Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-08-09
is IT WORTH WHILE.
(Communicated.l

yet lose his soul?" A life of crime
leads to sorrow, suffering and soul
crushing remorse. The ill-gotten
gains procured by riminal depreda-
tions do nOt-and cannot-affort a
compensation that will, in any degree,
equal the ineffablc mental and physi-
cal suffering life of crime entails.
There is about as much chance of
a man succeeding in life of crime
as there is of his drawing pictures of
the fourth dimension" Such life
always ends in disaster, and leaves
the man who lived it moral, men
tai and physical wreck.
Cassie Chadwick" matched wits
with the smartest bankers of Ameri-
ca and through clever scheme she
trimmed" them for millions. She
lived like queen for Il moment and
then died, Il broken old woman, in Il
felon's cell.
A potent and pathetic picture of the
dead sea fruits of life of crime is
that of the two young American boys
brothers, they wcre-who, through
forgery Cleaned" the Bank of Eng
land of million in "cool" cash. They
were apprehendcd and spent long
years in dreary English prison. They
died in Montana few years ago
one of tuberculosis, contracted while
in prison, and within thirty-six hours
the other brother followed him to the
grave-dead of broken heart.
TIL attachment between these two
boys was beautiful to behold. They
stole million dollars, yet when they
died they were without sufficient
money to pay the cost of their burial,
and only through the Christian char
ity of noble hearted woman who
looked and saw the heart of gold be-
meath the soiled exterior were thew
saved from grave in the "potter's
field"
could recite many other instances
OF bfains, talent and even genius, per-
haps, being squandered in Il futile,
goddess life of crime.
a continuous stream of moral de-
linquent filter through the gates of
our prisons. What to do with our
increasingly large prison population
is II problem that has taxed the minds
OF our foremost penologists, and they
all seem agreed that the theory of
combining moral detectives behind
steel bars and stone walls is faulty.
ineffective and ill-advised and tina.
few, if any, felons come out of pris-
on better men than when they went
In. Long sentences and harsh pun
ishments seem to faint and kill mems
souls, kindness and, above all, an an
probation of the accursed or con-
demned mans qualities by the courts
seem more important and conducive
to the welfare and safety of societ y
than long terms in prison, which only
IN many Instances, tends to make
hopeless, hardened criminals, who are
after long years of confinement, let
That there is such thing as Gin
st:nctve criminality or that any man
is by nature wholly bad in question
that is shrouded in grave doubt. Some
OF our criminals, it is claimed, are
the product of our social order. and
the criminal tendencies of many are
no doubt due to minds that are warp
ed by improper training or marred
by the environments of their early
lie. There is no gainsaying the fact
that the child OF every fclon is ii 20
tential criminal. Even the state, by
sending first offenders to prison, is
prolific producer OF criminals! A
statement that startles and appa;s.
but one that is nevertheless true, and
IT'S Justification isn't far to seek.
A man commits a crime, his first
oifensc, perhaps. He is dragged into
court, convicted and shuntcd away
to prison. The State makes no pro-
visions for the family he leaves be-
hind. They must shift for them
selves or Starve. TIL product of the
convicted mans labor that belongs by
al the laws Of nature and God to his
wife and children he brought into the
world goes into the Golfers of the
State. Deprived by the law of their
fathers care and support, is it to be
wondered at that these children should
grow up with hearts embittered and
antagon!stic towards the law!
Destitute and hungry, is it as
founding that these children should
go estray? Physical hunger knows
no circumstance.
Physical hunger is stronger than
man-made law!
You can't teach moral codes to Il
little child who feels the clutch of an
empty stomach.
The soul-wrenched mother does
what she can tn kppn bor I;ttIo b,ooI