The New York Tombs Inside and Out! / Scenes and Reminiscences Coming Down to the Present. A Story Stranger Than Fiction, with an Historic Account of America's Most Famous Prison.

by John Josiah Munro

The New City Prison

After many years of agitation the plans for the new Tombs Prison were prepared and approved during the Strong administration, which went into power on a reform wave in 1894.

The new City Prison contains three hundred and twenty steel cells arranged in four tiers in the men’s and four in the boys’ prison, with parallel corridors. There are forty large cells on each tier, arranged back to back, with all the recent improvements, which consist of running water, electric light, toilet, wash basin, hung table and cot. The new building is said to have cost over one million dollars.

On September 30th, 1902, the old offices on Leonard Street which had been in use since the front building on Centre Street had been torn down to make room for the new structure, were abandoned and the books and other important documents removed to the offices in the new building. This new building, however, was not entirely ready for use, but the first step had been taken and the occasion was hailed with joy. The second step in the entire occupation of the new City Prison took place Tuesday, January 6th, 1903, when the contractors handed over the entire structure to the City authorities and it was formally opened to the public by Mayor Seth Low and Commissioner Thomas W. Hynes in the presence of a number of invited guests. A few days afterwards the prisoners were transferred from the old prison to the new, and the work of demolishing the old Tombs was begun.

When the new Tombs was opened in 1901, John E. Van De Carr was Warden. And a kinder and more obliging man never lived than he. Both under the administrations of Mayors Strong and Low he was the official head of the city prison, and cared for the inmates of the prison as if they were his own family.

For many years the city prison has been noted for some of its semi-official inmates, who lived on perquisites and tips, and one of this class was old John Curran, the official guide of the prison. Old John had served in this capacity for many years, and knew every nook and cranny of the old structure. Roland B. Molineaux had a good opportunity of seeing old John at his best, and has kindly spoken of him in his book, “The Room with the Little Door.” Whenever John waxed eloquent, in describing the places of interest within the Tombs yard, he revealed a strong Irish brogue, that made his descriptions witty. You could not help smiling when you heard John, as he was wont to do, point out the last remaining beam of the old Tombs gallows, on which a score or more of persons were hung. “Gintlemens, thems th’ last and true part of old galleys of New Yark, on which so many famous chaps wint to death.” As he turned toward “Bummers’ Hall” with his visitors in the rear, he would exclaim, “Gints, thems the way to the exodus” as he would point to the back door of the new prison.

Soon after the opening of the new prison John disappeared from history as if the earth had opened its mouth and swallowed him out of sight. Where did he go? No person seemed to know. Mr. Sullivan, who was known as the Captain of the Bum Brigade, and was known as John’s confidential adviser, said that as soon as the old fellow secured his “pile” he vanished. I afterwards learned that John had a daughter living in Maine, and without communicating his plans to any one in the prison, removed thither, where he purchased a farm and now resides, happy and contented, ever and anon dreaming, how he had lived so long in the old Tombs and how he had so long fooled the visitors with his “Corkonian eloquence.”

After John’s disappearance the redoubtable Billy Gallagher added to his already onerous duties of prison messenger, that of official prison guide. After a while Billy learned the “lingo” and became as proficient as a “Bowery drummer” or a Coney Island “barker.” When the Commissioner had learned that John Curran had made a fortune as Tombs guide, he prohibited Billy Gallagher from asking fees for his services. Billy was a favorite with everybody, and could always be depended on for his veracity. Apple Mary who knew Billy for many years used to say, “God bless Billy Gallagher,” to which everybody would say Amen.

Billy Gallagher devoted more time to the Bowery bums who so often infested the ten-day house, and they took advantage of his generosity.

They frequently palmed off on him a lot of “fake” jewelry on the strength of which he paid their fines. After a time Billy had a carpet bag full of tin watches and paste diamonds, on which he had made small loans. Charley Sheridan, who was one of Frank Lantry’s district captains, was “boss” of the ten-day house for several seasons. He was tender hearted and often talked to the fellows from the Bowery and Mulberry Bend in a fatherly way and more than once paid their fines. Of course they “beat” him in the end as they do everybody who trusts them. They go on the principle that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by a lie.

---

CHAPTER III
MODERN EXCUSES FOR CRIME

Modern penologists tell us that a large number of our present day law breakers possess criminal instincts and in a sense are not entirely responsible for the unlawful deeds they commit. What generates these instincts it would be difficult to say. Perhaps early training, erratic temperaments or mental diseases of various kinds may account for them. We are inclined to think that much of our modern criminality is nothing less than old fashioned depravity. By nature most of us are so cross-grained that we find it easy to go wrong, and there is no telling where evil tendencies may lead to. Sometimes it needs only a spark to draw out the crookedness in man and make him a full-fledged criminal.

While the matter of self restraint should be kept continually before the minds of young people, the question of how far one should be allowed to tempt another to the committal of a crime is one of vastly greater importance. In this we believe the State should draw the line. This is in accordance with Gladstone’s well known dictum, “That it should be the duty of every well organized government to make it easy to do right and difficult to do wrong.” There is no mistaking that the present is a fast age. More than that, the competition for human existence, education, wealth and social standing is so great as to be unhealthy, because of the nervous strain which it creates. These conditions have developed an army of moral defectives in almost every walk of life.

Placing temptations before such people is simply making them criminals in advance. A vast number of men and women are unable to resist evil, as they lack the moral stamina. Many of this class, having been brought up in homes of vice and evil environments, can no more stand the temptations of the present day than a hungry dog can resist taking a piece of unguarded meat from a neighbor’s door.

The dipsomaniac, kleptomaniac, morphine, cocaine, cigarette users, and high livers, generally all belong to this class, many of whom are on the way to the madhouse!

It has been ascertained by long study of the subject that those who possess criminal instincts have little or no resistive power when tempted to commit crime. If the judge on the bench, before passing sentence on a convicted felon, had the insight or perception to see the moral deformities and lack of will power existing in the individual before him, we are inclined to believe that he would send the prisoner to a sanitarium for treatment rather than to prison for punishment. And it is our candid opinion that there are hundreds of moral defectives in all the penal institutions of this and other States who ought to be under the care of a physician rather than a jailer.

Sometimes the police disguise themselves, then induce gamblers to play roulette and other games of chance for the purpose of securing evidence, after which they arrest them for violating the law. This may be good ethics from the police standpoint, but we question it. It is absurd to think that we have any moral right to tempt a person to commit a crime against the laws of God or man.

Not long since a city magistrate reprimanded two plain clothes policemen for inducing a German saloon keeper to open his store on Sunday morning and give them a drink. They succeeded in doing so only under false pretences by saying they were sick. After they had secured the evidence, they placed him under arrest. In this way they compelled him to break the law. A woman was tried in the Court of General Sessions, some time ago for keeping a disorderly house. It was proved that she kept a boarding house, but there was no evidence to show that she or any of the inmates were immoral or that impure language was used on the premises. The police, however, suspected the house and sent a plain clothes officer who stayed on the premises for a day or two. After a time by the skillful use of money he was able to tempt the woman to place herself in a compromising position and in this way secured evidence against her. Now the law says that any person who directly or indirectly induces or procures another to commit a crime is as bad as the principal.

As an unusually large number of persons had passed the examination for positions on the City Police and Fire Departments some time ago, the Civil Service Board became suspicious. It occurred to them that somebody was stealing the examination papers. Two detectives were put on the case. They secured the services of an athletic instructor to prepare them to pass the examination for a position on the Fire Department and offered him $400 for his labors. He promised to do so, provided he could secure the stolen examination papers. The instructor secured the papers and both men passed. When passing sentence the presiding Judge commented unfavorably on the large money temptation placed before the defendant which was in the nature of a bribe and was the one thing which made the crime possible.

It is a question in our mind how far valuable property, such as gold, diamonds and other jewelry, should be exposed on the counters of large stores. Multitudes cannot view these things without secretly trying to carry some away. Nor should people expose money unnecessarily before the gaze of strangers; for in doing so, many a man has been robbed and some have lost their lives.

