Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1853-04-13
CORRESPONDENCE.

RICHMOND, Va, March %, 1853
Dear Sir:-In reply to your inquiry in relation
to the crimes of free negroes and mulattoes,
will, with great pleasure. give you the most re-
liable information to be CLEANED from the public
documents at hand. But, it is to be regretted,
that most of the prison reports, otherwise full
and Interestingly are quite defective in the main
facts most intimately connected with the subject
of inquiry. Enough however, may be collected
from the criminal records. of both slave and free
States to establish the low grade of morals so ge-
nerally attributed to this class of persons.
That you may have the facts in the most con.
venient form for comparison, the white and free
colored population, the white and colored con-
vcts, will be given, respectively, of several slave
and free States, with some explanatory remarks,
beginning with the statistics of our own State.
The white population Of Virginia, in
1910, was 74O,968
The white population of Virginia, in
1850, was 805,3N
Average for ten years, 818,136
In the ten fiscal years commencing the LIST of
October, 1910, and ending the Both of September,
1850, there were received in the Penitentiary 1852
white convicts. If we average them at &c per
annum. we shall have ratio of one convict for
every %, 003 white persons in the State.
The free eolored population of Virginia,
in 1850, was 1896
Annual average, 5l,S26
In these ten years, beginning the LIST of Octo-
Der, 1910, and ending Both September. 1850.) 159
free colored conyicts were received in the Peni-
tertiary. If we make the average Is, we shall
find the ratio is convict for 1901 free persons
of color, exhibiting the proportion of crime among
them as 7.lS to among the white people of the
State. '.i
In Massachusetts,, where the free man of color
is admitted to the bar and raised to the pulpit,
the statistics of crime less favorable to his
class, than in any slave State.
The white population of Massachusetts,,
in 1910, was 729, 030
In 1850, 9S5, 704
Annual average, S57, 1867
to the 30th of September, 1850. the white con-
victs received in the Penitentary of that State
numbered l,129, being an average say of ll3,
and giving ratio of one to 1857 of the white
population.
The free colored population of Massa-
chusetts in 1910, was 1869
In 1850, 1916
Annual average, 1872
Within the ten fiscal years last mentioned. 100
cclored convcts were received in the said Peni-
tertiary; average of IL year. or one for every
727 free persons in the State. These facts exhi-
bit the crimes of the free colored people of that
State, as bearing the proportion of 9 So to l
among the WnlCeS. In this term OF ten years,
the Imprisonment of free colored persons in Mas
sachusetts was in the proportion of 2.27 to l in
Virginia: and among the white persons 90 to
in Virginia.
1t is due to the subject, after giving the above
comparison between Virginia and Massachusetts,,
to say that certain crime has greatly increased in
the State since the late revisal of our laws. In
the two years commencing the LIST of October,
1850, and ending the Both September, 1852, we
received 1873 white convicts, being an annual ave-
rage of &C. According to the white population
in 1850, this number gives ratio of one convict
for Ii, SOS white persons. In the same time, 4S
free persons of color were received average of "a
or one for every 2l59, being in the proportion Of
6.33 to l. 1t will also be seen that crime among
the whites has increased, above the average Of
the preceding ten years, SO per cent; and among
the free negroes so.
On the LIST February, 1858, the convicts
in the Penitentiary consisted of white
| males, 154
White females, none.
Colored males, 80
| Do. females, CSC
Total, free persons, 24C