Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-06
THE COURT HOUSE AND JAIL.
Important Recommendation Of the At
torney General.

important Recommendation OF the At
torney General.
The annual report of Attorney General Mil
Ter contains number of references to affairs
in the District of Columbia. He recommends
that the District Jail be placed under his own
supervision, that a separate wing for female
prisoners be built, that an appropriation be
made for the purpose of building wall about
the Jail Enclosure, that the small pox hospital
be moved from within the Jail Enclosure and
that the salary of the warden be increased from
81, 800 to s2,5O0 per annum.
THE POTOMAC FLATS TITLE.
He says that ''the suit for the settlement of
the title to the Potomac flats has been pushed
forward as rapidly practicable during the
current year. The evidence has been largely
taken and am advised bv the special counsel
hearing at the next General Term of the
Supreme Court of the District"
There were five suits brought to trial in the
Court Of Claims against the District during the
year, claiming S5O,064 "a, and judgment was
rendered IN them IN favor of claimants for
SS3, 1884. There are now pending twenty
eight cases, claiming upward of S1,35S, $50.
ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.
In regard to assistant attorneys in the Dis
trict of Columbia the Attorney General SAYS:
1.-The law under which provision is made for
assist ant district attorneys in the District of
Columbia was passed In 1870 and allows only
$4,000 for the pay of such assistants. Since
the enactment of that law the business within
the District has increased to such an extent
that the force available with such an appropri-
alton is entirely inadequate Aside from the
growth OF the District in population, and the
consequent increase of criminal business,
there is large amount of civil business in set
tllnS titles to property, defending suits
brought against various officers of the govern
ment and otherwise, for which provision ought
to be made, and which can in no way so well
be attended to as by assistant attorneys under
the general direction of the District attorney
and the Attorney General. The appropriation
for this purpose ought to be at least $4,000,
instead of $4,000 and unless such provision is
made the civil business of the government in
the District of Columbia cannot receive that
attention which its Importance demands"
The report contains letter from Chief
Justice bingham of the District Supreme Court
calling attention to the unsanitary condition of
the court house. Referring to the water
closet ventilation Judge Bingham says:
We are assured by competent authority that
such Insufficient safeguards would not be
tolerated by the health officers in any build
ing. public or private. under their charge.
Perhaps more serious cause of complaint is the
faulty arrangement for the supply of external
air to the heating system in use througout the
building. This supply is supposed to come
through two horizontal grating5 level with the
surface of the ground thence descending some
ten feet to a tunnel, communicating at each
end. east and west with these gratings This
tunnel is about eight feet in height by about
six feet in width, the bottom laid with brick,
like an ordinary pavement, and the sides with
stone, with an arch at the top. The open
gratings admit the rain and the damp air.
which, it is supposed. passes through the
length q nd at into 10
admitted to the registers opening into the
court room. The imperfect paving of the
floor of the tunnel offers no obstacle to the
escape OF exhaiations from the ground beneath.
The tunnel is about 276 feet long and at the
points where the air ascends to many of the
rooms the atmosphere appears quite unaffected
by the external air, but seems to be dead and
disagreeable. That such a system needs
prompt modification must be apparent One
obvious remedy would be to erect towers in
the grounds surrounding the building, to the
east and west respectively of the present graf
lngs. through which wholesome air. taken from
an elevation some fifteen feet above the ground.
could be conducted to a tunnel protected by
thick coatings of cement from impurities from
the ground beneath the cellars and from in
vibrations from the masonry at the Sides We
are painfully sensible of the necessity of a
prompt reformation of these glaring evils
The health officer and inspector of plumbing
Of the District have each expressed themselves
very positively TO this effect We also suggest
that the comfort of the justices and the becom-
ing discharge of thei- duties would be much
promoted by change i'll the room used by the
General Term, which would be accomplished
by the removal of a wall between it and our
room and its reconstruction at the
opposite end of the chamber"
NATIONAL PENITENTIARY
The Attorney General says that during the
year 2,287 civil suits and 14,53S criminal prose-
cutions were terminated, and there are pend
ing 1850 of the former and 1912 of the latter
class. The penitentiaries where United States
prisoners are confined are in good condition
and the convicts are well cared for and
humanely treated. At the present time there is
not single institution in the country which
will receive United States prisoners free of
cost. The number of penitentiaries which will
receive United States prisoners from outside
the state at all Is becoming limited, and in
some cases the transfer of government conyicts
from one penitentiarv to another becomes
necessary i'll view of the vacillating enact
ments OF the legislatures in the several states.
He recommends that provision be made
for United States penitentiary and a
United States reformatOry, the latter being in
tended for the confinement of the milder class
of criminals He urges the establishment of a
national prison bureau in the Department of
Justice for the collection of statistics in regard
to crime in the United States