The fair sex are sometimes at fault in this respect and indirectly responsible for certain kinds of crime. When they go shopping they carry in their hands wallets or pocket-books containing small amounts of money. In former years they carried their money in their dress pockets. By exposing their pocket-books they tempt the moral defective to commit crime. Men and women also tempt the instinctive criminal, when they carry, exposed to public gaze, watches and jewelry on the person. It is true that this is our right. But we must not tempt men. I believe that the crimes of pocket-book snatching and larcenies from the person would be few and far between if people carried their valuables concealed from public view.

Frequently we meet people who possess a morbid propensity to commit crime. On some things they are perfectly rational, on others they are incapable of acting correctly. You can safely say, they are mildly insane!

Here is a lady on the street with a chatelaine bag dangling around her waist. The thief presumes that it contains money and other valuables. The owner is unconsciously tempting a poor weakling. From our standpoint this is a dangerous expedient. By and by there comes along a poor, hungry, homeless, penniless creature. He possesses criminal instincts. He sees the pocket-book in the lady’s possession. It is a well known fact that the sight of money awakens the worst passions of men. An evil impulse takes possession of him. He seizes the money and runs away. This is not an exceptional case. The criminal annals of New York can furnish hundreds of such cases, where men were seized with an impulse to commit a crime that sent them to prison for many years.

We knew personally the cases of two young men, bank messengers, who were bonded in a surety company for five thousand dollars each, but had only a salary of eight dollars per week. They were entrusted with large sums of money daily, which they received in collections. Both claimed at different times, to have been seized with an evil impulse to abscond with the money, which they did. The first took $5,000 and left the city. He went to Chicago, then to a southern city. Here he considered what he had done, in the light of cold reason. He sent a dispatch to the bank, saying that he would return with the money in two days. He did so. He accounted for all he took away except the railroad fare and hotel bills, which his people made good. That young man had always borne a splendid reputation for honesty and truthfulness. When I asked him why he left the city with other people’s money, he replied, “An irresistible impulse came over me and for a time I was like a crazy man under a spell. It is all a dream to me. I cannot understand it.”

The second lad had gone away with $56,000, $6,000 of which was in hard cash and the balance in bonds. He returned the bonds to the bank by a messenger. They were really useless to him. When he had spent nearly all the money he concluded to give himself up.

A poor unfortunate who was sent to prison for a long term for pocket-book snatching explained his conduct by saying, “I was cold and hungry. All at once I was seized with an uncontrollable impulse to take by force what did not belong to me. It came over me like a spell.”

Under ordinary circumstances, I am not inclined to take much stock in this “spell” theory. I think that in most cases, we can restrain ourselves when these impulses come over us.

A Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge, who is noted for his outspoken good sense, while sitting in a neighboring city trying criminal cases, severely rebuked some rich people for carelessly tempting working men employed on their premises. It seems that while certain persons were employed as painters and decorators in the home of a millionaire, that jewelry and other valuables were left carelessly within their reach. The result was that one of the men stole some of the valuables, and was sent to prison. It was shown at the trial that this workman was not a criminal and had always borne a good reputation. But the jewelry which lay around so carelessly in this home appealed to him. Such temptations arouse in men the worst passions, and even prey on their minds.

A young man whom I met in the Tombs broke down and wept as he told me the story of his disgrace. He loved a young woman and desired to seal his engagement to her with a gold ring. He went down to a Maiden Lane store. He explained the object of his visit to the salesman. He had nine dollars in his pocket and was willing to pay a fair price for what he wanted. The salesman went to a case and took therefrom a handful of gold rings and placed them before him on a velvet cloth and then went away. As the young man examined the rings alone the temptation seized him to secrete one and conceal it on his person. He did so with the result that the salesman saw him. He had not only tempted him but he concealed himself and watched all his movements with aid of a mirror.

Another way in which both men and women are frequently made criminals is by the present instalment system. For example, persons purchase watches, jewelry, typewriters, clothing and furniture and agree to pay for the same by weekly or monthly instalments. The buyer is compelled to sign an agreement in which he waives his right to his property till the last payment is made. If he has purchased a watch or suit of clothes and defaults on a payment he is compelled to surrender the property or be liable to an indictment for grand larceny. The trouble is, our legislature, to accommodate commercial sharpers, changes what has always been considered a civil suit into a criminal offence. Any one who sells another a typewriter takes chances to get his money back, the same as the baker who sells him a loaf of bread. If he is unable to pay that debt honestly the seller has no right to have recourse to an indictment to force him. This is all wrong.

Just where our State or local authorities can draw the line between an insane and a rational criminal, it would be hard to say. And how far people who possess criminal tendencies should be allowed to roam at large is also important. But how far individuals and corporations should be allowed to tempt moral weaklings to commit crime is a question for the twentieth century statesman and penologist to decide.

---

CHAPTER IV
HOW CRIMINALS ARE MADE

Since the close of the Civil War, crime of every kind has made enormous strides, not only in our large cities but also in our sparsely populated districts. Various reasons have been assigned for this condition of things but the reasons given are not entirely satisfactory. One thing, however, is certain, the temptations of modern times, which engulf and enslave so many of our young people, were never more numerous or more alluring than they are to-day. And the saddest thing of all is that very little is done to take the temptations out of the way or reduce them to a minimum.

I believe bad homes are largely responsible for many of the moral shipwrecks of our day. A report of the superintendent of Elmira Reformatory states that fifty-two per cent. of all the inmates of that institution came from positively bad homes and only seven per cent. from positively good homes. Without going any further into this discussion, it would be well to find out what makes bad homes and, if possible, furnish a remedy, so as to save our young people from becoming criminals. By all means find out the disease and then apply the remedy. This is the only rational thing to do, and to this method of treatment few persons can object.

The fact that crime increases faster than the ratio of population should come to our statesmen with startling effect and set them thinking to know just what methods should be used to change the evil currents of the times.

As long as fierce temptations are allowed to surge around our young people, especially in large cities, so long may we expect to see them in the police net and afterward filling prison cells. Crime is a menace to our republican institutions and in the end will reduce a free people to anarchy or serfdom.

One of the crime makers of our time, as is evident from everyday facts and figures, is the liquor traffic. From fifty to seventy per cent. of all convicted felons have been ruined by it. Many a man who is behind the bars to-day never would have been there were it not for strong drink that robbed him of his senses in a weak moment, and made him a criminal and a fool. In states where the rum power is under the ban and prohibition strictly or even partially enforced, jails are usually empty except for a few petty offenders.

Some men say that immigration is largely responsible for the criminality of to-day. That there is some truth in this statement we have no doubt whatever. But to hold immigrants responsible for the criminality of this age is unfair and uncharitable. That some parts of Europe send people to this country who are expert criminals and others full of criminal instincts, is true in part. That people without means and employment drift to the United States from every land and when in want naturally attack property under the spur of necessity, coupled, of course, with low ethical standards and lacking a sense of moral obligation, and perhaps possessing weak resistive powers, is also true.

Often persons are driven to crime by motives generated in a vicious nature, and as they are too weak to resist they soon lose their liberty, and society to protect itself simply places them behind the bars. Criminality is simply the darkened side of a reckless, sinful life, showing itself in deeds of wickedness and rebellion against God and man. Any one with such an impulse will dare to commit the most atrocious crime on record and will not think of the consequences!

The small army of boys that are committed to prison in this city every year between the ages of sixteen and twenty, for every crime on the calendar, shows the trend of the rising generation toward delinquency. In these figures we leave out of consideration several thousands of boys and girls who are disposed of by the city magistrates, many of whom are sent to the Reform School, Juvenile Asylum and the House of Refuge, while others are discharged on suspended sentences, with a warning to keep out of bad company.

