Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-04
Drink and Crime.

Drink and Crime.
Mr.. Cooper haB very pregnant remarks
to make upon the connection between
drink and crime. Drink. he says. is the
foundation on which an overwhelming
proportion Of crime 10 built. The late
Lord Brampton always said that without
drink there would be no need for crimi-
nal courts. Lord Alverstone has given
1t as his opinion that 80 per cent of crime
springs from drink. Well may Mr.. Cooper
call this an appalling indictment. He does
not discuss any OF the methods proposed
| for reducing the drink evil. but he as
serts that great amount OF drunken.
ness results from q large proportion OF
the licenses being in the hands of men
who are put forward by the brewers and
are quite unfit to hold them. Many OF
these are, he says. persons OF the worst
type. and he urges that greater care
| should be exercised in scrutinizinE the
character of persons who desire licenses
for these tied public houses.
The towers of the New Gate were
used as q prison from the time OF Kine
John, or earlier. According g.. to s TOW
under q license granted to the executors
Of Richard Wilmington. The records OF
| the city contain references Of committals
to Newgate as far back as 121S. This
prison stood until it was burnt down In
| most strongly and convenient for the
purpose" But 1t did not remain con
venient" for long. and the first stone OF
a new prison was laid in ITO. It was
scarcely finished before its interior was
destroyed by the "No-Popery" rioters In
1850. AS a place of punishment 1t con-
tinued to exist until 1866, when 1t was
turned into a place of detention OF pris-
oners committed for trial. In 1877 1t
ceased to be used for this purpose, and
ha rla wi 4.
nails who had been sentenced to death
awaited execution. Finally, it made way
for our new palace of justice, and Its
grim gray walls were seen no more.
The Old Bailey.
The history of the Old Bailey begins
later than that of Newgate. Until the
sixteenth century Jail deliveries were in
frequent, and the city was accustomed to
hire some suitable rooms in which the
| trials took place. In 1889 the court OF
aldermen decided to build sessions
house cover agaynst Flete lane In the
| Olde Bayly." This building shared the
| fate OF Newgate prison in the great fire.
and a new one was built. which Strype
| describes as fair and stately building,
| which remained until 1774, when the Old
Bailey which stood until the beginning OF
| the present century was built 1t was re-
modelled in 1884 on the passing OF the
central criminal court act of that year,
which enacted that sessions should De
held once a month.
The account which Mr.. Cooper gives OF
NeWgate prison makes very painful read
| ing. For centuries it was q house OF de-
tention for prisoners before trial, place
Of punishment, a Jail for debtors and a
| lunatic asylum. There does not seem to
have been the slightest attempt made to
| separate the different classes of prisoners.
and the severity Of their treatment de-
| pended on the exiguity of their purses.
| In other words, those who could pay es-
capped any punishment beyond the mere
| fact of being unable to leave Newgate.
| The prison officials were paid by fees
! and they carried on system of organized
| blackmail on the prisoners. The prison
| itself was regular sink of vice and in
iauity. The prisoners could purchase all
the drink they liked. Young and old,
| lunatics and debtors were all herded to-
gether indiscriminately with. as may be
well imagined, the most awful results.
At every sessions criminals in scores
were sentenced to death, and the death
sermon" in the prison chapel was an al
vorite place for sightseers. who used to
attend the service and watch the poor
wretches herded in the condemned
pew round a table on which was placed
black coffin. Young children some
times passed through this ordeal, and
Mr.. Cooper gives an instance SO lately
as 1893 when sentence of death was
passed on a. child Of nine, who poked a
stick through pane of glass in shop
| front and stole some pieces Of paint worth
I'd. This was housebreaking, and the
penalty for housebreaking was death.
| After some official delay, the sentence
was committed and the child sent to a