New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-10
THE WORKHOUSE.
oo,,Drv,r,. COMMITMENTS BY JUSTICES.

T. .ho or;nion of three police justices of the city
prt,sr II. Bixby, J. Henry Ford and Scion d.
cr,;,h-Judqe Lawrence of the Supreme Court Oh
"wednesday pronounced decision which entities
ohont 600 of the inmates Of the Workhouse 10
freedom. The three acted at once upon TINS conVlc-
ton and sent great bundles OF discharges W 'uo
Commissioners of Charities and Correction LOT exc
cnton These related to all the persons then In the
xyorLhouse who had been committed by
them on charges Of disordery cohuucs
I'm default of security to keep the peace OF oo VI
GOOD behavior. The right of the police Justices "
make such disposition of cases of this character
not contested from 1864, when the law was p"SSgu
which authorized them to require bali 10 lho onu'
specified and commit in default OF IT, IN auIi'lon
"a the usual ne until week before last, when James
n NcC,elIond raised it in a case brought before
Iustioe Bixby The claim made by him was that
rndar the new Code of Criminal PROCEDURE
lib was nassed by the Legislature on
IT, II 1851 and went into effect on
September of the same year, this rlghU hau oeen
restricted to convicted "dsorderly persons ana
ncrsons who had threatened to commit various
offences against persons and property. section 90
Of Chapter H. of the new Criminal Code redus'
Security TO keep the peace or be OF good oehaNioi
cannot be required except rs prescribed III Ihis
cbanter. and the chapter is devoted to cases IN
" threats n
proyides that justices may commit IN deiault Oh
hau for oood behavior if 1t be proved that the
nr,soner is dlserderly person. and then denheS us
orderly persons to be Those who abandon thelr
wives or threaten to do sO fortune tellers or secohu
siobtseers keepers of disordery houses gamblers
of all kinds; jugglers. showmen, trick performers
and habitual criminals.
The question raised IN the case OF woman
named Annie Davis, whom Justice blADy louuu
eniltv of diso1derly conduct, fined $40 and com
mitted to Blackwells Island for three months in
default of $500 bail to keep the peace MeCleiiahd
was the wOmans lawyer and took the matter OeIore
Judge Lawrence a writ of ha0eas corpus Judge
Lawrence rendered his decision on Wednesday suS-
tanning the view taken by Mr.. McCelland and
saving that the prisoner having been convicted
of disorderly conduct could not be sentenced
10 give security to keep the peace
in addition to being adjudged TO pay fine and to
stand imprisoned in the meantlme' lie th1IttlnIe
ordered that she he discharged Jusuees Pi nf,33'
smith and Ford accepted this decision as a dennl-
tion of their power and hurrledy ordered tlie us
charge of all persons that they haa sent 10 'ie
Island on commitments iOr ulsoIuoil3 oonu"SS' ha
default of bail to keep tue peace or lor goou oe-
haviOr. LII ..a 20 ono,
Gipsrenmfabie persons of both sexes from
Blackwei's Randalls and Wards Islands,
and corresponding influx OF the same ant
Ter YESTERDAY which was not stllleu Dy lhe ourreIG
story that Charities Commissioner hess haa salu
that he and ms l0w-CommsSloLers Wou3 WISH
Blackwelps Island on Monday ana personally SUI
Deuutepd the mined ate discharge OF thousand OF
The inmates at once. Eight OF the ponce Justices
refused to accept the decision OF Judge La"Ience
as tnal determination OF the question ana sen! no
orders for discharges. They ana TINS WIFI
out consultation among themselves SO idf
as couid be learned yesterday DuU one Vi
Tbon stice White feeling confident that the en-
fire aucStion had not been presented fully aud far
ly to Judge Lawrence, at once took SIPS ~ ao
the matter readlndicated William +. Rowe llaue
application To Judge Lawrence iOr VIII OF ndpeds
cdrpns III the of woman VINO hao oeen
convicted OF dlsOrdeTly conduct, nned ana heiI III
hail 10 be of good behavior ny Justice WHITE ms
case will be argued Tomorrow, when the claim VIII
he ntaced before Judge Lawrence that the section
&c tba Code nnon which the decision OF last week
was based does not apply to convictions Tor as
orderly conduct. This view was heid
Yesterday in conversation with TRIBUNE reporter
Inv MIR Howe who insists that section 80 mas
reference only offences described IN the chapter III
which IT occurs.
WHAT THE CHARITIES COMMISSIONERS SAY.
Thomas S. Brennan, president OF the Department
of Charities and Correction which has ID its charge
nearly all the penal and eleemosynary institutions
of the city on BlackwelPs RandalIs and Wards
Islands said to a TRIBUNE reporter yesterday;
There is nothing at all alarming in this matter.
W. send ont from 100 to 100 discharges every day,
either for persons who have served their time, or
for persons who have merted a shortening OF their
stay by reason of their good conduct, ana nothing
is said about it. There are ten or eleven FOlice
Justices the city and only three Oh the5 nave
sent discharges to to be cOunteslgned, ana there
were less than two hundred OF them. lhOSe we
discharge will come back 10 the city III shal
parties, for it will take some time To Drlng thelh
back 10 The Workhouse to receive their discharges.
Now they are at WORK everywhere; some III
every institution In the department. except
The Penitentiary. There are between oOO ana oOO
OF lie inmates OF the WorkhOuse who were commit
Ted in default of security for good behavior, and
who. under Judge Lawrence DECISION are ehti'leu
10 their liberty. Most OF them were guilty OF H.
toxication, OF creating dis urbance Dy shOut,
ing ia the streets, possibly Tor CleVeIahu
and Edison or Grant and somebody else. They
are unfortunate people, most of them. who are their
own worst enemies, and great many Oh them VIII
never trouble us again after they get 9nt. UNI; tnls
yyere a delivery of criminals from the PenltentlarY
there would DO something 10 worry aoout
but now there isn't. Those who 90
not sober up and become steady VIII
pndou btedly be back again before long under new
commitments of one kind or another, ana WINE
they are out Will save 20 cents a uay on theln.
The whole number that might be released Is not 30
large as is generally supposed, anu none OF them
will be out before Monday or tuesday. we VIII
not discharge any except in the ordinary
course unless the orders from the Justices and
80 long as eight OF them hold out ihere Is nttIe
danger of the city being overrun by CRIMINALS"
Commissioner Henry II. Porter said: " We had no
notice at all from the police justices OF what they
proposed don &. and L WAS greatly surprised on
Friday evening TO ma such pig oatcn VI papers
coming from Justices Bixby and smith. couldn't
understand 1t until 1 read letter from justice
BIxby IN which he demanded the discharge of all
whom he mad committed IN default OF surety Tor
GOOD behavior 1t don't amount to much, however,
exoept to give us some additional labor. Nearly all
of them Will be back again III twenty or thirty
days -
Police Justice James f. Kilbreth, in reply to a
TRIBUNE reporters questions, SAID last night The
Board of Police Justices have never had the ques-
ton before them for consideration though it has
been talked about for some time. Shortly
alter the Code OF Criminal Procedure
went into elect in September. 1881,
examined the matter very carefully aud concluded
that Section 80. which seems to prescribe that
rty TO keep the peace or be Of good behavior can