I believe the first and foremost cause of crime in our large cities, as I have intimated, as well as the degradation of the poor man’s home, is the American saloon. Nor will there be any material decrease in the volume of crime till the power of the saloon has been crushed. Our stupid, thick-skulled, short-sighted reformers and state legislators forget that the soul-dishonoring and God-defying gin mill is the great crime generator of the twentieth century. The one primary cause of crime to-day is alcohol, and as a well-known authority says: “The decrease in the use of alcoholic drink must ever remain the great aim of anti-criminal legislation as well as of future moral and social reform.” A mass of absolutely correct statistics could be given in support of this statement, if necessary.

In many of the crimes committed by young men which we have personally investigated, it has been a question with us who has been the greatest criminal, the state, the parents or the boy. Many a young man would never have reached prison had his parents placed around him any reasonable moral safeguards. When I remember that hundreds of boys who get into the Tombs every year come from homes of poverty, misery, drunkenness, profanity and vice of every name, I do not wonder when I see crime written on their pale faces.

If Gladstone’s dictum were to actuate our state legislature, laws would be forthwith passed, making it a crime to sell to minors the blood-curdling novel, tobacco or cigarettes, or intoxicating liquor in any form. Boys should be prohibited from going to prize fights, the race course, gambling hells, theatres, billiard halls, or even from staying on the street after nine o’clock at night. This might seem harsh, but if strictly carried out we have no doubt whatever that crime would be reduced thereby.

It was a law in the Commonwealth of Israel, promulgated long before their settlement in Canaan, that when they built a house in the promised land they must put a railing or battlement around the roof to protect their children from injury by accidentally falling off. If the state were to make it difficult for our young people to do wrong by erecting around them moral barriers, there would be less criminality among boys and young men, and fewer human shipwrecks in after life.

When young men are admitted to prison for the first time, efforts should be put forth to save them. The work of isolation, separation and classification should then begin. If the authorities were to sift and separate the good from the bad, the precious from the vile, I am positive there would be fewer recidivists who are now compelled to repeat the same prison experiences several times over.

The new Tombs prison.

The open corridor of the women’s prison of the Tombs.

The old Tombs entrance on Leonard street.

Hundreds of boys who are sent to the Tombs enjoy the novelty immensely. It is a new experience to them, and as such is exciting. In prison they are huddled together as a band of incorrigibles. There seems to be no punishment in such an experience. Some of them are better off there than they would be in their homes. They get enough to eat. In some prisons they can smoke all the cigarettes and read all the dime novels they please. If up till this time they have been ignorant of the ways of pickpockets and sneak thieves, when they come out, after a few weeks’ incarceration, they are expert crooks, and fifty per cent. of them are soon back in prison.

In order to reduce crime among boys we must take away the operating causes. There is no other way to reach the desired end, and the sooner we get our eyes open to these facts, the better for ourselves and everybody else.

The object of all prison discipline should be the moral transformation of young offenders. They should be taught righteousness and purity of life, honesty and industry, self-respect and courteous behaviour to all. Whenever prison reform comes short of this, it is a failure, and society at large is injured thereby.

---

CHAPTER V
THE SCIENTIFIC CRIMINAL

There can be little doubt that the criminal product of the twentieth century is vastly different in its make up and harder to deal with than the criminal of any other century of the Christian era. Not perhaps from the standpoint of moral depravity, for all criminals are depraved, although some seem to be more so than others. But the criminal of to-day to be successful in his operations must be daring in his conceptions and highly scientific in his methods; otherwise he will be unable to cope with the difficulties in his way.

Criminals as a rule are not indifferent to the feelings of honest men as to their methods of getting a living. They know full well they do wrong. Yet if you cross their path while in the act of committing a felony, they will without the least hesitation take your life, and think nothing of it. All men who start out on a mission of crime make up their minds beforehand to take “no chances.” They are strenuously against every one that opposes them and they know that every honest, law-abiding citizen is against them.

But the great advance in civilization the past hundred years and the easy way fortunes seem to be accumulated, has unquestionably invented new methods of guarding the wealth, but it has also sharpened the criminal’s wit, making him more practical in his deeds of daring and ingenious in his plans and operations.

It is a well known fact that criminals of to-day do not carry around with them long “jimmies,” saws or crowbars such as were used by the old school crooks.

The twentieth century “outfit” of an experienced criminal seldom weighs more than sixteen to twenty ounces. The entire “kit” is made of the finest steel instruments and by these he is able to find his way to strong boxes, bureau drawers and closets of the best city and country residences. If he thinks he has to encounter a safe he will carry with him an electric drill by which he can punch holes in steel plates at short notice.

With these he has besides a silk rope ladder, which has an attachment that can take him to the roof of a house or get him to the street from any part of the building when he desires.

With the outfit just described a Connecticut crook was able to commit sixty burglaries in less than three months in this city. The typical twentieth century criminal is therefore a most dangerous character to deal with, and when in possession of a gun he lets nothing stand in his way.

Scientific writers on penology of recent times have divided the criminal into many parts for the purpose of analyzing the natural causes that have led to his downfall and the treatment best calculated to bring about his restoration.

One of the grave defects, in the study of criminal law, is that while the lawyer ransacks the Code in an effort to save or punish the wrongdoer, the criminal’s moral nature is entirely ignored. This is certainly not right. We firmly believe that the best possible way of reaching a correct solution of the mysterious dualism which confronts us in our study of criminal character, is to find out not only his early habits, but what he is in his normal and abnormal conditions, and how his delusions can be removed.

But there are criminals and criminals. Some indeed are born into criminal lives from infancy, aided by the laws of heredity, while others become criminals on the impulse of the moment and for months or years, run a wild career of wrong doing, but afterwards change the course of their conduct, and become useful members of society. Of course the only kind of reformation that becomes permanent is the kind that changes the man inside and out. Others like the twig that is bent, remain crooked all their lives. Nor does imprisonment improve such people to any great extent. Harsh treatment may subdue the animal passions but will not change his higher nature.

We do not believe that God brands any man as the victim of an unavoidable destiny, nor does He compel him to live a criminal life against his will. The fact is each law breaker is the victim of his own depraved will and is what he wants to be.

The twentieth century crook in forgery, burglary, safe cracking and swindling studies the situation so carefully that in two-thirds of the cases he is able to “beat” the law. A greenhorn crook is sure to leave traces behind him but an expert never. The twentieth century crook uses an automobile and naphtha launch so as to disappear with his “loot” to parts unknown. When he travels at home or abroad, he patronizes the most expensive hotels, the dearest express trains, and only the best accommodations on ocean steamers. Expert crooks as a rule travel in pairs.

Under the head of Criminal Anthropology we are called upon to study the criminal’s anatomy, social and moral habits and temperaments. But the strangest thing about him is that though he may be physically and mentally normal—just as other men are—he is abnormal morally. We must always remember, however, that while we consider the criminal scientifically, his disease is entirely moral. Nor has the average criminal any peculiarities that are not common to the rank and file of other men in every walk of life. His head and his heart and his brain are like those of other men and he shows the marks of human folly just as men do who never saw the inside of a jail.

As a rule the criminal is largely a creature of circumstances; often too lazy to work and unwilling to resist the common temptations of life, he simply drifts. He takes to crime as an easy way of making a living and often believes that the fates are against him, as an excuse for his wrong-doing, or perhaps he has a foolish delusion that there is something heroic in criminality.

Crime is defined as a violation of a human law enacted by the state in its own defense, and the criminal is the one who wilfully breaks that law and makes himself amenable to it.

