THE TOMBS.

NZ Truth, Issue 150, 2 May 1908, Page 8

THE TOMBS.

NEW YORK'S GRIM PRISON.

the Drunkard's Doom — Elmira Reformatory — Home of Detention — The Female Ward — Parkhurst Crusade — Gerry's Society.

A Prison Chaplain's Experiences ef Prisons and Prisoners.

XBY DR.; ZILLMANN.)

' NO.- ll.' I mentioned m. my former paper that from the prison yard you saw m the one direction over the ponderous iron-railed gateway the words "Old Prisons" ; on the opposite side, over a similar entrance were the words "New Prisons." Let us enter here. Don't be too fastidious—prepare yourself for .what may offend your eyes, your ears, your nose, your every sense of decency and cleanliness. We pass through the gateway ; above you are ironrailed corridors, and on each side are great bars of iron railing, stretching across to the walls opposite. Stepping a little to the right, the turnkey opens a large gateway, through which you pass irito THE DRUNKARDS' WARD,

with its large area of spate and cold stone benches all round the walls. There are entrances into several cells, into which the more violent of drunkards are placed. Here, with a small choir and oortaLle organ, I gave a half-hour service every Sunday afternoon before proceeding to perform a similar service m the "Old Prisons" at a later hour. An abridged service from the Book of Common Prayer ( identical with the Church of England Prayer Book), printed on a leaflet, with several hymns, for use during t- c service, was distributed amongst the prisoners. A plain talk from myself always followed the ; service, and the hymns printed on the' leaflet were the attraction, I. might say the chief attraction. I found the prisoners everywhere quifc familiar with the music and hymns of public religious worship. But m this large Drunkards' Ward, where I visited three times a week besides Sundays. I Lave had some strange experiences. The specimens of depravcrl human) ■.;■ which one meets with here bc-xsar description. Give .no filthy dogs, filthy swine, filthy au\m»]s of any description rather (ban filthy human beings. V .I nave rffen felt sic" m body s and mind at tbe s.' r Ms I have witnessed here. There is a regular class of confirmed inebriates who

FIND THEIR WAY to the Drunkards' Weird of the Tombs Prisons with the -'regularity of the weekly rVibath. or as much oftener as pay day comes round. What matters she imprisonment, the prohibition order, or the Ore to these ? Nothing but the expert pliypi'-ian and the paternal band af Government control will ever avail. And vet I have met with men here wbo had

; r , / thing but the appearance of confirmed topers— men throusih a single fr- •■ pas, whose lives had hitherto been free from any kind of dissipation, have fre ucrtlv found themselves, after leinp; ('rus-ed and ro^ed, locked up m the Drunkards' Ward.

One day T came m contact with a fall. e!en"cal-dressed poutleman, with all <he apnearanee of a clersc nr.'n ( though he would tint aflrait it "*T believed he was p"»jV who owned up to being a Presbyterian. The account ho rave of how he srnt there was what 'might have harpwr' to any rcan v/bo trana*T«ssed

TOP: POFT ITF^RRRXjS RULE, vhich, m his own quaint way, I • says will throw you on the ground if you do not ursl throw it there. I once mst a f-vson here who tuiy.ht have been .istin-Kuished-looking at one time. He -aid' he vras an Irish Dublin Uinvrrsty man, and, ti"«Kh a Poman Catholic, added, "I don't believe m these Protestant F iscoi,al ministers, but I have great respect for the clergy vi the I lunch of England." I informed him that I was a clergyman' of tbe English Church, but that I had been ordaiued m Australia. ."Oh, that is -worse than Protestant Episconal," he added, and went >r 'o say that only the regular brand from Oxford or Cambridge were worthy of his esteem. La' .-tV on, because the poor old prison messenger would not go out on a message for ' him, he made a savage attack on him through, the iron bars, and plucked a handful of hair from the

OLD MAN'S WHITE BEARD. A : most interesting old Scotchman I met here very regularly, tie was, he told mo. a lawyer, though his devotion to the whisky bottle had long ago spoilt whatever practice he- may at one time have had ; but it had not spoilt his roMist physical constitution, nor yet his faculty for quoting legal rnaxhns, nor had it m any way impaired his acouainta-BCe with classical literature and moral He had' a habit of turning up at my services m other parts of the city, and, being a persistent beggar, became very much of a nuisance. I have met all sorts and conditions of men among the drunkards, all nationalities likewise, but

