Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-11-09
XIII.

In the very heart Of Manhattan, right
IN the center OF the city's most con-
gested district, an imposing edifice
of gray stone, medieval in its style Of
architecture, lowered high above all
the surrounding dingy Offices and
squalid tenements. It's massive CON
struction, steep walls, pointed turrets,
raised parapets and long, narrow. slit
like windows, heavily barred, gave 1t
the aspect Of a feudal fortress incon-
gruously set down plumb in the midst
OF twentieth century New York. The
dull roar Of Broadway hummed a
couple Of blocks away; in the distance
doomed the lofty, graceful spans of
Brooklyn bridge, jammed with its op-
posing streams Of busy interurban
traffic. The adjacent streets were
filled with the din Of hurrying crowds,
the rattle of vehicles, the cries of ven.
doris, the clang Of street cars, the ugh!
ugh! of speeding automobiles. The &C.
tive, ~pulsating life of the metropolis
surged like Il rising flood about the
tall gray walls, yet there was no re-
spouse within. Grim, silent, sinister,
the city Prison, popularity known as
1.-THE Tombs," seemed to have nothing
in common with the daily activities Of
the big town in which, n~otwithstand-
ing, it u%nhappily played an important
part.
The present prison is a vastly diff
ferent place to the old Jail from
which it got It's melancholy cognomen.
To-day there is not the slightest justi-
ication for the lugubrious epithet ap-
piled TO 1t, but in the old days, when
man'H inhumanity to man was less a
form OF speech than a cold, merclless
fact. the "Tombs" described an intol-
cradle and disgraceful condition fairly
accurately. Formerly the cells in
which the unfortunate prisoners were
confined while awaiting trial we're sit
uated deep under ground and had nei-
Their light o ventilation. A man
might be guiltless of the offense with
which he was charged, yet while
awaiting an opportunity to prove his
innocence he was condemned to spend
days, sometimes months, in what was
little better than a grave. Literally
he was buried alive. A party of for
eigncrs visiting the prison one day
were startled at seeing human beings
confined il such holes. "They looh
like tombsl" cried some one New
York was amused at the singularly
appropriate appellative and it ha.
stuck to the prison ever since.
Rut times change and Institutions
with them. AS man becomes more
civilized ne treats the lawbreakel
with more humanity. Probably soci
ETY. will always need It's prisoners
but as we become more enlightened
we insist on treating our criminals
more from the physiological and psy
Geological standpoints than in thu
cruel, brutal, b%arbarous manner of thu
dark ages. In other words the sociol
Ogist insists that the lawbreaker hai
greater need of the physician than hi
has Of the jailer.
To-day the city prison is a toni
in name only. 1t is admirably con
%Btructed, commodious, we'll ventilated
The cells are large and well lighted
with comfortable cots and all thu
modern sanitary arrangements. Their,
are roomy corridors for daily exercis,
and luxurious shower baths can be oh
tanned free for the asking. There ar,
chapels for the religiously inclinet
and a library for the studious. TIL,
food Is wholesome and well prepared
in a large, scrupulously clean kitchen
situated on the top floor. Carpinl
critics have, indeed, declared tn,
Tombs to be too luxurious, declaring
that habitual criminals enjoy a sta,
at the prison and actually oOmmi
crime so that they may enjoy some O
ga botallike comforts.