The most noted authority in our day on crime and criminals is Lombroso, the Italian penologist, who has made a thorough study of the subject. In describing the criminal we find there is a freshness of detail to whatever he says, and he writes like one familiar with the subject. Lombroso rightly contends that criminals must be dealt with, not according to the way that society views the crime, but according to the circumstances and conditions that have led to it, and our laws must be changed to meet the new conditions. “Penal repression,” says Lombroso, “should be based on social utility scientifically demonstrated; instead of studying law books, we should study the criminal. It is doubtless true the criminal, as a rule, has feeble cranial capacity, a heavy developed jaw, large orbital capacity, projecting superciliary ridges, an abnormal and symmetrical cranium, a scanty beard or none, or an abundance of hair, projecting ears and frequently a crooked or flat nose. Criminals are sometimes subject to Daltonism or left-handedness, their muscular force is feeble and alcoholic and epileptic degeneration exists among them to a large extent. Their nerve centres are frequently pigmented. They blush with difficulty. Their moral degeneracy corresponds to their physical make up. Their criminal tendencies are manifested in infancy by onanism, cruelty, inclination to steal, excessive vanity and impulsive character. The criminal in a large number of cases is lazy, cowardly, not susceptible to remorse, without foresight, fond of tattooing. His handwriting is peculiar, his signature is complicated and adorned with flourishes. His slang is widely diffused, abbreviated and full of archaisms.”

Before we leave the subject it would be well to say that naturally the criminal is the product of anomalous conditions of long standing that have worked themselves into the moral fibre of his being. After many years the criminal has come to bear the distinguishing peculiarities of crime which mark him as a man among men. So that to-day with all our advanced civilization, the criminal stands midway, as Lombroso remarks, “Between the savage and the lunatic.”

It has therefore become a perplexing question what is to be done with him, for during the four hundred years of white civilization on the American Continent his condition remains almost the same.

After many years of failure to improve him, would it not be well to adjust the penal treatment to his nature as a man and eliminate from his life the temptations that overcame him? For example, thousands of people are arrested yearly in New York for drunkenness, a temptation which they cannot resist. Why not close the saloons and thus take even this one temptation out of the way of such weaklings? At any rate, if our prison populations are to be reduced, society must pass a law to prevent crime, or invent something that shall defeat the conditions that make men criminals.

At the present time the main object of a criminal court is to find out if a defendant is guilty or innocent. If guilty, the sentence of the Court is measured by the character of the crime and not by the conditions that led to it. Before the wrongdoer can be reformed our criminal laws must be readjusted to the conditions of the times. Many of those who come into our courts for sentence, if not hardened criminals themselves, are the offspring of criminal parents or are mentally defective, weak-minded or insane, epileptics or otherwise diseased.

Crime gnaws at the life of the nation, destroys its vitality and wastes its wealth. We can stand changes of government or changes of policy, hard times, prosperity and adversity, but no nation can long survive the awful demoralization of crime.

But what an anomalous life the criminal lives! After having many chances and opportunities placed in his way to live right, he refuses the good and chooses the evil. He will not reform nor do better. He has become a misanthrope; he hates himself and everybody else.

The only sure remedy for the present day criminal is the indeterminate sentence; he should be detained in prison under the most rigorous discipline, till he is reformed or cured of his insane notions. It is nothing short of a crime to turn such people loose to scourge society after a few months or years’ detention in prison.

European criminologists are unanimous in advocating the most restrictive measures for incorrigibles, such as hard labor, longer imprisonment and more repressive humiliation, or if necessary, deportation and exile. Professor Prins of Brussels says, “The solution of the question of the incorrigible lies in a progressive aggravation of punishment and the absence of all prison luxury.” After reading a mass of opinions on what should be done with the criminal incorrigible and how he should be punished, all of which had not a ray of hope in it for his higher nature, we thought of the British soldier in India half a century ago, who was called up for sentence before a court martial; he had suffered all sorts of imprisonment, corporal punishment and all manner of deprivation and humiliations, but all to no purpose; the punishments only hardened him. But now a new commander came on the scene who, after hearing all that could be said against him, dismissed him with an admonition, saying that they forgave him, asking him from henceforth to go and sin no more. The effect of this was that he broke down and wept like a child. He had steeled his heart to every kind of punishment, but when they tried kindness it touched him.

---

CHAPTER VI
SOME FAMOUS TOMBS PRISONERS

During its long and eventful history the Tombs has had many notable prisoners. It would be impossible in this brief sketch to do justice to this subject by giving a full and detailed account of the deeds and escapades of these persons. But the men of money and influence who have had the misfortune to be sent to the City Prison have always fared well. Although it is not always the case, the rich and poor in such a place should be treated with becoming fairness and moderation, not simply because they are rich or poor, but the law presumes a man to be innocent till his guilt is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. It is well known that a great many people are sent to the Tombs every year on trumped up charges. As they are not criminals, it would be manifestly improper to deny them the deserved consideration to which every uncondemned man is entitled in this enlightened age.

In dealing with this subject we shall only mention the names of a few well known persons.

In 1842 the Tombs had a prisoner named Monroe Edwards; he is said to have been one of the most noted and boldest of all round forgers of the time. He had plenty of money and lived more like a prince than a prisoner. He was able to engage the most eminent counsel in his behalf. His wardrobe was the finest and most expensive that money could buy. He was allowed to furnish his cell in an elegant manner. Lady friends and admirers called upon him daily and brought bouquets and cut flowers in abundance, all of which he was permitted to receive, on the ground that the law presumed him innocent till found guilty. There must have been many abuses in the Tombs in those days, perhaps as glaring as those that exist to-day. For example, Edwards received other gifts from his lady friends besides flowers and knick-knacks for his cell. These consisted of a set of highly tempered steel saws for iron work, a silk rope ladder, grappling irons and a horse pistol. These were to be used to enable him to make good his escape, if he so desired. As soon as the Warden learned that he possessed these things, he went to his cell and made a demand of Edwards for their surrender. After they were confiscated many of Edwards’ privileges were cut off.

John Scannel, a Tammany politician, having filled a number of offices within the City Government, but who more recently was Fire Commissioner during Mayor Van Wyck’s administration, was an inmate of the Tombs in the fall of 1871.

On September 19th of that year he shot Thomas Donohue whom he supposed to have been the man who had assaulted his brother Florence. The charge against him was homicide. But like many other Tammany officials, he had a tremendous “pull” and was soon afterwards admitted to bail in the sum of $20,000. He was finally cleared.

The Tombs’ authorities have always been indulgent to the men who lived on “Murderers’ Row.” The foolish idea that comes down through the ages, which pictures the murderer resting on a pallet of straw with a chain around his neck, has certainly never been experienced in the Tombs. Twenty years ago and even later, nearly all the cells on Murderers’ Row received bouquets of flowers almost every morning. And some of them had bird cages, swinging shelves, lace curtains, carpets and draperies. When you entered such a cell, your feet did not touch the stone floor, but a rug or a Kidderminister. And the prisoner—he usually wore an elegant dressing gown, silk slippers and beautiful clothing; he is shaved and groomed daily; when he sleeps it is on a real bed of comfort. When the old prison was yet standing, every afternoon after he had made his toilet and was booted and gloved he walked into the yard for a stroll. Between four and five o’clock he dines; he never ate prison fare. His food came from the outside and consisted of a variety of dishes, such as oysters, quail, clams, fish, fowl, roast beef and vegetables—the best the market could provide, that is, for rich prisoners. The poor crooks had to be content with prison fare and take “pot luck.”

On January 6th, 1872, at 4:30 p. m., Edward S. Stokes shot and killed James Fisk, Jr., in the Broadway Central Hotel. After the coroner had committed Stokes to the Tombs, he was assigned to Cell 43 on “Murderers’ Row,” which was situated on the western side of the second tier. Soon after coming to the City Prison he was allowed to fix up his cell in a most lavish manner; for example, he was permitted to put a hard finish on the walls of his cell, fit it with several fine pieces of furniture, pictures on the walls, damask curtains and Turkish rugs galore! He was permitted to build a walnut toilet stand in his cell. He was also allowed the use of the yard whenever he desired and to walk about unmolested. The graft paid in those days for such liberties, must have been enormous as he had more privileges than any ten men.

It is also said that Stokes had a large room on the Centre Street side of the old prison where he received his friends who called on him daily. It was here that he ate the choicest cuts, the best turkeys the market could furnish, and where he and his friends regaled themselves with the best champagne and claret, and smoked the finest cigars. It is also said by men now living that Stokes often attended the Bowery theatre accompanied, of course, by a couple of keepers, who danced attendance on him—all of which cost money.