VERY FEW AMERICANS. Native born Americans, as a rule, like native-born Australasians, are not great drunkards.- The folly and futility of incarcerating drunkards m common prisons is fully illustrated m what I continually saw day by day m these prisons, and what one may see of the treatment of drunkards m our own city police courts on any day m the week. ' * * # BOYS FOR EUIIRA REFORMATORY. In the same building, on the opposite side, is a large enclosure where boys aro kept for deportation to the world-famed Elmira Reformatory. For youths and boys coming under the category of first offenders, Elmira is maintained more as

a disciplinary school than a penal establishment. None can - go there for a shorter period than one year, and during that time they are expected to become proficient m learning sortie useful industry. Elmira has turned but inanv useful citizens, not because the subjects dealt with were particularly promising — for many of them stood well to become hardened criminals — but because reformation was THE OBJECT AIMED AT. and the methods are more those of a school than a punitive establishment. One thing I always deplored was the manner m which these youths were sent away. I have seen from. 20 to 30 of them fall into Jinc wliilu being handcuffed and chained preparatory to mounting the big ambulance, or prison van, m which they were taken to the Grand Central Depot, from where they would be railroaded to Elmira. Many of these young fellows had a refined, gentlemanly appearance, and the worst of them did not look worse than the ordinary unruly schoolboy. To treat them as criminals has a tendency to make criminals of them. Dr. Arnold the great English school reformer, once said, m effect — "Boys become whatever you treat them as. Treat them as liars and thieves and they become liars and thieves ; treat them nobly and . THEY BECOME NOBLE." When the Dr. Arnold of prison reform arrives we shall have learned the true secret of prison discipline, for what lias been said of boys should apply equally to men.

In the tiers of cells all above the Drunkards' Ward, and the enclosure for the Elmira. hoys, larse nuniher o£ persoiis are confined m Ihcit cells, waiting

trial, who are charged with' minor offences. Sometimes these minor offences do not amount to anything, and when the time for the trial comes the AttorneyGeneral for the State writes across the charge "Nolle prosequi." Meanwhile the persons charged have been detained for five, six, eight, or even twelve months. Men guilty of no serious offence, or no offence at all, have thereby been ruined m health and business, and their families impoverished beyond recovery. I have often said, and think I was right m saying, that the citizens of America's glorious Commonwealth have not always the same personal liberty as the subjects of the British Sovereign. In the HOUSE OF DETENTION m Mulbery-street, not so far away from these prisons, witnesses who could give no bail for their appearance at- the trial, were often detained for many months. This, I think I was also right m saying, could never take place m Australasia, though the "amour propre" of the American citizen is very sensitive, and to compaxe the country unfavorably, with any country on the globe has a tendency to arouse his patriotic ire. After all, we must remember it is the people, not the Throne tbat is the true source of Government, and often those who suffer most from the inconveniences of legal procedure would' be the first to defend it. for the very reason that it has instiUed into the American mind that all sovereignty is m the people. The form of arraignment is always "The Peoolo v. John Smith," and when I have told them, of our formula of "Rex v. David .Jones." or whatever else, they have regarded the fact with amazement. They could not think that squared with democracy, and sounded too much like absolute monarchy. /Before proceeding to thc^part known as. the Old Tombs Prisons, let us step back and investigate some of the other departments. In parts of the. building accessible from the main entrance you come to THE FEMALE DEPARTMENT. There is the usual iron-railed gateway, but the office of the matron immediately outside has first to be entered. You will probably find the matron seated 'at her desk, a woman of stalwart form and commanding presence, surroundr-d with a small artny of robust female officioL-, who are. often called upon to measure their stroii :-;th with some virago who has to bo handcuffed or locked up. There were two or three large enclosures, several roomy eel is, arid a promiscuous mixing up of all the inmates. There were, no cells m which, only one or two wertv cn'iiud. Up to the period of my chaplaincy Ihe young wom n n and girls mixed, up with the ordinary female prisoners, but owing to representations from our Misson Committee a separate ward was assigned to them. I could tell SOiJfi PATHETIC "STORIES of heart-breaking scenes m the girls' departments. Unless you are very much on your j^vard, you will certainly le imposed upon by some smart vouni* actress, like Niobe, "all m tears." She will tell such a tale of woe, and pour forth i-.oh si flood .of tears that she mivht well dose for toe most wront.ed and unfortunate of .her sex. Some of the outbursts of passionate gi/ief have been genuine enough. I have seen simple, innocent-lcoking creaturea their eyes out over a sense of disgrace and shame throuah having been accused by some irascible mistress of tbe theft if money and iewtll^ry. B"t you meet a Juliet 'who had elope 'l with her Romeo. Romeo was perhaps m a cell m another part of the prisons taking things a little more philov sophically. /'I these young girls are brought before some nidge— you never J'c~r the word magistrate ia aa American court—before THE VULGAR CROWD assembled m a police court. Young girls draped along by sturdy policemen before a gaping crowd— what could be worse ? They are either half scared to death or become brazen and impudent to a degree that inevitably leads' to future vicious courses.

