The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-08-29

SEle Trssssry are ifs1ssn,ly and freely made by
10 LeQiaalufe Of eur 8lole
The ID reselu!sa sslls 81 +. "sePprt upon '9e
H. 1h;,i ssf 81 Is exi.lence and the Board regrel
mat nom causes perhaps IL some degree hitherto
,,sSvsssAft of beyond fher immediate control, its
uselbinsss bss a6i been l4Iy developed. Among
these an4 ID enumerated, IN unsuitable location.
~ ins,s position to the Wofkhousc has caused it
~ often 70 be regarded in the light with that
Mace of punishment. hence efforts have frequently
been mnde ios the release Of some Of the inmates
chiefly BY application to the First District Court
which were generally attended with success.
Another difficulty, defective law, having until
recently favored such efforts, by not distinctly
defining The period during which the commissioners
should have the control and supervision OF the
v5uths. while ID the House or during their appren-
t;ceship. The difficulty Of obtaining suitable en-
,,kovunanf for The inmates has hitherto been an
,nri,rnsuntsble obstacle with which the commits
sioness have had 70 contend. The original build
mrs on the present site, were ereczed before the
Board Of Commissioners was organized; they were
of wood and were not adapted for the use to which
they were TO be applied. They were DESTROYED by
lire At midday on the 10th of April, 1S49, and it
strongly suspected il was the work Of juvenile
incendsary number Of the inmates taking advan-
saee Of the confusion incident such scene made
their escape, others not only declined awaiting
themselves OF the opportunity escape but exered
themselves with audable zeal to quench the flames,
and % save the effects in the House. No place at
dtl sui 60 even lOr temporary occupation could De
procured, and il was with The utmost reluctance
the Board yielded to the necessity of placing the
boys during two months, in division OF the Work
house. The erection OF the temporary buildings,
which still in use, retarded by the inunda-
ton occasioned by the crevasse, but il
desirable TO remove the boys from the Workhouse
they were occupied before the waters had receded
Notwithstanding the adverse circumstances in
which the institution has been placed it is satsiae
tary TO note that but little sickness has prevailed
fha nfaa and mt hazo
cured within its precincts.
The Board OF Commissioners organized in
July, 1S47 and in September Of the same year the
first boy was received as an inmate. Up to the pres
ent time the whole number admitted is one hundred
and nine whose birth places follows Ire
land %: New York, 12; New Orleans, 12; Car
rollton, ELia-) l /; Louisiana, Z Germany, Eng
land @ Ohio, 6; Pennsylvania, 6 Kentucky, 2 ;
Virginia, 2; Scotland, 2 Missouri, 2 South Caro-
Inns, Holland, 1 France, Canada, Con-
nectcut, Maine, l ; Texas, l Boston, / ; Ten
nessse Mississippi, 4; Indiana, Georgia,
I--Toiai, 100.
The present number OF inmates is thrty-one.
The escapes have been numerous, owing in a
great measure to the construction Of the buildings
and enclosures. Several instances have occurred
in which boys, after having effected their escape,
returned voluntarily, and others have requested to
remain for time after the expiration Of that for
which they committed This course has
been pursued by them from conviction that their
interest was more likely to be promoted under the
care and restraints Of the Refuge than when the v
were rowing beyond its limits. A case occurred in
which mother, being DESTROYS Of obtaining her
sons release he implored her to allow him to re-
main " to get education
The Institution should be regarded as School
9i hsform for youth, or a refuge from ignorance,
cree and crime, not as prison, as il has been
rone0usiy supposed by many. In it are taught the
same branches OF education as in the primary
schools OF the Municipality; appropriate moral and
religious isiruc ion ia impaired TO them, and paFsn-
cal care al all times exercised over their habits,
Language and department as far as practicable BY
its ulcers hours are allotted for labor and recrea-
ton, ard iinally when fried by education and re-
sotpiatiun OF habits, they placed in situations
suited % their capacities, to learn occupation
for their Future support and 10 render them useful
eilizens the surveillance of the Institution contin-
sting over them until they attain their majority OF
those for whom situations have been Obtained IA
vDrahie accounts are received
The history of many of the inmates is such as TO
render manifest the claims which the Institution
has rpon the public authoFitos, and 10 excite the
sympathy Of the humane. Some are without pa
rents, destitute of father a mothers care, with
none 70 train them in the paths of virtue; others
have parents who utterly neglect them or whose
example is only calculated to lead them 10 vice and
erimei some abandoned, homeless, and friendless
were being encouraged and taught by older often
ders 10 obtain a wfetched existence by begging or
pdierng; rowing in the streets and on the Levee
by day, and sleeping in market houses, cotton sheds
aF empty boxes BY night.
