LAW LIBRARY Duke University DURHAM, N. C. Rec-d , / (9 1 T SPECIAL appropriation L00384089W Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco01newy_0 -r: j'-ormn '^i- '." • •':5 Iv' 'g#.; ’.:j ^■d^"' V,'" f>,; ■ '■;»■<' '(,. S' ■^f*' * t ^ T * ^i' ^ ^ J i ‘ ■■*- <■ *• • -V 3^0 . yu \g);1 f , .:^_!^r;,Q, (jj , -;. ;^''^‘'‘C.tw i^.Xj : .•iiv'jO' '1^,0 * < • ®‘-, »Xa,',i.J*^';, .;,Xti>yi';.;>i^ '“ i;^ '' k- '':.-t±^l o:i^ ^'VfO'J'. ■: .:/ c,i>r ^XqJV,^X;y' .rl] I - ■ / ■ ■ .'. ■ .■£"’■ ■ ' ■ ' : .v 3 .V .r. a- .*'V v» - I'y'sif^' (i f 'c^ 'p ^. • . '■ j. ti.-ii*!' - . .yiit /^cV5iT« -■ !- • «* - : r • ii* •Bxirtc'fy Ls^ .rio’^aoH »•.. •'- ’^ t:-.-V rj^ ill cl:;:,., i^fip.oy ^Z'' ■ ■■,■ 4i' 4 . ..’»" L/?"/' -• tg '■• V, 1 L % I REPORT SELECT COMM LITEE Appointed by the Assenjbly of 1875 TO Investigate the Causes oe the Inchease of Crime CITY OF NEW YORK. THOS. COOPER CAMPBELL, LEO C. DESSAR, JOHN T. McGowan, JACOB HESS, JAMES W. HUSTED, - Committee. L46269 NEW YORK; MARTIN R. BROWN, PRINTER AND STATIONER, Nos. ;201, 208, i’ 205 William Stuket. 1870. xSKW Yokk, February 11, 1876. lion. James W. Husted, Speaker of the Assemhiy of the State of New York : The iindersign-ed, members of the Select Committee appointed by the Assembly of 1875, to investigate the causes of the increase of crime in the city of New York, respect¬ fully report as follows: The two resolutions under which their authority was conferred were as follows : Whereas, The steady and rapid increase of crime in the City and County of New York, has created great alarm in the minds of all good citizens of that city ; and Whereas, The proper authorities charged with its ap¬ prehension, prosecution and punishment ai)pear to be in¬ adequate to its speedy suppression, while the interest of good government require that all offences against the laws should be dealt with in the most summary and decisive manner: therefore, Resolved, That the Speaker of the Assembly be and he is hereby authorized to appoint a select committee of five, which committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, tpid compel the attendance of witnesses, and inquire into the causes, as far as possible, of the great in¬ crease of crime in said city and county, by making such examination and investigation of all persons and officers, L46269 LAW LIBRARY o books and papers, in said city and connty, that may in any way be connected with the prosecution, suppression and pnnishment of crime ; that the said committee may deem essential and necessaiy, for the purpose of ascertainin<<’ if such increase of crime can be charged to the negligence or connivance of any of the public officers whose duty it is either to arrest, detect, prosecute or punish crime in said city and connt}^, together with such other matters as said committee shall deem best for the public good Said committee is hereby authoi’ized to sit during the recess of the Legislature, and report the result of their investiga¬ tion, together with such recommendations in relation thereto as they may deem necessary and important for the preservation of law and order in said city and county, to the next Legislature; and said committee is authorized to employ a stenographer, who shall be clerk of the commit¬ tee, and a messenger. ^Yl^ereas^ It is against the settled policy of this State to allow imprisonment for debt; and Whereas^ It is a matter of public notoriety that many persons are confined in the jail of the County of Kew York upon civil process only ; therefore. Resolved^ That the select committee appointed to “ in¬ quire into the causes as far as possible of the great in¬ crease of crime,” in the City of New York, are hereby empowei-ed and directed to investigate the management of the Ludlow street jail in said city, and to report, in connection with the other subjects upon which they are empowered to act, a statement of the nature of the pro¬ cess upon which they are so confined ; and’, in all cases, when such detention is upon civil process only, with a full statement of the nature of the charges or allegations upon which such process was issued, and of the mode in which such allegations were supported by proof before the magis¬ trate or officer issuing such process; and, further, to re¬ port wli,at legislation is necessary to insure reasonable ex¬ emption from the arbitrary and unjust imprisonment and detention of all citizens of this State, and that said com¬ mittee have power to employ counsel, if necessary. The earlier of the resolutions, covering by far the more important topics, has naturally secured the greatest share of the Committees’ attention, although they have also made an extended examination into the affairs of Ludlow street jail, as M’ill appear later on in this report. The Committee met for oganization in private on the 4th of June, 1875, and organized by the election of Thomas Cooper Campbell as Chairman, and at the same session they appointed John D. Townsend, Esq., Counsel to the Committee. Through the courtesy of the Mayor, the Commissioner of Public Works and the President of the Board of Aldermen, the old Chamber of the Board of Aldermen in the City Hall, was put at the disposal of the Committee, and, commencing on June 10, 1875, all of the sessions were held there, except those which were for the sake of convenience held in the various institu¬ tions visited. By this courtesy on the part of the municipal authorities, all