VIII. REPORTS OF LOCAL COMMITTEES ON COUNTY JAILS. 1. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Rev. E. C. Wines: FONDA, February 15, 1870. DEAR SIR-I would say in reply to your request, that I have visited the jail in this place every Sabbath, when at home, and have occasionally also preached during the week. I am sorry to say that an unusual number of prisoners has marked this year with a sad interest. I have had as many as twenty-five in my prison congregation, and most of them young men of good abilities and of good families. Great attention has been paid to preaching, and I never have anywhere indications of more interest. The result, of course, I must leave with the Lord of the harvest; but I feel well rewarded for my work by the pleasure and avidity with which my ministrations are received. Respectfully yours, W. FROTHINGHAM. 2. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF NIAGARA COUNTY. LOCKPORT, N. Y., February 17, 1870. REV. AND DEAR SIR-Your note of the 13th is received; also, the twenty-fourth annual report, so full of important and interesting matter, for which we return you our sincere thanks. We have been unable to perform as much labor as we desired, on account of a severe and lengthened sickness with which Mrs. Maxwell was visited immediately after having sent in our last report to the Prison Association. Yet we feel as deeply interested in the great subject as ever, and are thankful to know that some good has resulted from the small amount of labor we have been able to accomplish. 24 Bible lessons committed by prisoners.. Greatest number of prisoners present on the Sabbath. 22 3 A number have signed the temperance pledge. Read the Scriptures, with prayer and application of divine truth, at the cell of t each prisoner on all of the above-inentioned Sabbaths. We are pleased to state that the prisoners have uniformly listened to our instructions with deep attention, and have treated us with great respect. Some of them weary for the return of Sabbath, and have expressed their gratitude for the instructions received. We have pressed upon them (if conscious of guilt) to make a free and full confession of their crime, as being the first redeeming step on the upward road to virtue-clearing their own minds, softening the hearts of their judges, and saving the county much expense. Many have made confession in court from the advice given, and no one, to our knowledge, has ever regretted it. As we have a similar field of labor in the west in prospective, we would recommend to succeed us as local committee of correspondence of Niagara county jail, Miss L. Hotchkiss, Deacon R. W. Beck, John Bowdon and Phelon Outwater, all residents in Lockport. Praying for the continuance of rich heavenly blessings on your noble enterprise, we are, Yours in faith and hope, D. C. & J. E. MAXWELL. 3. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF WAYNE COUNTY. Rev. E. C. Wines, D. D.: LYONS, N. Y., February 19, 1870. Having already, in a previous communication during past year, expressed my views on several important points at considerable length, I shall not need to trespass much on your time or space at present. My colleague, Rev. R. Harrington, and myself have held the usual services nearly every Sunday, occasionally visiting them during the week. They have been well supplied with Bibles and good reading matter, and have seemed to appreciate these privileges, in the main, as well as other people. There have been some instances of privation in clothing, etc., which it was not difficult to get relieved by Christian benevolence. But an essential defect exists in the means of warming the jail; and although the sheriff has brought the matter to the notice of the board of supervisors, they have neglected to take any action in the premises; consequently, the prisoners sometimes actually suffer from cold. A very marked increase of interest in our services and exhortations has been manifested for some weeks, which seems owing not so much to any increased effort or fidelity on our part, as to an evident "tidal wave," so to speak, of spiritual influence, which is turning very many souls all about us to ponder their higher and eternal interests. With cordial esteem and affection in Christ, I have the honor to be, your friend and co-laborer, L. H. SHERWOOD. 4. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TIOGA COUNTY. The county jail, at Tioga, I regret to say, continues in the same insecure, inconvenient and dilapidated condition as at the last year's report. No jail record having been kept, the number of commitments is unknown. During the year two escapes have occurred; two prisoners have been sent to the Auburn State prison, and two to Rochester penitentiary. An unusually large number of prisoners have been committed to the jail on criminal charges, and about the usual number for drunkenness. The prison building, as described in last report, is, as I am informed, so insecure that no expert rogue could be kept within its walls over night, except he were under guard or in irons. Our county supervisors have recently authorized the employment of prisoners, under sentence, on the public streets, but thus far they have not been employed except in washing and whitewashing the prison apartments. The