THE TOMBS.
Leaving Broadway at Leonard or Franklin streets, one finds himself,
after a walk of two blocks in an easterly direction, in a wide
thoroughfare, called Centre street. His attention is at once attracted
by a large, heavy granite building, constructed in the style of an
Egyptian temple. This is the Tombs. The proper name of the building is
"The Halls of Justice," but it is now by common consent spoken of
simply as the Tombs. It occupies an entire square, and is bounded by
Centre, Elm, Franklin, and Leonard streets. The main entrance is on
Centre street, through a vast and gloomy corridor, the sternness of
which is enough to strike terror to the soul of a criminal. Within the
walls which face the street, is a large quadrangle. In this there are
three prisons, several stories high. One of these is for men, the other
for boys, and the third for women. The gallows stands in the prison
yard, when there is need for it, all executions of criminals in this
city being conducted as privately as possible.
The prison is one of the smallest in America, and is utterly inadequate
to the necessities of the city. It was built at a time when New York
was hardly half as large as the metropolis of to-day, and is now almost
always overcrowded to an extent which renders it fearful. It is kept
perfectly clean, its sanitary regulations being very rigid. It is very
gloomy in its interior, and is one of the strongest and securest
prisons in the world.
[Illustration: The Tombs--City Prison.]
No lights are allowed in the cells, which are very small, but a narrow
aperture cut obliquely in the wall, near the ceiling, admits the
sunshine, and at the same time cuts off the inmates from a view of what
is passing without. Besides these, there are six comfortable cells
located just over the main entrance. These are for the use of criminals
of the wealthier class, who can afford to pay for such comforts.
Forgers, fraudulent merchants, and the like, pass the hours of their
detention in these rooms, while their humbler, but no more guilty
brothers in crime are shut up in the close, narrow cells we have
described. These rooms command a view of the street, so that their
occupants are not entirely cut off from the outer world.
THE BUMMER'S CELL.
The main cell in the prison is a large room, with a capacity for
holding about two hundred persons. It is known as the "Bummer's Cell."
It is generally full on Saturday night, which is always a busy time for
the police. The working classes are paid their weekly wages on
Saturday, and having no labor to perform on the Sabbath, take Saturday
night for their periodical dissipation, comforting themselves with the
reflection that if they carry their revels to too great an excess, they
can sleep off the bad effects on Sunday.
From sunset until long after midnight on Saturday, the police are busy
ridding the streets of drunken and disorderly persons. As soon as a
person is arrested, he is taken to the Toombs, or one of the station
houses. It is the duty of the captain in charge of the precinct to lock
up every person thus brought in. He has no discretion, and he is often
compelled to throw those of whose innocence he is satisfied, into the
company of the most abandoned wretches for an entire night.
Drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and fighting are the principal charges
brought against the Saturday night inmates of the Bummer's Cell. Many
visitors to the city, by yielding to the temptation to drink too much
liquor, pay for their folly by an acquaintance with the Bummer's Cell.
They lose their self control in the splendid gin palaces of the city,
and when they recover their consciousness find themselves in a hot,
close room, filled with the vilest and most depraved wretches. The
noise, profanity, and obscenity, are fearful. All classes, all ages,
are represented there. Even little children are lost forever by being
immured for a single night in such horrible company. The females are
confined in a separate part of the prison. No entreaties or
explanations are of the least avail. All must await with as much
patience as possible, the opening of the court the next morning.
THE TOMBS POLICE COURT.
The Court opens at six o'clock on Sunday morning. It is presided over
by Justice Joseph Bowling, a short, thick-set man, with a handsome
face, and a full, well-shaped head, indicating both ability and
determination. Judge Dowling is still a young man, and is one of the
most efficient magistrates in the city. His decisions are quickly
rendered, and are generally just. He has a hard class of people to deal
with, and this has made him not a little sharp in his manner. A
stranger is at once struck with the quick, penetrating power of his
glance. He seems to look right through a criminal, and persons brought
before him generally find it impossible to deceive him. This has made
him the terror of criminals, who have come to regard an arraignment
before him as equivalent to a conviction, as the one is tolerably sure
to follow the other. At the same time he is kind and considerate to
those who are simply unfortunate. Vice finds him an unrelenting foe,
and virtue a fearless defender. So much for the man.
As soon as the Court is opened, the prisoners are called up in the
order of their arrival during the previous night. Here drunkenness
without disorder, and first offences of a minor character, are punished
with a reprimand, and the prisoners are discharged. These cases
constitute a majority of the arrests, and the number of persons in the
dock is soon reduced to a mere handfull. The more serious cases are
either held for further examination or sent on trial before a higher
court.
All classes of people come to the Justice with complaints of every
description. Women come to complain of their husbands, and men of their
wives. The Justice listens to them all, and if a remedy is needed,
applies the proper one without delay. In most instances, he dismisses
the parties with good advice, as their cases are not provided for by
the law.
A SAD CASE.
