The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-20
VIEW YORK1SMs.
S''o'n Our OtOa Correspondent.


In the rear of the Essex Market Police Court
and Its Inhabitants are debtors, who, like all
debtors, are in various stages OF penitence.
doubt not they would all pay If they could,
and not being able to accomplish liquidation
they make themselves as happy as possible In
the nome their penury has brought them to-
That home does not much resemble prison
You might pass the place once day all your
lifetime, without Its once occurring TO you tina [
scores OF human beings. with capacities for en-
Joyment equal TO your own, were locked up
there, had been locked up for years, would be
locked up the remainder CT their natural lives.
Have they committed muvder, arson, or bur-
glary in any of their degrees? Are they suffer
ing from any form OF iosauity2 Are they
Offenders awaiting acquisitions from the Gov
ernors OF other states? Are tnev witnesses
detained for a prospective trial, always ABOUT to
occur and always deferred9 No, they are none
of these things. They are simply debtors TEey
are convicted of the fearful crime of owing,
what they cannot pay. These rufiians, these
worse than thieves and pick kpockets. these des.
perate reprobates from very tn ing that is honest
and good. are therefore pronounced unfit to
associate with the rest OF the werld!
In committing the crime OF insolvency, they
have com omitted the crime that hath never for
giveness, either in this world or the next, so far
as creditors are concerned. They nave offended
aexibility those of the Medes and Persians are
as nothing. Therefore they crowd Ludlow
Street Jail, within hearing of the sentences
pronounced from the Judges desk OF Essex
Market Police Court Under the Sherif"s lock
and key they pass, in many cases, the prime OF
life. Imprisoned at thirty, Death, the great
uberator. releases the prema, a,urely- bowed form
at fifty. The convict, sentenced for life, bids a
no more certain adieu to the outside world
ha o,,ta 10 oil of ba IN n
the prisoner for debt does, when the Shorid
puts the thumb screws on him. and he becomes
transformed into one OF the penitents of Lud-
low street.
visit, although some fAceLious remarks are
made, and the prisoners do not parade their
penttence in q very ostentatious or cheerful
manner They are divided into several grades,
and the oheerfulness of the grades decreases as
you descend from the highest. The highest
grade comprehends about one fourth the whole
number OF prisoners, say fifteen or sixteen.
They are penitents, not 80 poor put whSe they
might easily be worse OIL, as Is seen at once by
comparing them with the grades beneath them.
Each he's a room to himself, the dimensions
of which are large enough to swing cat In.
Not. as Mr.. Dick In "Davio Copperfield," felici-
tously remarks, that any one wants 10 swing
cat, but that the expression has become
popular and picturesque symbol of measure
mont. Each of these apartments sabout eight
or nine feet square. 1t is furnished win bed
q table. and two chairs. In most cases-in all
cases where they are insisted on-a mirror and
wardrobe" are also provided. Three meals
They are better than might be expected, though
not as good as the more luxurious debtors may
have been accustomed to when they Inhabited
brown stones, and were looked up to with
respect az the pillars of influential churches.
me slsaK Is MOI perhaps pPlsepnouse ana no9e
be able to tell from what portion of the sheep
the mutton chops were acquired. The coffee
and tea, too, would have thrown the Especial
Agent of the World into ecstacies, and the
odor of hiohi,aa SpirGtts may be or may not be
exhaled from the pork. But the SOUP that Is
furnished two or three times a week Is said to
be uncommonly good, and the favorite pudding
for Sunday is of the kind known as ''rolypoly."
with raspberry jam as the sweet Ingredient.
For this fare and such room as have de-
scribed, from twenty. five to thirty dollars per
week is charged, pay able in advance. The ash
system Is altogether adopted. The Sheriff and
his deputies find 1t Is Ihe only one that will
nav, There Is peculiar atmosphere about
debtors that prevents their ever being trusted +,
even when under lock and key.
Those who constitute what may be called the
second grade of prisoners sit at the same table
and eat OF the same dishes as those constituting
ever. are materially curtailed. There would
not be room to swing even kitten in them,
Two debtors sleep not only IL one room, but In
one bed and the truth of the proverb Ghat
poverty makes one acquainted with strange
bedfellows is put TO the utmost test. A bed,
with the accompaniment OF sheets, pillows.
etc, such as they are, is all that any one of
these rooms, appropriated to prisoners of the
to wash themselves along with the canatIe
and do other offices OF the toilet mtrroriess.
For these lux1ries and privileges weekly
All "extras are extra paid for. Cigars, tobacco,
whisky beer are not forbidden, and the peni-
tents are supplied either by their friends or by
coming down with the stamps-and the price
of spirituous and malt liquors inside Ludlow
Street Jail is not cheaper bhau out.
1t will readily be believed that th ose who are
able TO pay neither thirty nor fifteen dollars
per week, and have TO take up with the fare
and the accommodations which the prison
provides. are not very amiable Fetid rooms
are crowded with squalid-looking beds, and
In these the gaunt, un washed den1zens huddle
together with scarcely room to turn. About
one half are unable to contribute anything
towards their support and will remain In this
loathsome bondage all lie long The fare fur
nished there is little better than convict fare;
Indeed, the convicts In many prisons are better
provided for In every way. III the entirely
moneyless debtor of Ludlow Street Jatl has
enough TO eat and drink to hold life comfortably
together, he has learned TO be content. The
thirty and fifteen dollar nabobs are looked
to, with respect little short of reverence
Among them all ranks OF men once rich OF
we'll to do are represented Among the superio
privileges they enjoy is that of walking out. %
course they are always accompanied by
deputy-sheriff, and the deputy.sherlf, like an!
other good thing, must be paid for. There Il
hardly any limit to what the penitents of Lud
low street are allowed TO do. provided they pa,
enough for It, To attend matinee, to visit tn
Theatre, TO lounge In fashionable billiard
saloon, TO attend church, and TO exhort at tn
noonday prayer-meeting. are few OF thes
prlvileges But the deputy. .sherin dogging q
his heels is an inevitable ubiqutty. You NEE
him everywhere, and his sleek looks give evi
dence that his perqutsites are not beneath cor
Tempt at the best, the life of q Ludlow-sJree
penftent cannot be called joyous one. To
sun shines for him, but IL is as through pieC
OF burnt glass; Still that is better than no su
at ALL Ludlow Street jail Is a New Horktsn
which neither the sheriff nor his deputies woul
Willingly let die ALI BAHIA