The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-03-12
BALTIMORE.
SATURDAY, MARCH IL, 1859.

In the following extract, which we take from
the published report of the testimony in the case
of THErFoRD, alias HOPPE, indicted for stealing a
roll of bank-notes from the counter of the Farm
ers' and Planters Bank of this city, now on trial
in the Criminal Court, we are presented with
phase of criminal life which, however familiar to
those who are in the habit of reading attentively
the proceedings of Courts of Justice appears never
to have been sufficiently considered by society at
large The portion of the testimony referred to
is that given by an ex-policeman named SMITH,
and reads as follows
KNEW Hoppie's character but not his name; he was
pointed out to witness of the thieves in
the country spoke him: he was pointed out at
Fuses or William Sutherlands house. the Causeway
Where all the thieves resort, when they Balt
more was in the fall Of 49, in October have as
many as thirty thieves there at time witness was
police officer at that time and this house his
witness knew the and character the parties who
resorted to Fustes house; witness person by
name of Brown; suppose it is the Brown refers
to- Brown was boy then knew three four thieves by
the name of Brown"
We are here introduced to class of criminals
sufficiently numerous in all our large Cities and
perfectly familiar to the police known as profess
sonal thieves. They easily distinguished
from those merely casual offenders, whose crimes
may be described as but the exceptional lapses of
men, whose general lives are otherwise in con-
formity with the law. Their offences are the acts
of men who live habitually in contraventon of
law, and who make, in fact a regular business of
thieving. 1t is, indeed, well established and gene
rally understood that the great majority of crimes
against property are committed by criminals of
this Glass; who depend upon stealing for their daily
bread, and who practice it with that ingenuity
and dexterity which habit and experience alone
can give. Occasional instances undoubtedly there
are, of theft being committed under pressure of
hunger and want, to satisfy some immediate
desire, or through inability to resist some partcu-
lar temptation. The general rule is, however, as
we have stated it, and the characteristics of the
class IN question are so strongly Defined as, in the
Judgment of an English writer, to merit for those
who belong to it, the denomination of 'sincorrigi-
BILE thieves" and justify their being dealt with
upon the theory of confirmed and ineradicable
guilt which that appellation implies. Accord
lngly, we find it recommended in late num-
Der of the National Re0iec, and the suggestion is
highly approved of by The London Economist that
offenders of this description, AFTER say two previ-
Gus convictions for the specific crime of stealing,
N'''iA ~ W
tnct offence of being thie-the record of the pre-
vious convictions to be prma tacie evidence to sus-
tain the charge, and the penalty, in case of con-
viction, to be Imprisonment for long or even in
definite period-terminable, however, by the pay
ment of fine to be discharged by the criminal
out of the surplus proceeds of his prison industry,
after he has earned minimum sum to defray the
expenses of his subsistence Such a plea, it is
plausibly argued would possess the advantage of
securing to society the largest measure of protec-
ton at the least possible COST and with the only
possible chance of reforming the habits of the
criminal, who are told, would thus be COM
PEELED TO work for his support, and encouraged to
work for his liberation. The present system of
lmprisoning such offenders for longer or shorter
term, according to the grade of the offence at the
discretion of the Judge, is compared to the plan of
catching rats-supplying their wants attentively in
trap for couple of days, and then turning them
loose again IN the cellar. Certainly, the scheme is
preferable to that suggested by Mr.. HILL, who
THE Economist tells us, thought that simple con-
viction should impose man the liability indie
pendently of any offence to be called before
magistrate, at any time, and be required to rebuff
the presumption of dishonesty, derived from his
general mode of life, or find security for his good
behavior Apart from the fact that such plea
would involve system of espionaqs and suyreiL-
lance, altogether foreign to the spirit of our laws
and for which, happily, there are no English
words of parallel Specification TO be found
it is doubtful, as The Economist comedies
whether ''any scheme could be more ingeniouslv
''devsed to compel the casual offender into life
''of crime" Yet the suggestion which The Econ
omis itself approves, seems to us hardly less OBJ
jectionabe. In the first place, it is based upon a
theory which we believe to be essentially and radi-
cally alse-that of the absolute and utter incorri-
gibility of any particular class of offenders. That
we may not appear to do our English contempo-
rary injustice in this respect we will quote its own
language upon this point. t'No punishment' it
says, Exercises lettering influence on one of
this class professional theves.) Prison is to him
"only ill success, and liberation is only the oppor-
'tunity to try his luck again. He no more thinks
'of changing his life when his three months or
'three years are over, than bankrupt thinks of
''!eaviag trade and going into the army
Now, except in very rare and occasional instan-
ces. only TO be accounted for upon the theory of
moral insanity, as when, as sometimes happens,
persons comfortable in their circumstances and
placed beyond any temptation to the commission
of theft, are afflicted with an unhappy and appa-
rendy uncomfortable propensity to appropriate
what does not belong to them-cases which appeal
only TO our pity-we doubt whether there is such
thing as an 'Encorrigible' thief to be found
or one, who, if by any unexpected turn of fortune
he should be placed in the possession of compe-
tence would not gladly and Immediately abandon
his previous course of life. We question whether
there is any class of thieves who steal for the mere
love Of stealing The only difference in this res
pect, between the professional criminal and the
casual offender, is that whereas the latter steals
only for the qualification of an immediate want or
present DESIRE the former looks habitually to THE
wing as regular means of subsistence Nor is
this all. We trust that we are as free as anv body
from that sort of maudlin sentiment which wastes
all its sympathy upon criminals, and has no con-
sideraton for the interests of Society Yet when
we remember how large a share poverty and igno
rance, and evil associations, and want of proper
training have in the first formation and education
of criminals, and how little encouragement Society
ever extends to a liberated feon, even in his best
endeavors to mend his ways and regain
the position he has lost we cannot
but regard the mode of dealing with
such unfortunates, which is suggested by our con-
as being eminently cruel and unjust.
1t is the duty of Society undoubtedly to protect
ITSELF but that is not the only duty of Society," nor
are we sure that the method proposed is the best
way of performing it, He that stole once will
steal again, is the maxim of Society, and conse-
quently every door, and every avenue of honest
employment is closed against the convicted thief
He may have served out his appointed term of i'm
prisonment with exemplary patience and resgna-
tion-he may have expiated his crime with bitter
tears and repentance-and may have left his prison
with firm and abiding resolve to lead an honest
and useful life A mark like that of CAIN is upon
him. A stigma rests upon his name, of which he
can by no possibility get rid. No promises of
amendment will win back for him the confidence
be has forfeited or purchase for his new formed
resolutions the benefit and opportunity of trial.
His friends, if any he should have, outside of the
lepraved circle of wicked associates, through
whose ill example he may have been first betrayed
nto the commission of crime are ashamed of him
md disown him. Without the means, ordinarily, Of
obtaining work, or even of leaving the community
n which he is Stunned and despised as outcast,
lie is easily tempted, in sheer desperation, to re-
ume his former course of life He steals again.