The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-06-02
Visit 20 Kate Virginia Poole In the View
Hampshire Statc Prison.


Hampshire Statc Prison.
[Frop the Concord IN H. Statesman. NAV 2sl
In the New Hampshire State prison is confined
young female whose appearance and address at once
enlist sympathy Hc- countenancc has the artless
expression Of one unstained eveu by tho Conscious
ness 0! crime. The unaffected manner 10 whseil
she reveals story OF wron~ . .... vSrage sufficient
to make eeypy heart blss,s! e. h.s T. enough to
make any one who listens to her history cry out
against such blot upon justice and humanity %
her strange and cruel Incarceration.
She has boon indicted for the crime Of infanticde,
and judicial sentence has placed her within the
walls of the prison for the term Of her natural life
there 10 have every sentiment Of principle and all
the delicacy Of her obtcrated in the dcbasing
contact with f,ions and Indicators. Through the
kindness Of the excellent and compassionate warden
Of the prison. the writer Of this article has been
permitted to have sterview with her, and has
hesitation in saying, that, among all the wrongs
committed under tho name OF justice, this case s
without parallel.
1t is enough to make us pause with the serious
inquiry. whether the great Of humanity IS not
rapidly gong back, and We are not again living III
an age OF barbarism. Her appearance Mt once re-
most irresistibly. Modest, sensitive to The degra-
dation of her position and conscious os true limo
cence, although victim to the perfdy of heI
destroyer, aud lying under the stigma Of criminal
conviction, DO one can approach her and hear hei
sad history from her own lips, without rising with
indignation.
She is Il native of Glasgow, in Scotand--hayine
no relatives in this country save an aunt, who wal
unable to assist her in her wretched extremity. Hos
downfall was effected under circumstances of afro
city that cry most loudly for vengeance on it,
guilty author. Her arms, neck and person arc
SCARED with wounds received in defending hersci
from her dabolcal aggressor, and her ruin only
accomplished when she was drugged into insensi
bility. With the innocent evidence of her fall il
her arms, she was excluded from the house of thu
only relative she bad in America, and, bearing
Ia har in upttfu, yrpvai tu
shelter for herself and babe Willie she could will
the labor Of her hands, find honorable support.
This was anything but the course which woulc
have been pursued by one conscious Of guilt. In
city of strapgers--a mother but not wifc-wha
could be expected All doors were closed agains
her. She could give away her child; but mother
heart revocd against it. Product of shame though
it was, and born to infamy though it might be
she chung to it as all that was dear to her in he
extremity. Finding. every avenue to employment
closed TO her in one city, she lcd to another. 1t
night when she left.
Heart. broken--only bound to life by the claim '
which bound her mother-she would, unde
other circumstances. have sought the welcome refug
OF suicide With these feelings called into mos
narrowing exercise by the loneliness and mis- cry G
her stuation--looking at the babe that slumberc
on her breast with the brand of nfamy born on it
brow, is it a wonder that mind thus tortured wa
swept beyond the bounds of consciousness! TIL
Hindoo mother who bursts the bonds Of nature b
finging her infant to the gaping monster Of th
Ganges, has no such plea as lay in the broken hear
and ffenzied brain of Virginia Poole leave he
own lips to tell her story.
q do not recollect any thing distinctly. she say
"aftcr entered the cars. The lights, the orOw
and the motion Of the cars, seemed to confuse ma
! do not think should have remembered anything
if the weight Of the child, which slumbered on m
lap, had not reminded me of its existence and m
own situation At last. u cloud seemed to thickc
about me, and every thing seemed to look white tina
met my e!e The child itself seemed like q feathc
and appeared to float away from me unconscousi
1T did not seem to fall, but TO RISE and Thought
could see it for some moments aferward'
Now, Who in the name OF common Justice, soc
anything in this transaction which should not hav
been instantly absolved BY that enrolling fcatuI
in the administration of justice which permits CO.
tnin mental conditions 10 anpal responsibility
crime! Where those when this poor ri
stood ar1aigred for her life, whose study and pr(
fesson it Is TO understand and make ntelli giblc
jury these subtle cenditionsl Why was not SO I'd
voice raised, that justice siumber not both on tt
jury box and the bench. whilo this thrice outrage
sufferer permitted to go down, undefende(
from scene OF wrong. despair and frenzy, to tn;
grave of character and selfrespect. State prison
Said ], "Do you think you had for your chi
the ordinary feelings and natural love Of mother
She looked me full in the face, with eyes gushir
with tears at the question: "Sir, would glad
have laid down my own life for it. could hal
given it away while in the fall consciousness Of N
condition but resolved to work myself into
grave before my child should have been separate
from me- Do you think, sir. would part with tn
without which life would have been an intolerab
burden!" Then she added, with deep emotion
"Thank Heaven. it was asleep the last remInbc
of it, and think ii never awoke to upbraid
with single cryv'