Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-01-24
From the Chicago Tribune
DELICATE CRIMINALS.


Delicate CRIMINALS.
1t is a very remarkable fact in
physical science, and one not hither-
to treated in any of the medical
works, that great criminals have very
delicate constitutions. The man who
steals coat to'protect himself from
the winters cold, or who is driven,
perhaps by sheer necessity, to steal
money with which to provide HIM
self and family with the necessaries
of life, goes to the Penitentiary, re-
mains in good health, and thrives
well Oh prison fare. The man who
steals million, or murders his COM
panion in cold blood, is sent to the
Penitentiary, takes cold as soon as
his head is shaved, and develops all
the symptoms of consumption by the
time he has got his legs well into his
striped trowsers. Several instances
of this singular tendency towards
sudden disease have been furnished
thepublic of late. Frank Walworth,
an elegant young gentleman, who
cody shot his father one morning in
order to maintain family discipline
and correct certain maudlin and alb
surd paternal expressions, went to
the Penitentiary instead of the gal
lows, where the elegant young gen
tleman should have gone, and has
been there just long enough to de
velop an interesting case of consump-
ton. Stokes, another elegant young
gentleman, who shot his whilom
friend and associate, mainly for the
sake of an abandoned woman, also
went to the Penitentialy. He has
not been there as long as Walworth,
however, Accordingly, his consump-
ton has not reached It's tubercular
stage, and he has contented himself
with the bronchitis. Mr.. Tweed, an
elegant old gentleman, who betrayed
the official trust confded in him, and
took $I,OOO,OOO out of the Public
has gone to the Peniten-
tiary, and the clank of the cell door
has hardly ceased to reverberate be-
fore he commences to manifest all
the signs Of disease. We are inform
ed in one dispatch that he is dead,
and in another that he has infam-
nation of the brain, and, if these do
not create for the illustrious criminal
the requisite amount of sympathy, we
shall undoubtedly soon be informed
that his burly form is wasting away
under the ravages of consumption,
and shall be called upon to pity the
sorrows of a poor old man, placed
where he can do the most good, and
with untoward fate in
pair of striped trousers.
If all these illustrious criminals,
these murderers who murder in a
genteel fashion, and these thieves
who steal by millions, are to 90 off
into consumption with such frightful
it is time the inhumanity
was stopped. Some consideration
should be displayed for their sensi-
tive temperaments and delicate con-
They are not used to this
style of life. They have been accus-
toned to dress in purple and fine
linen. Their hands have not been
soiled or hardened with work. They
have eaten from gilded china, and
drank from crystal, and slept upon
down. The barber who has dressed
their heads has annointed them with
sweet smelling unguents. This sud
len change to the coarse prison par
5icolor, to the necessity of earning
by the sweat of their
Drows, this eating of bean,soup from
a tin-platter, and drinking of pea-cof-
fee from tin-dipper, this inartistic
of the head, and numerous
other little inconvenience of this
sort, consequent upon their sudden
change of circumstances, are very
and embarrassing to gen
5lemen who have moved in higher
circles. The poor wretch who has
stolen his supper ought not TO ex-
Dect any different treatment, and
wouldn't receive any sympathy if he
lad all the diseases to which flesh is
leir. Never having been genteel du-
ing any period of his miserable ca
,eer, he can stand it. What is more,
ne deserves it. He shouldn't have
been a Iow-down thief. If he had
sympathy, he should have
ourloined thousands with kid gloves
IN and spent it in diamonds, tube
roses, Green Seal, and a dashing
equipage, instead of taking paltry
handful to supply himself with some
hing to eat or wear,
There is another point of view
from which the condition of these il
ustrious criminals should be regard
ed in our plea for humanity. Take
-he case of Stokes, for instance. Eli
5her Stokes was guilty of murder or
not. IF Fisk was in the act of draw
ng n pistol from his pocket, thus
placing Stokes life in danger, as was
then Stokes WAS not guilty
Of murder. If Fisk, on the other
hand, did not draw a pistol, then
Stokes was guilty of murder. In the
after case, he ought to have been
hanged. In the former, he ought
not to have been punished atall. 1t
S a mystery, therefore, why he was
sent to the State Prison. Being
here, however, he should be treated
with the most distinguished consider
ltion, and his fortuitous hardship
should be mitigated by such delicate
little attentions as may be suggested
by the sudden and very abrupt
'hange in his circumstances. The
'ame is true of Mr. Tweed He has
or years been accustomed to luxu-
les and all the enioyments procura-
Die by great wealth. True, he stole
lis great wealth; but this little &C.
'entricity ought not to be used
against him. The fact that Stokes.
md Walworth, and Tweed are get.
ing sick, shows that this inhum9ni,