The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-08-01

legitimate of1caA packings Of the post OF Ser
geaut to the House are worth, on tie
average, $4,000 year we want that fact
known to the Office seekers throughout the
country, 30 that they may have the chance of
contepdipg for the prize. Few of the offices for
which Cur Tsmmany Hall patriots fight so hard
are worth 1.-THE of that aud we do not see
why, where so much is to be gained. some of
them should not come into the lists.
The Pardcaing Pswsr--Co1yicts Discharged
or Paadoned from Our State Psasons.
We have before us q copy of the State prison
reports for 1857, furnished for the Office Of the
Secretary Of State yellow covered document,
ia keeping go far with the character Of the
popular productions Of that school 1t contains
statistics of very curious nature, arranged in
columns and Represented in figures, and fur
nishes US with kind Of history Of the State
convicts Of 1857 discharged from prison or par
doned during that year. 1t is not difhcult,
therefore, to deduce some important differences
from the facts it embodies. The number OF pri-
soners who thus left their prisons, escaped or
died, was about 522, of which 81 were females
OF these, 243 were of idle habits at the time of
the commission Of their offences, and IT'S were
pursuing their usual employments. Of the re-
siduc nothing appears TO have been known
Among these convicts SO were colored persons
more than tenth of the whole-99 Irish. 62
Germans, and the remainder Americans and
foreigners of other nations. Forty could neither
read nor write; the remainder could do one or
the other, and generally both. The inadequacy:
OF punishment, in most cases, to prevent the COM
mission of fresh crimes by the same individuals,
or to change their former habits of life is appa-
rent, from the fact that 1876 had been in the
State and county prisons before. The par
doning power was freely exercised during
that year-twentytwo having been granted
Just as Governor Clark was going out OF Office,
and seventy two by Governor King, the present
incumbent The remainder were discharged by
the expiration of the terms of their sentences,
| by death, escapes (for few took place), and by
occasional reversals of judgment. 1t appears
that about 200 were married 134 had families
| of children, and the remainder were single, or
wdowers-the latter, however, but few in num-
Der. Two hundred and thirty four had one or
both parents living, to endure the disgrace and
sorrow of having borne such offspring; the rest
happily had none to witness their degradation
Iatemperance is evidently one of the greatest
sources Of crime. More than half the convicts-
| about 260-are known to have been hebriates;
while among the rest considerable number are
set down as belonging to the class Of moderate
drinkers.
In 1885. the English govern ment re-
ouired official returns from the Off cers
OF its prisons OF the amount Of in
struction and the extent of the education Of
as here, that among those best educated there
was the least crime, and the feeling in favor of
imparting instruction to the people rapidly in
creased. On the other hand, the French, who
preceded the English little in these inquiries,
had nearly come to the conclusion, from the
facts adduced by NJ. Query, in his Essai sur
la Statisquc Morale de Ia France that in
struction was unfavorable to innocence
dogma very agreeable to the established clergy
of that country and quite in vogue with some
of our own. But ii was soon afterwards ascer-
tanned, by more strict inquiry, that though ii
was true that in some departments OF France,
where there was most education there was most
crime, yet that this very criminality existed
almost exclusively among the ignorant
With regard to the religious tendencies of
these convicts, 1t is stated that one hundred and
twenty-four were Catholics and one hundred
and sixty Protestants of various denominations
Among them the Methodsts, Presbyterians
Baptists and Episcopalians have their share.
But it is to be remarked that the returns from
the prison at Auburn are defective in information
on the subject of religious instruction. Indeed, il
Is omitted altogether, for reasons which are not
made public in the report. II Is to be presumed
that the proportions ascertained at the other
two prisons are about the same at Auburn. The
greatest numbers of crimes of which these per-
sons were convicted were Of the class of grand
larcenies, amounting to 236, and burglaries l27;
assaults to kill about and forgeries Is; coun-
terfeiting, rspes, robberies, arson, &c. in all
about 1873. From this report we learn some
thing of the respective ages Of the convicts; but
whether at the time they committed their Of
fences or of the date Of the return, is not clear
" stated. but left TO inference. -Four hundred
and ninety elk were of and under the age Of
forty five, and Of these again one hundred and
one were twenty one years and under. But
very few old persons are found on the list.
The value of the property feloniously taken
by these convicts is stated to have been, in
round numbers, s7O,5OO; three of the largest
separate sums being about s21, 900, $4,000 and
$4,000 paltry sum compared with the finau-
cial robberies constantly committed in Wall
street. A single rogue on the Stock Exchange
has stolen more in one day than these five hun
dred convicts have in all their lives, and many,
very many Of them have gone unwhipped of
Justice But in Huntington's case the amount
Of bis operations was estimated at 100000.