I walked back and forth in my horror for some time, passing in front of the hammock beds and finally a man raised his head and, evidently thinking I was walking for warmth, said:
"Friend, you will find it warmer over there by the steam pipes."
I wonder why he called me "friend"? A spirit of kindness from one man to another, in a place like that! Think of it!
I spent the entire night walking the floor or sitting on an old battered, inverted tin pail, studying the wretched inmates of the dirty, desolate cell.
I saw a man get up, and with outstretched hands, feel his way to the drinking place. I went over and helped him. He was totally blind. He told me he had once been kept in that place seventeen days. A one-legged man who had gotten up, hobbling without his crutch, helped him back to bed.
Never was sound sweeter to my ears than the rattle of the jailer's keys when he came to let me out. He kindly asked me to stay to breakfast, but I did not accept. I was only too glad to escape to my hotel, to wash out the material evidence of contact with the foulness gathered on that most miserable night.
Mayor Fugard, who had been in office only two weeks, had already made an appeal for a new City Hall and City Jail, and I felt it was a courtesy due him to call upon him before going to the press with my story. When I told him I had paid a visit to Pueblo's two city lodging places, and had spent a night in the "Bull-pen," he threw up his hands and exclaimed:
"Good heavens! You have more courage than I have. I am glad you have come to our city and I am glad you have investigated conditions just as you did. I want you to take your report to every paper in the city, for I desire everyone to know the conditions of these places, just as they are."
When I left Pueblo, I called on him to say goodbye, and he took me by the hand and said:
"You may quote me to the public, through the press, as saying that, as soon as possible, Pueblo will abolish the 'Bull-pen' and will yet have a Free Municipal Emergency Home that she will not be ashamed to own."
"LATTER-DAY SAINTS" WHO SIN AGAINST SOCIETY
_When I lie down I say when shall the night be gone, and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day._--JOB 7:4.