The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-02-28
TICKLE FASHIONS WAVE.
Americans Aping the Lords of their An
cestors by Importing Top Boots
for Coachmen.
Revolving Spectacles Presented rs the
Fruits of the New York Prison
Contract System.

Special Correspondence of the Evening Light.
New YORK, February ALMOST of the
wealthy society ladies have hitherto contented
themselves with half livery for their coachmen
and footmen and white vests and .swalow-tail
coats for the buffers, but this winter more
elaborate costume has been introduced.
Hundreds Of pairs of Partisan top-boots have
been imported for coachmen and footmen
who have heretofore wore their boots inside
of their trousers, and Mrs. William X.
Vanderbilt has taken the lead in putting her
servant in full European livery-that is, the
court costume, breeches, silk stockings, ample
vest and long, full coat of the shad-stomached
variety and little linen pocket under each ear
The many colors of the French turnkey are
superseded by uniform claret, broken only
by the white silk stockings. | have never
seen such heraldc frenzy as prevails here
now. Carriage doors have suddenly bios
somed out in bright colors-red and blue and
green-lions rampant, eagles happant and
fields argent with waited gules and all sorts of
cotties and quarterings. Several old indus
tries have sprung into new life, founded on
this revival Of the rag" for escutcheons.
| On Monday | called on a livery tailor on
| Fifth avenue, who does the heavy business of
the city. Americans are rushing into livery
as never BEFORE" he said. His English eye
twnkled as he added: 81 fear they are
losing their solid democratic principles.
Men who have declared for years that they
wouldn't have any of this nonsense are
dragged here by their ambitious wives to get
James and Thomas put in livery and the
family crest engraved on the brass buttons.
New Workers who have made their million
dollars by large dealings in potatoes, brass
goods or oleomargarine come here to find out
how to dress their servants and what their
family crest is. The father of the family
knows that his father was a poor farmer in
New HamShire or a stage driver down in
New Jersey, and that's all he knows about it.
So fix them out with a crest. There was a
man named Chirt who wanted a coat-ol-arms.
| couldn't find any such name, so | sent to
England, where they equipped him with the
coat-of-arms OF Chirp. 1t will answer just as
well, and am sure that Chirp is livelier and
more cheerful name il they should ever find it
| out.
THE PRISON CONTRACT SYSTEM.
The reports Of the investigation at Sing
Sing will be read. But no report can convey
an adequate idea OF the Sckening and revolt
ing spectacles presented in that prison. The
condition of some OF the cells where two
prisoners are locked up at night and obliged
to stay when not at work, dehes the power of
language to describe. The filth, the vermin,
the ragged clothing and the remains of rotten
mattresses, the stencheS, the unutterable
squalor, make the place loathsome and de-
| grading. The wonder is, not that men are
physically debilitated and morally hardened
and poisoned there, but that most of tn pris-
oners do not lose all their manhood or their
reason and die before their terms expire. The
story of the young man in the last stage Of
consumption kept at work when scarcely able
to stand; compelled to lift when every strain
brought a mouthful of blood from his lungs;
locked in dark and dismal cell, though beg
ging to be sent to the hospital; getting no
medical treatment except dose of hot-drops
justified the indignant exclamation of Mr..
Keyes, the humane and intelligent Chairman
of the committee, "Why, gentlemen, this is
butchery!" The discovery of King in the
dark cell, where he had been confined a
month, after being beaten and kept nine days
in the dungeon because, one OF his arms being
| shorter than the other, he was unable 10 per
form the task, was like bringing forth vic
tim supposed to be dead from the tombs Of
the old Bastile. No wonder Brush and his
attorney were dismayed at the demand OF Mr..
Sigerson to take the committee down to the
internal pit and resisted the proposition
which Messrs Taylor, Roche and Brust car
ried into effect with determination that does
credit to their fidelity and courage. The dis
closures of yesterday, so far as the question Of
cruelty and inhumanity to the prisoners are
concerned, were overwhelming. The prison
is stye, and its inmates are treated like slaves
and wild beasts.
The one point on which the terrible revela
ton pivots is the fact that almost every wit
ness declared that the punishments of the
prison-the beatings and duckings and starv-
ings and locking in dark cells--are ordered
by the contractors or their "bosses," and are
almost invariably ordered for. failure TO per-
form tasks beyond their strength. Only
coarse, hard, brutal men can be got to serve
as "bosses" of prison contractors in place
like Sing Sing, and the prisoners are at the
/. mercy Of men who have no mercy. Here we
reach the bottom fact of the whole business
| The prison contract system, which bankrupts
manufacturers, which robs citizen mechanics
Of work and reduces their wages, inspires and
directs all the cruelty and inhumanity, the SUI
feriug and madness and death in the great
prisons Of the State. This internal system is
the root Of crime from which all others grow.
To destroy this system is to get rid Of all oc-
/ raciNp for 1traa A.