FOREWORD
| PERSONAL EXPERIENCES The strange circumstances of a visit to the Tombs on an errand of mercy.—Early impressions more than thirty years ago.—Recollections—Humane Overseers. | Page [11] |
CHAPTER I.
| WHAT I KNOW ABOUT THE TOMBS A modern Prison Barracks—Personal Experiences—Amazing stories of corruption—Ruth Howard’s bomb—Charges pigeon-holed—Commissioner Hynes’ Administration—Bissert in clover—Drunken prisoners—The gamblers’ paradise—Lawyers and clients—Privileges for the few—Abusing the unfortunate—The food—Tammany Politics—City Prisons in charge of State authorities. | Page [17] |
CHAPTER II.
| AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS PRISON The Collect Pond of three generations ago—King William’s Experience—Agitation to fill up—How it came to be called the Tombs—Size of the old Tombs—Retrospect—The New Tombs—When Opened—The semiofficial characters. | Page [29] |
CHAPTER III
| MODERN EXCUSES FOR CRIME Criminal instincts—Moral defectives—Inducing men to commit crime—Examples—The fair sex as tempters—The irresistible impulse—Drawing the line. | Page [38] |
CHAPTER IV.
| HOW CRIMINALS ARE MADE Increase in crime—Fierce modern temptations—Strong drink as a crime maker—Immigration—Gladstone’s dictum—Finding the causes—Is there a remedy? | Page [45] |