Some of the cases which are brought up before the Tombs Court are
deeply interesting. We take the following from the report of the
General Agent of the New York Prison Association:
The case referred to is that of a woman indicted for burglary and grand
larceny. She was guilty, and she felt and acknowledged it. She had
lived in a neighboring city for the last six years, and for the last
three years on the same floor with the complainant, and the consequence
was they were very friendly and intimate. Her husband sustained a
severe injury from a fall, and has since been in declining health,
earning nothing for the last eighteen months. At length his mind gave
way and his friends advised his removal to the Lunatic Asylum. He had
been an inmate for six months, and his wife frequently visited him,
always contributing to his wants and comforts. He improved so rapidly
that the doctor informed his wife that on the following week, if the
weather proved clear and fine, he should discharge him. The wife felt
anxious to make her home more than ever cheerful and her husband happy,
but she had no means. She thought of the abundance of clothing her
neighbor possessed, and that some articles could be spared for a short
time, probably without detection; and if she should be detected before
she could redeem them, her friend would excuse her. She devised means
to enter, and conveyed to the pawnbroker's two parcels of clothing,
upon which she realized nine dollars; she made some purchases for the
house, redeemed a coat for her husband, and then started for the asylum
for the purpose of fetching him to her home. But on her arrival there,
the physician told her that he had left a few hours before, that he was
well and happy, and that she must keep him so. On her return home the
larceny had been discovered, and the property found at the
pawnbroker's; it had been pledged in her own name, and where she was
well and favorably known. An officer was waiting, and she was taxed
with the crime; she had destroyed the duplicate. The complainant gave
her into the custody of the officer, but promised to forgive her if all
the property was recovered. The husband went to his friends, and they
advanced funds to redeem the property. It was returned, and also a hat
paid for which had been taken. I carefully examined into this case and
all its surroundings. The woman had sustained the reputation of being a
sober, industrious, honest person; her state of mind was truly
distressing, her greatest fear was that her husband would relapse, and
she would be the cause of all his future misery. I submitted all these
facts to the district attorney; he could not consent to any compromise,
and again referred me to the county judge, who would not yield a
tittle. Counsel having been assigned, a plea of guilty of grand larceny
was put in by him, and she was remanded for sentence until Saturday. I
felt very unhappy at her condition. On Friday evening I endeavored to
find the district attorney, but failed; on Saturday morning I wrote him
and asked him to concede that she could not be convicted of burglary,
and then, was it not very doubtful whether she could be convicted of
any thing more than petit larceny? If so, I urged him to consent to the
withdrawal of the plea put in by her counsel, and then permit it to be
substituted by one of petit larceny. My proposition met with favor; its
suggestions were adopted, and the prisoner, instead of ignominy in the
State Prison, was sent to the Penitentiary for three months. The woman
is now in a situation at work, but her mind is ill at ease, as her
husband has not been heard of since her imprisonment.
SAVED IN TIME.
"A member of an eminent firm in this city," says the gentleman from
whose report the above case is taken, "called upon me with a request
that I would visit a youth, aged seventeen years, now in the Tombs,
charged upon his complaint with embezzling various sums of money whilst
in their employ as collecting clerk. He felt anxious I should see him,
and then advise what should be done. The next morning I repaired to the
prison, and had the youth brought from his cell, when he made the
following statement: That he lived and boarded with his widowed mother
and sisters in a neighboring city, where also he had taken an active
part in all their religious meetings and enterprises. He thinks he
experienced a great moral change when first he became a member, and
until of late had made religious duties his greatest delight. He had
regarded his family as one of the happiest that could be found. Some
seven or eight months since he was introduced to the firm referred to,
and they engaged his services, agreeing to give him five dollars per
week. He was soon appreciated by his employers, and they advanced his
salary to seven dollars a week, out of which he paid his mother for
board five dollars, and one dollar for his weekly fare on the railroad.
This left him but one dollar for his own use. He soon became acquainted
with other collecting clerks, with whom he took lunch, first a sandwich
and a cup of coffee, and then dinners and dessert. _In this way the
money of his employers disappeared._ He could not charge himself with
any one special act of extravagance. He felt, he said, ashamed of
himself, and deeply pained before God, and wondered that he could not
see and feel before that he has sinned greviously. I now urged him to
conceal nothing, but tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, and to
pause and consider before he answered the next question I should put to
him, as it was a very serious one. 'How long would it take to induce
him, with solemn purpose of heart, to resolve, unalterably resolve,
never to be guilty of a repetition of crime, never to spend a cent
belonging to another?' The penalty for his offence was from one year to
five in a State prison. I then begged him to inform me how I should
approach his honor the judge, before whom he must be brought if
prosecuted. Should I ask the court to show him mercy, and send him but
for two years? or would it require a longer sentence to effect a
permanent change in his life? He wept distressingly, and said: 'Oh,
save me from such a fate, if not for mine, for my mother's sake. Beg
and pray of the firm to show me mercy, and I will be careful and honest
for the future.' One of the gentlemen called upon me and inquired if I
had seen this youth."
[Illustration: Scene in the Tombs Police Court]
I replied that I had. 'Then what do you advise?' I asked if it
was known in the house that the lad was a defaulter. 'To none but my
partner' he replied. Then, said I, the best advice I am capable of
giving is, _forgive him, ask the court to discharge him, and take him
back again into your office_. I am happy to say that my advice was
adopted. The youth was discharged, forgiven, and taken back again into
the house, and is now performing his duties with alacrity, very
grateful to the Association, and more especially to the firm for their
noble conduct in this matter. That young man has no doubt been saved
from a career of crime.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES.
The prisoners confined in the Tombs are provided with the means of
hearing divine service every Sunday. The Roman Catholic clergy have the
exclusive privilege of ministering to the spiritual wants of the women
and children, and for this purpose have quite a nice little chapel
fitted up in the female department of the prison. The Sisters of
Charity preside over this part of the prison at all times, and no one
is permitted to interfere with them.
The Protestant clergy are permitted to preach to the male prisoners in
the main corridor of the prison. The preacher stands on the platform at
the upper end of the passage, and the prisoners in their cells can hear
him without seeing him. They pay little or no attention to him, but
receive their friends in their cells, or employ themselves according to
their own fancies during the preaching. The bummers are grouped in the
corridor just below the preacher, and are called out from time to time
by the keepers, as they are wanted in the court room. The minister is
frequently annoyed and embarrassed by the shouts; jeers, and imitations
of the prisoners in their cells.