Telegram-herald., 1891-04-13

l suppose there are hun
dnsfs Of persons this day lying in the
prison banks whs veaid leap ap - the
prospect Of reformafion 70 society weoia
only allow th~m . way into deceDcy and
rnpac<ahifity-
TEE rScHARrTADLE Jgp2k6
"oh." yo0 say. Il have No paslsscs Nth
thess roGa<s" I ask yoa in reply how
mach heetsr wouid yea have bsso under
the ssms circumstances, Suppose your
mother bad bosa blasphesner AID your
father sos. and you bad started ilfe with
. body stuffed wish evil procifvifles. and
you had spsos much of your time In cellar
amid ohnesnisies and cussing. and IL IL ten
yearsof age you had bsen compelled togoous
and steal. battered and banged ~ night II
you came in without any spsoiis. and suppose
your early manhood Asd vomankood had
besa eoversd with rsSs and hlth. and de-
cent society had turned il back upon you,
and left yoa - coasort with va@Abonds and
wharf rses-how much better would yoa
have beens have no sympathy with that
executive c.emency which would let crime
run loose, or ~ hich would sit Ia the gallery
of . court room weeping because some
hard hearted wretch u brought 10 Justice;
community demand more potential inftu-
enees in behalf OF public offenders
In some of the city prisons the AIR is like
visited prisons where, as the air swept
through the wicket, il almost knocked me
down. No sunlight. Young men who had
committed their first crime crowded in
among old offenders. raw In one prison
. woman. with . child almost blind. who
had been arrested for the crime OF poverty.
who was waiting until the slow law could
take her 20 the almshouse. where she
righ<1ully belonged; bat she was thrust In
there with her child amid the most ahan-
doned wretches Of the town. Many Of he
offenders in that prison slept on the
door. with nothing bat vermin covered
blanket over them. Those people crowded
and wan and wasted and half suffOcased
and infuriatsd said to the men, "How
do you stand it heres" God knows, said
ono man. I'VE have to stand It," Oh, they
will pay you when they get out. Who're
they burned down ono house they viii
burn three. They will strike deeper the
assAsin's knife. They are this minute
plotting worse burgiaries-
Some Of the city jails arc the best places
know Of to manufacture footpads. va9a-
bonds and cutthroatA Yale college in not
20 we'll calculated TO make scholars, nor
Harvard 20 we'll calculated to make scion
lists, nor Princeton % well calculated to
make thoologisns. q many OF our jails are
calculated to make criminals All that those
men do not know Of crime AFTER they have
been In that dungeon for some time. SA-
tanic machinatton cannot teach them. In
tho insu6urable stencil and sickBuing sur
roundings Of such pieces there II nothing
but disease for the body, idiocy for the
mind, and death for tho soul. Stifiod air
and darkness and vcFmin never turned q
thief into an honest man.
We want men like John Howard and Sir
William blackstone and women ike Eliz-
abeth Fry to do for the prisons OF the
United States what those people did in
other days for tho prisons Of England.
thank God for what Isaac 7. Hopper and
DR.. Wines and Mr.. Harris and scores Of
others have done In the way of prison re-
form. but we want something more radical
before will come the blessing CT him who
said. II was in prison, and ye came unto
me-"
THE CRIME or MIsGovERNNENr.
Again, In your effort to arrest this plague
Of crime ycu need to consider urtrust-
worthy officials. "Woe unto thee, o land,
when thy king Is child, and thy princes
drink in tho morning." It is great
calamity to city when bad men get into
public authority. Why was 1t that in New
York there was such unparalleled crime be-
tween 1866 and 1872 1t was because the
judges of police in that city ut that time
for the most part were as corrupt as the
vagabords that came before them for trial.
Those were the days OF high carnival for
election frauds, assassination and forgery.
We had all kinds of rings There was one
man during those years that got one hun
dred and twenty eight thousand dollars in
one year for serving the public.
In q few years 1t was estimated that
there were fifty millions of public treasure
squapdercd. In those times the criminal
had only 20 wink 70 the judge, or his law
yer would wink for him, and the question
was decided for the defendant. OF the eight
thousand people arrested in that city in
one year only three thousand were punish
ed These little matters were fixed up"
while the interests OF society were fixed
down" You know as well Al lido that one
villain who escapes only opens the door for
other criminalities. When the two pick
pockets snatched the diamond pin from the
Brooklyn gentleman in Broadway stage,
and the villains were arrested and the trial
was set down for the general sessions, and
then the trial never came, and never any
thing more was heard Of the case, the pub
lie ofic;als were only bidding higher for
moro crime.
1t IL no compliment TO public authority
when we have in oil the cities Of the coun-
try, walking abroad, men and women no
torious for criminality unwhipped Of jus
tice. They are pointed out TO you in the
street dag by day. There you find what
arc called the "fencee," the men who stand
between the thief aud the honest man,
sheltering the thief. ADD at q great price
handing over the goods 20 the owner ,
whom they belong. There You will End
those who are called the 'skinners," the
men who hover around Wall strict, with
great sleight OF hand In bonds and stocks.
There you find the funeral thieves. the
people who 20 and sit down and mos,rn
with families and pick their pockets- And
there ron fnd the confidence men," who
borrow money OF you because they have n
deal child In the house and want 10 bury
4, when they never had house or a fami-
IL: OF tbey want 20 90 10 England and get
q large property there, and they want you
to par their way and they will send the
money back By the very next mail.
There are the "harhor thieves," the
"shoplifsers,r the "pickpockets." famous
an over she cities. Hundreds Of them with
their faces in :he Rogues' gallery. yet do
ing nothing for the last Eve or ten years
hns defrsud society and escape justice.
When these people 60 uaarressed and an