New-York tribune., 1906-08-31
VISITORS TO THE TOMBS
Majority Are Women Who Are a
Great Nuisance, aSaus Worker.

,-oraan whose benevolent instincts hsva las
,s- 20 he q frequent visitor TO the Tombs saws
a.. there has been a great increase in the num-
49, Of visitors at the City Prison this summer.
rrs that the majority OF them are women The
,ssson for this Is the presence there OF Harry
kendall Thaw. II is true that he IS never seen
81 them. he Is in the second tier and visitors
s.s never admitted beyond the first. but the ms
.bIlty that he may be visible serves 10 swell the
al sf visitors 70 most noticeable extent.
'Crime seems 20 have peculiar fascination Cor
srne people. ana particularly for women saws
,hs woman just quoted. and az all times there
are LOT Of women who visit the Tombs simply
cut Of idle curiosity. And when they come they
always seem to expect TO have all the famous
criminals pointed out 20 them. Usually they are
disappointed for visitors are admitted only 20 the
loEer floor Of the mems prison and the lever aoor
o. the boys prison. These visitors appear 20 be of
the csss that have plenty money or little 20 do
sor usually they are very well dressed There are
Een visitors as we'll but so far as I have hee,
able TO observe they generally come as escorts %
TIE
The Tomhs officials and all who have any ,,-
trsss IN the welfare OF the prisoners hate the Wis
TORS The majority of the prisoners are pre~ur,s5
20 Be Innocent II is not right that they should
se made public speetacles, and even ~ this vuare
E0t 50 II is not decent But, Of course the civ
Prison is q public institution ana Il IS saIs thar
that being the case the public can't be excluded
y N4aN O. - a-iGs' dilLiOSI any one can
20 90 into tbs Tornbs
Another nuisance which an right minded per
sons depore is a certain class Of missionaries OF
course don't mean people like the late Mrs Re-
6eoca Foster or her successor. Mrs. walker.
AeliheF 90 REFER 10 the regular chaplains These
al command the respect Of the officials ard keep
eIs anu 90 an immense amount Of good But mann
q the missionaries are merely we'll intentioned
loos. mere was cne. for instance. who tried no
bring religious influence 10 hear on 2 hoy prisoner
down on YOUR Knees and SjiG h tere boy get
The women make equally grave mistakes hui
don't think woman would have done precisely
this thing. frequent mistake of the class which
for want of better word I will cell ar1of fer mis-
sloDaries Is 10 Try to reform abuses They take
ne Word OF me prisoners without further ivesti-
cation and straishtway proceed 20 lodge a com
paint against some They assume that the
kespers must be brutal men. when. as a matter Of
fact fhev are very good men. as a class Con-
eiceTins how little they paid, 1t is SURPRISING
hoB faIthfC! and conscientious thew are Peonie
Of this kind cast discFedit on all prison workers
which Is most unfortunate. for there is great
deal for such workers to do There is not only
the prisoner 10 be considered but his innocent
family. on whom his punishment really falls and
this opens Un an unlimited field of work
The missionaries more serious problem
even than the visitors. for the latter do not gain
eooess 70 the prisoners. and almost any one can
get missionary's card"