Stokes was tried for murder three times. At the close of the first two trials he was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hanged. At the close of the last trial he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to Sing Sing for four years.

Richard Croker, all round Tammany Hall leader and politician for many years, alderman and at the time of his involuntary confinement in the Tombs a city coroner, shot and killed John McKenna at Second Avenue and 34th Street, November 3rd, 1874. The shot that killed McKenna was intended for Ex-Senator James O’Brian, a brother of Inspector Steve O’Brian. It is said while an inmate of the Tombs Croker had the privilege of leaving the building and returning when he pleased. How true this was nobody could tell, but others who were able to pay for it had the same privileges since that time. Money and other influences have always been a tremendous power in the Tombs Prison.

Ferdinand Ward, bank president and bank looter, who stole no less than $2,000,000 from the Marine Bank and eventually ruined General Grant, spent some months in the Tombs and was finally sent to Sing Sing for a term of years.

Erastus Wyman, a well-to-do Staten Island Real Estate operator, lay in the Tombs for many months. He had a hard fight against a horde of persecutors who sought his ruin. His case went to the Court of Appeals, where he received a new trial. He was never tried again.

Another rich banker—I well remember him—was Cornelius L. Alvord. He got away with more than $700,000 from the First National Bank.

He was in a cell in Murderers’ Row, in the old prison. While there he ate the best food and smoked the finest cigars till he took up his abode in Sing Sing. His sentence was seven and one-half years.

Roland Burnham Molineux, a popular young man, was arrested February 2nd, 1899.

He lay in the Tombs about nine months before the first trial. Mr. Molineux was plucky, courageous and optimistic. It is needless to say he made many friends, all of whom were glad when he received his liberty. In manners he was a perfect gentleman, courteous and obliging to all. While in the Tombs he was very kind to his fellow unfortunates and frequently fed, clothed and shod needy prisoners at his own expense.

Then there were Fritz Meyer, Carlyle Harris, Doc. Kennedy, and Patrick, besides, lawyers, doctors, bankers, insurance agents and walking delegates without number.

Harry Kendall Thaw, a native of Pittsburg, Pa., a multi-millionaire, shot and killed Stanford White while in Madison Square roof garden June 6th, 1906. He lay in the Tombs over ten months. His first trial lasted nearly three months. His immense wealth brought around him an army of friends who flattered him night and day—for his money. While in the Tombs he had unusual privileges, all of which he doubtless paid for highly. Physically his imprisonment made him a new man. His defence is said to have cost him a million dollars. He came from a first class family.

At his second trial the Demosthenes of the Brooklyn Bar, Littlefield, successfully defended him and saved him from the Electric Chair. His mother, who is known as a lovely Christian lady, visited him regularly during his confinement. Thaw is at present in Matteawan. He has made several efforts to secure his freedom but has failed. The general opinion is that if he keeps at it he will succeed.

---

CHAPTER VII
THE DANGEROUS EDUCATED CROOK

One of our modern fallacies is that education is a cure for all the ails and weaknesses of life. There never was a greater mistake. When we think of humanity in its deranged and weakened condition and the constant liability to err—a liability that is inherent in all men—learned and unlearned—making them subject to temptations and crime which at any moment may blast their lives, we must be cautious about believing that education alone can make men and women honest and virtuous. Education is only a means to an end, and serves its purpose best when joined to moral training and industrious habits as taught in a well regulated life. Without moral training, education alone will only generate a type of cunning crookedness, that will be dangerous alike to the home and the republic at large.

I believe that education in its best and broadest sense, means not only mental culture, but carefully trained habits of industry, together with morality and religion as founded on the basic principles of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount—all of which tend to promote the happiness of the human family.

John Howard, the Morning Star of Prison Reform, who in his day encouraged popular education, was careful to say, “Make men diligent and you will tend to make them honest,” and he added that he did not believe education of the head would amount to much unless it was followed by “education of heart and hands.”

Within recent years Christian penologists are almost unanimous in the opinion that mental training alone has little influence in decreasing crime. Nor does it follow that in countries where illiteracy stands high that crime is greater than in countries where the opposite is true. In Spain, where two-thirds of the people are illiterate there is less crime, according to the population, than in Massachusetts where nine-tenths of the people can read and write.

So also in rural settlements where there is always less educational privileges than in large cities, crime is vastly less in the former than in the latter.

In the early history of this country petty crimes were usually committed against domestic products, but with the advance of our present civilization such crimes are nothing compared to stealing railroads, coal mines, gold mines, safe cracking, colossal swindling and bank wrecking in which millions are stolen yearly. And all of these crimes are the work of well educated men.

Victor Hugo says, “He who opens a school closes a prison,” which is true if that school teaches the morality of the ten commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, but not otherwise.

In Great Britain in 1880 the number of pupils in the schools increased to 3,895,324, while the prisoners numbered only 30,719; but the greatest decrease in the prison population is seen in 1899, when the school pupils numbered 5,601,249, while the prison population fell to 17,687. That is to say, the prison population decreased 38 per cent. while the population of the country increased 11 per cent.

Notwithstanding all that may be said, it is our humble opinion after years of observation that criminality is largely the result of ignorance, idleness and indolent habits. Since I have been in the habit of visiting reformatories I have often thought of Isaac Watts’ philosophy, “Satan finds mischief for idle hands to do.” It is the young loafer and idler who is around the streets night and day “killing time” that gets into trouble. Whenever parents rear their children in idleness they simply sap the foundations of personal character and fit them for criminality. A report of the Elmira Reformatory shows that of thousands of persons who were received into that institution since it was first opened over 83 per cent. are classed as laborers and idlers.

For more than fifty years it has been said that a greater advance in education would reduce crime to a large extent. But this is only true in part. Secular education does not reduce murder, forgery, grand larceny, embezzlements and other heinous crimes. There must be moral education. Indeed, such offences are usually the work of well educated men.

Those best able to judge will not deny that the most dangerous person to-day is the educated crook. He plans crime scientifically, at the same time exercising the greatest care. Indeed, he makes it a business, and, as is sometimes said, goes into it for all he is worth. The college graduate behind the bars is becoming very common. At the present time nearly all of our large prisons have doctors, lawyers, editors, teachers and others of keen minds and large professional experience. Some of the articles found in the Star of Hope, the State Prison paper, show a wide range of reading, and could only be written by scholars. And at the lowest calculation, most of our large prisons contain from five to ten per cent. of college graduates, and the number is rapidly increasing.

One of the most scholarly men that I ever knew came from a little town in Massachusetts. He was so exceptionally bright that had he put his native talents and energies into an effort to keep the Ten Commandments, instead of aiming continually to plunder his fellow men, he might have been a Morgan or a Rockefeller. The man of whom I speak began life as a school teacher, then a clerk in the office of a country attorney. After this he became a full-fledged lawyer, and drifted into politics.

From politics he went into crime, and soon became an expert forger and swindler on a large scale, and as a rule he always worked for “big game.” As a confidence man he had a shrewd way of getting hold of millionaires and fleecing them.

A most noted and clever crook some time ago came to grief in an effort to impersonate an English earl. This man had a charm of manner about him and other polished ways that would have given him a place in any society. But he used all his cleverness and scholarship only to make for himself a criminal career of the most romantic character. He was afterwards sent to Sing Sing Prison, where he became the first editor of the Star of Hope, and a regular “mogul” among the inmates because of his scholarly attainments. It was said that he wrote sermons for an ignorant chaplain now no longer there.

Another college graduate whom I have known, and who had a national reputation for crookedness, was born in western New York. At his father’s death he inherited $600,000. After he had graduated from Columbia Law School, he went West and became a land and grain speculator. He afterwards opened a bank and was made president. Then he was elected mayor of the city and state senator; he ran for Congress, but was defeated. He was an expert gambler, and he told me that he more than once lost $40,000 in one night, in the Tenderloin. Having been a banker himself for several years, he knew how to “work” banks for all they are worth by the use of forged checks. He was arrested five or six times, but only convicted twice, and was then able to cheat the prison by a technicality.

