The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1888-08-04
.offICIAL EXPERIENCES.
Dealing With Criminals and the Poor,

From my experiences as a Judge
in Police Courts | should say that
laziness is the chief cause of crime
The young man who is inherently
lazy will steal rather than work.
According to the scriptures man
should earn his bread by the sweat
of his brow, but in our large cities
there are thousands of men who
will do neither mental nor manual
work, and who prefer to get their
living by preying upon the commu-
nifty in some form or other.
Young criminals are born bad.
You can not expect that the sons
and daughters of thief or a bur-
glar will be naturally good. Their
whole surroundings are bad, nearly
every influence that is exerted upon
them from childhood up, tends to
make them as bad as their progcn-
itors. Even girls and boys inclined
to be good may by contagion be
come bad We have many institu-
tions in this city for the reforma-
ton of criminals of both sexes, but
| think that very few of the vicious
are reformed in such places. My
experience with breakers justi-
fies the truth of the saying: "Once
thief always thief" Once let a
boy get contaminated with the
poison OF crime and he will live
and die an outlaw of society. In
the courtroom / can tell at a
glance children that have been
brought up in reformatories-their
manner is deceitful and they have
hang-dog, crouching expression
of countenance.
In my official career | have met
a great many criminals, and / must
confess that among them have
never known of a genuine case Of
reform. Quite long time may
sometimes elapse between their
terms in the penitentiary or state
prison, but they are sure to return
for some new offense sooner or
later, more hardened than ever.
Once in a while a man who has
gone wrong will attempt to reform.
and his efforts ought to meet with
encouragement. will relate a case
in point; One day, while sitting
in the tombs, an officer brought be-
fore me man who wore a blouse
and had an adze in his hand. /
said to the officer, What charge
do you make against this man?"
The officer replied, He is an es-
capped convict from the peniten-
tiary; he got a three years SEN
tence, served two and owes another
year to the state" / asked the
officer where he found him. He
said he found him in cooperage.
"What was he doing?" "He was
making barrels % WAS he dressed
as he is now?" "Yes." "Well," l
said, "if he escaped from prison it
was the fault of the state officials.
He served two years for his offense.
When you arrested him he was not
in the act of committing any crime;
he was trying to earn an honest
living at his trade and be better
man. 1t may be technically wrong
for me to discharge him, but |
think the public will sustain me
when I say, you are discharged /;
go back to your shop and work at
your trade, and do not break the
law again."
But that is an exceptional case.
Burglars will die burglars; pick
pockets cannot be reformed, and
confidence men would rather get
half dollar by practicing their
beguiling methods than earn $5
honestly in the same length of
time. It is, indeed, true that to
them stolen fruit is always the
sweetest.
Crime, however, is no more prev
alent in New York than it is in any
country village in proportion to the
population. / have visited every
large city in the United States and
most of the large cities in Europe.
] have made inquiries in regard to
crime, and | have come to the con-
clusion that New York, notwith-
standing that it is rendezvous for
criminals from all parts OF the
world, is comparatively as free from
crime as any city in the universe,
Free reading-rooms, lectures, ETC.,
diminish crime to certain extent,
but the 1O-cent lodging houses more
than counterbalance the good done
by all the former. Such lodging
houses have caused more destitu-
ton, more beggary and crime than
any other agency know of. Me-
chanics and laborers were better
off years ago when they had to pay
from two dollars and fifty cents to
five dollars a week for their board
in regular boarding-houses. In
those days men worked and liked
to work. Nowadays, many me-
chanic and laboring man, ! am
corry ~ GOV with his stomach tull