St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-11-29

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ted sensation Of zindescribable nausea
They were packed in like herring, all,
without exception, the victims of drink
aud its attendant vices and crimes.
| Down stairs were the cells in which the
prisoners Of the night were confined-sep
fenced on various charges; some for drunk
4 enness and Others for theft and BURGLARY
On one of the hard pallets y woman was
reposing, She reused up At our approach t' "a
and began to weep and moan in: the most
heart-rending manner. Next door to her
was mother with child in her arms -
/ One cell contained three men. Ny atten:
ton was called to- one of, these, an aged
man, who came forward and protested that
his companion was killing him. ''He has
beaten me-" said the man, sssfor the last
1 two hours Il AM here for nothing I have
committed no crime; T have seen better
days. For the sake Of humanity take me
out Of this place. His appeal was sus-
tanned by the appearance Of his tcrmentor
"a young and stalwart Irishman, with a
hideous face, who poured out torrent of
profane vituperation upon the old mani
| The officer kindly released the latter, amid
the most earnest expressions of gratitude:
The station houses seemed superior to
those Of Philadelphia. Tie accommoda-
tions for the officers are neat and conye-
nient; the hall itself large and we'll order
cd, and the, whole economy Of the place
admirable. Most Of the lieutenants are
men OF education and character, and the
discip pline Of the rank and file of the police
seems to be exact and severe a record is
kept Of all those who arc lodged and con-
fined; their ages, sex, occupation and resi-
dence: The majority Of the guilty and
the poor seemed to be males, but the; pro-
portion Of females was frightfully large.
The adventures of these unfortunates
would furnish startling commentary upon
the scarcity Of female employment, and
the inadequacy Of female ges. Attrac-
ted to New York, they run brief career,
after as brief a resistance to the allure
mems Of vice, and die an early death.
The history of young girl from an ad-
jacent village was tod to u.s. She was ex-
tremely lovely, but fond of dress and ad-
miration, was induced on one occasion to
pay visit to New York, by man who
represented himself as a merchant, and
proved to be gambler. She never re-
turned to lier happy home, but became an
/ inmate of one Of tie Mercer street houses,
where she remained for some two years.
At the end Of this time she had contriyed
! to save some fifteen hundred dollars, and
then resolved to change her course of life,
and to live upon her little fortune. At
that moment the tempter again appeared,
in the person of her seducer. She loved
him ardently, and, with a woman's conf
4 dence, surrendered to his Keeping her
money, on the promise it should be repaid
five fold. She never saw him more, sFand
now," said the officer, "she is almost a
nightly occuf ant Of one of our cells"
Those who have read the works of Dick
ems will remember. how he delineates the
mystery of thieving in all its varieties; the
skill and dexterity of the London burg
j lars; the utter degradation, even of chill
dren Of both sexes, reared amid evil asso-
Citations, and the difficulty of detecting
the really guilty. New York cannot, Of
course, equal London in this respect, but
it has many representatives worthy the
pen of the illustrious Boz. Anecdotes
are related of boys Of ten years, who make
the circuit of the city, day and night, with
violin and tamborine, and return with con-
siderable harvest, taken from the pockets
of their audiences, all Of which, in turn, is
counted over to: their leader.who exercises
a brutal tyranny over his youthful. follow
ers..
| The nationalities Of the habitues Of the
rart of New York that we visited are
American, German, and Irish OF course,
American rowdyism is there represented in
its worst phases, but the fondness for iq-
uor seemed to show itself less among the
Germans. Those who resort to the Ger
man dens prefer lager beer, while in other
quarters we noticed that gin, whisky, and
other poisoro GUS decoctions were the favor
ite beverages. .....:. 49,. 49,.
Our next and last visit was to the negro
headquarters. Down stairs stable, the
second floor a coffin warehouse, the third a
ball room and bar ! The contrast was
entirely in favor of the colored ladies and
gentlemen The roomswa cleaner, the fe-
males better dressed and-better behaved
and the men looking healthier and more
alert. a large party occupied the floor as
We entered. The music was good; and
the dancers. more decorous than that we
had seen.i Among those who participated,
we noticed four young white men, appa-
rently clerks from neighboring stores
They seemed to be much consternated at
the appearance of the officers and the stran-
gers. 17o But they worried through the
dance, and took the first opportunity + to
Leaving ,f., fse., with tie i woman nan, who had
l CT -