No person is so much exposed to crime as the mental and industrial illiterate, and it will always be so till the end of time. But education that does not elevate, purify and generate high ideas in man is nothing short of a curse to the individual. Furthermore, the educated crook can do vastly more harm in the world than the ignorant crook, and is much more dangerous when at large. It does not necessarily follow, therefore, that the more educated the man is the better the citizen, nor that he is less liable to crime. The fact is well admitted that in nearly all the northern and western cities the prison inmates are able to read and write, and scores are classed as really educated. Among the young men that go to Elmira Reformatory only six to nine per cent. are classified as illiterate, and the number of illiterates admitted to Sing Sing is said to be nine per cent., a very small proportion when we think of the large number of persons who are sent there.

The Rev. Fred H. Wines, D. D., defines education as labor, instruction and religion. He says:

“The best preventives against crime are a well trained mind, industrious habits and a good moral life. And the power of a good example and a pure conversation is incalculable in leading young people into steady habits and a noble life such as they should everywhere follow. Let New York follow out the teaching of Solomon, and there is sure to be less crime in the future than in the past: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.’”

The only Man on Record who is known to have Pardoned himself out of Prison. He began life as a School Teacher, Clerk in a Law Office, full fledged Lawyer and Treasurer of a Political organization in New England, with whose funds he decamped. He has been in Prison a dozen times under as many aliases, where he has spent twenty-five years. When he pardoned himself out of prison he was in Nashville, Tenn., under the name of Henry B. Davis. He is now supposed to be dead.

---

CHAPTER VIII
LEAVES FROM THE HISTORY OF A CHECKERED CAREER

The Remarkable Confessions of One of the Brightest, Brainiest and Smartest Crooks of His Day—How He Pardoned Himself Out of Prison.

“Naturally I shrink from publishing my sins to the world. I prefer speaking of the shortcomings of others. Like most of the human family I can see the mote in my brother’s eye, but am blind to the beam in my own eye. That I am a son of Belial the journals of the country have not for the past twenty-five years permitted me to forget. I am viewed as all that is bad—as one whom it were folly to try to reform—as an incorrigible, morally deformed. If I am not totally depraved, society is not to be blamed. I rejoice that I am far better than society knows, that I know God and His love for me, and that in my inner life abides a faith that assures me I am but a wanderer from my Father’s house, to which I shall some day return and be numbered among the ransomed.”

“Often have I looked heavenward and exclaimed: ‘Oh, God, I thank Thee that Thou knowest me, and that Thou wilt never misjudge me. Thou knowest why I wandered from the path of righteousness, and when I shall return thereto. I pray for the grace that will enable me to return—that will so fortify me that I may depart from evil and cleave unto Thee.’

“I have never doubted that God will eventually grant my prayer. Were it not for the faith I have in myself, the merciless, unchristian condemnation I have been subjected to for the past quarter century would have sent me to hell beyond redemption! Had I been prayed for more and denounced less by those who are continually announcing their belief in prayer, and the power of God to save to the uttermost all sinners, I might have been a better man than I am. But I am forgetting that I was not asked to write a sermon—that the request was for some of the most sensational and interesting of my experiences—my exploits. The most successful, most valuable and by far the cleverest work of my life was the forging of the documents which induced Governor Buchanan, of Tennessee, to pardon me, April 3d, 1891. I was confined at Tracy City, Tenn., under a six years’ sentence. It is one of the branch prisons of the state, and the convicts are employed in the coal mines. I was put to work in ‘a 3 foot vein,’ with a negro convict—an old miner—for boss. The most arduous labor I ever performed, did little else than grumble from morning till night, and shirked all I dared. At night I laid awake trying to evolve a plan by which I could escape from my wretched plight. I decided that I would try to forge my way to liberty. I soon prepared to execute my plan, secured legal cap paper, official envelopes, ink and some good pens. In three days I forged a petition bearing upward of 150 signatures, writing differing in each, the names of the leading citizens of Tipton county, Tenn., the county in which I was sentenced. I then forged a letter bearing the signature of the firm of attorneys that defended me, one of whom was a friend of the Governor, and enclosed it with the petition, and had them mailed in Memphis, remote from where I was confined, 320 miles. I then forged another letter purporting to have been written by the aforesaid attorney to John Tipton, representative in the Legislature at Nashville, in which he was asked to see Governor Buchanan, and to urge him to pardon Henry B. Davis (my alias). All this was done in March, 1891. On the 3rd day of April, 1891, the pardon reached the warden at Tracy City. I received the glad tidings while in the dining room, writing a letter for a fellow prisoner. Warden Mottern walked in and threw a letter on the table at my side, remarking as he did so, ‘Henry, don’t let that take your breath away.’ I did not take up the letter, but continued to write. The warden, eager that I should read the letter, repeated his remark. I then felt that it was a letter bearing very important intelligence, and drew it from the envelope. I have never forgotten its contents. It read:

Henry B. Davis, Esq.,

Tracy City, Tenn.,

Dear Sir:

I send herewith your pardon. After you have called at the Capitol and signed certain papers, forwarded to the Governor by your attorneys, you are free to go home or elsewhere, I am

Yours very truly,

W. H. Norman,

Adj’t-Gen’l and Private Secretary to His Excellency

John P. Buchanan, Governor.

“As they could not clothe me that day nor arrange for my transportation to Covington, Tenn., I remained in the stockade until 4 a. m., of the 4th. And a more fearful and uneasy mortal the world had not. I made my way to Indianapolis, and did not until I reached that city see anything which indicated that I was being sought—that officers were after me. While sitting in the depot a man passed and re-passed me, closely observing me. I said to myself, ‘He evidently is looking for me; I had better get out of this.’ I went out of the north door as he passed out of the south door, and hastily boarded the “White Mail” express on the P. C. C. & St. L. R. R., without one cent in my pocket. I was on the front end of the mail car, and rode to Denison, Ohio, unmolested—the longest ride I ever knew anyone to make ‘on the beat’ on a passenger train.

“In August, 1901, I was arrested in Jersey City for forging a telegram. Shortly after I was bound over to the grand jury it was learned that I had been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in Tennessee, and a letter of inquiry was sent to the Governor, who quickly notified the Jersey City authorities that I had been pardoned because of forged documents sent to him by some person unknown. A certain detective then went to Nashville, called on the Governor, and said: “Governor, Edwin Stoddard, alias Henry B. Davis, is subject to your order. Do you want him, and what is the reward?”

The good Governor, eternal peace and happiness be his, slowly rose from his chair, straightened his tall form and said: ‘Do I want Edwin Stoddard, alias Henry B. Davis? No, sir; I do not want Edwin Stoddard, alias Henry B. Davis. He beat me very cleverly, and is altogether too brilliant a man to be in prison! All I ask of Edwin Stoddard alias Henry B. Davis, is to stay out of the State of Tennessee! The pardon stands. I bid you good day, sir.’

“How the small, inhuman, unfeeling soul of the detective, who for two hundred dollars was eager to return me to a loathsome prison, must have shrank from that great, noble, white-souled Governor. What a rebuke the good Governor administered to the mercenary, unchristian wretch!

