Chapter IV: Section 6: of said law reads as follows (3)

In an eminent degree he possessed the courage of his convictions, and never for one moment shrunk from what might be supposed to be a disagreeable duty, or from lifting up his voice in high places in a protest against what he considered wrongs which should be remedied.

His counsels will be greatly missed, and his loss seems irreparable, but we have the assurance that he had fought a good fight, that his lifework was accomplished, and we are thankful that we have known him as a friend, and that we have had the example of his strong devotion to duty.

MARY S. WHELEN.

The passing away, on February 15, of Miss Mary S. Whelen came as a distinct shock to her many friends and to the class of Philadelphians interested in the welfare of the Commonwealth and of the Municipality in one of its most vital issues.

Although the part Miss Whelen played so effectively, owing to her modesty, is known to but few, it deserves some mention in order that others, inspired by the same motives, may carry on the work to which she fearlessly and generously devoted many years. She was intensely interested in the welfare of prisoners convicted of crime, and as an active member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, visited our prisons weekly, going into the cells, teaching many ignorant women to read and write. Her ear was ever open to explanations, and her kindly intuition made it possible for her to discern the motive which actuated a crime, and her advice and consolation often brought repentance and the possibility of better things. When the sentence expired, a woman having no home or place to which to go, was taken from prison, personally, by Miss Whelen to a destination where she might begin a new life; and letters from these once degraded creatures show in many instances reformation and warm expressions of gratitude. She was a member of the Committee on Police Matrons, and to this most beneficent service she gave practical and efficient aid. All her generous, charitable deeds have been accomplished so quietly and unostentatiously that it recalls the beautiful admonition, “Let not thy right had know what thy left hand doeth.”

ROBERT PARKER NICHOLSON.

Robert P. Nicholson, whose death occurred in July, 1911, as the result of an accident, had been a member of the Society for a few years, but had served on the Acting Committee for only a few months. His deep interest in the work gave promise of much service on behalf of our cause. His genial disposition had endeared him to a host of friends by whom he is sadly missed.

JOHN J. LYTLE.

“Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.”

Such was the passing of our beloved friend, John J. Lytle, whose death occurred on the 14th of Eighth Month, 1911, at his residence in Moorestown, N. J.

He was born at Alexandria, Va., in 1823, and had almost completed his eighty-eighth year. In his infancy his widowed mother brought her family to Philadelphia, and for the remainder of his life his residence was in or near that city. After he attained his majority he was a merchant for twenty-five years at the corner of Seventh and Spring Garden Streets.

Early in his business career he became deeply interested in personal visitations to the inmates of the Eastern Penitentiary. With the exception of Joshua L. Baily, President of the Society, his membership in the Pennsylvania Prison Society covered a period longer than that of any living member, both having been elected members in 1851. For nearly sixty years he was a member of the Acting Committee, and his official positions date from the beginning of his membership on the Acting Committee to the time of his death. Early in 1852 he was appointed Secretary of the Acting Committee, and in 1860 he was elected Secretary of the Society. This office he held till 1909, when, on account of the infirmities of age, he was released from the active duties of this position and appointed Honorary Secretary. From 1886 to 1908 he gave up almost his entire time and energies to work on behalf of prisoners. The Eastern Penitentiary was the scene of his greatest efforts. Almost daily did he visit this large institution, becoming personally acquainted with the thirteen hundred or more inmates and ministering untiringly to their physical and spiritual needs. He speaks of his great privilege and “pleasure to stand by the prisoner’s side, to grasp his hand, to put new life into his heart, to endeavor to restore confidence in himself.” While he believed in all changes in penal methods which are directed to the reformation of the prisoners, and in industrial and scholastic training, he was firmly convinced that the only sure basis of reformation was the life-giving, renewing power of the gospel of Christ. To this end he labored in season and out of season. He never forgot the spiritual interests of those whom he befriended. In his report for 1906 he says: “We must talk to the man in the cell as a man, a friend and brother.... That lives redeemed await the work of those who enter the prison cell with the message of Christ is well proven. Many a one has said to me--I believe in sincerity, ‘The best thing that ever happened to me in my life was my sentence to the penitentiary. Here I have found my Saviour, whom I knew not before.’” This theme is dwelt on in all the eighteen reports which he made after assuming the duties of General Secretary in 1886. To illustrate his faithfulness in the performance of duty, in a report made in his eighty-first year, he states that he had made during the year, four hundred and fifty visits to the Penitentiary (oftener than daily), and had conversed with the inmates, either in the cells or at the cell doors, about forty-five hundred times. “It is now fourteen years since my whole time has been given up to this work, and my interest in it grows from year to year.... I find there is an open door for me to talk to them of their spiritual needs....”

