, 1869-12-04

similsr productions OF the State lay
ing the tax.
ALMsHoUsE HoRRoRs.-The hor.
rors of our rural almshouse system
have never been half told, says the
N. Y. World Of November LIST. That
there are horrors Of the blackcst
kind connected with that system
hndI ample proof 10 facts that have
been brought to light. Cruelties of
the most inhuman kind are perpe.
tEAttd 10 our almshouses. Many
Of these cruelties are too revolving
to be described in print. Nor are.
the5 Of recent practice. They have
been committed through many,
many years, and they number their
victims BY thousands. How many
poor, helpless wretcbes have died
under these barbaritips no one can
tell, but that thousands have thus
perished admits Of no doubt This
is a terrible statement to make. but
it is true, and one which ought to
raise cry Of indignation that shall
awake the people Of this State to a
full realization of the horrors Of our
almshouse system.
In an article by Mr.. Charles L.
Bruce, published in Saturdays
Times, the writer says that the com>
mission appointed by the Legislature
two years ago, to inspect the chari.
ties aided by the State, learned dur>
ing their visit to country almshouses
certain facts which should mske ell
good men blush for the reputation
Of the Empire State. DR.. Hoyt q
member of the commission, discover
ed, in one of these institutions, "in
a close, filthy, dark Cell, an insane
pauper. smeared with blood and
filth, who hid just given birth to o
child, whose father neither the
keeper nor the woman knew. She
had been cast 10 there as a pauper
lunatic, left without care among
adult males, idiots, and luuatics,
and the result hsppend TO be wit.
messed by the commissioner"
II this is not a horrisble fact.
whittier shall we go in quest of
horror? Was ever greater cruelty
perpetrated in any place or at any
time? We think not.
Mr.. Bruce says that repeatedly
in these houses of misery, the com,
mittee discovered that the poor, wit
less women we're corrupted or be.
guiled BY y'the rut6aus, or vagabondS
or feIow-lunatics and idiots with
whom they are left. A strange ab'
normal hideous race-the offspring
of idiCcy aud lunacy-s"ems springs
ing up as the fruit of some Of our
paupcr administration in rural dis.
iricts." In proof of this startling
statement, Mr.. Bates narrates the
followisg incident. which was fur
nished him by DR.. Hoyt:
"Some sixty years since, respect
able woman, with a child about FIVE
years oil age, was suddenly reduced
to poverty, and sent BY the su'hori-
ties to the almshouse in Cortland
county. The almshouse life gradu.
ally degraded her womanhood, and
she remained there pauper. Her
child grew up a healthy young
woman and remained there a pauper
in habits. She gave birth in the
almshouse to two illigitimate dsugh>
ters. These again. grew up like
their mother and grandmother. In
due time, they had respectively two
and three children, also illegitimate
So ingrained had the wretched, de-
PRAYED, dependent life of the aims.
house become 10 them, that where
yer these women or their children
we're sent, they turned up soon 10
the poor house, and we're either re-
turned or went back themselves to
the Cortland County Almshouse.
When the commissioners visited this
institution, he found there all three
of these Hast generations Of psupers
and prostitutes"
The writer also says:
"Among these abodss Of suffering
the committee found over two hun.
dred lunatices bound with ropes end
chains. as criminals might be treat.
ed; often 10 dark, verminous cells,
filthy to the last extreme, a number
of them, even the women naked, and
all in destitution, dirt aud misery
difficult to be conceived. Yet every
one of these unhappy creatures.
under q skiIlful system, such as that
Uf our best AsYlnms, would have
been associating peaceful with others
or have occupied their room clothed
.nd - . ,.l,,, r,ant.l nond;t;onU -