usual weekly visitation of the prisoners for religious instruction has, in consequence of the absence of the persons having charge of that service, been for several months discontinued. The sexes are still separated only by a wood grating, except when in their cells. The English Bible is kept within the prison, and the remnant of a library of religious books is in the charge of the jailor, for the use of any desiring to use it. All the arrangements for heating, washing and ventilation are the same as last year. Prison diet about the same. The Young Men's Christian Association has charge of the religious instruction of the prisoners, which has, I regret to say, been neglected, but we hope soon to secure the services of reliable persons for that work. FEBRUARY 25, 1870. Yours truly, E. W. WARNER. 5. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF ONEIDA COUNTY. Rev. Dr. Wines: ROME, N. Y., February 15, 1870. DEAR SIR-I have visited the Rome jail during the past year on. the Sabbath; have conducted religious services, distributed papers and periodicals, and contributed in whatever way I could to the instruction of the prisoners. A majority of the committals are for drunkenness, and other crimes resulting from it. A good talk on temperance is about as effective as any thing. S. G. VISSCHER. 6. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SARATOGA COUNTY. BALLSTON, February 14, 1870. Rev. E. C. Wines, D. D.: DEAR SIR-Your favor is received. The frequent opportunities of conversation with the prisoners in our jail have continued to be in accordance with the divine truth, "that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We are happy to say the prisoners have been visited more frequently than formerly, and furnished with reading matter, which has always been received with thankfulness, with the promise that it will be faithfully perused and studied. We endeavor to do them good, with the hope that the great day will reveal some fruit. Accept our best wishes for your success in your noble enterprise. Yours with regard, TITUS M. MITCHELL, Chairman of Committee. 7. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF OSWEGO COUNTY. OSWEGO, February 15, 1870. MY DEAR SIR- Our committee sent no report on the Oswego jail last fall, for the reason that every thing was going on as usual, and there was nothing new to state to the Association. On January first the jail changed hands. Under the new sheriff we shall also give the matter our attention, and report in due time for 1870. I am very truly yours, GEO. C. McWHORTER, for the Committee. Rev. E. C. Wines, Sec. N. Y. Prison Ass. Albany. IX. THE CAPITALISTS OF CRIME.* BY THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. The contest between those who work and those who plunder is nearly as old as the world itself. Nor is there much ground to hope for its speedy termination. We suggest the inquiry whether society may not have made a mistake in its mode of carrying on this contest. Has it not failed to recognize the fact that habitual criminality is a craft, not carried on by isolated individuals, but by a virtual organization, comprehending various grades and divisions of work, and especially requiring the combined action of capital and labor precisely as other crafts do, and like them, too, being wholly dependent for its continued existence on this union? There are two well defined classes enlisted in criminal operations-the capitalists and the operatives, those who furnish the means and those who work the machinery, and the former are absolutely essential to the latter. There are four classes of criminal capitalists: 1. The owners of houses or dens affording habitation to depredators and places for their congregation and enjoyment-domicils, concert and drinking saloons, dance-houses and houses of prostitution. 2. The receivers or buyers of stolen property. 3. The pawnbrokers, who lend money upon such property. 4. The makers of burglarious and other instruments used in criminal operations. It is the practical impunity of these capitalists which supports the breed of thieves, burglars and counterfeiters. As the law now stands, a man possessed of some capital may, with absolute impunity, use it in providing homes for criminals, arranged, if so he pleases, for concealing the thieves and their plunder, and for baffling the pursuit of the police; or such a person may, with equal impunity, engage in the manufacture of burglars' and thieves' instruments, some of which are of the most elaborate construction. It is true that, as regards those who cash the stolen property, either by purchase or by loan--receivers and pawnkrokers the law does provide for their punishment; but the requirements as to evidence are such as to make detection and conviction, in ordi * This paper is condensed from several essays upon the subject, kindly sent to the secretary by Edwin Hill, Esq., of London, one of three surviving brothers of the celebrated Sir Rowland Hill, to whom the world is indebted for the cheap postage system; a family distinguished for the great ability of its members, and no less so for their earnest and intelligent devotion to works of philanthrophy, particularly those looking to the repression of crime and the reformation of criminals. |