Year: 1877

ike unto the image ol hlmSeil, anu YET
week after week men die here in a condition
to which the dogs death would seem like
entering the gate of Paradise.


Every week prisoners die in the cells OF
our station houses, or in the Tomos, where
they have been thrust by brutal policemen
on charge OF real or supposed drunkenness
The cell door is opened in the morning and
the men are found dead. The week before
last a respectfully dressed man was found
in street leading from Broadway; he was
lying on the ground, and when discovered,
was paralyzed and unable to walk. He
had fallen in an epileptic tit-a disease
which he had been subject to for years.
and no effort was made to discover his ac-
tual condition. He was ordered to get up
but the man was insensible, and this bru.
tai guardian clubbed him till the flag
stones were dyed with his blood, for there
was no cry, no complaint, no struggle of the
passive victim. Reekipg with his gore, he
was placed upon cart and carried to the
station, where charge of drunk and dis
orderly was entered on the blotter. He
was then carried, helpless, to a cell, and
left alone till morning. In the gray of the
morning the doorman proceeded to rouse
the prisoners, but from cell No. s there
was no respon Sc. The doorman entered,
and brutal kick failed to rouse the drunk
en- sleeper; the doorman stopped over to
look at him-he was dead! The things
that might have identified him were stolen
by thieves when he fell in the street, and
SO, with no friend to claim the inanimate
clay, they inferred him in the Potter S
Field. In beautiful town in the State of
Illinois there was bitter and unavailing
grief for a prominent merchant who had
gone to New York to buy goods, and had
decamped with several Thousand dollars,
leaving behind him lovely wife and four
brother resolved to come to New York and
endeavor to unravel the mystery. Tho
trunk was found at an uptown hotel, and
there he learned that, after supper, some
weeks before the owner had gone out and
never returned. He went to the different
departments and on keeper at Blackwell S
Island saw tine coat that his brother in-law
wore to New York. After much trouble
and investigation he learned the manner of
his relatives death, and it then transpired
that the man had not tasted drop of
spirituous liquor for over twenty years.
No dog could have been buried so while
Mr.. Bergh has charge of the lay college
for puppies; no horse could have been
abused as this man was, without arousing
storm of Indignation which would threat
en- the safety of the police commission, and
shake the foundation of Tammany Hall.
Speaking of mad housos We are about to
be treated to a new sensation by getting an
inside view into the secrets of the Bloom
ing dale Asylum for the Insane. 1t is only
"a short time ago that abuses were spoken
of in connection with this institution,
shocking to humanity; the brutal usage by
nurses, male and female, of imbecile and
insane patients was shocking as it was true,
and at that time it was thought that q
remedy had been applied which would
make such things impossible for the future.
In several cases the writ of habeas corpus
had to invoke to give prisoners their liberty
who were in the full enjoyment of reason
and had been held in duress as insane. A
man fell in love with another woman and
wanted to get rid of his wife; the mother
was seized in her home, right in the midst
of her children, and hurried away to mad
house. She was not calm, she was not
gentle, as the ruffians tore ner away. She
struggled and fought like tager to remain
with her children in her home. All was
unavailing put straight jacket on
her and thrust her in cell. 1t is marvel
GUS that the utter hopelessness of her con,
dition did not drive her mad forever. BY
morning she took in the whole situation,
and swallowing her wrath, became as calm
as possible. No struggle, no roproach, no
word of anger passed her lips-for she saw
that in her enforced peace lay her only
hope of lfberty-but it was months before
they permitted her to escape, and when
flee at last, she found that divorce had
been procured and her once happy home
was in ruins.


Last week, in the Asylum on Blackwell's
Island, an Episcopal minister who has
been confined in that institution with a
mild form of insanity for the past two
years, was almost beaten to death by one
of the brutal attendants. At the Long
Island Hospital, only short time since, a
lany of brilliant or ttai hpt
subject to occasional epileptic fits, was sub
jected to a course of fiendish persecution,
recalling the darkest days of the inquisi-
tion. She was rescued at last when almost
on the verge of madness, and the only pun
ishment Inflicted on the wretch who had
abused her consisted in her discharge If
man or woman can be torn from their
homes and confined in private or public
mad houses it is time the public knew it.
Let the Legislature make it the business
of board of examiners, who shall have
free entry to every department, that the
horrors now so darkly limited at may be
swept away forever.


Our humanitarans have not distinguish
ed themselves in destroying the vocation OF
our juvenile street musicians. 1t is true
that we are no more reduced to harmonious
misery by that musical villainy, Darling,
l am Growing DID," or even the more in.
spring strains of "Sweet By and By
But what of that, the social evil that of
Tended us remains in more disgusting
forms, and instead of wretched little men,
dicants receiving the dole of charity. they
now parade the streets early and late, with
bags and hooks, getting their living from
the offal of the streets-as veritable sav.
ages as the wild Indians or the Bashi Ba,
zouks.


The sailors got their dander up this
week at a proposed reduction of wages,
and forming into a procession marched
through the streets, breaking the windows
of an OhuOxiOuS hoa rd inu houSa kaanar' a NJ