The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-09-24
LUDLOW: Street JAIL =.
=. PRISON FOR DEBTORS
Has Stood for Many Years As
Confinement Place fof Men
Owing Debts.
But Few Were Aware of It's
Purpose Because Of Trivial
"1>. Tech:aicalities,

Techaicalities.
:::Olda:~~L Ludlow Street Jail, in New
York City, under the new order re-
neving 1t OF the duty Of housing GRIM
1nals and making it purely a place of
civil confinement, will lose much of
the character which has distinguished
it, for many years. 1t has been Gus
tomary to write and say that i'm
prtsonment for debt does not exist
In this country, having been abolished
a great many years ago. When the
ancient Jail that stood in City Hall
Park. but which was used for half a
century and more as the office Of the
Hall OF Records, was demolished quite
recently 1t was supposed that with 1t
vanished the last monument Of the
oppressive practice which made the
Fleet and other prisons in England
SO Infamous But Ludlow Street Jail
is NEVERTHELESS a debtors prison, al
though, Of course, it is legitimately
used to restrain many of the offend
ers against the civil code. Many are
the tales of misfortune, many are the
ronaances. too, that its walls could
relate If they had the power Of speech
Dickens might have found material
there almost, If not quite, as fruitful
as. that which was yielded by the
squalid Marshalsea in London. The
method by which the modern debtor
may be imprisoned Is to take advan-
tage OF any seeming or real inten-
ton on his part to absent himself
from the jurisdiction to obtain his
commitment. This is done under an
attachment of the body, as it is call
ed, and In some cases may hold good
for an indefinite period, depending
upon his supposed agility or inability
to pay, If he will.
If man residing in another state
and does not pay, it is easy to induce
a court to act upon the presumption
or upon technical evidence that he Is
about to leave the state or country
Many vengeful wives or ex-wives
gloat over sending their husbands OF
rex-husbands, to Ludlow Street Jail
because the latter neither can not or
will. not pay alinony.' =:
Life In Ludlow i Street Jail In the
old days S*WanA thatsof a4littles world in
Itself. The sherif re 81 q. the Il county of
New Yorlsswo ould not then have: been
quite. ao#szZread anxious that Fed
era1scmXicts.s should not he placed
snLlader .or ont sof every
q g : Z
rde1I q
able board IL
sprtsoners 81 who had ONE money, but
wished tos spend It FOR themselves
rather than for their creditors, In
many instances lived like the proverb-
ial fighting cock. And there were
cliQues in the society Of the Hotel
Ludlow.
The evenings were largely devoted
to cards and sometimes to revelry
There were fine suppers and othe,
more or less brilliant functions. The
warned wlnked at 1t all, so long as
peace was preserved. AS to decency
that was quite often an altogether
different matter. A history of Ludlow
Street Jail would be one Of the most
curious books ever written, If it told
frankly Of the strange associations
that were established there among
prisoners Of many varieties and queer
episodes that grew out Of them. Now
that the sheriff reaps no profit from
the prison fees, it is perfectly natur-
al that Ludlow Street Jail should be
in a measure purified; and not the
slightest reasonable criticism has YET
been advanced against the exclusion
from 1t Of convicted felons.-Phila l.
delphia Public Ledger.