Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-02-07

We're Incorporate before they were
criminal. The truth is presented very
clearly and with great power in the
annual report of the Prison Associa-
ton of New York, through whose
agency some of these canvassings have
been made. They render it certain
That the convicts in our jails, State
prisons, and penitentaries, do with
singular unanimity, ascrible to the use
OF intoxicating drinks the crimes of
which they are suffering the penalty.
In one OF those reports, Mr.. Gould,
the Secretary of the Association. SAYS,
III 1t had not been for the grog shops,
L should never have been here" is the
Stereotyped complaint, which issues
from almost every cell, and swells in
melancholy chorus, through all the
corridors of our prisons.
The same writer makes a statement
from his own personal observation
which is significant and astonishing
He says that he has visited most of
the prisons in the United States some
OF them frequently, that he has had
much personal conversation with pris-
oherS, and that he found no more than
twenty, who claimed to have practiced
total abstinence from all that can in
toxlcate. 1t will present the truth of
our proportion in a clearer light, if we
consider some of the detailed statistics
OF those reports. n1851, there were
100 places in the city of Albany where
liquor was sold. During three months
OF that year, the police arrested 1907
persons, of whom 1900 were known
to be OF Incorporate habits. In 1851
and 1852, 1928 prisoners were SEN
fenced to the Albany penitentiarv.-
vi these lOl3 were notoriouslv in
temperate. In 1856, committee Of
the Senate of New York visited and
examined all the jails in that State 63
IN number. In five of them every
prisoner was of Incorporate habits. In
/ an average of three-lourths of the
prisoners were by their own admission.
incorporate and in the remaining
eleven no inquiries on this point were
made. In 1850 there were five per-
sons in the prisons of Connecticut
lying under sentence of death. for
murders committed in state of intox-
lcatlon, and before they were executed
a sixth murder was committed from
the same cause. Of36I persons COM
mltted III 1880 to the Jail of Provi-
dence, r. l., 2S2, more than three
tourths, were Incorporate. OF 962
prisoners received into the Eastern
penltentiary of PENNSYLVANIA. 745
more than three-fOurths, were addicted
to lntoxication. Of 975 prisoners in
the State prison at Auburn. n. Y.
1856, more than three-fourths. were
drunkards: 219 were moderate drink
ers, their own notions of moderation
beng the standard; $50, considera-
bly, more than one-haf, were under the
influence of strong drink when they
the crime for which they
were sentenced.
These statistics might be multiplied
4 hundred-fold, but enough have all .
ready been given to demonstrate that
ntemperance is the chief producer Of
crime. They who sell intoxicating
liquors and they who by example or
influence encourage the use of them.
ire therefore accessories to the afro
'lous crimes that abound in our cour-
ny, and free themselves from the
guilt Of future crimes only by discon-
lnulng, at once, entirely, and forever,
he sale and use Of all that can intoxi-
ate.
In a future article the subject will
re resumed, and considered from other {
'Oints of view. t