New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-07
chances are that Mr.. Williams will DO vindl-
Gated "a Carpenter was. W sr
TIN WTLLTAM6 CASE.

certain ambitious literary club of this city.
who professed Dcism in deliberate way very
much az Sir Piercie Shafton took hold OF the
battle-ax), we're wont to prove the inefficiency
Of Christianity to civilze a nation by the his
tory of Afghanistan. Ii they would give an
account of the State Prison in Illinois and the
Poor-houses in New-YOrk and Pennsylvania.
thew could whet their arguments TO more dan
gerous conclusions.
The statement which we gave last week OF
the killing of tho poor wretch Williams IN the
Illinois Penitentary is published with all the
sckening detail, by the local press OF that
State. and with reprObati0n, intelligent anu
significant enough rs we hope, TO lead 10 some
reform. The man, AZ our readers VIII recon
lect was tine victim of heart disease, in
which case the punishment of the bath, at all
times a refinement of cruelty, was SIMPLY
murder: vet he was sentenced to this punish
ment by the physician of the prison, and forced
to if under the supervision Of the warden, who
was present during the whole of the horrible
scene. until the man died on their hands. Lest
It might seem incredible to our Eastern readers
that physician could occupy so Responsible
post who would be guilty of such criminal
carelessness, or that any man could be appointed
Commissioner ignorant enough to plead that
he did not think it necessary to hold an in
ouest over man dying of punishment In the
nrison we must remind them how short q
time has passed since prisoner was done 10
death in our own State Prison, while under
going punishment ~ inhuman; and that III
Connecticut, which IL not only Christian but
Puritan one short year ago the brutality OF
treatment awarded to the State convicts sur
passed any real or fictitious tale OF Legree ana
his slaves.
From Pennsylvania, too. comes this week
Report of the Board of Charities pleading for
reform in the matter of Poor and Alms-houses
and the insane confined therein. at the
"besi,r they say "these helpless creatures arc
/" in places of detention under the guidance Oh
"an overseer, who is wholly ignorant OF their
disease and the means necessary Tor It's ale
"yiation or its cure" Of the utter neglect
and cruelty practiced toward both the insane
and sane poor at the worst of these houses
our pen refuses to write. Suffice it TO say that
the statement of the members Of the Board.
men chosen for their gravity, moderation, ana
Justice, reads like page from some of Mrs. Rad
clifie's romances We read of wards OF human
being kept in filthy cells, absolutely naked, fed
and tended az brutes, " the Thermometer
standing below the freezing point
We 90 back to this loathsome subject from
time to time, quite aware that it Is as stale
and offensive to many of our readers "a were
the old Abolition Trades against Slavery.
There were, we honestly believe, no more ia
grant outrages against humanity or Chris
tianity perpetrated on the auctiOn-block or
slave pens than are to be found In our much
boasted prisons and alms-hOuses. Precedent
threw an almost sacred protection over Slay-
cry. and we are loath to touch the later evils
from the same reason. Are we not Christian
people and has not the proof of 1t lain In the
taxes we pay to keep up our poor, our con-
yicts. and our insane Precedent Is not usu-
ally one of the duties Of the average Amerl-
can hut he ia ant to vonerato whatever has
cost him taxes. Meantime, these sinners whom
Christ came to call to repentance-the poor
whom he gave us as wards, and most pitiable
of all, those who have mans capacity for
suffering with child's mind-are consigned by
ia to the monster prisons we have Quilt Tor
them. and left to the care of men who, when
they chance not to be ignorant or cruel are
but too apt to regard their charges as drovcr
his stock yard--creatures whose first apology
for being is to cost as little as possible. We
commend such variations as the trial OF the
Illinois officials and the Pennsylvania Report
rs texts to our Christian ministers. There may
be little room for imagery in them, but there
will be facts like bullets.