expense to the State in the way of hiring rooms, was avoided. The sessions were held in public, and were largely attended by citizens, and extensively re¬ ported in the columns of the press. The duties imposed on the Committee naturally brought under their investigation the Board of Municipal Police ; the Criminal Courts, from the Police Justices to the Court of Oyer and Terminer; the Coroners; the District At- 4 torney, and all tlie penal institutions, public and private. In addition to this, owing- to the overwhelming evidence that intemperance was the chief cause of crime, the Com¬ mittee deemed it proper to inquire fully into the affairs of the Board of Excise. Into all these departments of their labor, tlie Committee believe that they have made an exhaustive inquiry. They published in tl e public journals a general invitation to all persons who had anj’- information of value to communicate, inviting them to present their statements to the Committee or their counsel. They examined into every important allegation made to them, and if they deemed it one of sufficient importance, they produced it in sworn testimony. Finally they called npon all the heads of departments, and upon all persons in any waj- implicated by evidence, to appear befoi-e them. Thus they examined the four Commissioners of Police, the Superintendent, two out of the four Inspectors, and a number of Captains ; nearly all the Police Justices, and many of the Clerks of Criminal Courts; two of the Coroners and one ex-Coi’oner; the District Attoi-ney (in part only, as that official declined to appear before the Committee when subsequently invited, for i-easons stated in the cor¬ respondence on page 2972, et seq.); the three Commis¬ sioners of Charities and Corrections, and many of their principal subordinates, and the heads of the various private corporations to whose custody criminals are* committed. The Committee visited in person all the penal institutions under the custody of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, i. e., the City Prison, the Penitentiary, the Work House, the School Ship “ Mercury,” and Hart’s Island, and also the House of Refuge, the Catholic Protectory, and the Juvenile Asylum. In each of these institutions, after a thorough personal inspection, the Committee swore, on 5 the spot, the principal witnesses attainable. In some cases, inmates of the institutions were examined touching their treatment and mode of life. The Committee have met with a general willingness to extend every courtes}" and facility to them, in pursuing the arduous duties imposed on them, and desire to express in this general way their grateful sense of the many cour¬ tesies they have received. The sessions of the Committee were held generally twice and sometimes three times a week, from the lOth of June to the 29th of December, with only the intermission of the month of August — most of the sessions continuing tive or six hours of the day. In this time, nearly 3,000 printed pages of testimony were taken, which is submitted with the report. The Committee believe that but little of this great mass of matter will be found valueless, and most of it throws floods of light on the condition and management of the criminal classes in New York. With these prefatory remarks, we now proceed to take up, in detail, the various topics into which our investiga¬ tion necessarily divided itself. POLICE. The police force of the city of New York is governed by a Board of four Commissioners of Police, appointed for terms of six years, ex[)iring at dift'erent periods, by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of the Board of Al¬ dermen. The force under the government of the Com¬ missioners consists at present of 1 supei-intendent, 4 inspectors, 34 captains, 126 sergeants, 142 roundsmen, 2,117 patrolmen, and 73 doormen. The city is divided 6 into 30 territorial ])recincts, 28 of which are at present commanded by captains and two by sergeants. In addi¬ tion to these are the Sanitary Company, commanded by a captain ; the Ilai-bor Police, employing a steamboat and row-boats, commanded by a captain; the Broadway squad, designed to help people across Broadway in the daytime, commanded by a captain ; while one captain has charge of the drilling of the patrolmen ; amhlier is superintendent of the street cleaning department, and another one is under him in command of certain scows attached to that depart¬ ment. Besides these, there are the mounted squad, con¬ sisting of 14 men ; the steamship squad, of 22 men ; the headquarters detectives, 12 in number; the House of De¬ tention, commanded by a sergeant and employing 4 policemen, and five Court squads, each commanded by a sergeant and employing in the aggregate 47 policemen. The precincts are divided into four inspection districts, each of J which is commanded by an inspectoi-, and the superintendent has power over the whole force. All orders from tlie Board should, and at present do, issue to him alone, and the police force should, and at present do, receive their orders from him alone. Great abuses liave sprung up in the past from individual commissioners issuing orders to the superintendent, and even to the super¬ intendent’s subordinates without consulting liim. HISTOEY OF POLICE FOKCE. Up to^the year 1857, with various vicissitudes, the city of New York had a Municipal police force, wliich on the whole was not adequate