Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-02
S0CIETY'S CRIMINALS.
EXTRACTS FROM AN INTERVIEW
WITH COL. ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.

| We Are Well, in q Measure, Responsible
for the Existence of Felons-The Bur-
| glars Beginning-No Reforming Power
In Revense-Another View.
| The probability is that society raises its
own criminals 1t plows the land, sows the
seed and harvests the crop. ! believe that
the shadow of the gibbet viii not always fall
upon the earth. l believe the time will come
when we viii know too much to raise Grim
inals-know too much to crowd those who
labor into the dens and dungeons that we
| call tenemen.s, while the idle live in palaces
| The time will come when men will know that
real progress means the enfranchisement of
the whole human race, and that our interests
are SO united, so interviewer, that the few
cannot be happy while the many suffer; so
that the many cannot be happy while the
few suffer; so that none can be happy while
one suffers. In other words. it will be found
that tho human race is interested in each
individual. When that time comes we will
stop producing criminals; we will stop pro-
ducing failures; we win not leave the next
generation to chance; we will not regard the
People imagine that if the thieves are sent
to the penitentiary that is the LAST of tho
thieves; that if those who kill others are
hanged society is on safe and enduring
basis. But the trouble is here: & man comes
to your front door and you drive him away.
You have an idea that that mans case is set
tied. You are mistaken. He goes to tho
back door. He is again driven away But
the case is not Yet settled. The next thing
you know he enters at night. He is a burg
lar. He is caught: he is convicted; he is
sent to the penitentiary, and you imagine
that the case is settled But it is not. You
must remember that you have to keep all the
agencies alive for the purpose of taking care
of these people You have to build and
maintain your penitentiaries, your courts of
justice; you have to pay your judges, your
district attorneys, your juries, your witnesses,
your detectives, your police-all these people
must be paid. So that, after all, it is very
expensive way Of settling this question.
THE BURGLARS BEGINNING.
You could have done 1t far more cheapiy
had you found this burglar when he was a
child, had you taken his father and mother
from the tenement house, or had You COM
polled tine owners to keep the tenement clean;
or if you had widened the streets If you had
planted few trees, if you had had plenty Of
baths, if you had had a school in the neigh
borhood II you had taken some interest in
this faInily--sone interest in this child-in-
stead OF breaking into houses, he might have
been builder of houses
There is and it cannot be said too often,
no reforming influence in punishment; no
reforming power in revenge Only the best
of men should be in charge Of penitentiaries;
only the noblest minds and the tenderest
hearts should have the care Of criminals.
Criminals should sec from the first moment
that they enter a penitentiary that it is
filed with the air of kindness, full Of tho
light Of hope. The object should be to con-
vince every criminal that he has made q
mistake; that he has taken the wrong way;
that the right way Is the easy way, and that
tho path Of crime never did and never can
lead to happiness; that TINT idea is a mistake
and that the government wishes TO convince
him that he has made a mistake; wishes to
open his intellectual eyes; wishes TO so edu-
cate him. to SO elevate him, that he win look
back upon what he has done only with
horror
LIKE WILD BEAST.
ThiSis reformation. Punishment is ncs.
When the convict Is taken 70 Sing Sing or to
Auburn, and when striped suit Of clothes
is put upon hirn-that Is to say, when hs is
made to feel the degradation of his position
no step has been taken toward reforma-
ton. You have simply filed lis heart with
hatred Then, when be has been abused for
several years, treated like wild beast, and
finally turned out again IN the community,
he has no thought. IN a majority Of cases,
except to ''get even with those who have
prosecuted min. He feels that it is perse-
cution-
Another view Of The subject is this: have
read that Of fifty criminals who had been
executed II was found, I believe, IN nearly
all the cases that the shape Of the skull was
abnormal. Whether this Is tire or not
don't know. but that some men have ten
dancy toward what we cal crime believe
Where this has been ascerta;ned, then, ft
seems to me such men should be placed where
they cannot multiply their kind Women
who have a criminal tendency should be
placed where they cannot increase their kind.
For hardened crtminAl-that is TO say, for
the people who mako crime btIsioess-i.
would be better TO separate toe sexes; %
send the men TO one Island. tho women TO
another. Let them Be kept apart 70 the end
that people with c-i1nirfl teadsncses nzy
fats from he earth This Is Dot prsnpssd
By revenge. THIS xo1fd noe be dnoe for the
purpose Of Furnishing these People, but for
the protection Of societrfor the peace ard
happiness Of the fucure--New Ye-k World
interviews.