Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-07
County Commissioners Authorized to
Be on the Lookout for More
Room for Building.
OPTIONS SAID TO BE SECURED
On the Square of Property Bounded by
the Jail, Old Avenue, High Street
and Fifth Avenue.
THE PRISON is MUCH OTERCROWDED,
And Some Steps Are Necessary to Provide More
Room for Machinery, Etc.

| the property and in addition 20 being will
! ing to pay a fair price for it, possesses the
! power of condemnation, or eminent domain
Or whatever else one chooses to call it. Oul
| population, as most people know, has III
| creased rapidly of late years, and it seems
that the criminal portion thereof grows
rather faster than the moral and law-abiding
portion. It's sad, of course but increased
crowding makes increased discomfort, and
discomfort generates criminals, and besides,
this class thrives much better in large COM
munities than in small, as it gets more COM
panionship and is better able to cover its
tracks or at least thinks it is, which makes
it work more energetically. Stimulation
also comes in the large communionship of
the fallen on account of the sympathy each
gets from his fellows, both to commit crime
and to support suffering under the iron heel
of the law. Statistics prove it, without
philosophical arguments, either lnductive
or deductive, and figures in this case do not
lie, much as their veracity may be ques-
toned in some cases of n different nature.
Court Figures Do Not Lie.
.yoting lists may be swollen in order that
repeaters may personate names on the list
but judicial convictions and commitments
speak for themselves, and our increase in
population is not symmetrical in its proper
tions; vice growing faster than virtue, as
weeds grow more rapidly than corn.
The county's new jail will soon be too
small to properly and respectfully contain
its patrons, and that fact is weighing on the
Prison Board. At the opening of the present
term of the Quarter Sessions Court there
were more prisoners in jail than at any
previous period, not even excepting the
weeks following the great riots of 1877.
This was of course, in a measure owing to
.r,o Sl,o Of 81 On.
Sessions Court into License Court caused
an accumulation, but the increase was much
more marked than heretofore, and Warden
Berlin states that the average custom is all
the time greater of late than formerly. On
Sunday evening there were 22l prisoners in
the Jail, and scant prospects that many of
those in murderers' row Will be hanged
to make room ana they accumuIate IN
this quarter faster than worked OF, and
out At the last meeting of the Prison Board
the matter was considered at length and the
County Commissioners empowered to take
the steps that in their Judgment may be
necessary to obviate the crowding and also
the Inconvenience caused by the present
arrangements regarding machinery which
occupies more space than can be convent
emily given it.
VIII Make Large Additions.
1t was stated outside that the Commission
ers had decided to secure all of the square
nue. and High street and that options had
be en- gotten on four of the properties with
in this boundary and that if the rest could
not be had at something like reasonable
figures, the right to condemn would be ex-
ercised. Before the building of the present
Court House and jail this matter was dis
cussed by the board but failed to pass,
though strongly urged.
County Commissioner Mercer was interro-
gated regarding the report, and was 10th to
oG Glnf in
he wasn't exactly able to tell lie, and when
told that the cat was out of the wallet he
grudgingly admitted enough to substa initiate
the story. Mr.. Mercer, however, for some
reason thought the story should not be told,
but he couldn't adduce any particular
reason why it shouldn't, considering the
power TO condemn and the fact that the
owners in the square concerned
had gotten wind that something was in the
air. So by shreds and patches the material
portions of the project were learned.
When the jail was built it was sup
posed that it would be of ample capacity
TO answer all requirements for many years.
rs the practical effect of Brooks law had
not yet been felt.
Pressing Need for More Room.
Further, the original intention was to have
the machinery, boiler dynamos, etc., placed
under the front of the Court House, W here
the tower is, and this plan was changed.
Now a condition, not a theory, presents it.
self. and more room must be had. One rem
edy suggested was to remove the machinery
into the old law building on the south side of
street, at the mouth of Old avenue,
but there are objections to this. 1t would
entail considerable expense, and the build
ing and ground could not then be sold, and
they are not well adapted to the county's
use, while the ground on the northeast side
is. The reason the change of location of the
was decided upon, placing it in
the jail yard instead of the Court House, was
that at that time PittsDurg expected to
burn natural gas forever and a day longer |
and less room was needed tor it than for coal |
Now, however, Ii return to the latter named |
fuel is regarded as inevitable, sooner or later,
proba bly, sooner, but not before the needed |
change is effected.
Bus in addition to the necessary room to |
be secured by getting the property as far as |
High street, a vast improv ement will be ef- |
Iected by the opening Of a street parallel |
with the wall OF the Jail through from Fifth |
avenue to Forbes street,and this is part of the |
plan. Such Il street will be appreciated by |
fhe public will improve the personale of |
and will tend to relieve the |
courts and their attendants of the almost in |
noise which makes it so difficult !
to do business now by diverting portion of |
Bhe street traffic from Ross and Diamond |
streets. |
A Street Back of the Jail. !
Then the authorities do not like the situa- |
ion on that side of the jail anyhow, and |
suggest that the institution would be much |
safer if 40foot street ran along the build |
ng than at present, as private buildings |
now abut within few inches of the jail |
wall and some of them are in direct contact,
md there is no way to remedy the evil save |
1y securing the ground
The property proposed to be added is
lDout 200 feet frontage on High street, $50 oui
Did avenue and u few feet on Fifth avenue.
The ground is valuable, but there is not "a u
single good building on it, making it desir-
able kind to sell or buy, though the old tum-
)le-down structures bring so much rent that i
hey continue an eyesore, being pattern Oft
he ordinary dwellings of the sos, since con-
7erted at times into business houses. At
present the beautiful architecture of the
all bushes like a rose unseen on an I'M
'ightly waste on that side. The old rooll-
,ries that abut on the Jail wall might be well
Ldapted to accomplish jail delivery were
here enough desperate people outside suf-
iciently interested to make the attempt.
Accommodations for Drunks.
1t might be suggested, perhaps, that smallt
all room would be necessary were we to,I
reat the subject of criminal correction corr
ectly, but so long as We are so uncivilized,
S to send a poor devil to the workhouse fort
tealing something to eat while the drunken
ough is sobered up at county expense we'll
must continue TO enlarge our penal institu- Z
ions. If the bulk of the 22l people in Jail on /,
unday night were wearing ankle jewelry Is
nd cleaning streets or breaking stone pub |
icly at present to pay their fines, they would
hink twice before getting drunk again and
night in time become model citizens As
las been stated time after time in The Dis
ATCH, convicts in the State generally might
be made to work ON the +
Dads and make them what they ought
Tith any labor organization, for this
ranch of industry will not be overdone in
in the next 500 years. If any
ne be sl1eptical on the subject let him now
a In hriN