New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-07
VISIT TO THE TOABS.
The CONDEMNED MES-CRInE IN NEW
YORK

- me OF the King -Fushed countries OF EUROPE '"o,
period has not aPsed-wAen 10 be in prison might be-
more honorable than TO be N palace The ssd. stern
walls OF stone. in many an ancient city and upon many
isolated crag, had they tongues a. well n the ears
which have been trsditionay assigned to them. might
tel u stories OF lofty Aspirations Of heroic endurance
of life thrown away trAe in the cause Of humanity
The prisons Of Spain, Of France of Austria Of Sicily
and Of England are the eternal monuments Of the
worlds best virtue forude and ebiN arous enieavor
They may be leyeled with the earth and utterly dis.
appear hut the spot whereupon each stood impoteny
sry ing to cage thought more TO be restrained than
the chartered wind, which bloweth were il lis,e,h,
will be forever remembered. Well sang that gallant
cavalier who devoted genious aud liberty and wealth
To the cause of An nngraeful master
Stone walls do no, Prison max.
Nos iron bars cage;
Minds resccabIe snd quiet tab,
That for 4 hermitage"
But. aas. for the stronghold througl which Nc yes
ter,,ay wandered In one OF the bu ses and mos,
busting parts of the city-slmost in the very center OF
our widely -circlhg and FACILITATING life, stands that
massive stronghold. which we cal he Tomhs. Men
hurry by it, intent upon business pleasure, and give
thought to the character. the virtue, the hopes the
chances, which are buried there. Gentle women.
whose heart. need only be touched to best respon-
sivey with the teudcrest pity TO the cry Of humanity
In ruins glide under the shadow Of those lofty walls
without thought Of the degradation which they
compass of boyhOod and girllood forced into ripe
maturity of sin--of virtue wrecked of conscience
scared. Of all hope of an honorable and manly life
gone zone forever--of creatures for whom sympathy
can have 10 kinder wish than that the grass may soon
BE- waving their graves. For within those walls
seethes and Testers and feuncnts, the corruption aud
rottenress Of great city. There the murderer SITS
counting the moments There the burglar plans his
defense and new schemes of plumber. There are
higbyaymen forgers counterfeiters-the whole fam
ilv of cheats. There the harlot bowls out her OBJ
scenity. poisoning the ai, and almost blackenng the
lined walls of her cell Cowardice trembes there,
and effronterv brazens: weakness willis there, and
assimilation plays over the old game; while perhaps,
in not one Of the crowded galleries is single con-
science touched, or single heart broken and conrite.
Ii the philosopher who spends his days and nights IN
meditating upon the dignity of human nature, would
ike to know something of It's degradation lei MN
visit the New-York Tombs
We do not pretend to be philosophers; nor are We
cynical enough to find pleasure in the contemplation
of wretchedness but our craft sometimes sends us TO
places which other men are able to avoid. Those
whose duty is to let the world the great, beareyed,
diotc world, know what it is doing, must not be over
nice or unduly sensitive. So to the Tombs we yester-
day wcndcd to see the lions-we mean the murdcrers
We had grave scruples at first about ntruding upon
these wretched men. We thought that if we were 70
be hung within week, should prefer to be cois-
tered up and should not care TO be made show OF,
until the day of the final exhibition. But little in
oury and some reflection satisfied that these poor
creatures find relief from thoughts that madden, and
FROM dreams that torture, in kindly or in curious inqu
res-perhaps, from some casual observation, CLEAN
of hope. no matter how little. A gentle word may
sOotlc the gnawing anguish little service may
quiet for moment the perpetra sting. The light OF q
human cOuntenance may lDger in the condemned cell
long after that countenance has been withdrawn from
the iron lattice So to the tombs went, to see the
murdcrers.
When we enter the office. everybody il uncom-
monty civil. We thought al first that the turkeys
were ike the pOssesSoIS of fine picture gallery, and
that il did them good to show the curOstes. But the
grim, od-ashioncd jailor. rattling great bunch Of
KEYS, is an exploded idea: the profession has been
unnamed, and we believe that the prisoner has no
better friend than his keeper who il usually porty
Inan with stern and strong ideas about the sacred
majesty of the law, and soft spot somewhere within
his manly ches-very hard upon those who try TO run
AWAY, but sending dinners from his private table to
to those who are well-behayed. As we said every
body is civil. We are furnished with rather dirty
ticket by viitue of which we may go anywhere; but
we are loosely cautioned not to lose it, as in such
We should be doomed to perpetual imprisonment
I being utterly impossible to get out without it.
And so we enter within the walls. We go first to
he nurdprpis nrp IN he hanOpd--
long narrow area. A good-nstured gentleman, an
official kindly explains to us the process Of strangua-
ton Mt present in vogue in the City Prison and com.
pares il with the processes in favor elsewhere remark
ing upon the comparative humanity and convenience
of different styles. Here the prisoner is ho-tedin
Massachusetts, he is dropped through trap. We then
enter the Prison, and another polite person is quite
cheerful at the idea of conducting to the condemned
cells. These are upon the first floor, and we begin
with No. a. in which JAMEs SHJPHERD, the incendiary
and murderer Of his wife, j. confined. The turnkey
opens the inner door, and We discover seated upon
low couch, a cOarse-featured pock-marked man, de-
Gently dressed, and engaged in writing with
lead pencil. When he sees he rises hastily and
crosses to the lattice. His face is one
of the worst which We ever looked upon. II
has no intelligence except the intelligence of
cunning. Il seemed absolutely scanned with bru-
tally. There was cshain something in the mans
manner intoerably repusive. He appeared most GER
tainly TO be acting part. He would suddenly rise
and then sit down as suddenly he kept up a contin-
ual twitchirg and jerking and spttsg; his talk was
studiedy wild and ncoherent, and he necessarily
passed bits Of ill-wrtep and ill-speled manuscript
through the bars for our perusa 1t vas hardly pos
sibe to discover in these any meaning. They were
of his innocence and denuncidons OF the
witnesses agar,t him, with interpretations having no
connection with and Io relation to the subject tie
threw himself into great rage about pofrsh OF
himself which had been published in one Of the Sunday
ro.nnr1.. IL Ihr,.t LIE nfnrlinN innrnals thrOMgh