Thousands upon thousands of dollars are expend-
cd TO punish old and hardened offenders in the
generally vain hope Of their reformation and shall
not this unfortunate class Of youth command the
protection and fostering care Of those who are en-
trusted with the public veal II may be well to
spend thousands 10 punish criminals but il would
be far wiser and better TO spend tens of thousands
to make good citizens of those who without the
fostering care of government, might become, not
only blFthen upon the public treasury, but a
curse 70 the community. But an augmented out
lay i not necessary; Houses Of Refuge eventually
cost less fhan prisons such has been the expert
ence of these communities where they have been
iosiered with Judgment and protected by wise leg
lsallon. II your Refuge be not sustained by ade-
qnate appropriations, and judicious arrangements,
It must fall, and the juvenile offenders be sooner or
later sent 10 the work-house or penitentary there
70 perfect vicious education among adroit and
hardened villains, an expense to the government
while there, and pIundeTers upon the community
AFTER their liberation. Look into the biography Of
the swlndler, the robber, the assassn the murder.
en- and IN many cases the conclusion must BE- iney-
table, that il Ia youth he had been subjected to
the saluiary restraints and Influences Of House Of
Refuge, he would not have been an inmate of the
penl'eutary or sufferer upon the scaffold. 1t is
believed that Of 4397 boys and girls admitted into
The New York Honse of Refuge +" three f0ltrfks
have been saved from ruin and reformedi' Ii il
known thar many OF them have become highly
respectable and useful citizens.
a case has recently been cited which is cacu-
lated, in contrast with the foregoing statement to
prison. person was lately confined in the prison
a Auburn, New York, whose first conviction was
At ten years Of age he has since been at different
tunes, twenty-eight years convict, supported by
the State, at an expense at not less than $4,000
II has been observed that half the interest on that
sum seasonably expended in his proper training
might have given him TO the State as an intelli.
gent industrious, upright citizen, and sharer d
the public burdens"
We have the testimony OF that distinguished
perspicacous and larnenied statesman, De Witt
Clinton, IN favor Of Houses Of Refuge in the fol-
lowing foreibe language q The House OF Refuge
- the best institution Of the kind that has ever
been devised by the wit, or established by the
benehcehce, OF man II takes cognizance of vice
IN ITS embryo state, and redeems from ruin and
sends forth for usefulness those depraved and uu(or
ttnate youth, who are sometmesin dreI;ct state.
sometimes without subsistence, and Al ali t;mes
without friends, to guide them in the paths If viz
tue. The tendency Of this noble charity Is nre
ventlve, as well remedial; its salularv mower
has been felt and acknowledged in breaking mn
the haunts OF vice. and the dminution Of our crlmi.
nal proceedings
VI the expedency and urgent necessity of a
House of Refuge for our Municipality, there can
be no doubt The mode in which it shall be xus
tanned and administered alone remains 10 be CON.
sidered. The Board entertain the opinion. ina,
some support at least, is due from the State. bul
this should not be relied on the means Of III,
Municipality should be applied upon more
liberal scale than has heretofore been done. so a,
nlaea =.