The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-28

ception is, under the circumstances, not at
all surprising. They had each spent more
than two years in that institution, during
which time they had exerted an unfavorable
influence upon their associates by their incor-
rigible conduct Every form of treatment
authorized by the rules had failed to exercise
a good influence, and kindness aud severity
had proved alike ineficacious. They were
repeatedly guilty of the most insubordinate
conduct; they had made several efforts
to escape, and had even attempted
to set fire to the buildings. The
total inadequacy of the discipline to meet
their cases is also shown by the fact that their
release, after comparatively long confne-
ment, was instantly followed by return to evil
courses, when there was no pressure of want
or necessity impelling them to crime. The
indisposition of the managers of the House
of Refuge to deal further with such intraot-
able material was strengthened by the fact
that the white male department of that insti-
tuition is now greatly overcrowded, and the
difficulty of disposing properly of such dan
gerous inmates was thus greatly increased
Justice to the hundreds of well-disposed boys
under their care, therefore, seemed to
require the managers to re-
turn Muldoon and Cluff to tho
court for reconsideration of their SEN
tence. But the most striking feature of the
case is the fact that the boys themselves de-
sired and expected that they would be COM
mitted to Moyamensing Prison. While they
considered the restraints of the House of
Refuge irksome, they despised it's punish
ments, and refused to even make promises of
future amendment, boldly announcing their
intention to resume criminal career as soon
as they regained liberty, but meanwhile ex-
pressing a wish that they would be able to
rejoin some of their older associates in that
bummers' paradise, the County Prison. 1t
appears to have been matter Of deliberate
calculation with them that this was the worst
punishment that could befall them; and, in
view of the opportunities it afforded
for idleness and criminal associa-
tions, its attractions furnished a very fair
balance to its terrors.. We understand that
when they learned that they had been SEN
fenced to the Penitentiary, they were over
whelmed with sorrow, and they seemed then
to comprehend for the first time that pun
ishment which they seriously dreaded was in
store for them. And yet, in the present state
of our criminal institutions, it was really an
act of humanity to send these boys to the
Penitentiary. If there had been an interme-
diate institution House of Correction and
Employment, in which they could have been
placed under more vigorous restraints than
those imposed III the House of Refuge, that
would have been the most appropriate place
to confine them. But in the absence of
this much-needed auxiliary to our penal
system, the only approximate substitute had
to be sought in the Penitentiary The County
Prison is for young lads, especially, a fruitful
nursery for idleness, vice, and crime. In
moral sense it might not inappropriately have
Dante's inscription placed over its portals,
for vast proportion of it's convict inmates
are speedily placed beyond the reach of
reformatory influences. In the Penitentiary,
incorrigible lads, or hardened criminals, may
be taught virtuous and industrious habits,
but in the County Prison the old evils and
corrupting influences against which prison
philanthropists have protested for centuries
are perpetuated.