The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1877-12-20
GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY."
The ReIa ton of the CriEni-
nal Classes to Society.

The Lecture Of Rev. DR.. Byers, Of
Columbus, Secretary of the State
Board Of Charities, delivered in City
Hall on Tuesday night of last week,
was one of the most interesting and
instructive to which we ever listened,
and the Doctors startling array of
facts and statistics concerning the
criminal population of our country,
produced a profound impres sion.
The following is an outline Of his
Lecture:
DR.. Byers said, society was more deeply interest
cd in the subjcot Of its relation to aud responsible
ty for crime, than was generally supposed. The
solution Of the question, "Guilty OF not Guilty.
not found in the direct pleading Of the culprit
to the pro- forma inteHogatOry Of the courts. The
importance Of the question in its social aspects
justified an attempt to bring into greater familiar
ity the truly good" people with those who were
confcsscdly bad. at is the ordination Of Divine
Wisdom, that man cannot suffer from the neglect
of man, without mutual hurt, and that by species
of moral retribution, society is punished by It's
omission Of its duties to the ignorant and guilty"
Attention was called to the present condition Of
society. Swindling, robbery, unchecked violence,
and criminality Of almost every shade and degree,
was rife in the land. The streets and allies Of our
cities and towns are thronged with the idle, profit
gate and vicious. Public highways are unsafe.
The quiet of the country home is invaded for ruff
fan purposes. Our prisons are Over-crOwded. A
sense Of insecurity to property and even life is
more or less prevalent every where.
The speaker did not claim to have explored this
Dead Sea Unlike the COckney at Brighton, who
with the aid of a lantern and rope held over the
cliff by a stable boy had one night thus obtained
his first and only glimpse Of the sea- subsequently
claiming that he had seen the "mighty Ocean that
bears the commerce of the world, he laid no such
clair He had touched the shore Of this moral
GoOara, where those possessed Of evil l-''whose
name was Legion" and who with strange literal.
ness had their dwelling in the "Tombs''-
those whom no law had been able to bind, whom
no man could tame, were to be found. He (the
speaker claimed nothing more.
With the light which personal observation afford
bll1 dllu Win tue lGstdLCuGo VI OLilCLs SUCH ne
could command, he asked tile consideration Of the
audience to certain facts relating to criminal class
es, and TO other classes whose conditions of life
were such as tend directly to the formation of
criminal character.
OF course the data was to be fouud in prison reg
istry. He preferred facts near at home, as those
most familiar TO himself and most interest to his
hearers.
He then gave statistics Of crime from the Ohio
Penitentiary, from 1864 to 1870. Of2i2J cOnviCts,
% per cent. had been orphans and homeless, %
per cent. convicted of crime before they were p
years of age, 81 per cent. practically iterate, rs
per cent. having never learned trade. Thus Or
phanage, homelessness, ignorance and inoccupa-
tion, were seen to be prolific sources Of crime. Ad-
ding to these gambling, licentousness and intemp-
erance, we reach the conditions ont Of which the
characters Of crime are formed.
The statistics given by Orphanage from our own
prison population were confirmed by corresponding
figures from correctional and reformatOry institu-
tions throughout the country. In 1868 the average
number in these institutions was 1865 Of an aver
age age of less than IS years. OF these IS per cent
we're orphans, % per cent used liquor aud tobacco,
43 per cent. were homeless and truant, and q per
cent. wholly iIIiterate.
Looking more closely at orphanage Meltray
(Frauce) was quoted, showing that Of ,553 child
rem received, 2y7 were Legitimate, 7p5 orphans
III fouudlings, 3O2 had parents in prison. Malray
stood between these children and prison. showing
SO per cent. saved thus from what would other
wise have been inevitable ruin. The responsible
ty for at least threefOurths Of our juvenile cOnycs
lies al the door Of society.
Next TO Orphanage, ignOrance-not iliteracy
more than tlfe want of practical Acknowledgements
held up as contributing largely to augment crime.
To teach the dependent classes Eol0 to do SOME
thing, and then giUs them something 70 do, the
true charity toward these classes s well as the true
economy of communities.
Next, in treating of vices, such as gambling,
prostitution and drunkenness, the Lecturer insisted
on bringing public sentiment to a par with statu-
tory law-treating these offences as crime. A par
allel was run between what is known as "statutO-
~ Ofenses" in Ohio, and higher crimes.
Mr.. Byers sought to show that every interest of
society had far more of danger to apprehend from
minor offenses, such as gambling houses, houses
Of prostitution and drinking saloons than from all
the higher crimes known to the code. The former,
were all contrary to law, because they were known
10 uG cNL dLu ohly evil duu llut COHtluudllyg
and yet these places, all famiiarly known to our
police,go unrebuked by society and unwhipt Of JUS
tice.
We imprison the poor little vagraut boy or girl
against whose vagrancy society makes no provis-
ion, and we connive at the gambling hell the baw-
dy-house and the drinking saloons-alI wiIfully
pernicious, and all illegal as theft or murder.
The speaker then dwelt at some length upon GER
tain aEiODls in sociology. These had been formu-
lated by DR.. Bittnger Of Pennsylvania and he used
them as framing an Indictment against society, to
which intelligent plea could be made, as to Gull
ty or Not Guilty.
1. Whatever exposes men TO commit crime is
source of crime. Homelessuess, ignorance, inoc-
cupation.
2. Whatever induces men to commit crime is a
cause of crime. Gambling, Hcentousness and
drunkenness.
3. Whatever appeals to the baser passions and
instincts is source of crime. Varieties" prize
fights, cock fights, dog fights, etc.
4. Wha,ever in the administration Of fustice,
outrages justice, is cause Of crime. The speaker
here drew picture of Our prison system, aug
menting the very things it designed to reprcss
and control
ituttttf ttttittH NfTcftfCe TeIIC5Aire ifTtstl-
tioH is a cause Of crime To prevent and deter was
far better easier cheaper, than to catch and pun
ish.
Throughout the Lecture the several points raised
illustrated by incidents with which the speak
er was personally familiar.
The appeal for discharged prisoners was well and
/ fOrcibly presented, and a verdict was claimed
| against society-demanding compulsory education
for the ignorant, State providence and control for
the idle and vicious, the helpless aud deserted an
equal administration Of criminal law, an enlarged
and enlightened application of the Law of kind
ness to prison discipline and line upon line, pre-
cept upon precept, until that which is humane and
right shall prevail, and society stand acquitted OF
its responsibility for the many that may still re-
| main to be punished.
! LIPPIECOTTs MAGAZINE Of the articles in Lip