“In November, 1889, while journeying from Chicago to St. Louis, in a parlor car, on the Chicago & Alton R. R., I entered upon what resulted in one of the most interesting experiences of my life. A gentleman left his chair and said to me: ‘I am the Rev. —— ——, of Springfield, Mo., and if I mistake not, you are the Rev. —— ——, of Detroit,’ (at that time a well known preacher). At once seeing an opportunity for amusing myself, I said: ‘You are right; I am pleased to form your acquaintance.’ After we had conversed for some time he said, ‘I should be pleased to have you accompany me to Springfield and become my guest and to occupy my pulpit Sunday.’ To which, after some hesitation, I consented. He had a very pleasant home, and the sweetest, kindliest consort it has ever been my pleasure to meet. They could not do enough for my comfort and pleasure. Impostor that I was, their assiduous attention only served to render me uncomfortable. I asked a blessing at each meal, and read the Bible and prayed in the morning and evening. But the thought of the two sermons I was expected to preach Sunday caused me unspeakable perturbation, as I had but 36 hours in which to prepare them. I was tempted to flee the place and let the good pastor think what he pleased. But as I had never in the course of my wayward career proved unequal to any emergency I determined to face the rugged proposition and preach as he had requested. Retiring to my room with a Bible and several sheets of paper I went to agonizing over the sermons. For the morning sermon I took for my text the verse in Genesis (1:26) where God gives man dominion over all living creatures. I spoke from notes and flatter myself that I did fairly well. I was warmly congratulated by the good pastor and his wife, and introduced at the close of the services to a number of the congregation.

“In the evening I preached on Faith, and from notes. I labored to be very original and succeeded. I recall maintaining that we could not exercise any more faith than God allotted to us, that since he was ‘the author and finisher of our faith,’ we might reasonably hold him responsible for our lack of faith provided we had prayed most earnestly for the proper faith—for sufficient faith. I also maintained that it were possible for one to have faith sufficient to secure an answer to a prayer that, while it benefited one might be harmful to many others. That God often denied a petitioner even when he had exercised the required faith because God saw that to answer the prayer—to bestow what was prayed for, would work harm instead of good to the supplicant. That it was more the nature of what we prayed for than the faith we evinced that influenced the Almighty to a decision. I spoke of the assassination of President Garfield, reminding the congregation that prayers were ascending to God from all parts of the world, and that many of the petitioners believed that God would spare his life. Yet he died. What conclusion must those who prayed for Garfield’s recovery reach in order to be consistent? Could it be other than that the Almighty deemed it best to remove James A. Garfield from this sphere of action? Therefore faith does not induce God to answer an unwise prayer.

“A child four years of age lay sick and at death’s door. The physician decided that he must die. The mother agonized in prayer. God spared his life. That boy grew to manhood and at the age of twenty-eight robbed and murdered his grandfather and was hung. Did faith save the boy for such an awful crime, and death on the gallows? If so, it accomplished an awful work! Far better had the boy died in his innocent childhood! Faith should behold not merely the substance of things hoped for but should go far beyond this and see that the things hoped for will permanently and soulfully benefit the petitioner!

“At the close of the service the pastor said to me, ‘Your discourse was forceful and original, and stimulated my mind and has given birth to thoughts hitherto unknown to it. You interfered somewhat with the old orthodox line of belief but have nevertheless done us much good. You have quickened and driven us from the old ruts which we have followed for many years. I believe my people are very much pleased with the sermon.’

“The next day I was taken about the city and shown the different points of interest and introduced to a number of the leading citizens.

“To this day I think the worthy pastor and his noble wife fully believe that they entertained the Rev. —— —— of Detroit.

“In December, 1889, I was arrested 400 miles from a city where I had obtained $1,400.00 on a forged draft. While escaping, I changed my clothes, and had my mustache removed, and hair dyed a jet black. When arrested it flashed through my mind as quick as lightning, ‘Feign deafness and dumbness, and that you can neither read nor write.’ I was taken back to the city where I had cashed the draft, and so changed was my appearance, that the cashier was in doubt as to my identity, but they placed me in jail and finally succeeded in holding me for the grand jury. For sixty days I was closely watched, four different men were placed in the cell with me and, instructed by the police, did their utmost to induce me to talk or to write, but by the utmost care I evaded all their little artifices and cunning, and the grand jury did not find a true bill. Thus did I obtain my liberty after maintaining silence for two months and not placing pen or pencil to paper. The most trying time of my life, but I never regretted playing the part inasmuch as it saved me from a sentence of not less than ten years!

“That I sorrow o’er the evil I have done is to be believed. I have often wondered why I have had such a wayward career. I sincerely desired to be one of the best men in the world, and in my early manhood believed that I was to become such a man. I am well nigh a fatalist. What God foresees must be equivalent to a law that cannot be evaded. He foresaw my career. I could not do otherwise than I have done. I sometimes so reason. I am grateful to God that in all my unrighteousness I never wholly lost my belief in his saving grace and that he loved me; that there was a glorious reality in the religion of our Saviour; and that the uplift of fallen men and women and their leading noble, useful lives was and is an unanswerable argument in support of his gospel of love, mercy and helpfulness. That I may become a humble, earnest follower of him who made known God the Father unto men, is my earnest prayer. I am soul weary of a life of sin. I have had an unspeakably wretched life for the past twenty-eight years. I mean to get away from my old wayward sinful self—out of self and into Christ! I am glad that I can truthfully say, that there has never been a period in my life when I did not love Christ and venerate God, never a time since I was twelve years of age that I did not at some hour in the day fix my mind on God and ask him for his mercy and guidance. But for all this I have had a very checkered career. Still I believe he heard my prayer and will yet enable me to lead a righteous life.

“If I can say anything which will induce any wayward fellow creature to depart from evil and walk Godward—heavenward, I should be most happy to do so. God’s mercy is for all. He never turned a deaf ear to the prayer for mercy. Nothing so beautiful to the angels as a sinner on his knees imploring the mercy of the merciful and loving God!

“I have written the foregoing for the Rev. J. J. Munro, Chaplain of the City Prison, New York City. Interested for my spiritual welfare he won my confidence and gratitude by his sincerity and the spirit of helpfulness that dominates him. He is doing a noble work at the prison and cannot be too highly commended, and the good people of the city should earnestly and generously aid him that he may be enabled to extend his noble, Christian work in behalf of the fallen and the neglected who, if properly befriended, may be restored to honest and useful lives.

“E. S. S.”

---

CHAPTER IX
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CROOK

How A Young Life Was Wrecked

The writer of the following sketch received a sentence of twenty-three years imprisonment. He is a bright and brainy criminal. It is the general opinion that had he used his talents and business sagacity along honest lines he would have been a different man to-day. He has brains in abundance, but he uses them wrongly. Let him tell his own story.

“My father and mother as well as all my relatives on both sides of the family were exceptionally well connected and highly respected in the community. My father in his best days had plenty of money. My earliest recollection of my father was as a railroad manager, always full of business—seldom at home except for meals or on Sundays. After the New England road changed hands and became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, he lost his job. This was a calamity to my father as it compelled him to begin over again, which at his time of life was a very serious task. I was then ten years of age, and although unable to take in the situation fully, I knew something was wrong.

“Without flattery I wish to say I was not a bad boy at this age. I attended school and like other boys, I cut up once in a while, but when my teacher sent word home to my mother recounting my pranks, she always punished me soundly for my conduct. After leaving the railroad company, my father went into a little town near New Haven, where he sunk sixty thousand dollars in what afterwards proved to be an unprofitable business. When I was fourteen years of age my grandfather died and left my mother ten thousand dollars. This money came like a god-send. Again my father started in business. This time it was keeping a hotel. It was not so successful as we had expected, but my father made a living out of it. When I was fifteen years old I left school and for a whole year simply spent my time loafing. I would not work. I mixed in with all kinds of company—mostly bad. I listened to men as they told how to commit crime and escape punishment. At first my conscience would scourge me for allowing myself to be in such company, but I would dismiss my fears by saying, ‘There is no harm in that as long as a fellow does not get caught.’ I was yet of tender years, although I felt I was at heart a degenerate. I can see now where I made the great mistake of my life.

“I can see now that my mother was far too lenient with me, and should have punished me often for my mean ways, when she only admonished me with kind words. If I had known that I was to be punished for many of my youthful pranks, I certainly would not have repeated them. But I knew that I could impose on mother and make her prevent father from punishing me even when I deserved it. This made me reckless and daring, so I did not care what I did as long as I was not to be punished. I could steal a few pennies from my mother’s wallet, smash a pane of glass in anger, and steal the horse from the barn against my father’s will, and yet be immune from punishment. All this tended to make my downward career swift and sure.