for the duties it was called upon to perform, and did not give general satisfaction. In 1857, the Legislature established the Metropolitan Police District, consisting of the city of New York, the city of 7 Brooklyn and portions of the adjoining territory, and for thirteen years the city ])olice was merged in that body. In 1870, the charter of that year abolislied the Metropoli¬ tan Police District and again substituted the Municipal Police Force, which has continued under substantially the same law to the present day. It is the opinion of many, if not most, of the witnesses, competent to express an opin¬ ion, whom the committee has examined, that the ^letro- politan Police Force was the best force we ever had and that its system was the best system that can be devised. From this opinion the committee are not prepared to dis¬ sent, nor are they prepared, at present, to recommend to the Legislature the re-establishment of the Metropolitan Police District, particularly in view of tlie grave doubts as to the constitutionality of such an action raised by the decision of the Court of Appeals in the Rensselaer Police case. They especially do not feel disposed to urge this action upon the Legislature, as the}' believe that if the Legislature will adopt the recommendations embodied in this report, the Municipal Police will be put on trial for the hist time in the city of New York under good laws and good management. CONDITION OF THE FORCE. At the outset, the committee feel compelled to bear wit¬ ness to the extreme demoralization that has crept all over the police force of,the city of New York. The evidence that has been taken before the committee is but a skim¬ ming of the surface, after all, and 3 'et it has awakened in¬ tense interest in the conimunit}' and has brought to light facts of which only those citizens were aware who had themselves seen much of the working of the police force. It is undoubtedly, to a great extent, a corrupt force, and I 8 yonr committee believe that it has been corrupted from the top downward. It is impossible to give even the smallest sketch here of the immense mass of testimony which has flowed in upon the committee concerning the degradation of the police force, bnt at least some extracts of a few portions of it can be attempted. CONDUCT OF POLICE CAPTAINS. Within the limits of their precincts, the captains are over the criminal classes absolute raonarchs, and can be very despotic and very powerful over the poorer class, even when not criminals. Armed with these immense powers, what has been the conduct of the captains of the police force ? Some idea of it can be obtained from the following summary : It is in testimony that one captain received regularly every week from each panel-house in his district ^75, and, in addition, one-half of the “ squeals,” which phrase, being translated from police and thieves’ jparlance into English, means the amount of money stolen in a panel-house from any individual who has complained at the station-house, and who has been turned away with¬ out his complaint being prosecuted. This captain, who ‘commanded the Twenty-ninth Precinct, bounded by Fourteenth street. Forty-second street. Fourth and and Seventh avenues, testifled that he thought there were gambling-houses in his precinct, but he was not sure of it, and he never captured any, although the existence of gambling-houses in that precinct was about as well known as the existence of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Another captain allowed seven panel-houses at a time to run in his precinct, and his ward detective received sums of money fi'om these panel-houses, which doubtless he divided witli or handed over to the captain. When com- 9 plaints were inade against these panel-houses, patrolmen were sent out from the station-house bj the captain to the opposite end of the precinct to search for the thieves. The same captain took forcibly from a woman in her bed some money and some diamonds, and when she sued him for tliem, he set up in his answer that she gave them to him of her own free will. Another captain tried to obtain money from a restaurant keeper who was in the habit of supplying houses of prostitution with meals; accepted money from the keeper of a house of prosti¬ tution, and said he would take presents, although lie would not insist upon them ; tried to get money from a man who was keeping a liquor store in his precinct, and failing to do so, procured his arrest on a trumped-nit charge, it being charged tliat he was in the custom of receiving money from all tlie liquor stores. The same captain, when a citizen commenced to investigate the busi¬ ness of panel-houses, procured an assault to be made upon the citizen which was nearly fatal to him ; harassed and persecuted him in every way and directed one of his offi¬ cers to arrest and bring into his station-house two women of presumably good character, and certainly inoffensive behavior, who were walking with this man, peace¬ ably in the streets; and when he found that the man him¬ self was not brought in, berated and abused tlie women, and finally discharged them. The same captain himself was sliown a gambling-house in full o[)eration, to suppress which he took no steps and which was finally arrested by the headquarter police. From the evidence ad¬ duced, it would appear that another captain took $100 monthly from the keeper of an entirely reputable place of amusement, one indeed frequented by the highest class of society in the city, for stationing a patrolman for keep- 10 ino- order at the door, which it was his duty to do. Another, now no longer on the force, was seen entering a panel-house by a newspaper reporter. Another expressed to the committee great doubts whether Mike Murray, known as “Big Murray,” did or did not keep a gambling- house in his precinct, the fact being as notorions as the ex¬ istence of Grace Church. It should be stated tliat the fact that Mike Murray kept a gambling-house was repeatedly announced in the newspapers. This same captain vigor¬ ously objected to the headquarter detectives going into his precinct to perform the duties with which they were charged by the law and by their suijerior officers, and tlireatened the captain of the detectives that if he caught any of liis men in his precinct again, he would kick them out. The same captain who was ignorant of the existence of Mike Murray’s gambling-house, although an exception¬ ally intelligent man, did not know that Sarah Meyers kept a house of prostitution in his precinct, while, as a matter of fact, she kept half a dozen, and was probably the most notorions woman in New York. Another captain on his own showing, discharged prisoners without any warrant whatever of law, and was unable to see any disorder or any violation of the Excise Law in the low Chatham square concert rooms, disorder and violation of law which your committee on their very first visit saw at a glance. Another captain is detected by a witness coming out of his private room in the station-house partially undressed, while a woman is within. Another captain, happily no longer an ornament to the force, robbed and plundered the city out of horse-feed, bricks, saddles, blankets, and any other small piece of plunder that he could lay hig hands upon. And yet, under the law, the Commissioners, no matter 11 how desirous tliey may be of doing justice, are not able to laj" their hands upon all of these men. Several of the captains, of whose guilt the Commissioners entertained no donbt, escaped dismissal owing to a failure of technical evidence. On page 2,515 will be found a story of a cap¬ tain’s rascality, told l)y Police Justice Murray, who, to the regret of the committee, was unwilling to give the name of the offending officer. On page 2,493 Commissioner Voorhis gives a general summary of the difficulties of deal¬ ing with the captains of the police force, and it is the opinion of all the competent witnesses, of Superintendent Walling, of Inspector Dilks, and of Inspector McDermott that every captain can, if he chooses to enforce the law and do his duty, break up gambling, panel-houses, and disorderly houses of prostitution in the precinct. That the}' are not bi’oken uj) is a sufficient proof of the utter unwillingness or incompetency of the police captains to discharge their dut}'. In fact, certain precincts in the city, the Eighth, the Fourteenth, the Fifteenth, the Twenty- ninth, wdiich lie along the central line of the city where the large gambling bouses, the opportunities for panel- houses, and the most prosperous houses of prostitution exist, have been looked u])on for years past as desirable spots from which to plunder, and the testimony of two captains who have not been in these precincts, but who understand the general reputation that they bear on the force, will be found on page 254 and 342, the latter stating that these precincts are supposed to have “ plenty of money in them.” The committee do not wish to be understood as saying that there are no good captains upon the police force. A few still continue there, and better officers than some of these would be difficult to find in any police force, but 12 the general average is disgracefully low and nearly, if not quite, half the captains on the police force are utterly un¬ trustworthy and utterly unfit to hold the positions the}’’ do. INEFFICIENCY AND CORRUPTION OF THE POLICE. Among the most potent causes of the increase of crime in the city of New York has been, without doubt, the inefficiency and the corruption of the police force, which is demonstrated b}' the existence and flourishing of certain classes of crime to which we would more particularly in¬ vite tlie attention of the Legislature. The common pick¬ pocket, the forger, the counterfeiter, and the burglar are of course more or less under the dominion of the police, and can be more or less restrained as the police are more or less honest or efficient; but that they will exist, no matter how powerful and how upright the police force is, is no matter of doubt. But certain other classes of crime peculiar to great cities, and almost indeed peculiar to this city, depend for the breath of life upon the connivance or the imbecility of the police force; for instance, take the subject of panel houses. PANEL-HOUSES. Very elaborate descriptions of these places will be found on pages 12, 205 and 463, the latter being the experience of a victim. They are simply places for robbery, most ingeniously prepared and carried on under the guise of prostitution. It is the opinion of every com¬ petent witness who has been examined upon the subject, including even the great majority of the captains them¬ selves, that the continued existence of a panel-house is ab¬ solutely impossible in any precinct withbut the direct 18 connivance of the