He was a delegate, in 1886, to the American Prison Association, and for twenty years thereafter he was usually in attendance at the sessions of that body, taking an active part in the proceedings and serving on its leading committees.

When the State Legislature, in 1895, discontinued the appropriation of $3,000 per annum for the equipment and support of prisoners discharged from the Eastern Penitentiary, John J. Lytle solicited private contributions to continue this aid, and so successful were his efforts that no prisoner in need in all these years has been dismissed from that institution without practical help and sympathetic attention. The task of making these collections and of attending to every minute detail of their distribution involved unremitting labor, which he ceased not until bodily infirmity in his eighty-fifth year compelled him to take a much-needed rest. From the autumn of 1908 till the time of his death he was mostly confined to his home and vicinity, but was able to maintain quite a large correspondence and to enjoy the visits of his friends. His genial, kindly disposition had endeared him to a large circle of acquaintances, who deeply appreciated the privilege of his intimacy. His interest in the cause of the prisoners never flagged. The summons came while sitting at his writing table by the side of his dear wife, who had been his faithful companion for more than sixty-two years. A stroke of paralysis, then a few days of unconsciousness and all was over.

He was a birth-right member of the Society of Friends. In 1849 he was married to Anna Reeve, and he is survived by the widow, one son and four daughters.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Report of American Prison Association, Washington, D. C. 1910
Correction and Prevention. 4 vols. Charles Richmond Henderson
Editor, 1910.
I. Prison Reform--Criminal Law in the United States.
II. Penal and Reformatory Institutions.
III. Preventive Agencies and Methods.
IV. Preventive Treatment of Neglected Children.
Bulletins of the International Prison Commission, Nos. 1 to 16.
(Printed in French) 1910
Report of Board of Inspectors of Convicts of Alabama 1906-10
Blue Book of Arizona 1911
Report of State Board of Charities and Correction of California 1908-10
Report of State Penitentiary of Colorado 1910
Report of Prison Association of Colorado 1909-10
Report of Prison Association of Connecticut 1909-10
Report of Trustees of Reform School for Girls, Washington, D. C. 1910
Report of State Reformatory of Illinois 1910
Report of State Reformatory of Indiana 1909-10
Report of Woman’s Prison of Indiana 1910
Report of Board of Prison Commissioners of Kentucky 1910
Report of State Board of Charity and Correction of Louisiana 1909
Report of Prisoners’ Aid Association of Maryland 1910
Report of Board of Prison Commissioners of Massachusetts 1910
Report of State Board of Charity of Massachusetts 1910
Report of Board of Charities and Correction of Michigan 1909-10
Report of Board of Charities and Correction of Missouri 1909-10
Report of Board of Charities and Correction of New Hampshire 1909-10
Report of State Prison of New Jersey 1910
Reformation--66th Annual Report, New York Prison Association 1910
Report of State Board of Charities of New York 1910
Report of State Reformatory for Women of New York 1910
Report of Board of Charities and Correction of Rhode Island 1910
Proceedings of Conference of Charities and Correction of Virginia 1910
Report of State Board of Charities and Reform of Wyoming 1909-10
Report of Society for Organizing Charity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sterilization of Degenerates. Edwin A. Down, M.D. 1910
The Public and the Prisoner--Central Howard Association, Chicago,
Illinois
The Crime Problem. Colonel Vincent Myron Masters 1909

FOREIGN.

