Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-07-09
TROr The IutelIiEenesr.I

| [Ror the IntelIiEenesr.I
| MEssRs EDlToRs:-Perhaps neither you mol
your readers are aware Of the fact, that there
| are in our midst class Of persons who have
no home but the jail. 1t isa fact, a reTy stg'
/ aifeaHt one, by the way, that Christian com
/ munity. rs we boast we are, with our Bible So
cieties, Tract Societies and foreign missiona'
! ties,-that in the middle of the nineteenth cen
/ tnry,-in the "0ld Dominion where the beams
of science and revelation are eonverged to
J Eocus-we have no asylum for The unfortunate
mo home for the destitute and the stranger,
! whose unhappy lot may be cast within our Dor
I II is no wonder that poets have chosen
! '.YoJ9s Steess H0SRe," as \ grateful theme o.
song. In themselves, the words are full OF mel
( ody-in their associations they form The moS'
exquisite music. Oh, it is blessed thing t'
I have 4 haven of rest, port Of peace, where
love lights its watch. fires, and keeps its sleep
Il less vigils-ever eager to greet the returning
wandeTer weary OF cherries pilgrimage by
flood or field May Heaven have pity on those
who have no home! but who avert their steps
/ from the door Of their natal dwelling, banIShed
by the rank weeds Of diseord and the CLOUDS OF
desolation, and who are compelled, perhaps bS
their own sins and folEes-perhaps by circnm'
stances over which they had no control, to seek
among strangers, that o6scLTity, oblivion OF
rest, which they failed to find beneath the pa
rental root.
The object of confinement in Jail is, and
ought to be- disciplinary. 1t ought TO strike a
wholesome terror to the unfortunate and vicious
heart of the recipient, and warn him, when
once his probationary term is closed, to go and
sin no more. To all Americans, the idea of CON
finement in Jail ought to be, aud we believe is,
to the very last degree, revolving. But our city
authorities familiarize themselves to it, and
seem to look upon it as not only not very
great evil, but on the other hand, as uniyer-
sal panacea-a sort of cure-all-for all the evils
physical intellectual and moral, to which hu'
mainly is heir.
In every other city land in almost every town
and hamlet of any note) in the United States
which we have visited land they have not been
few and far between) we have found in exist
ence and in active operation, some charitable OF
benevolent Institution, the only passport to
which was misfortuRe irrespective of character
or circumstances. Wheeling alone Is an eX-
ception That do We do Nth mt.fortnne!-
Send it to Jail For example-who has for
gotten the circumstance which occurred some
months since. of young woman in the prime
of life, who was found sick in one of our streets
and sent to Jail No Physician teas called an,
and before midnight her soul had passed to
'sthat bourne whence no traveller e'er returns.
No kind minister of religion appeared to gid
the horrors of eternity-no penetentlal prayer
closed the dying sinnerslips and not eTena "frail
memorial" marks the spot, in the potter SHIELD,
where her mortal TeIIai''s d-res;.sa On
the 9th of April last, young man met with a
serious accident at one of the Rolling Mills IN
town, by which his arm was severely burned
He tcas sent to Jail to be cured. Again; only a
few weeks since respectable old gentleman,
whose head was silvered DER with the frosts of
fifty winters, and whose life had been most
bIameless, exhibited some slight evidence OF
mental alienation, and caused his family conSid-
cradle trouble instead of soothing his irritated
feelings and calming him by kindness, he was
thrown into Jail, and il his case does not result
in the most hopeless insanity, it will only be
because the humane attendants succeed, by the
most assiduOus care and unremitting attention,
in alternating his mental distress, and expeditlng
his removal to an ASYLUM for the insane.
During one week last month, two young wo-
men, sick, destitute and friendless, with no
eye to pity, and no arm to save, reported their
cases to our sapient aldermen and were kindly
sent to jail!
No longer ago than last Sunday evening, a
man was found in the street perfectly insensible
and in dying condition :--and was, by the adj
vice and consent of some Of the Ocersesrs Ct the
poor, sent to tie county JalE, by order oil an
alderman. This man proves to be an almost en-
tire stranger among us, from the State of Wis
consin: and his condition is e',"Ls - e
the cOmmseration of every heart not entlrely
steelcd to the last emotion oil 0eneVOlence OF nu-
mauity. When bro't to the Jail his person was
examined, and found to have suffered severely
in some places from burns, which had been neg
lected and had been exposed to the lilies, and
were literally cFalolin0 NTH rerHlin.
Now, Messrs. Editors, permit me to ask our
wise aldermen, through your columns, what sort
of place n jail is for such persons. And also
to state explicitly that the recent instructions
Of the County Sheriff are to the effect, that IN
no cGse lchaterer in future, sill any person be
admitted to Jail without a regular commitment
charging them with some crime or nlisdemednOr
1t is a shame and disgrace, not only to Eir-
ginians, but to humanity, that an association
with felons of every grade, is the only refuge
private or public, we have to offer TO any who
may meet with the misfortune to be poor anC
sick in our midst.
Let us no longer boast of our refinement ant
our civilization, our progress, or our intelligence
while the fact is staring us in the face, that IL
that particular quality, which most adorns ant
dignifies our species, and fits us for the society
Of the noble and the good ace are ut least tire
centuries behind the age In tcltich are lice. Tina
we the citizens, in this, as well as in many 9th
er respects, are legitimate laughing stock, {,
every city and town in the Union, and are living
in state of barbarian, worthy the early, darl
ages Eye WITNESS
TIE SOLDIERS OF ls12.-A meeting of the sol
dicrs of the war of 1912, was held 1.-THE Count.
Court House, Philadelphia, on the 4th inst
We take the following notice of the proceeding
from Philadelphia exchange: