The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-07-21
The Mutiny at Sing Sing Prison.


Notwithstanding the close confinement and
the bread and water diet to which the mutinous
convicts at Sing Sing prison have been sub
jected, the basphemous yels with which they
made last Sunday hideous, their incessant bat
tering of the cell doors with boards torn up
from the floor, and the fact that their principal
keeper has resigned his position, indicate any :
thing but their return to such state of discl-
pline as ought always to be maintained among
them. The recent startling Interruptions to
the order and quiet imperatively required by
the prison rules, as, for instance, the at
tempted seizure of vessel by o number OF
the convicts, the almost daily escapes of three
or four, the frequent scenes of drunkenness
aud violence exhibited by prisoners supplied
with free passes to the adjacent village OF
Sparta, in direct violation of the law which
prohibits any convict from leaving prison
unless by an order from court of competent
jurisdiction, pardon of the Governor or the
expiration of the term of service, have 80
much alarmed the neighbors of the turbulent
Sing Sing community that many have been
driven away to safer homes. Terrorism
reigns for miles around outside of the prison.
The public at large is deeply interested In
having speedy and final stop put to 80 dis
graceful and 80 dangerous a condition OF
affairs.
Among the causes assigned for the insu-
bordinate conduct of the Sing Sing prisoners
- Oh Of hou
toned But the real cause for it must be
found in the fearful disproportion between
fifty keepers and nearly thousand prisoners
of the toughest Sort who have now learned
how much they can hope to accomplish by CO.
operation and by help Of the tools and imple-
ments with which large number Of them en-
ployed in the shoemakers' shop, the black
smiths shop and other workshops, are neces-
sarily supplied The convicts sent to Sing
Sing are recruited from class OF offenders
which is yearly growing larger and more
| ferocious ia our cities The thieves and coun-
| terfeiters and burglars of the present day are
desperate enough to hesitate but little at add
| ing murder to their other crimes. They are
SuWCItutiy SudTp Wlttcu w huOW tu"1 lii
! well-combined attempt to Overawe and over
| power fifty keepers scattered here and there
within the extensive prison walls, the chances
might, perhaps, be in their own favor. 1t il
indispensable, therefore, that a stronger police
force should at once be organized, in order t.
| render absolutely impossible the bloody con
summation which must, otherwise be expected
to result from yearly increasing violations o
prison discipline.
| Moreover, it is manifest that the prison a
Sing Sing is overcrowded with ''fellows Of th'
baser sort, who might advantageously be dis
tributed elsewhere, at Clinton or at Auburn
| In fact, it is becoming desirable to change al
! together the location of this prison, which Il
! at once nuisance and peril for one of thu
| finest places on the Hudson river. Why no
| purchase Harris Island or David's Island, IL
the East river, and build new prison on ont
or the other, or else devote to this purpose
part of Blackwells Island? Past each o
these islands the current runs so swiftly tina
attempts to escape would have to be aban
doned. Something must soon be done by tn
State government to restrict in our prison sys
tenn evils which are assuming formidable pro
| portions.