Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-01-11
RELEASED CONVICTS
The Helping RandlWhich is offered
to Them.
ODD APPLICANTS FOR AID
Opportune Help Has Started Many
to Successful Careers.
CASES ON PROBATION

Written for The Evening Star.
Like all else that pertains to the wellbe-
ing OF the criminal, the matter Of provid-
ing Tor MIN after he has been set free has
received little attention from the people.
Yet II Is thing of vital consequence. Shall
ne De allowed to learn evil in a prison.
come back to us worse than when he went
away ana be then expected to go virtuous-
~ to work in district that he formerly
oepredated! II he were always sent to a
reformatory we would expect good con-
Duct from him. but then he is not always
sent there. On the'contrary, he is general
iy sent to a prison where the inducements
TO better living are unimportant.
he returns to the world bleached with
long confinement, blinking in the unaccus-
toned light his trade forgotten or he
grown rusty at 1t, his friends cold or re-
peiient. II he has any. He has no money
or but dollar or two, and he knows that
II the fact Of his imprisonment is discov-
ered 1t Will stand against him when he
tries to obtain employment. He may have
been living life of isolation SO long that
the whole world has gone past him and he
goes BACK into community that does not
know him. and that is surrounded by con-
d1tlons he has hardly more than heard of.
one convict who left Sing Sing a while
ago and who returned to New York city
hao never seen, till that return, an elevat-
ed railroad, nor a trolley car, nor the
BROOKLYN bridge nor the statue of Lib
erty; the eight-story tenements were new,
the asphalt streets were something to Won
DER at, the saloons were more gorgeous
and more orderly than they had been,
Broadway, instead of being proper sort Of
street with stages rocking and tumbling
along the length of it, was a roaring can
yon with 3OO-foot cliffs of masonry beetling
over 1t, and cable cars were changing, and
there were arc lights everywhere, and it
was all startling and even terrifying. This
man was as an infant in great Babylon
knowing not which way to turn nor what
to do. and every convict who has served a
term OF several years is like him.
In some states there are shelters for dis
charged prisoners, where they may lie hid
for a few days while friends try to get
work for them; but, it is asked, If the
as he is in prison?
Beginning of Good Work.
There is no public concern that looks
after the interests Of state prisoners, but
there is in the Prison Association of New
York-a type OF organization that has its
kin in several, If not in most of the states
the beginning Of an important society 1t
is limited In it's operations, because it has
no fixed fund, and must rely on Individual
help to carry on its excellent work. The
house 1t occupies on East 18TH street is an
OLD residence, grown rather shabby in late
years, and marked by an inconspicuous
sign. Here little company Of shrewd, ex-
perienced, practical, yet sympathetic men
meet the shorn and shaven delegates from
the penitentiaries, prisons and reforma-
tories inquire into their needs and snug
gle them into places. There is more work
that such delegates can do than even they
realize when they regain their liberty. At
first test Of some sort Is put upon an ap-
plicant in order to see If he is sincere, Or
If he is a rounder or recidivist. If he ap-
pears to be unskilled and of the laborer
class, he is put at work scrubbing floors. 1t
is a curious fact that a bum will not do
this work. He will shy at it and find au
excuse to run away. The man who really
to resume his trade withal, will do what is
asked of him.
No Cash for the Needy.
One of the properties of the association
is a store room filled with clothing. Here
1t is possible to fit out any applicant, from
the ground up, from the offerings that the
charitable have made, and the shelves con-
tain coats Of many colors, hats of all sizes
and diverse shapes, collars, shoes, under
clothes and other necessities, all numbered
and tagged according to size, and all re-
spectacle in appearance. At first the man
ayers were ready in their generosity and
gave out small sums Of money, but one Of
them tracked a few graduates one evening
to 'three-cent schooner house." and saw
them llIL tn6lT tdnkdTQS OF cnemlcaI beer
and drink a health to the green guys" of
East 18th street. After that money was
not distributed.
Reluctant to Seek Help.
There are not so many applicants for re-
lief as might be imagined. Usually the con-
Wet is a little sensitive about his sin and its
punishment, and he seeks work on his own
account or is harbored by his friends some
Of whom are bad ones and lead him straight
back to the devil. 1t is not often that more
than half dozen men are carried at
time by the association. Work Is obtained
for them as cooks, printers, cleaners and
jobbers about the premises till something
better and more permanent can be found for
them. A contract Is made with a cheap
hotel for lodgings, and with a not especially
ambitious restaurant for meals, and tickets
for these luxuries are bestowed on the APP
plicants. Occasionally man is provided in
this fashion for as long as six weeks, but
he must be college professor or something
Of that kind to justify such care.
Are the men appreciative of what Is done
for them? Fairly SO; yes. 1t is almost inn
possible to say how many Of them give the
best proof of their appreciation by avoiding
appearances Of evil forever after, because
they drift away to other states, or they die,
or they ship as sailors and disappear in for
eign lands, or they change their names and
become bank presidents, or something, but
1t is thought that so per cent Of them re-
cent. And even the supposed habitual GRIM
inal may upset theories by becoming virtu-
Gus, over night. and staying that way till
the end sternly refusing all chances to
throw up good job and go back to steal
ing.
By it's charter the Prison Association Of
New York is permitted to erect and carry
on a workhouse for released convicts, but
it has not deemed it wise to act on this
provision. 1t would tend to keep FOUNDERS
hanging about the PLACE beseeching charity
and make them careless about looking for
work elsewhere IT, would also tend to
bring them into ftheir own society, which is
unwise. Women convicts have the care Of
a company of women who carry on their
work as quietly as possible, but in spite of
the moral superiority of women to men, 1t
has been found that they are more weak of
will and more easily lapse into vice, while
their congregation Into shelters and homes
merely transfers them from cells to rooms
and when they are together their influence
BUILT A MONUMENT.
THE BEST soRTiN THE WORLD.