Iron County register., 1899-12-28
FEW CRIMES I'm WASHINGTON.
Not Enough Criminals to Make q
Penitentiary Profitable In the
CAPITAL City.


One of the posts, the last one, OF
the scaffold on which Mrs. Surratt was
hanged is still pointed out to people
who go over to the arsenal at Four.
and-a-half street. There were Others
who paid the penalty with her at the
same time for the same crime, but the
Washington guide never mentions
their names. It is always Mrs. Sur
ratt who is remembered.
The trial was in the arsenal by
court-martial. The new generation
asks wry? The old generation replies:
Because Washington was under mar
tial law at the time Lincoln was as
sassinated, and all those connected
with the conspiracy who were cap
tured were arrested by soldiers sta
toned in and about Washington. The
stranger incidentally asks where Mrs
Surratt and her coconspirators were
imprisoned before and during the
trial, and the reply prompts the in
uuiry: Where is the Washington pen
tentiary? The answer brings out
fact not generally known to the non
resident of the national capital. There
Is no penitentiary in Washington
There are only the Jail and the work
house for offenders and lawbreakers.
When man or woman commits
murder or any other crime the penalty
Of which is term in a penal institu'
ton, the criminal, unless convicted o5
murder in the first degree, is sent te
any state prison which will receive
him. The court may sentence the
criminal to imprisonment at Sing
Sing, or in Ohio, or Virginia, or any
bther state which will accept the pris'
pner, the District of Columbia paying
the board. The only penitentiary
Washington ever had was torn down
after the execution of Mrs. Surratt
and her accomplices. The reason. as
told by Washington people, is that il
didn't pay. There were never enough
criminals here at one time, charged
with the crimes which are punished ir
the penitentiary, to warrant the ex
pense of such a prison. 1t is a case
where boarding is cheaper than keep
ing house.
This is equivalent to saying that
there is not much crime in this city
And this is true, and is in harmony
with the boast of the resident of the
capital that it is an exceptionally NOR
al city. There is nothing in Washing
ton to attract the vicious. True, there
is an idle class which is lured into
cities near by when elections are held
as was the case the other day when
gang of repeaters was shipped tc
Philadelphia; but the sandbagger, the
highwayman and the housebreaker are
unknown here. The bulk of the of.
fenses are petty.
The Washingtonian is social. He
dimes at $3.50 p. M, so that he may &C
out for Inc evening, and he comes
back at all hours, riding or walking, as
may suit his pleasure, regardless of at.
mospheric conditions, and always with
a feeling of security. Accounts OF
hold-ups or knock-downs are rarely
seen in the columns of the Washing,
ton papers. There was time when
Washington had an unenviable reputa
ton caused by social scandals. 1t is
said that the facts were highly col.
bred. Of political scandal there has
been a plenty, but even in this line
the capital of the United States has
better record than any European
capital.
When a great crime has occurred in
Washington it has been accentuated
by the character of the victim, Lin.
coin and Garfield being the conspicu.
Gus ones. The assassin of the latter
was tried in the courthouse and exc
cuted in a common Jail. Only for the
reason that martial law governed at
the time of the assassination of Lin.
coin, the criminals in that act would
have been housed with the petty Grim.
inals of Washington. People fond OF
seeking coincidents may read with in.
terest that the bones of Guiteau, taken
from their place of interment under
the kitchen floor of the Jail the night
after the execution, found their way
to their present place wear the same
alley by which Booth escaped on the
night of the assassination at Ford's
theater.-N. Y. Sun.
Lucky.
h 3e