Contents.
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
CHAPTER V.
THE SCIENTIFIC CRIMINAL
The criminal product of the 20th century—A crook’s outfit—Criminal character—Beating the law—Anthropology—Lombroso as an authority on crime—Crime and the Nation—Repressive measures. Page 50
CHAPTER VI.
SOME FAMOUS TOMBS PRISONERS
The irony of fate—The innocent and guilty—Monroe Edwards—Murderers’ Row—Scannel, Croker, Erastus Wyman, Ferdinand Ward, Buchanan, Carlyle Harris, Patrick and Thaw. Page 57
CHAPTER VII
THE DANGEROUS EDUCATED CROOK
The fallacy that education cures crime—Moral training necessary—John Howard and education—Industry and crime—Elmira’s experience—Where the educated crook is dangerous—Examples. Page 62
CHAPTER VIII.
LEAVES FROM THE HISTORY OF A CHECKERED CAREER
The remarkable confessions of one of the brightest, brainiest and smartest crooks of his day.
How He Pardoned Himself Out of Prison
Admits total depravity—His prayer—Serving time in a Coal Mine—Impersonating a clergyman—Feigning to be deaf and dumb—Bemoaning His sad condition. Page 67
CHAPTER IX.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CROOK
How a Young Life Was Wrecked
A New England ancestry—An indulgent mother—Idleness and bad company—The feelings of a guilty conscience—Work or crime, which?—State prison—Liberty—Again arrested—A new career in crime—Many burglaries. Page 75
CHAPTER X
WANDERING STARS AND BUZZARDS OF THE TOMBS
Thrilling Experiences
The study of human nature—Deception of the looks—Chronic liars—A deserter from Russia—Chump of Harlem—Many dark records—Four years for telling a lie—Capt. Jack—Crooked Kahn—The Panel Crooks—Wilson’s career—The dress slasher—Amazing cheek. Page 81
CHAPTER XI.
BRILLIANT FORGERY CROOKS
Forgery as a fine art—A skilled crime—Forgery experts—Becker, the King of Forgers—His career—Three of a kind. Page 100
CHAPTER XII.
CHANGING THE GRAND JURY INTO A BOARD OF CRIMINAL EXPERTS
A New Classification of Criminals
Popular demand to abolish the Grand Jury—Judges ask for legal indictments—Too rapid work in Grand Jury room—The weakness of the system—Rich men on the Grand Jury—Under the control of District-Attorney—Board of Criminal Experts—Save the county millions of dollars—Cases—An original classification. Page 108
CHAPTER XIII
SCHOOLS OF CRIME
How Young Crooks are Educated
Crime both infectious and contagious—Importing crooks—New York prisons, crime breeders—Modern Fagins—Breaking up Faginism—Best remedy morality in the public schools. Page 120
CHAPTER XIV.
YOUTHFUL DELINQUENTS AND THE CHILDREN’S COURT
The cause of temptations—Reasons for children in crime—Evil resorts—Conversations with child criminals—The German boy—The Children’s Court—Its origin—Crime among poor children the result of social conditions—Incorrigibles—The good work of the Children’s Aid Society—Foolish “coddling” of lawless children. Page 126
CHAPTER XV.
THE ROD AS A REFORMATIVE AGENT IN THE EDUCATION OF YOUTHFUL LAWBREAKERS
A recent ruling on corporal punishment—Favored by best prison reformers—Horace Mann—School Principals and teachers—Supt. Brockway—What they do in England and Germany—Rights of parents—Lawless homes—Crime more demoralizing than pain—An experienced probation officer—What others say. Page 133
CHAPTER XVI
CRIME AMONG WOMEN
(1) The Social Evil. (2) Felonies. (3) The Shoplifter.
Causes of crime among women—Reasons for moral leprosy—The Cadet system—How carried on—Examples—The celestials of Chinatown—Women of the Tombs—Mother Mandelbaum—Queen Bertha—A belle from old Kentucky—Others—The modern shoplifter—Examples. Page 139
CHAPTER XVII.
THE STEAL OR STARVE UNFORTUNATES
A great omission—Poverty and social conditions the cause of crime—The unemployed—Hungry children—Poverty homes and crime—What ex-convicts say—Hungry men commit crime to be sent to prison—Want food. Page 151
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW YOUNG MEN BREAK INTO PRISON
Startling facts—Save young men—The way of the transgressor—How young men go down—Example—Percentage of young men—Opinion of Supt. Brockway—Generators of crime—Fast living—Examples—Bad associates—Need of agencies. Page 157
CHAPTER XIX
OUR POLICE GUARDIANS
Prevention better than cure—An experienced Superintendent—Politics the curse of the Department—The Lexow investigations—The single-headed Commissioner—Present standing of the Police—The work of a policeman—The cost of the police for 1909—General Bingham. Page 164
CHAPTER XX.
