The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-11-21
pY REV. D. VI. FIsHRR.

/ SSSSAOASS
BY REV. D. W. FISHER.
1t is important that it should be gem
orally known that a strenuous effort
will be made during the coming winter
to have a bill passed by the Legislature
of this State, for the erection of a House
of Refuge;-said Institution to be builI
for the use either of the whole or part
Of the State, as may be deemed eXpe-
dient. A committee of citizens of this
city has been charged with the duty of
preparing and circulating among the
people, petition to the Legislature,
and of advancing this object by all
other lawful means. The writer Of this
article desires to lay before the public
some principles and facts in regard to
the nature and design of such an insti-
tuition.
There-are two classes of youth for
whose benefit House of Refuge is
needed. The first is composed of boys
and girls under a certain age, who have
been guilty of crime in some of its less
aggravated forms. 1t will be found, mp
on examination, that very large
proportion of the petty offences
OF which the law takes cognizance,
Is committed by Juvenile offenders. It
appears from the very elaborate and
thorough investigation of this subject,
to which the authorities of Great Bri-
tain have been awakened, that the Pc
| 4AON VI L1I6 M1Lulu winch EDe large UQtn
Der OF criminals fall, is from the fifteenth
to twentieth years of age. While the
population OF that country, according
to the census of 1876, between these
years, was not quite one-tenth of the
whole, the proportion ofcriminals from
among them was more than one-fourth
OF the whole number of criminals, 1t
is probable that very nearly the same
state OF things now exists among us.
With regard to this class of Offenders,
1t Is well understood that it is difficult
to have them convicted and punished
according to the forms of law. There
is something so revolving to our hu-
manity, unless their ofenses are very
enormous, in condemning these young
culprits, to the same place and fate as
those of the ripe and hardened felon,
that both judges and juries are insensi-
ply disposed to strain their consciences
In order to procure an acquittal. But If
they are allowed to escape, they, as
general rule, go back to their evil assOci-
atoms, until at last they are convicted
and imprisoned. On the other hand, if
they are convicted while young, they
are thrown into jail where they associ-
ate with the worst of men, are deprived
OF that training for usefulness which
they need, branded for life as convicts,
and commonly they go on from bad to
worse until they miserably perish. As
the Chief Justice of one of our sister
States once said, "What more terrible
than to immure in the physically and
morally foul apartments of Jail,
child OF tender years without means of
instruction or information, and then
to turn him into the world with an at
mosphere about him which will repel
everything fitted to purify his body or
his soul! Is it not certain that such an
outcast viii return to his wallow-
ing, and accumulate filth and crime till
he has become fit for the State Prison
| and the gallows 2" In view of these
facts the inquiry forces itself upon
every benevolent mind, what can be
done to save these unhappy youth 2
Lhey are ruined If allowed TO escape,
| ana ruined If they arc convicted and
punished. How shall they be rescued?
The House of Refuge is intended to
meet the necessity arising from such
cases. Only it is desirable to have it
distinctly understood that tho hardened
criminal, even though young, cannot
safely be admitted to such an institu-
ton. Is suited only for those concern
ing whom there is hope of reform.
But there is second and larger class
for whom House of Refuge is needed.
1t is composed of boys and girls below
certain age, whose parents are dead, or
whose parents If living, fail to exercise
proper control over them, and who, as
a consequences, are evidently growing
up in ignorance and vice, For instance
the managers of the institution nj Phil
adelphla are authorized at their discre-
ton to receive youth "committed by
an alderman or Justice of the peace on
the complaint and due PROOF made to
him. by the parent, guardian or next
friend OF such infant that by reason of
inoorrigible or vicious conduct such
infant has rendered his or her control
beyond the power of such parent, guar
d1anI or next friend, and made it mani
NNnf F,srNN
morals and future welfare Of such in
fant, he or she should be placed under
the guardianship of the Managers
of the House of Refuge" A very large
number of the inmates of that institti-
ton are OF this class. Many have been
placed there by their own fathers and
mothers. 1t Is not necessary to produce
PROOF that among ourselves there are
many boys and girls whose only saliva
ton seems to be bound up in the erec.
ton of place of a similar character TO
which they may be sent. Before dis
missing this part of the subject, there
are two things which should be noticed.
One is that House of Refuge is not an
Orphan Asylum. It is intended only for
such orphans as show such vicious in
cltnattons as to make a course of re-
FORMATION necessary. Itwould be man
itestly wrong to send the child who has
been bereaved of its parents, but who
has shown no unusually bad dispose
ton, to such associations. Nav we
soon have another benevolent work nc
complished among us by the erection
of an Orphan Asylum. The writer de-
sires to say with pleasure that this OBJ
Ject also Is enlisting the interest ofsome
OF our citizens, and that at least one of
them has offered to start the good work
with subscription of several bunl
dred dollars. The other thing which
should be noticed, is that in the
laws made for the regulation ofsuch an
institution, sufficient precautions are
taken against abuse of the use of
House of Refuge in regard to this class
OF youth. For example, at PhilRdel-
phta, -tn the first place the boy or girl
must be committed through an Alder
man or Justice of the Peace; then the
Managers are at liberty either TO accept
or refuse the application, and as a fur
ther precaution, il is provided that
some one of the Judges of the various
courts OF the city shall visit the insti.
tuition once in two weeks or oftener, and
examine into all the commitments not
previously adjudged upon, and deter
mine whether they are proper subjects
for the guardianship of the House, And
last of all, Is the privilege of n writ of
h06eGS corpus, which brings the whole
transaction in review before the tribu-
nal ofjusice. 1t is simply impossible.
under such circumstances, that any
great wrong should be done In tFia
commitment of a youth.
The great design OF fsuch an institu-
ton, Is the correction and reformation
OF these two classes or persons.
It is of the very first Importance,
that It should not be looked upon
n FN0RF. }hNnua :,