Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-04-24

20.
Among all the Egyptian plaques none coull
have been worse than this The Nile is th
wealth of Egypt. Its FISH the food, its water
the irrigation OF garden and fields Its con
dition decides the prosperity or the doom
the empire. What happens to the Nile hap
pens to all Egypt. And now in the text tha
great river is incarnadined. II is red gasl
across an empire. In poetic license we Speal
OF wars which turn the rivers into blood
But my text is not poetic license. 1t was
a fact, great crimson, appalling condition
described. The Nile rolling deep OF blood
Can you imagine more awful plague?
The modern plague which nearest CORE
spends with that Is the plague of crime il
all cur cities II halts not for bloodshed
Ii shrinks from no carnage. Ii bruises anc
cuts ard strikes down and destroys. II re-
vels in the bl,o1, 20 body and soul. this plagu,
OF crime rampant for ages, and never boiGeI
or more rampant than now.
The annua, police reports OF these cities as
] examine them are to me more suggestive
than Dante's Inferno and all Christian people
as well as retormers need TO awaken to pres
ent and tremendous duty. II you want thii
plague Of Crime" TO stop there are severa,
kinds OF persons you need 10 consider. First,
the public criminals. You ought not TO bt
surprised that these people make up a large
portion in many communities. The vast
II ajority OF the criminals who take ship from
Europe come into our own port. In 1869. OF
the forty-nine thousand people who we're in.
carcernted in the prisons Of the country
thirty 1.-TWO thousand were OF foreign birth.
Many OF them were the very deSperadoes of
society, ooZiDg into the slums OF our city,
waiting for an opportunity 10 riot and steal
and debauch, joining the large gang OF
American thugs and cut throats
There are in this cluster of cities-New
York, Jersey City and Brooklyn-four
thousand people whose entire business in
life is to commit suicide That is as much
their business as Jurisprudence or medicine
or merchandise is your business To it they
bring all their energies OF body, mind and
soul, and they look upon the intervals which
they spend In prison as so much unfortunate
loss OF time, just as you look upon an attack
Of influenza and rheumatism which fastens
YOU in the house for a few days Ii is their
lifetime business 10 pick pockets and blow
up safes and shoplitt and ply the panel game,
and they have as much pride Of skill in their
business as you have in yours when you up
set the argument OF an opposing counsel. or
cure gunshot fracture which other sur
geons have given up, or fOrrSee a turn in the
market as Won buy goods just before they go
up twenty per cent. II is their business 20
commit crime and | do not suppose that
once in year the thought Of the immortality
strikes them
Added TO these professional criminals.
American and foreign. there are large
class of men who are more OF less Industrious
in crime. In one year tho police in this
cluster Of cities arrested ten thousand D ,Ople
for theft, and ten THOUSAND for assault and
battery, and fifty thousand for intoEication.
DRUNKENNESS Is responsible for much OF the
theft, since it cOntuseS n mans ideas OF
property, and he gets his hands on things
that do not belong to him. Rum rs rcsponsi-
bic for much OF the assault and battery, in
spring men to sudden bravery, which they
must demonstrate though il be ON the face
Of the next gentleman
Ten million dollars worth Of property
stolen in this cluster OF cities in one year !
You cannot, As good citizens, be independent
Of that fact 1t will touch your pocket since
| lave to give you the fact that these three
cities pay about eight million dollars worth
OF taxes year to arraign, try and support
the criminal population You help to pay
the board Of every criminal, from the sneak
thief that snatches n spool Of cotton up TO
some man who swamps bank, More than
that it touches your heart in the moral de-
preston Of the community. You might as
well think 10 stand in closely confined
not breathe the vitiated air, as to stand in
a community where there is such Il great
multitude OF the depraved without some
what being contaminated. What is the fire
that burns your store down compared with
:he con6agration which consumes your
moralsl What is the theft of the gold and
silver from your money safe compared with
the theft Of your childrens virtueI
We are all ready to arraign criminals.
We shout at the top OF our voice, stop
thief" and when the police get on the track
we come out, hatless aud in our slippers, and
assist in the arrest. We come around the
bawlng ruffian aud hustle him off to justice,
and when he gets in prison what do we do for
nim' With great gusto we put on the hand
cuffs and the hopples; but what preparation
are we making for the day when the hand
cuffs and the hopples come Off Society
seems TO say to these criminals, Villain, &c
in there and rot" when it ought TO say,
"You are an offender against the law, but
we mean to give you an opportunity TO re
pent We mean to help you. Here are Bibles
and tracts and Christian influences. Christ
died for you. Look and live"
Vast improvements have been made ey
introducing industries into the prison; but
we want something more than hammer
and shoe lasts to reclaim these people. Aye
4
day. Society must impress these men will
the fact that it does not enjoy their sui
feripg, and that it is attempting to reform
and elevate them. The majority OF Grimm
ais suppose that society has grudge agalns
them, and they in turn have grudge agains
society.
They are harder In heart and more infuri
ate when they come out OF Jail than whel
they went IN. Many of the people who 6
to prison go again and again and again
Some years ago, OF fifteen hundred prisoner
who during the year had been in Sing Sing
four hundred had been there before. In
house of correction in the country, wher
during certain reach CT time there ha
been five thousand people, more than thre
thousand had been there before SO. in on
case the prison, and in the other the house G
correction, left them just as bad as they weI
before.
The secretary of one Of the benevoler
societies OF New York says n lad fifteen year
Of age had spent three years of his life !
prison. and he said to the lad, What hav
they done for you to make you better
"Well," replied the lad. 1.-THE first time
was brought up before the judge he sale
You ought to be ashamed of yourself An
then committed a crime again, and WI
brought up before the same judge and
said, You rascal And after while
committed some other crime, and | WI
brought before the same judge, and he salt
You ought to be hanged That was {
they bad done for him in the way of reform
tion and salvation. 'Oh, you say, "the
people are incorrigible. | suppose the
are hundreds of persons this day lying in Il
prison hunks who would leap up at Il
prospect of reformation If society wou
only allow them way into decency al
respectability.
TN" you say, 81 have no patience wi
these rogues." / ask you in reply, ho
much better would you have been under Il
same circumstances Suppose your moth
had been blasphemer and your father
sot, and you had started life with a bo,
stuffed with evil proclivities. and you h
spent much of your time in cellar am
obscenities and cursing, aud II at ten yea
Of age you had been compelled to go out a
steal battered and banged at night II y
came In without any spoils, and suppc
your early manhood and womanhood h
! been covered with rags and filth. and dece
, society had turned It's back upon you, u
left you to consort with vagabonds a