Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-09-21
FEMALE CRIMINALS IN LONDON,

From the London Daily News.


large with tickets of leave. The ma
iority live in London. A very large
, proportion consists of hardened offend
ers. More than one Is a murderess.
/ Women who have been sentenced to
I death for murder, and whose sentence
! is afterward commuted into penal SEE
yitude for life, are not, as IS commonly
supposed, removed forever from the
scene of their criminal exploits. After
. having served a term of twelve years,
and conducted herself to the satlstac-
/ ton Of the authorities, the convicted
/ murderess easily obtains her tlchet-ot-
leave, and becomes a free woman again.
In one Of tie western and most fashion
able districts Of London many hundreds
Of domectic servants are ticket-ot
leave women. Several of them have
run through the entire scale OF crime,
from petty larceny mp to burglary and
murder. Their employees engage
them, with fair knowledge OF their
antccedents Strange to say, the worst
criminals are not unfrequently trans
/ formed into extremely good domestic
7 servants.
During the past five years some bene-
VIOLENT ladies have voluntarily devoted
themselves to care for and, if possible,
to reclaim the lowest and most degrad-
ed class Of female convicts. For this
purpose they resolved TO form a society
called the discharged Female Prison
er's Aid" The object of this society
is to supply home to released con
victs, to assist those TO earn an honest
! Af
amendment, and to furnish employ
ment to all the released female prison.
ors who will comply with very easy CON
ditions. and who will work for their
maintenance. Several of these estab-
lishments have been founded III various
districts Of London.
A forewomau who, after serving a
long term of penal scrvitude, had Civ
EN- tokens of amendment, presldes over
and directs the workers. Her conduct
NAV be meritorious, but her ways are
rough. She told us how, on the morn
inc of orr vsiit, she had ettectually
cleared the furnace tlue of SCOT by put
ting gunpowder in the CRATE and lgnt-
ing it. The workers are of all ages.
are slatternlv in attire, and they have
the appearance Of those who have tall-
en- so low as to have ceased, to care how
they look. Most of them have bloated
faces, which Enthusiastically betray a
passion for splrituous liquors. AL have
M extraordinary similarity OF express
ion. They have an animal look in their
ewes. 4 heayiness OF feature IS COM
mon to them all Their resemblance
to the squaws of the savages, whom
the writer Of these lines has seen be-
tween the Rock Mountains and the Pa
cihc, strongly impress him. One grey
haired and barefaced old woman, who
SUNK about with downcast eyes, was
the extract counterpart OF an aged and
HELPLESS sQuaw who once excited has
compassion in the heart Of the great
American Desert.
Ii the faces Of these women were dyed
\ a cupper-color and If they were dressed
in the nondescript garments of female
( Ute or Shoshone Indian, they would
pass for genuine savavc. In reality
they are not much better. Very few
can read or write. OF religion and
morality they may have learned some
thing in prison, but at the best, their
ideas on the subject are very hazy.-
Their only divinity is III the policeman.
4 Ii they can evade his clutches, or be-
guile him by some tale of deceit, they
are perfectly satisfied. To ask them to
abstain from committing murder OF
ROBBERY either because the crime IS SIN
or is Il breach of the law, is to appeal to
sentiment which are dormant ornon-eX-
isteut. They can be tanned by kindness,
like the lower animals. When the ladies
who are striving to clylllze these out
casts, speak to them about religion they
sometimes receive strange answers -
The Bible narratives affect Them rs in
teresting stories, much in the same way
that Il book of fairy tales lmpresses Il
child. Such a remark as the following
is q sample of what occurs at the read
ings which these ladies give daily. \
new conner, who had not even heard
that there was such n sacred book as
the Bible, interrupted the reader and
said. - don't want to offend You, Miss
but / don't believe a word Of thar. -
The subject was the account Of Elijah
The saddest and most dhsheartening
part Of the case is, that the difficulty OF
reforming the younger womeuls almost
superhumau. The rccouvicuons OF te-
males are much more numerous than OF
males. Moreover, the women profess
to enjoy thoroughly the Wild career of
CRIME. After conducting themselves
With perfect propricty for a year or a
longer period rs domestic servants,
they viii suddenly leave their places
ana resume their old habits, or, in their
own slang, "haye tiv. One of them,