110
Napkins 4,550
Table cloths 585
Night shirts 3,861
Gollars 238
Spreads 210
Dresses 260
Waists 130
W. Skirts 580
Doileys 130
Sun bonnets 195
Table covers 65
Total 45,869
—Clothes Ironed
Sheets 980
Pillow slips 7,995
Aprons 1,530
Napkins 4,545
Table cloths 585
Collars 238
Dresses 260
Waists 130
Doylies 130
Towels 3,640
White skirts ; . .
.
580
Under skirts 925
Table covers 65
Sun bonnets 195
Total 21,893
i
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 53
TABLE NO. 16.
Showing Products of Farm, Garden and Stock for Year Ending Dec. 1, 1897,
Potatoes, pounds 44,400
Stock beets, pounds 82,000
Table beets, pounds 5,000
Onions, pounds 3,000
Carrots, pounds 4,000
Parsnips, pounds 800
Navy beans, pounds 1,700
Pork, pounds 4,000
Summer squash 1,000
Hubbard squash 320
String beans, bushels 30
Cucumbers, bushels 15
Water melons 1,050
Musk melons 384
Garden lemons, bushels 15
Green corn, dozen ears 150
Young onions, dozen 200
Apples, bushels 4
Plums, bushels 4
Alfalfa and millet hay, tons 32
Oat hay, tons 6
Corn fodder, tons 20
Milk, quarts 7,300
Tomatoes, bushels 15
Pumpkins, wagon loads 18
Currants, bushels 8
Gooseberries, bushels 10
Cabbage, heads 1,500
Raspberries, quarts 40
Pie plant, pounds 300
Pickels, barrel 1
Canned currants, quarts 760
Pickled beans, quarts 320
Pickled apples, quarts 48
Pickled wild plums, quarts 40
Catsup, quarts . 160
Chow chow, quarts 120
Jelly, glasses 200
Dried pumpkin, pounds 50
Live stock, 6 calves and 65 pigs.
54 REPORT OF BOARD OF .
TABLE NO. 17.
Showing Products of Farm, Garden and Stock for Year 1898.
Potatoes, pounds 20,000
Stock beets, pounds 57,620
Table beets, pounds 13,923
Onions, pounds 2,400
Carrots, pounds 8,613
Parsnips, pounds 1,473
Turnips, pounds ;
. 13,655
Cabbabge, heads 2,550
Summer squash 1,500
Hubbard squash 3,250
Navy bean j, pounds 1,500
String beans, bushels 12
Cucumbers, dozen 115
Water melons 1,250
Musk melons 365
Garden lemons, bushels 3
Green corn, dozen ears 140
Young onions, dozen 165
Apples, bushels 8
Plums, bushels 6
Alfalfa hay, tons 33
Oat hay, tons 4
Corn, bushel ears 395
Corn fodder, tons 7
Pumpkins, wagon loads 15
Radishes, dozen 20
Tomatoes, bushels 40
Raspberries, quarts 20
Pie plant, pounds 500
Milk, quarts 6,500
*Pork, pounds 1,182
Currants, bushels 10
Gooseberries, bushels 15
Currant jelly, quarts 196
Crab apple pickles, quarts 64
Crab apple jelly, quarts 62
Catsup, quarts 144
Canned gooseberries, quarts 2*6
Gooseberry sauce, quarts 164
Currant jelly, glasses 198
Currant sauce, quarts 112
Crab apple marmalade, quarts 41
Canned apples, quarts 14
Crab apple jelly, pints 13
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 55
Crab apple sauce and pickles, quarts 64
Plum preserves, quarts 72
Plum jelly, quarts : . .
.
23
Sauer kraut, barrels 3
Live stock, 6 calves and 45 pigs.
*The pork will amount to about 4,000 pounds, as there are 35 hogs and pigs
yet to kill.
The herd of tcows now on the farm should be disposed of and a more
suitable breed purchased. The cows are small and not well adapted to the
needs of the institution.
—Sold from Farm
—
1897.
Received for pigs $23.00
Received for 4 head cattle 80.00
Received for 1 horse 20.00
Received from J. H. Strevell, balance on hog 4.19
1898.
Received for pigs, Miles City Club 20.00
Received for buggy painting 12.75
Received for pigs 8.50
$170.44
Credit.
Expended from said fund for school, in paints,
books, flags, postage, bats, hardware, express,
etc $170.75
170.44
Dr. to balance 31
The above account has been examined and approved.
J. W. STREVELL, President
JOHN S. TRUSCOTT.
JAMES B. HAWKINS.

56 REPORT OF BOARD OF
Physician's Biennial Report of Health Department of
the Montana State Reform School, Ending
Dec. 1, 1898.
During the last two years it is a remarkable fact that there has been no
cases of illness or injury, other than trivial diseases of youth and childhood,
and no fatalities to record during that period.
This pleasing state of affairs is due, in a great measure (in my opinion)
to two facts—namely, the perfecting and operating of a sewerage system to
the Yellowstone river, and the efficient manner in which the sanitary condition
of the school and belongings have been superintended.
I would suggest, as a matter of vital importance, relative to perfect sanitation,
that the present heating plant in vogue in the building occupied by
the female inmates be abolished, and be replaced by a steam heating plant,
as, in my opinion, numerous cases of throat and other troubles are due
in a great measure, to the inefficiency of the present heating system. In all
other respects, the health department of this institution is all that could be
desired.
Respectfully,
W. W. ANDREWS,
Physician to State Reform School.
To Hon. T. S. HOGAN, Secretary of State.
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 57
Trustees Report.
To His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Montana.
Sir:—The undersigned, the trustees of the Montana State Reform School,
have the honor to transmit to you their biennial report for the years 1897
and 1898, in compliance with the laws of this state.
