Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-12-23

THE FIRST STATE PRISONER.
BY GRANT THORBURN.

snlcd in New York, June 1874, by trade
.l naiImakcr, in the 22nd year of my
In October following, (at that time the
\ was cut Of town, and only 30, 600 inhab-
s. with ten thousand fools, some big
al some smaller than myself, we stood
hing the vibrations Of the rope and iron
1grug two long hours. Then the sheriff
On the scaifold and read a reprieve. |
IS was much disappointed, | expected
se hanging, but no hanging was there.
he man was Noah Gardner. lie kept n
2 shoe store in New York. He committed
.ty, which at that time was death by the
,0. these United States. The State prison
l@ York was in the course of erection at
.me; this was the first prison erected in
world for reform, instead of hanging Tie
v Of Friends were the chief promoters Of
nmaue system. One room in the prison
near ready TO receive criminals. The
j, procured from the Governor com
ton from death to the State prison for
ing shoemaker by trade, they gave him
aa., wax, lasts and avis, and here com
I'd the state prison shoe manufactory.-
court six vagabondS were sent to keep
mpany them he learned to make shoes
,'od the prison three years after this In
lr-c room sat three hundred ShoemakerS
% was provost marshal, walking through
ranks with cane in hand, furnishing evil
and praising them that did we'll Seven
.r having passed over him, the Friends wait
the Governor Friend" said they,
M Years ago You would have hung this
@ now here is a reformed member saved
ociety."
lie received an unconditional pardon, and
-e ont The Friends found him store on
ar.strcet, found him money, endorsed his
~ and gave him their custom. Immediate
.o was in a thriving way. He joined the
oey Of Friends, and said thee and thou
n !hc best of them. He had a wife, and
'ren arrived at maturity.
His journeymeu were chiefly men of families,
wrought at their own houses. One day
gave a man pair of boots, ''Now friend, -
ne thee must bring home these boots on
.'h day evening. Says he, "yOu shall have
.n' The boots did not come home till the
day evening. Noah was wroth. He gave
man long lecture on the evils of disap-
.'mcnt and want Of punctuality. When he
up to breathe, the man rep lied:
>r, | am poor man; have three chill
the youngest forty-eight hours old. |
q 10 tend to my wife and cock for my chill
0 1t was not in my power to finish the
' sooner Noah still continued to magni-
~e horrors of disappointment. The'man
Wy angry the Scotch blood boiled in his
' ne struck the counter with his fist like
-lse hammer "I know" said he, its a
.2e thing to be disappointed. l remember
ny up to the Park to see you hung, and |
,'' was 50 disappointed in my life as when |
:, TIE reprieye."
VOW vow, this was a knock down argument, as
',shman would say. 1t was a case in point,
'"ey say in court and a fact beyond all
.'o'erSy, as they say in Congress- Noah
N 1amh; he opened not his mouth He gave
"aR another pair to make, kept him in his
"yment, treated him kindly, but as, the
said, he never heard the word disappoint-
-. arop from his lips thereafter.
., ,'2n went on prospering and to prosper
.. u.ay he borrowed various sums of money,
~ obtained number of endorsements. The
ae changed for gold the endorsements
", - shaved in Wall-street That night he
: VI ior parts unknown, taking with him a
SISTER, the wife of a young friend to cheer
!. : y" lIe way, The story is true to the let
. ana being the first subject of state prison
l, the day drcamers of the present time
se''e the question, whether hanging oil
PRISON reform, is the surest way of curing
... inmate villain. His family and friend,
" heard IRON him.