Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-05-31
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Crime Among w Omen-smusgiing- oman
.Rights-The GambieFs-The End OF Iiiden-
Ism-The Weather.
New York, May 25, 1877.

New York, May 70, 1871
Crime Among Women.
The removal Of sixly-eight female
convicts from the prison at Sing Sing
to the Brooklyn reform prison was
curious and instructive sight When
a woman does get bad she is as much
worse than man as possible. The
women were marched to boat and
their profanity was something awful.
Their first exploit was an attempt to
drown an obnoxious officer, which
they nearly succeeded in doing, and
they sailed away singing the most
horrible travesties of the most sacred
hymns. One woman of sixty, named
Elkins is the mother of eight children
all of whom are at this time in prison,
and there never has been time since
the Youngest was ten that five OF
them have not been in confinement at
the same time. The old lady was, in
her youth, pickpocket, and the most
sklllful one in the city, but of late
years her fingers lost their nimbleness
and she has confined her attention to
shop lifting. The little freedom of
the boat, reused all the old enthusi-
asm. GLOW | wish | was out" she
said Couldn't / work the second floor
of the stores on sixth avenue, where
there amt but one clerk It's too
bod" And the old harri2an sighed
to think of the opportunities she was
missing. One beautiful girl of not
more than twenty-five, belonged to
one of the best families in the city.
She fell in love with moustached
pickpocket, who married her, her fam
lily cut her off, she became an adro't
thief herself, and went down as wo-
men do, like a shot. She became
abandoned, and utterly reckless, her
family count her as dead, land she is one
ofthe worst and most unruly prisoners
| Another is woman of good con-
nections, who is a confirmed klepto-
maniac. She was we'll enough off,
having husband in good business.
who was very liberal TO her But
she could not avoid theft She would
qtesl thu most useless articles, things
that she could not use, and that
were of no possible use to her. Shop
keepers dreaded to see her come in
to their places, for it became neces-
sary to detail clerk to watch her,
and even then, so expert had she be-
como, that she would get away with
plumber. She was arrested a great
many times, and was saved from
punishment by her husband going
to the expense of saving her every
day or two Finally it broke him
up, and he was compelled to let the
law take its course. She continued
her operations in the prison. She
would secrete needles, thread, dishes
from the table, food that she could
not use, everything that could be
concealed ana carried 1t is an in.
durable madness, and she would be
better in an insane asylum, although
in all other respects she il perfectly
sane. The others had histories, but
there were sixty eight of them.
Smuggling.
Women have been for many years
in the habit of smuggling laces, silks
etc, but it is only recently that men
have tried the smuggling of wearing
apparel. The famous london tailor,
Poole, made an arrangement with
the officers of q cunard steamer, TO
get goods through without paying
duties, and then sent man here to
canvas for orders Without paying
duty he could undersell the Broad
way tailors, and besides the swe'ls
never consider themselves dressed
tn they have pair Of Poo!e's pan
falcons. The New York tailors got
wind Of it, and vqro ready for the
Cunarder when it landed. The de-
tectivos spotted and seized thirty
suits If clothing, the most of them
for the best known men in the city
The oxtent of smuggling is lille un-
| derstood There is a house in the
city in the book-trade, who have a
printing establishment just across
the line, near Rouse's Point, 10 Cam
ada 1t is in the woods and remote
from everything. The moment q
successful American book makes its
appearance, il is storeotyped, print.
/ ed and bound on the other side Of
the line, and csrsed to the nearest
railroad station by the thousand, and
sold at prices that no American
publisher can compete with, for they
have no copyright to pay, aud their
labor and material are cheaper. Some
of our best-known authors have been
nearly ruined by this smuggling of
Canadian printed books. The snug
Cling of cigars from Cube is very
large trade. The incoming vessel
having cigars on which no doty is to
be paid, displays a peculiar signal
when approaching the shore, and
she il boarded by men from small
boats, who take off her cargo and land
il on the coast anywhere. Or the
cigars are packed in Gil doth, and
when the vessel il coming up the
bay the captain throws them over
board TO the boat making the proper
signal. Liquors come down Lake
Cham plain and over the Greal Lakes.
ana mo toeir way 10 the CITY, duty
free. II is an INN nsely profitable
business, and, so l1ng is our frontier,
attended with very little risk
Women'= Rights.
The nation al women's rights asso-
CLIFTON held its annusl meeting in
tie city. Thursday last. These
meetings used TO be very large and
enthusiastic, put The interest in them
has perceptibly declined. This year
masonic hall was not one. quarter
ful', and It was hard work 10 get up
any steam at all. Isebella Bsecher
Hooker was there, and &c, likewise,
Bllke, and Anstiu, Lozier AMI the
regular stand-bys. They were oil
more angular, more shreWish, more
petElant and more waspish than