The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-15

be so. it is one thing 10 make man forget his
mlsdeeds, aud another to place at his disposal
means By which he may preserve himself against
a repetition OF them. As you say, offeuse against
ohepse is recorded against him. each one adding
an additional clog to his unlucky feet, that pos
slbly, 1t they had reasonable chance, would
glaoly turn to honest paths"
But at this the governor made n grimace that
stood as representative for the laugh he would
have uttered had he not felt the restraint of
that ineXorable rule of his own imposing
silence. "There you are mistaken" he whi5
pered softly; I'VE are much more humane
than you imagine. The prisoner WHO shows
an earnest disposition towards amendment
is never turned peunlless and helpless out of
this Jail. II he proves to us his disgust for
dishonest courses, aud his Willingness to work,
VIC are able, thanks to a certain iund to place
the means OF doing so IN bis hands. Sometimes
few shlings is sufficient Tor the purpose,
sometimes we are induced so to invest several
pounds. large number OF the younger prison
ers have fancy for going to sea. A young man
came 10 see me only last week. He came here
just one of these loneless outcast boys, wno
thieve that they may not starve of whom there
are thousands in London, and he expressed
wish to be sent to sea, out OF harms way. He
proved himself good lad, having worked his
way up to the condition OF second mate. with a
fair prospect of becoming something still better.
He dined at my table last Tuesday"
Have you many BOYS here at presentN
"S!ngularly few. We have cell accommoda-
tion for sixty; and our average number, for some
time past, has been only sixteen. Come this
way, aud you shall see them.n
And, wondering all the while, we dld as
invited. How was it that the percentage of
juvenile CRIMINALS lodged in Holloway Prison
was so small? When We asked the governor
| the proportion his boy-lodgers bore to the
| whole, it was in full expectation of receiving
! an answer that should warrant the natural
| alarm at the rapid increase of crime amongst
! lads of tender years. Where were the scores
OF humble imitators OF Claude Duyal and Dick
| Turpin, who, having perused the veraCious
records of the exploits of these and
! similar heroes of the gibbet, make des.
| perate efforts to emulate them by murderOusly
| assaultiIg crippled old women, or running off
| with errand money coniled to their care by too
| trusting masters? We referred 10 the governor
| for an explanation. at is easily accounted
YORK d S6p h thew aeK KKee Re We Rey aS Ry to to
| follow our last question with another as to the
| way in which a young thief contrived to
| choose his prison, but this was rendered unne-
| CesSary by the sudden recurrence to our memory
| of a conversation bearing on the same subject,
| that recently had taken place between a boy
| thief and prison commissioner. "How is it,n
| the latter asked, that out of nine convictions
| against you, eight are returned from one prl-
1 son m ''Cos, please, sir, ] always prigs in HDl-
A born" was the candid rejOinder. When that
I salutary law for VIII ch the readers humble
| servant has for so long q time been asking l.,
| passed, and comes into operation, and the
| governor of Holloway jail counts amongst his
| inmates one or two of those dirty scoIndrels
| who gain their bread by the sweat of juvenile
| mOrality-by means of the penny weekly num-
/ Der system proper punishment would be to
! make them the drudges of the boy criminal
| waId-to compel them to wash their victims
shirts and socks, aud scrub their cell doors,
and be generally responsible for their personal
| cleanliness.
The cells in VIII 'ch the boy prisoners are con
fined alc precisely similar TO those OF the adults;
and, it beng now after work hours, the greater
part of the sixteen dodgers were cat home"
| Those we spoke with did not seem very much
hardened III crime, which, by the way, is long
way from meaning that tney were not coAver-
SAINT with crime. Boys are not ike men, they
are less reflective, and in nine cases out OF ten
have no care or responsibility beyond what is
strictly personal; consequently they are less
impressed with the hardship OF their condition,
bIooding on which is as likely TO produce a
R1S Be as condoH iGSnUg 6 eSG t6e bo3bd As
while at liberty is a most miserable con,
dition, ard, after the first ''recklessness'
has worn OIL, he finds that 1t is more comtorta-
bic to be in prison than out-a frame of mind
scarcely calculated 10 bring about penitence
| and reformation.
There is one point no Eever, on which the
boy-thiel is, or pretends to be, especially tender
and that is concerning his father. TO be sure
there rs no getting over the stern sad fact, that
nobody is so perfect a master in the art OF dis
semOlmg as the intelligent, low cunning little
London thief. Let his jailor assume never So
severe a manner in his dealings with him
before he has talked with him three times he
Will have discovered his weakest feature (aud
} even prison governors are not fl from them
and shape his manner aud conversation accord
ingly. Thus, with all due respect to Governor
| WPatherhead, and his admirable system o
mans cement, he undoubtedly has nqtura
tenderness for BOYS, and his prisoners know it
| Like a sensible man, he knows that, until
boy has grown utterly abandoned, he will no
forget "mother;" aud it is certain that, in very
| many cases, it is a sacred chord that may bt
played on with charming and even mraculou
effect; at the same time it is not Impossible
| | that his amlable weapon may be turned agalns
him, and he may be imposed on.
t Every boy we examined cried at once wheI
{ | his mothers name was mentioned, and tn
e credtable exhibition of emotion was almos
invariably rewarded by an encouraging pat ol
D | the head with the Governors benevolent hand
e in the boy way that was somewhat peculiar
= He was an incorrigible young ruffian, we Wer
a informed, aid had been in prison very man
y times. He had only arrived at Holloway tina
a morning, and, being set to. work in the brick
i. field, before he was there an hour wa
i guilty of foul language towards the Office
# in command, and was condemned to tn
"dark cell" There we found him.
s more hideous place as habitation for
= human being with guilty conscience canuO
n word to describe the black density that shroude
$ It's interior 1t is a cell within a cell, and eve
d the outer one is so dark that only by the click
+ of The key in the lock were we aware that tn
S interior door had been opened. "Cone OF
2 here, ladW And, emerging from the impen
, trable density, there gradually l0omed to Vie
Y the desperate incorTigIbe. He was not
! very formidable ruilan TO contemplate
, being a sllm built boy, with a narrO
d white face, which was fearful, and na
d of "bOgies.n He had evidently arrived at tn
a \ dismal COZ CusiOn that ne was doomed TO pu,
d the long, long night in thatawful place, and h,
= made crrlaiu eccentric and unaCCOuntabla al
: rm gements to that eud. The collars of his serg
e jacket we're pulled up high above his ear
h | m "A fantastic setting lOr prm