There is a large ' penitentiary above Brooklyn, on an island, to which female prisoners are, for the most part, forwarded, according to the degrees, or supposed degrees, of their . criminality : but I have always thought that New York was very much behind m its treatment ot women prisoners. l In one respect, I think we might well imitate them. Women, and

ESPECIALLY GIRL PRISONERS, should only be handled by women officials. This, though not entirely the i rule, m the prisons of New York, is so to a large extent. I do not know what our rule is, but I am sure, from what' I have seen, that duties are often assigned to policemen and prison warders which ought to be left entirely to women officials. After passing through the passage which skirts the enclosure for young girls you come to the common ward of

THE WOMEN'S PRISON. Here you will very likely see a motley crowd of the female population, commonly known as the "demi monde" of the city. Gaily dressed, some of them are bedecked with jewellery and all kinds and colors of the mysterious finery of women's apparel, and m which the vulgar female mind luxuriates. They look scornful and indignant, as if Ibeir presence m such a place meant innocence injured and outraged, instead of, as it was intended to be a protection to public morals. On the occasion of one of my first visits I received a shock, though I could not bu-fc feel amused— "There are 'more ladies' on the other side ; I am sure some of the 'ladies' there would be glad to sec you," was how I was addressed by one of those ladies. This was just about the time of the

PARKHURST CRUSADE, when m a panic -a relorm seized the religious people of New York. Dr. Parkhurst, like other misguided persons of tho Judkins and North type, seemed to think that he had a mission to reform by coercive methods. True to the genius of Puritanism, they started with laying information against all and sundry, „. and so setting the police and court machinery of the city m motion. Missions of evangelisation would have been better. No good was done by the Parkhurst crusade, and the last state of the. city was worse than the first. Some of my own lin^s, written about this time, and published since m Australia, have received notice. The true reformer might well have said— "The wave that now sweeps o'er this land, And threatens woe to vice and shame, Comes it from Virtue's righteous stand, Or from the Pharisaic uame ? Or that which Christ Himself withstood ?" I have learned seriously to discount all spasmodic revivalism, and especially those efforts on the part of "spiritual" men to use the temporal power m

CRUSADES AGAINST PUBLIC EVILS, or what they call such. , I could not 'elicve at the time that what some oj

I*. / these women told me of the actions of Parkhurst's agents was true, but when later on some of those agents fell into the hands of the police and were charged .with offences, m which they were punished: D y various terms of imprisonment, I could not help hut think that a weat deal was true. And the whole religious sectarian world of New Yotk. was ready to lionise these men ! There is -another apartment bordering "on those just described called

THE PRISON FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. (Young girls and boys were detained here Jin two separate divisions, often because Mey were neglected and destitute, and because they had been discovered m actions ad]udged to be criminal* ■Some were young enough to be sent to orphanages, and others to reformatories, and were waiting here to have their destinations decided. Btfore being sent r-here they were often chained m one or other of the precinct prisons. I came across some little fellows, from eight to ten years of aige, one afternoon m the darkest part of the Harlem Precinct Prisons. I had to gaze through the bars into the limited dimensions of the cell, before I could properly discern them, and there I saw the forms of the little fellows crouching together on the top of the hard, wooden bunk, on which they had been all the previous night. All that I could for the moment get out of them was a terror stricken cry,

"A MONSTER RAT !" A day or two after I found them more comfortably situated m the boys' prison at the Tombs. I believe it was on this occasion that I was accompanied by a leading uptown clergyman, .who wished to know something about my 'work. The Rev. Madison Peters, well known as one who entered the controversy with tngersoll m connection" with "A Celebrated Christmas Sermon," was with me when we visited these small boys. "What brought you here, my little man ?" He could not tell. But when he was asked, u WhQ put you here ?" the answer was prompt— '"Gerry ; s man." Gerry was a real bogey name for little boys m New York. And Gerry was a great religious light and teacher. They had a general commission to lock up stray little children, and were supported by the sectarian churches. True to the methods of

THE PURITAN PARTY, "Gerry's Society for the Protection of Little Children' 1 locked up the little creatures as a first step to their reformation. Voluntary detective associations and voluntary societies of any other description, which arrogate, to themselves what should properly be part of State functions, do more harm than trood, and are all too numerous m some parts, of America, and when they are operated under the patronage of church denominations they become very often agencies for

persecution. .1 am happy to state that the Episcopal Church, for which I labored, did a great deal of Christian-like work with its orphanages and-fefu<res. not to mention homes for the destitute and aged, and training institutions for the young, without recourse to police machinery. Tn connection with mv work at St. Barnabas' Mission Chapel and House, Bleeker and Mulbern -rtreets. we have six or seven institutions for the inmates of which I conducted rlaily service, ond did other Superintending. wotK. I-lere we

DISTRIBUTED CHARITIES which had been bequeathed to the noor of the city by thot far-famed philanthropist. Peter Cooper, ,who also cave a fine hall (Cooper Union Institute) to the city. The Episcopal Church .of America works very much on the lines of the Roman Catholic Church m malnny: cbnritv a part of church work, nnd does her work without obtruding the detective, the gaol, the prison and policeman.

I will reserve for another article some .reminiscences of notorious criminals and their trial during the period of my chaplaincy of the Tombs Prisons.