The officers and employes connected with the school are as follows:
B C. White, Director of the institution; Mrs. Isadore White, wife of the
Director, Matron of the institution; J. P. Duffy, engineer; Fred Christopher,
cook; Clark Dickinson, teacher; Mrs. Fannie Densmore, teacher; Mrs. N. A.
Castor, seamstress; Miss M. Ella Savage, laundress; Mrs. D. D. Shy, cook;
Clarence Elswoeck, superintendent of boys' building; John Krause, night
watchman; William Butler, overseer; N. A. Castor, overseer.
The present number of inmates of the institution is 62 boys and 12 girls.
The number admitted to the institution during the year 1897 was 19
toys and 5 girls; and in 1898, 25 boys and 3 girls.
The number dismissed during 1897 was 19 boys and 3 girls; the number
paroled in 1898 was 12 boys and 4 girls.
An account of the expenditures incurred and the purpose for which such
expenditure was made is shown by the report of the director of the institution
to this board, to which reference is respectfully made, and which shows
the amount and for what purpose such expenditures were made. A recapitulation
of them in the several items would make this report cumbersome
to your honor and without any special purpose, further than the report of
the Director shows.
The gross amount of expenditures for 1897 was $20,118.79, and the gross
amount for 1898 was $19,541.27.
In relation to the advancement made by the inmates of the institution, we
can say with absolute confidence that the institution in its workings has fully
met the expectation of its most sanguine friends. All of the work of the
institution since the first of April, 1897, has been under the immediate direction
of Mr. B. C. White, the Director of the institution. The discipline has
been good and the advancement of many of the pupils in such industries as
we are able to carry on has been, in general, good, and in many instances
marvelous.
It will be generaly understood that we do not get the better elements of
youth in this institution, and yet with strict discipline, tempered with kind
treatment, we find that very many who come here under the cognomen of
incorrigible, develop into excellent characters. We find the girls more
amenable to discipline than the boys.
The purpose of the institution, as you well know, in its main object, is to
teach the inmates and those who are confided to its charge, that it is better
58 REPORT OF BOARD OF
to do right than wrong, and in accomplishing this we think the institution
and its management deserve the highest commendation.
Your honor will remember that in 1896 and the early part of 1897 the
institution suffered from a very severe epidemic of typhoid fever; all who
were connected with the institution and its management could very readily
trace this epidemic to a lack of sewerage. By the appropriation made for
this purpose we were enabled to accomplish a proper sewerage of the
institution, and since that was accomplished the health of the institution
has been really marvelous. There has been but one serious case of sickness
within the period covered by this report, and not an instance of death, so
that without making this report unnecessarily prolix, we can state to you
that the institution is at present in a most satisfactory condition.
In relation to the needs of the institution for the coming two years, the
Director has very carefully gone over such necessities and fully states them
in his report, which we believe to be as nearly correct as possible.
The girls' building is in very great need of a new heating plant. This
building is heated by the old hot air system, which, however successful it* may
be in other localities, is not by any means a success with us in this institution.
It creates a vast amount of dust and gas, which renders the building
exceedingly unpleasant. The necessary appropriation for this item our Director
estimates to be $2,500, which we believe to be sufficient to accomplish
a good system of steam heating.
We endorse the Director's request for a gymnasium. This could be
accomplished by an expenditure of probably $250.
During the entire existence of the institution we have been controlling
the inmates without any fencing or any special means to prevent escape.
The Director is of the opinion that the fencing of 40 acres would be a vast
benefit to the institution, if it can be fenced in such manner as to prevent
escape by the inmates. We most cordially endorse this recommendation, and
there is no doubt, if this can be done, much better results can be attained
in the institution than without it. It would very considerably lessen the
number of employes, because under our present system the escape of the
inmates is prevented only by persons having charge of them and keeping
them under constant control and under their eye. Under this system it is
inconsistent with safety to allow any number of boys to work at any distance
from the person having them in charge. The fence which the Director desires
would obviate in large measure this constant danger of escape. The
manner of fencing proposed would be by barbed wire and posts. The cost of
this item would be, as nearly as we can estimate, $600.
There is adjoining the institution a tract of 20 acres of land which the
institution very much needs in order to have sufficient land to raise the
products necessary for the institution in providing for stock and teams for
the working of the ground. This land could be purchased probably at $50
per acre. We recommend an appropriation of $1,000 for this purpose. The
price of the land will very soon be saved by the product which it would yield
STATE PRISON COMMISSIONERS. 5y
the institution. Our Director says the amount would be reimbursed within
two years.
There ought to be some manufacturing connected with the institution.
All that we can teach now is farming and the care and attention of stock.
Desirable as this branch of instruction is, it is one of the safest and best
means of reformation, yet we should have something in the line of manufac
tnring for those who do not take to farming, and who would perhaps never
make a success of it. We ask for $1,000 in order that we may start in a small
way the manufacture of boots and shoes, making perhaps at first only such as
are used by the institution. We believe this could be done with perfect success
and with great benefit to the inmates of the institution. If this amount
could be accorded the institution, we have no hesitation in saying that it
would be of very great benefit.
These are the only special items that the Board of Trustees have thought
it advisable to suggest to you.
An electric plant, if we could have $3,000 to establish it, would be a very
great saving to the institution, as our lights now cost of nearly $1,000 a year.
The amounts necessary to sustain the institution we believe to be as follows
:
For the year 1899, $20,000; for the year 1900, $21,000.
In conclusion, the Board of Trustees desire to express their appreciation
of the considerate manner in which the institution has been treated by the
Governor of the State and the officers of the State Board. We have the
honor to be,
Your obedient servants,
J. W. STREVELL.
JOHN S. TRUSCOTT.
JAMES B. HAWKINS.