Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-11-17

hal been a 0laSphemer and your father
a sot, and you had started life with n
body stuffed with evil proclivities, aud
you had spent much of your time in n
cellar amid obScenities and curSing.
and II at 10 years OF age YOU had been
compelled TO go out and steal. battered
! and banged at night II you came in
without any spoils; and suppose
your early manhood and womanhood
had been covered with rags and filth.
and decent society had turned its back
upon you and left YOU To consort with
yagabonds and wharfrats-how much
better would YOU have beenP have
no sympathy with that executive Glenn
ency which would let crime run loose,
/ or which would sit in the gallery of n
courtroom weeping because some hard
/ hearted wretch il brought to Justice;
but do say that the safety and life of
the community demand more potential
influences in behalf of these offenders
l stepped into one of the prisons of
one of our great cities and the air was
like that of the black hole OF Calcutta.
AS the air swept through the wicket it
almost knocked ne down. No sunlight
Young men who had committed their
first crime crowded in among old of
Tenders l saw there one woman, with
a child almost blind, who had been ar
rested for the crime of poverty, who
was waiting until the slow law could
take her To the almshouSe, where She
/ rightfully belonged: but she was
thrust in there with her child. amid
the most abandoned wrctchcs of
the town. Many Of the offenders
in that prison sleeping on the floor.
Z 81
blanket over them. These people,
crowded and wan. and wasted, and
half-suffocatcd, and Infatuated | said
TO the men: How do YOU stand it
here God knows" said one man:
we have 10 stand it" Oh. they viii
pay YOU when they get OUT Where
they burned down one house they will
burn three. They will strike deeper
the assassin's knife They are this
minute plotting worse burrlaries
Many Of the jails are the best place
know OF TO manufacture footpad>, vag-
abonds and cut-throats Yale college
is not SO well calculated TO make
scholars, nor Harvard so well calculat-
cd 10 make scientists. nor Princeton
50 well calculated TO make thco-
logianS. rs the American Jail is calcu-
these men do not know Of crime after
they have been in that style of dun
Rcon for some time satanic machinery
can not tcacn them. Every hour these
jailS stand they challenge the Lord Al
mighty 10 smitc the cities. call upon
the people 10 rise in their wrath and
demand reformation. call upon
the JUDGES Of our courts to expose the
l n 1 a 4 I'm .l, =
carccratcd prisoners fresh air and
clear sunlight. and i'm the name OF Him
who had not where to lay Ills head. a
couch TO rest on at night. In the in
sufICrablc stencil and sicl,rning sur
roundings OF some Of the prisons there
is nothing but disease for the body.
idocy for the mind and death for the
soul Stincd air and darkness and
vcrmin never turned thief into an
honest man. We want men like John
Howard and Sir William Blackstone.
and women like Elizabeth Fry. TO do
for the prisons OF the United states
what those people did i'm other DAVIS for
the prisons OF England thank cod
for what Isaac r. Hopper and DR.
Wines and Mr.. Harris and scores of
others have done in the wav OF prison
radical before upon our cities will
come the blessing Of Him who said:
Il was in prison and We came unto
Ne"
In this class of uprooting and de-
vouring population are untrustworthy
officials. Woe unto thee, O land. when
thy king is child, and thy princes
drink in the morning!" 1t is "A grca4
|,ss,1 styH,, .
into public authority. Why was il
that in New York there was such un-
parelleled crime between 1866 and 1871.
1t was because the judges Of police in
that city, for the most part. were as
corrupt as the vagabonds that came
before them for trial. These were the
days OF high carnival for election
frauds. assassination and forgery. We
had the whisky ring and the Tam
many ring" and the Erie ring"
There was one man in those wears
that got sl@S, OOOin one year for serving
the public. In a few years il was esti-
mated that there were $50 600 600 Of
public treasure squandered. In those
times the criminal had only TO wink 10
the Judge, or his lawyer would winl,
for him. and the question was decided
Q
arrested in that city i'm one wear. only
5000 were punished. These little mat
tcrs were "lNcd up" while the inter
csts Of society were fixed down. You
know as well as that "a criminal who
escapes only opens the door OF other
! criminalitics. IT is no compliment 90
public authority when we have I'm all
the cities of the country. walking
abroad men and women notorious for
criminality. unwhippcd Of justice They
are pointed out 10 you i'm the street dav
10y day. There you find what are called
the fences the men who stand be-
tween the thief and honest men. shell
tcring the thief. and az great price
handing over the goods 90 the owner 10
whom they belong. There YOU will find
those vino are called the "skinu,ra
the men who hover ground Wall street
and State street and Third street. with
| Trcaa slD.rht OF hands in bonds and
stocks There you find The funeral
! thieves, the people who goo and sit
! down and mourn with families and
/. pick their pockets. And there Won find
. fUH ..rlu.IIUrl. rr..r