From these figures it will be seen that the license tax paid the State for the privilege of selling rum, which damns our fellow men, amounted in 1907 to $12,203,372.40.
In an article of mine which appeared in Harper’s Weekly for March, 1907, I computed the cost of crime in Greater New York, in a tabulated statement, at $35,552,134.34, which is about a third of the entire expense appropriated by the Board of Apportionment for running the city for the year.
It ought to be known that the churches, chapels and mission halls of Greater New York, of all denominations, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, number 1,200. The number of licensed saloons, on the other hand, in these boroughs, is 12,674. That is to say, the Devil has more than ten saloons in Greater New York for every church. This is a sad reflection on our Christian civilization. But it is true.
The cost of the congregational and charitable work of the 1,200 churches and chapels of Greater New York is not more than $8,000,000 a year—possibly less.
But the gross receipts of the 12,674 New York gin mills are not far from $250,000,000 a year!
CHAPTER XXXI
THE ANGELS OF THE TOMBS
To a score at least of ladies of every nationality, creed and culture was the term Tombs Angel given the past seventy years. But out of this number only two ladies by their good deeds had obtained a distinct and permanent claim to the title. These were Mrs. Ernestine Schaffner and Mrs. John A. Foster. The first of these ladies was a native of Hesse-Cassel, Germany. She began her labors in the city prison more than thirty years ago, and became noted for her generous and valorous deeds. Being a widow and in good circumstances, she was able to contribute time and money to aid the unfortunate, so that her services were in great demand. As she was the owner of some real estate in this county, she was able to furnish bonds to hundreds of prisoners, many of whom after they had secured their liberty skipped the country.
To facilitate matters in her chosen work, Mrs. Schaffner opened a law office on Centre street, where friends and relatives of prisoners could call and consult her on all legal matters, without money or price. On many occasions, the late Recorder Smyth, for the sake of protecting her from lying crooks, refused to take her on a bail bond. Although her work was entirely of a humanitarian character, she helped all persons without regard to creed, race or nationality. It might be interesting to know that the first case that attracted Mrs. Schaffner’s attention to prison work was the attempted suicide in the East River of a young German. After he was fished out of the water, he was committed to the Tombs Prison, where Mrs. Schaffner sought him out, took a deep interest in his case, greatly encouraged him, went on his bail bond, furnished him with a lawyer, and finaly secured his discharge. Mrs. Schaffner was a very charitable lady, and did many acts of kindness from time to time, for the inmates of the Tombs.
About ten years ago I had the pleasure of meeting her, and talking over her early labors in the City Prison. She seemed to be a very interesting woman, and intelligent. If she had written a book on her experiences with crooks and how they had disappointed and deceived her after she had expended on them $50,000, she would have chronicled lies big enough to make your hair stand. It is said she died in poor circumstances, about six years ago.