“On my bed at night I often thought of my mad and foolish ways. I knew I was doing wrong—sinning against light and deceiving my kind-hearted mother. It was not kindness I needed as much as a firm hand over me. I confess I suffered greatly from moral struggles within. I came from a good New England ancestry. My relatives were all respectable people. Why should I do anything that would bring disgrace upon my family? But I would not work. I preferred to be an indolent loafer than an industrious young man. Then the inward struggles would return to me again. I fought them to the death, continued to trample God’s laws under my feet and went on to do my own will.

“I believe now that my unrestrained pranks led to my final criminality. I was now seventeen years of age. I was not a gambler, nor was I a drunkard or profane. But I positively refused to work. I spent my days loafing around the village in all kinds of company, getting trained for a downward career.

“One day my father took me aside and said, ‘George, you must go to work at once or leave this house.’ Several words passed between us that had better not been said. I refused to go to work, and left the house the next day. I stayed around the village for several days, living with friends. I soon found myself hard up. Like the man mentioned in the Gospel, I refused to dig, and to beg I was ashamed. I said to myself, I must get some money somewhere, I cannot stand this any longer. I had no wish to be a criminal and yet I must get money without working for it. It was summer time. I saw many houses empty, the Devil said, ‘This is your chance.’ The people had gone to the seaside and the mountains. I selected a house where I thought there was plunder and that night burglarized it. This gave me plenty of ready money. I followed this with a number of more burglaries. After a time this kind of crime became my second nature. Then I became reckless and soon after was arrested, convicted and sent to Wethersfield State Prison for two years and two months.

“After I had reached State’s Prison and had donned the convict’s garb, I was totally ashamed of myself, not to say mortified. I made many resolutions and even cried over my worthless life, but was no better inwardly or outwardly. The fact is my heart was evil continually. I was twenty years of age when I left prison. I was not reformed, nor had I any desire for inward reformation. My heart was still on the old life. During my two years of enforced servitude I had learned the bakery business. I thought when I got out, if all things failed, I could earn a living by it. After my discharge I went to a place called Long B—— in a neighboring state. Here I found employment in a bakery which was kept by a widow woman. I worked so faithfully for her that after a few months she made me her manager. I now made up my mind to do what was right, so I shunned crooked companions. Many wealthy people lived on the Beach, where they had summer homes. As many burglaries had been committed in the neighborhood, I was appointed special watchman. I served in this capacity for two years, during which time I gave entire satisfaction to all concerned.

“After a few years of sweet liberty, I was in prison again. This time, I assure you, it was by mere accident, as I had no intention of being back again in crime. While playing with a pistol, I accidentally shot a girl. I was convicted of criminal carelessness, and was sent to prison for two years—simply because I was an old offender.

“I had been a free man several years. I never expected to go to prison again. This sentence was a surprise to me and everybody else. It was unlooked for. I was mad with myself. In prison I became sullen and brooded over my trials. My wife had abandoned me. Before I left prison I wrote asking her to secure a divorce from me. I assured her I would not oppose it.

“After leaving prison, I came to New York, where I operated extensively as a scientific burglar. In my last prison experience, I met some expert crooks who willingly perfected my criminal education. I believe the curse of our prisons to-day is the lack of segregation. I am satisfied nearly all the prisons are schools of crime.

“As long as the authorities mix young beginners with men old in crime, so long will our prisons be seminaries of vice of the darkest and vilest character.

“With my new ideas I found New York a profitable field for criminal enterprise, but was not confined to this place alone. I visited a dozen cities where I worked as a criminal. In New York City alone, I managed to perform sixty-five burglaries in a brief space of six months. In some of them I netted as much as $12,000. The police could not get ‘the drop on me,’ but were pleased to call me a ‘Twentieth Century up-to-date Second Story Man.’ I eluded them for three years. All this time I took great chances. My plans were so perfect that I never believed I could be detected.

“My methods were to hire a room or two in a respectable part of the city—usually on the top floor—go up on the roof through the scuttle at night when all were in bed, and return with my plunder before morning. I never robbed the house in which I lived, nor any place near to it. I usually crossed over a dozen houses. If one house was ten or twenty feet higher than another, I overcame the difficulty by lassooing the chimney with my silk ladder. Then I let myself down into any window I wished to enter. I overcame all difficulties. I always carried a pair of pistols ready for any emergency, a bull’s-eye lantern and a set of burglar tools in a leather case in my hip pocket.

“In July I committed six burglaries on one street near Fifth Avenue, New York, and made a big haul each time. The gold and silver heirlooms I could not sell I melted and sold for their intrinsic value.

“I was so successful in all my operations as a burglar that I became careless. I had laid my plans so carefully that I did not think I could be found out. I burglarized the house of a well known millionaire. He afterwards offered a reward of a hundred dollars for my detection, for I had taken away all his valuable bric-a-brac. A month or two afterwards I again hired rooms in the same neighborhood and went over the old grounds. This was the mistake of my life, as they were on the outlook for ‘my kind.’ I wanted more money and took chances. I became reckless in my methods. The night I was caught I was coming up the fire-escape with a pillow slip of silverware on my back. A woman servant heard me, came to the window and gave the alarm. I ran to the roof with haste and threw away my booty. I was cornered before I knew it. Three cops met me with loaded guns; when I was shot I surrendered.”

Brooks was one of the most remarkable and dangerous men that ever followed the profession, so he was characterized on the day the Judge sentenced him to twenty-three years imprisonment. Before passing sentence, the Judge said, “Brooks, I doubt if there was ever a criminal in this city like you. Cold, calculating, scientific, systematic, you have pursued your criminal career like a mechanic without interruption, for years. In the course of a few months you have committed thirty-nine burglaries and stole more than $65,000 worth of property.”

---

CHAPTER X
WANDERING STARS AND BUZZARDS OF THE TOMBS

Thrilling Experiences

What a field for the study of human nature the careful observer finds in the Tombs Prison! I do not know of any other place on this continent where such a display of types may be found as here; not only every nation, language and color on the face of the earth, but the variety is kaleidoscopic and leaves on you a deep impress. The moment you see a real crook his personality stamps you at once for good or evil—rather for evil; nor can you help yielding to such impressions. But then the face is the expression of the individual and reveals to some extent the character of the inner man. Although there are many exceptions to the general rule, these are few and far between. I find that backsliders in crime after a few years show a vitiated and debased brutality in their physiognomy.

During the ten years that I have been connected with the Tombs Prison, I have met a great many brilliant men who were at heart dyed-in-the-wool crooks and bent on a criminal career. I do not care to call a man a criminal if I can help it, but how can one avoid it when called upon to describe a modern social anarchist but use such terms as will best describe the one who lives on crime.

It is a most difficult thing to know just what to do with such people; but unless they are reached by the milk of human kindness and the love of God there is little hope for them. I have found by observation and experience that the average recidivist is insane on criminal matters, and is besides a notorious liar! Nor is it best to believe a word of what he says, unless it is supported by some other testimony. The fact is, he will not tell the truth even though in the end it might do him vastly more good than a lie. And any man who denies the truthfulness of total depravity needs only visit a prison and hear the confessions of crooks and then seek their corroboration, and it will not be long before he will be compelled to abandon his foolish denials.

I find that in youthful degenerates the face holds a pleasant expression sometimes for years, but then the long confinement behind the bars reveals a white pallor and dull sunken eyes that cannot be mistaken; on these crime seems to have written itself indelibly!

Young sixteen-year-old Stewart, who was sentenced to twenty years in Sing Sing for killing a boy his own age on Randall’s Island, whose facial lineaments I often watched and studied, had a most attractive physiognomy. No one could have believed from his looks that he was a criminal, but how long he can retain these looks is a matter of conjecture.

Our prisons are full of young buzzards who need to be watched continually. These boys are cunning, sly and treacherous. When you see them coming be sure and give them a wide berth. Do not believe what they tell you, even if they swear on a monument of Bibles. Most of them are in the business to lie and they know how to attend to their own business!