Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-02-20
The Gentiernen in sing sing.
 -.r- Ynrk narsld.


 The centiernen in sing sing.
 New York Herald.
 Human nature ls certainly given to nnnccouutable eccentricitiesi but the naudljn sympathy which It some times deIiEhts Go entertain for all sorts of criminals is tine most unaccountable .ofaIl. This sympathy is not cUrsist- .eDt-i. e.. it does not pour llseit m wishv-washy flood over criminals as a clgss-but it is spGsmOdlc, and IS ar,t to select man who is guilty of .coId-bloOded and diabOllcal crime, and weep over him as though he were martyr instead Of Q murderer. When Wagner, for instance. cOldly 5utchesed a whole family for few paItrv dollars, and was sentenced 10 be hanged-a fate richly deserved the Rsthetic ladies Of that part ot our great and glorious country known as Down East. went iEtO an ecstacy Ot excitement and sent him bouquets, and sat by his side talking 10 him ID silver tones of the Sweet By-and- By, into which the coarse rope Of the brutal hangman was soon to hurry him.
 The air is at present filled with a wall about Sing Sing. The gentle men who are living in that castle on the Hudson, It has been ascertained, are compelled Co labor in stoYe- polishing shop, where the smoke and dust are positively disagreeabie. They get their hands grimy and their clothes unutterably dirty. The little particles Of iron which the swift crinds tone flashes from the castings am i'd shower of stars get into the lungs and produce pulmonary diseases Such cruelty is intOlCrable m an age like this \ man may be criminal, red with the blood of his victims, but he certainly ough. Go be treated like a gentleman Just think of putting those delicate hands-whlch have never done au honest days work, which have been SD skilfully trained that they can write another man s name on a note with the accuracy Ol an autogTaph-to such base use as pulling castings out of base oil of vitrioli Just think of subjecting the finely wrought organization of a. man whose oniy misfortune IS that he smothcred his wife or snapped a pis- tol against the brain of traveller who happened to have a small sum of money in his pocket-boOk, which, In a fit of mental alteration. the mur- derer transferred tO his own posses sion, Co the hard compulsiO1 of day of ten weary hours work in dis agreeable and soOty blacksmith shop The idea or such unnecessary rigOr IS appalling, and so COntTadiCts the ad- vanced moral sentiments of the nine teeuth century that we stand aChast.
 To be sure, there are 10, GOO other men, not m prison, who never com mitted a crime in all their lives, who maintain their allectiOnate families by doing the same kind oi work; but it must not be forgotten that they like Go dO it. They go tO their tasks will lugly and with a light heart, and would hardly change their labor for competency, while the martyrs ot sing Sing go Co their morning labOTs with great hesitation, and act as though every refined sentiment of their natures rebellcd at it. Beside, the honest workman has his libertys he IS not confined within four granite walls. with a sentinel to watch every acton lest he take a stray OppOrtun- fly Go bury his knife in the warden heart He is not held in durance vile in spite of the repeated declarations tGat he is as innocent as a newly born babe. and that the crime for which he is SD patiently suffering was commit ted by some unprInciplcd WalLstreet broker. or by some iueligioUs mil lionaire of Fifth avenue, who persists in c0ncealing his guilt and compelS an innocent man Co go tc prison n his stead.
 TLe case is assuredly very hard one and ought tO be attended to at once. But, alas it is a wicked world in which we live, and we cannot hope for any radical reform in such matters at present We greatly fear that even tAe maudlin sentiment of those Ieli- cate souls who weep over the imag- mary crimes of the incarcerated will not avail Co supply wine and flowers to grace the somewhat frugal board oi the gentlemen of Sing SIngi whose liberty hus been restricted because an unreasonable. community has sus- piciun that they were cut-throats and rockets.