THE DETECTIVE BUREAU
The Detective Bureau—Early heads—Modern methods—Crime as a science—The Dewey parade—Detectives in disguise—Old world methods—Scotland Yard and French methods—The work of the stool pigeon—Examples. Page 171
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ROGUES’ GALLERY AND THE THIRD DEGREE
The Gallery—Measurement of crooks—Clippings—Up to date records—Arrests last year—Curiosities of crime—Mugging crooks—The third degree, what is it—Inspector Byrnes and Jake Sharp—The third degree in Germany. Page 179
CHAPTER XXII
THE CITY GANGS
City gangs for sixty years—Political clans—The Bloody Sixth—The Whyo Gang—How they lived—Relation to crime—Paul Kelly and Monk Eastman Gangs—Their East Side pull. Page 185
CHAPTER XXIII.
CRIMINAL TRIALS AND THE GLORIOUS UNCERTAINTY OF THE LAW
Noted criminal trials—Catering to depraved tastes—Some great trials—Legal loopholes—Beating the case—Many trials a farce—Swift justice for criminals—Homicide trials—Lax condition of courts—Greasing the machinery of the law—Crooks at the bar of justice—Noted criminal lawyers—Strange sentences—Examples. Page 190
CHAPTER XXIV.
CRIMINAL BRANCH OF THE SUPREME COURT
The new Constitution—Abolition of the Oyer and Terminer—An exclusively criminal court—The highest Court in the State—Criminal branch of the Supreme Court in session nine months—Cases of great public importance—Narrow margin between civil and criminal law—Dead sympathies—Variety of thinking—Merging the General Sessions. Page 202
CHAPTER XXV
SHARKS AND SHYSTERS OF OUR CRIMINAL COURTS
Fallen on evil days—Robbing clients—Examples—Steerers and policemen—The City and District prisons—Grafting around Courts. Page 206
CHAPTER XXVI.
SCENES IN OUR POLICE COURTS
The sorting Criminal Bureau—How crooks are gathered in the pens—The Magistrates’ Court—The shyster and ward heeler—The power of a pull—Examples—Mike Maguire—The drunks—Sunday morning at the Tombs Court—Small justice—Good Judges. Page 213
CHAPTER XXVII.
CROOKED CROOKS IN PRISONS
Crime Committed in Penal Institutions
Brilliant men in prison—Bold crooks—Dr. Robertson’s experience with crooks—Shep of New York—A big undertaking—His success—Counterfeiters in Auburn—Big discovery—Sent to Clinton Prison. Page 219
CHAPTER XXVIII
SCENES DURING VISITING HOURS IN THE TOMBS
A polyglot assembly—Many nationalities—Pathetic scenes—The guilty son—The young woman—Mothers kneeling—The newsboy—Murderers’ Row—Negroes—Italians—Germans—The prisoner’s plaint. Page 226
CHAPTER XXIX.
DOES IMPRISONMENT REFORM?
A hard question—Changing character—Cure for crime—Brooding over the past—Born crooks—Lines of circumvallation—Efforts made to reform—Evolution of prison reform—Needed reforms to-day—The greatest barrier. Page 236
CHAPTER XXX.
STRONG DRINK AND CRIME
Personal observations of the effect of strong drink—Close the saloons and you will close the prisons—Moral supineness—A New York expert on murders—The Medical News—Empty jails in Prohibition States. Page 243
CHAPTER XXXI
THE ANGELS OF THE TOMBS
The phrase originally given to only two missionary workers—How Mrs. Schaffner became a Tombs Angel—Her work as a missionary—The second Tombs Angel, Mrs. John A. Forster—A night in the Death House—How missionaries are deceived. Page 248
CHAPTER XXXII.
WEDDINGS OF THE TOMBS
Marriages performed since 1838—Two kinds, voluntary and compulsory—One of the earliest marriages—Married on the train to Sing Sing—Lawyer Patrick’s venture—Other marriages. Page 256
CHAPTER XXXIII.
AFTER SENTENCE, WHAT?
From Tombs to State Prison—English system—Received in prison—Initiation, classification and shops—A prison reformer—What he has done to improve the prisoner’s lot—A new discipline—The soul of reformation. Page 261
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE INFLICTION OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE TOMBS
John C. Colt—A suicide—Hanging day in the Tombs—The hanging of Harry Carlton—Scenes around the building—Official list of the executed. Page 269
CHAPTER XXXV.
A VISIT TO THE DEATH HOUSE AT SING SING
A never-to-be-forgotten visit—Supreme Court orders—The earliest victims—The escape of Pallister and Roche—What I saw—The men present—Casconea’s experience. Page 277
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A TRAMP COLONY
What shall be done with our tramps?—Organize a colony—How graded—Working on business principles—The cost of such an undertaking—What the French do—Habitual criminals and misdemeanants—How they may be segregated and classified. Page 284
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE COST OF CRIME IN GREATER NEW YORK
A staggering question—Rikers Prison—A national waste—Careful study of the cost of crime—Crime on the increase—Direct expenditures—Indirect expenditures—Tables showing how money is spent—Criminal loopholes—Results. Page 291
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE AGE OF GRAFT.
The bane of our municipal government—New York’s prosperity—What it cost to run the city—Assessments and commissions—Ancient and modern grafters—Police graft—Fortunes for the few—Various grafting schemes—The new water works. Page 296