The daily gazette., 1875-05-22
The judicial Manufacture of
DruHE0rds.

A reporter of the New York Herald
recently got himself into Jail (volun-
taiily, of course), and he narrated in
that journal his experiences as a pris-
oner on Blackwell's Island. A similar
feat of enterprise was performed some
years ago by the Tribune, one of
whose staff simulated insanity so ma
turally that was readily admitted into
a mad-bousc whose horrors he after.
wards portrayed with all the graphi-
cality of Charles Reade in "Hard
Cash" The Herald man was an in
mate of an institution, which is sort
OF penitentiary and refornatory COM
bined-where boss Tweed was sent to
stay twelve years for stealing six mil
lions of dolla1s, and where VACANT ia
incarcerGteG twelve days for being
| drunk and disorderly. And o horrible
| picture he paints of 1.-THE wretched.
ness OF the prisoners, their hard fare
and cruel treatment; the brutality of
| the keepers, and the immense lnsolance
with which they asserted their petty
| office. Among a dozen cases he cites
of the injustice of the justice which
commits men comparatively innocent
| OF wrong-doing to the place, which is
little more than seething cauldron of
vice, in which every ingredient of
misery and every grade of crime are
mixed, and which it is pollution to
come near, we shall only notice one.-
1t was of a sailor-a fine; healthy, ath-
letic young man, whose face bore no
traces of deep seated dissipation, and
who, on the very day following his
commitment, was to have sailed with
his ship on long voyage. A nights
debauch got him into the lookup. In
the morning there were fines and costs
for him to pay, but he had no money,
and thirty days on the island was the
penalty. The poor fellow felt his de-
gradatlon keenly; but he was naturally
cheerful, and in the company of the
reckless crowd about him soon recov-
cred his spirits and entered with zest
into their bestial enjoyments. Very
likely the waif might have been re-
claimed by kind word of admonition
and dismissal by the justice before
whom he was arraigned, or at least,
he would have gone ON his way safe
from temptation for months. AS it is,
the probabilities are that the associa-
tions he formed on the island will
cling to him through life on whose
death he will float castaway, and
with no salvor near.
Instances of this kind are not confin-
ed to New York. We remember one
of almost similar nature, and still
more pathetic a1d vastly more promis-
ing, thank God, in its sequal, than that
of the sailor boy. In Philadelphia we
have an institution somewhat akin Ito
Blackwell's Island, which passes under
the name of the House of Correction.
The Alderman and it's managers, we
do not know what the law provides
about it have made of it a sort of ine-
briate asylum, to which drunkards
who wake up in the morning in the
cell of police station are consigned
in the event of their pockets being
empty. An industrious, intelligent
workingman, with good trade and
able to earn large wages, but who
sometimes drank unwisely and too
much, one morning found himself in
the place and condition we have named.
"Thirty days in the workhouse" was
his sentence, Jack, as we shall call
him, was of course in great trouble and
deep anguish of mind. He was not
an habitual drunkard, and although he
occasionally indalged his appetite to
excess, kept roof over the heads of
his wife and two little babies and pro-
vided food for their mouths. He com
municated with his friends and fellow
workmen and appealed to them to Sc
cure his discharge. Butthey consulted
together, and after seeing that the wife
and little ones would be we'll cared for
during the imprisonment of the husband
and father, resolved that they would
| Oh Tao I, l.
| to take their course. ''He will be all
the better for it when he comes oat,"
was the fattering JUNCTION they laid to
their hearts; and so Jack was kept
breaking stone and digging trenches
tarts of Alaska and St. Mary's streets
He served his term out and vas dis
charged in company with number
of his fellow prisoners, men who were
beyond the power of reclamation, but
friendships that grow inside prison
, wall. These reprobates had thirsted
for long time, and their thought was
drink; and drink they did.
Jack had formed good resolutions, but
was so glad to be free that he yielded
in II moment of weakness, and in COM
, celebrated his liberty by an orgie. II
was Saturday when he was released.
Sunday found him in the cell of
station house again, Mondays morn
back in his old quarters in the bride
well. Neither wife nor children had
he seen. The alderman before whom
he was arraigned for the second time
: now recognized him as an incorrigible
vagrant, and this time his sentence
. was for eighteen months. The means
of his wife and the purse of his friends
!, had in the mean time run out, and the
children were naked and hungry. Ap-
peals were made to the Managers of
the House of Correction to discharge
the man. 1t was shown that he was
usually an industrious and sober work
man that he had supported his family
8 mont would m ala naupnrs of II and