Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-03
FACTS FROM PRISONS.
Curious Statistics Gathered Up BY the
Wardens' Association.
THE FATE OF THIEVES IN NEVADA
Interesting Things In the PsnsiogieA
Exhibit for the Fair.
CELLS MADE FAMOUS IN LITBRATURI
WRITTEN FoR THE prsPArcH.1

| lwRIrTEN rOH THE D1SPArCH.1
The Secretary of tho wardens' Assoeda.
tion, Major R. W. McClaughry, has recent.
ly published . curious book called The
Criminal Statistics of the United Ststes and
Canada for $780," The work is by no meanA
complete, as there are many wardens In the
United States who do not belong to the
association and some who do have refused
to aid. The idea originated with Major
McClaughry, under whose direction, and al
whose expense the statistics were compiled.
At the close of 1890, all the wardens who
had agreed to assist in the undertaking
notified the Secretary as to the number Of
prisoners they had received during the year,
and the Major sent them a corresponding
number of statistical cards to be filed out az
follows: Prisoners name and register
number, color, nativity, descent, nativity
of parents, prisoners age and date of birth,
occupation, religion, name, nature and
cause of crime, length of sentence, number
and place of previous imprisonment
whether married or single, whether able to
read or write, and number of years at school
Yellow cards were used for males, and
white cards for females
The writer had the privilege Of looking
over these cards some time ago and CLEANED
from them some curious facts. Forinstancei
The way of the transgressor is compara-
lively easy north of the st. Lawrence, the
term of imprisonment of Canadian thief
rarely exceeding go or 90 days, while for
gerry or q burglary may be committed at the
risk of two or three years sentence. One
half the convicts in Texas are horse or cat
tie thieves. Five-sixths of the murderers
south of Mason and Dixon's line are
negroes, and only one-tenth of the colered
convicts in the United States can read and
write. The majority of the assailants Of
women in the North are white men, middle
aged, and with wives living, while IN the
South they are almost invariably young and
unmarried negroes
Some Facetious Information.
The colored desperate does not use Q
razor as much as is commonly supposed, the
revolver and "billy" seeming to be his
favorite weapon. The Nevada State Prison
at Carson City is almost entirely filled with
men serving short sentences for capital
crimes. A Jealous compiler, noticing this
fact, wrote to a local authority of Carson
City, with whom he was slightly acquainted,
asking "what was done with the thieves"
and evoked the reply that "they were given
Christian burial Some of the cards afford
considerable amusement In cases where ID
is impossible to trace the prisoners anteoe-
dents his own story must be taken for what
it is worth, and strange incongruities occa-
sionally present themselves. The States
are supporting several men who claim to
have been school teachers, but who are unable
to read or write, and Texas glories in q
clergymen who is serving his fourth term
for breaking one OF the commandments
Dakota has covicted an octogenarian< Of
bigamy. In a New England prison q Ehan
is now awaiting execution who received his
death sentence in 1890. A penny fof his
thoughtsi
These statistics, if continued from year to
year, will be of great value, as showing tho
increase or decrease of crime, the cause Of
crime in different localities, and the inhu-
ences that should be combatted to prevent
it. But although it is now time to compile
the statistics for 1891, it is doubtful If any
steps will be taken in the matter at pres
ent. Major McClaughrY has already eI-
pended. considerable time and money to
bring out this first edition, and can hardly
be expected to 60 any further until the
other members of the association for whose
benefit he has been laboring have mani
tested an inclination to share the expense
The Prison Exhibit at Chicago.
A curious as we'll as interesting feature
of the great Columbian Exposition will bs
the pathological hall. a vast rellquary Of
original specimens and reproductions Of
every device and appliance for the punish
ment of offenders in use since the dawning
of the Christian era. In some respects is
will be veritable chamber of horrors"
Every death-dealing machine from the
primitive saber of Asiatic countries to the
latest electrical contrivance used in the
United States; every instrument of torture
known to man, from the cross on which the
early Christians suffered martyrdom to the
terrible rack and '1ron shroud" of the
Spanish Inquisition, will be on eIhi bition,
while CHASTITY wax-work representations Of
barbarous Oriental executions will do their
hideous theme such Justice as to fairly
freeze the blood in the veins of the be.
holder.
But, for people less morbid in their tastes
far greater attractions are in store. The repro
duction of the interiors of celebrated prisons
of the "Old World'' will prove an unfailing
source of delight to all persons of culture
and refinement. To the dungeons of the
Chateau DIFF, the romantic masterpiece OF
the elder Dumas has attached an undying
interest, and what lover of Byron will gaze
unmoved upon the walls which once in
clos ed the noble Downward, the immortal
''P risoner OF ChibQp." What indescribabls
emotions must stir the soul of the antiquary
who enters the great 'Tower" by the
TRAITORS Gate" or who pauses in the lab
yrinthian corridors of the old "Bastile" to
shed sentimental tear over the fate OF the
unfortunate Marie Antoinette, or spec
ulase for the thousandth time on the idsn-
tity of the "ron Masque."
Prisons Famous In Literature.
Admirers of Charles Reade will not need
to refer to their guide books for an explana-
ton of those ponderous iron cranks with
the mysterious dial indicators overhead.
They were once used to extract fruitless ex-
ertion from the inmates of great English
prison where the system of solitary conine-
ment prevailed, and their abolition was
secured by the publication of "a Terrible
The reproduction of the famous dsbtors'
prison called the "KiDg's Bench, as 1t was
when Sir Richard Steele wrote his beautiful
ESSAYS from within its con6ning walls, and
inimitable creation "Amelia"
will be fraught with great interest for
scholarly people, but the readers of Dickens
who have wept with the "Child Of
the Marshalsea'' and laughed at the
of her optimistic old father will
note with disappointment the absence Of
the Marshalsea Jail. But that cannot be re-
produced. The last distinct memory of ID
died with the author of "Little Dorritt"
The hall will naturallybe of most interest
20 members of the National Prison Congress
md Wardens' Association, who will have
IN opportunity of inspecting great variety
,f improved machinery for penal institu-
ions, placed there by the inventors, the
Is - IL, (SL L