Report of Howard Association--Crime and Its Treatment, London,
England 1910
Le Droit De L’Enfant Abandonné, Budapest 1909

HONORARY MEMBERS.

Maud Ballington Booth, New York City.
[4]Gen. R. Brinkerhoff, Mansfield, Ohio.
Z. R. Brockway, Elmira, N. Y.
Judge McKenzie Cleland, Chicago, Ill.
Prof. Charles Richmond Henderson, Chicago, Ill.
Judge Ben. B. Lindsey, Denver, Colo.
Frederick Howard Wines, Springfield, Ill.

LIFE MEMBERS.

[4]Ashmead, Henry B.,
[4]Baily, Joel J.,
[4]Bartol, B. H.,
[4]Benson, E. N.,
Bergdoll, Louis,
[4]Betts, Richard K.,
[4]Bonsall, E. H.,
[4]Brooke, F. M.,
[4]Brown, Alexander,
Brown, T. Wistar,
Brush, C. H.,
Buckley, Daniel,
Carter, John E.,
Cattell, H. S.,
[4]Childs, George W.,
Coles, Miss Mary,
[4]Collins, Alfred M.,
Coxe, Eckley B., Jr.,
[4]Downing, Richard H.,
Dreer, Ferd. J.,
[4]Dreer, Edw. G.,
[4]Douredore, B. L.,
Duhring, H. L., Rev.,
Duncan, John A.,
[4]Elkinton, Joseph S.,
Elwyn, Alfred,
Elwyn, Mrs. Helen M.,
[4]Fotterall, Stephen G.,
Frazer, Dr. John,
Frazier, W. W.,
Goodwin, M. H.,
Grigg, Mary S.,
[4]Hall, George W.,
Harrison, Alfred C.,
Harrison, Chas. C.,
[4]Hockley, Thomas,
Ingram, Wm. S.,
[4]Jeanes, Joshua T.,
Jenks, John S.,
[4]Jones, Mary T.,
Jordan, John, Jr.,
Justice, W. W.,
[4]Kinke, J.,
[4]Knight, Reeve L.,
[4]Laing, Anna T.,
[4]Laing, Henry M.,
Lea, M. Carey,
[4]Learning, J. Fisher,
Leeds, Deborah C,
Lewis, Mrs. Sarah,
[4]Lewis, Howard W.,
Lewis, F. Mortimer,
Longstreth, W. W.,
Love, Alfred H.,
[4]Lytle, John J.,
[4]Maginnis, Edw. I.,
[4]Manderson, James,
Milne, C. J.,
[4]McAlister, Jas. W.,
[4]Nicholson, Robert P.,
[4]Osborne, Hon. F. W.,
Patterson, Robert,
[4]Pennock, George,
[4]Perot, Joseph,
[4]Potter, Thomas,
[4]Powers, Thomas H.,
[4]Price, Thomas W.,
Rhoads, Joseph R.,
[4]Roach, Joseph H.,
[4]Saul, Rev. James,
[4]Santee, Charles,
[4]Seybert, Henry,
[4]Sharpless, Townsend,
[4]Steedman, Rosa,
Stephens, Emily J. I.,
[4]Sulzberger, David,
[4]Thomas, Geo. C,
Thompson, Emma L.,
[4]Tracey, Charles A.,
[4]Townsend, Henry T.,
Walk, Jas. W., M.D.,
[4]Waln, L. Morris,
Warren, E. B.,
[4]Watson, Jas. V.,
Way, John,
[4]Weightman, William,
[4]Weston, Harry,
[4]Whelen, Mary S.,
[4]Williams, Henry J.,
[4]Williamson, I. V.,
[4]Willits, Jeremiah,
[4]Willits, Jeremiah, Jr.,
Wood, Walter.

[4] Deceased.

AN ACT

To define the rights and functions of official visitors of jails,
penitentiaries, and other penal or reformatory institutions, and
providing for their removal.