Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-07
GIRTH AND GOODNESS
Not One Per Cent Of the State Prison
Ccnvicts Really C0rpulent Persons.
From the New York Sun.


Convicts Really CorpuIent Persons
From the New York Sun.
Ut 10 by no means certain, sir" the old observer
said. settling himself comfortably back in his
easy chair and just managing to lock his fingers
over his ample vest, ''that, in an improved state
OF society, when great truths now but guessed
at shall be fully known, the scales will not play
very important part in the administration of
Justice. l do not mean the emblematc things
that the blind goddess forever bangles
aloft-signifcant of the question whether
plaintiff or defendant will pay most for a
decision. l mean plain matter-of-fact Fair
banks, Howe's or some other scales to tell
exactly what person weighs. The time will
come when people will recognize that lack of
adipose tissue and paucity of moral principle
go together. while girth and goodness are insep-
arabic or course. as all rules prOverbialIy have
their exceptions, it is not impossible that lean
man may, under peculiarly favorable conditions
be a tolerable member of society and, by good
luck, keep out of Jail all his life long. On the
other hand. a fat man may not be a tolerabe
member of society, and NAV get into jal--as
Tweed did, for instance-but he is not at all
likely to do so. In fact. criminal statistics show
that hundred lean men are imprisoned for Of
lenses against person or property where one fat
man falls from grace. Admitting the existence
fed in affirming the rule that the chances
are the leaner man is the more he
is predisposed to felony by nature,
and the fatter a man is the better he is, morally
and socially. Do you see now where the scales
will come in? The nearer a fellows avoirdu-
pois grovels downward toward the cOntempti-
bic mark of 100 pounds; the more likely it is
whatever the evidence may be-that he deserves
punishment either for the thing alleged against
him or something the court has not yet heard
nf fIph
worth and dignity Of 800 pounds the greater is
the just presumption that he is kindly, honest,
innocent, or, even if in some small measure
seemingly blamable, that he is the victim of Cir
cumstances. The day is coming, sir, when our
courts will weigh not simply the evidence. but
the accused, and give the fat man the benefit of
the doubt, ifthere is any, every time. Look on
the books of any prison in the land and see if
the record of convicted felons' weight is not a
blazing torch of truth. in proof of what | say to
light the world to higher appreciation of the
moral beauty of adipOse tissue"
Warden Fox. at the penitentlary on Black
wells Island when the reporter sought him for
verificatiOn of what his fat friend had said re-
piled: ''Well, now that you call my attention to
it, must say that the infrequency of fat men
being sent here is really very remarkable. We
average about 900 prisoners here constantly.
and not two per cent of them. in all the years |
have had charge Of this institution, have been
men weighing two hundred pounds Even
those who did attain that weight or near to it,
were generally big-framed. raw-boned men. not
what could properly be called fat men. Not one
per cent, should say, were really fat men. AS
rule they weigh about one hundred and forty
pounds. rather under than over. The heaviest
criminal we ever had here was Tweed, who is
recorded two hundred and syty-three pounds
weight. The next heaviest Is one we have here
now, James Williams. who was sent up for lar
ceny q few days ago. He weighs two hundred
and fifty-nine pounds. 1t would take long
search over the reGprdS> to find any more COM
ing near that figure. Fat men seem to be too
gOod-natured to like to in jure other people.
Fin not prepared to say whether fat develops
goodness or goodness develops fat, but they
seem to go together Anybody can see for him
SELF that there is not In society any such dispro
portiOnate minority OF fat men as one per cent
the proportion of them that we have here Con-
sequenty, the inference is unavoidable that the
fat men do infinitely less than their share in
popping penal institutions. And when they do
come, they are the best prisoners Imaginable
we nave far less trouble with large men than
small ones cannot think OF any other pecu-
llarlty OF person that is SO markad among crimi-
nails, as general rule as is that of small size
We have red heads and black heads, and white
faces and brown faces, low brOws and high
ones, bull necks and thin ones all in lust about
the same proportions that you will meet them
about town any day. But when you come to
lean and fat, there the line is wonderfully
marked"
The response made by Mr. James Jackson,
the Old detective at Sing Sing prison. was even
more emphatic in recognition of the superior
goodness of fat men. And Jackson ought to
know if an! body should. He has dealt with
criminals tor sixteen years. Every one who
goes into Sing Sing prison as a convicted feOn
passes under his eyes, and SO keenis his memory
that not one OF them is ever forgotten by
him. And he said: Eat cOnvicts. either large
or small, are very rare indeed. Out OF 1.5OO
convlcts now here, we have only one or two
TAT men, and In the past ten years we have had
only two OF three. One that remember was
Fatty DOlan, pickpOcket who died here
few months ago of heart disease His stature
was but five feet one inch and he weighed 200
pounds-a great deal for man of that height
Another was Robert White alias Whitley Bob
also pickpocket, who was five feet eight and
half inches high and weighed $50 pounds. A
third was William Weston alias Bill Conoly,' a
hotel thief, five feet nine inches In height and
$50 pounds weight. And l cannot recall any
others No, there were no others worthy Of
being called fat. And you must remember that
we have had 200 or 1 800 here all the time OF
those we have at present several are stout strong
men and big raw-boned men, but not really c.r.
pulent men. 1t would hardly be fair to 90 en-
tirely by weight, for a small man may be a very
fat one. as In the case of Fatty Dolan. l sup
pose the average weight Of convicts will be
about ,1 $50 pounds, perhaps less They will run
q little heavier here than in the penitentiary, as
down there they get younger ones and of a
somewhat different class. In height they
nearly all are between feet 6 inches
and feet 10 inches; not many either shorter
OF taller. Indeed, aside from the one
matter Of tatness, there is wonderful
similarity among .convicts. Light COM
pexlons predominant among them-say
light or brown to dark brown hair and blue or
gray eyes-and our most desperate convicts are
the smaller-sized ones with light compilations
Red-haired men, really red. are rather scarce
Not more than twenty-five are in our present
500 but suppose that isn't much out of the
way OF their proportion to society at large Our
best prisoners are always the fattest ones, but
we have so few to make up judgment on that
we have even better opinion of them than they
deserve. should not say that the percentage
OF fat criminals would 90 higher than one in
1.0O0-nOt really fat ones"
Mr.. Stephen Cutter. general agent of the
Prison Association of New York said: Your
inquiry opens new vein of thought AS
reflect on the matter don't know that
heavy weights are entirely exempt from
criminal life. Tweed was fairly fat. But
there are not many such men arrested.
| have thought that the class of young
criminals, say from Is to 25 years of age,
that are now and have been thronging our
courts tor eight or ten years, were not quite I'D
to the average size of men, and should say