police, and particularly of the captain; and yet it is be 3 'ond all question that a large number of panel-houses have at difPerent times existed in the city of JVewYork. See the testimony of Martinot, Twohey, and the woman Small, also the testimony of Arthur Pember (page 193), a journalist by profession, and tolerabl}" well known as the author of a book entitled the “ Amateur Vagabond.” In 1871 Mr. Pember made extensive investi¬ gations into the subject of panel-houses, and in disguise was himself a witness to robberies committed there. He saw the captain of a precinct enter the doorway of a panel-house and receive some money from a man there, and he does not hesitate to state that the police force were in league with the panel thieves. At one time, in the Eighth Precinct, one out of four sergeants received personallj^ twelve complaints of rol)l:)er- ies in panel-houses, seven of which affected one house, No. 143 Mercer street, and no«arrests were made. The fact that there was a panel-house at that ])lace at that time is corroborated by the testimony of Mr. Pember, of Corkoran, a I'eporter for the Sun (page 88), and Twohe\' (page 216), the latter giving a very full account of it from personal inspection. An ex-detective expresses the opinion that since the session of this committee began, ])anel-house3 have ceased to exist, temporaril}' at least, in New York, and it is not at all improbable, from what we can learn, that such was the fact, showing that nothing but the will was lacking to enable the police to close those jdaces. TROSTITUTIOX. Houses of prostitution, doubtless, must exist, and will continue to exist, whatever laws legislatures may pass, or u whatever steps to enfoi'ce such laws police authorities uiaj take. \Ve shall discuss this cpiestion more fully later ou, aud call attention now to the fact that, while we do not doubt that pi-ostitution necessarily will exist, we also do not doubt hut that the police authorities can prevent its open, in- decentand offensive manifestations. Street-walking:, solicit- ing, indecent exposure from windows of houses, noise, drunkenness and confusion can be prevented by police aiithorities, as can also the existence of houses of the most beastly and degraded character. It seems, however, from the whole testimony before ns, that in but few, if an}', pre¬ cincts of the city, had any such measures been taken by the police authorities as would prevent these occurrences prior to the time that the sessions of this committee began, and even after its sessions had commenced a great many things continued to go on which a well governed police force would never allow. The committee have not deemed it desirable to confine thei-r source of information as to the condition of the city to evidence offered befoie them, but have in person, under the guidance of an experienced detective, visited at night a great many of the worst quarters of the city, and have found a disorder prevalent in such quarters which was scandalous to a great metro¬ polis. The testimony of Martinet (pages 18 and 19), and Groo (page 86), present the subject to some extent from a police point of view, but the committee has had before it a large number of citizens of the Eighth, Tenth, and Fifteenth Wards, who, weary with appeals to the polic6 courts and to the District Attorney’s office, have come and laid their grievances before us as the representa¬ tives of the Legislature of the State. The testimony of Jones (page 55), Hannah (page 65), Fox (page 31), Gilsey (page 76), Maloney (page 84), Bifti (page 2127), JJubernet (page 2146), GriuidheiT (page 2150), Young (page 2152), McGagney (page 2155), Neville (page 2157), 131eha (page 2160), Fitzpatrick (page 2242), lYuntz (page 2263), Apman (page 2266), Haag (page 2269), Ilartiuan (page 2271), and Fleischinaiin (page 2275), shows the annoyance that respectable citizens have had to put up with from these disreputable and noisy houses in their neighborhood. But, instead of suppressing and preventing these outward and offensive manifestations of prostitution, there is but too much reason to fear that the police ha\ e used the prohibition of the law against houses of prostitution, systematically to extort money from the keepers and in¬ mates of these places. This is a subject upon which it has been impossible to get much direct testimony, the interest of all the parties con¬ cerned rendering it desirable to them that the facts should not be known, and their character being such that false tes¬ timony comes fpiite as readily to their lips as truth ; yet the testimony of Martinet (page 15), Groo (page 43), Maloney (page 84), Benedict (page 113), Moultrie (pagell6), Mc¬ Cord (page 118), Ackerman (page 119) and Turner (page 172), taken in connection with the fact that captains have frequently broken up houses quite as inoffensive as their neighbors who are permitted to exist, will, we think, abundantly warrant the conclusion to whicli we have come. Many of these houses are conducted for the purpose of having the most obscene exhibitions, a fact which cannot fail to be known to the police, and yet on account of which they are rarely interfered with. Indeed, one captain tes¬ tified before the committee that no such })laces existed in his precinct, and on the very niglit that he gave that tes¬ timony the committee had no difficulty whatever, through a headquarters’ detective, in finding five such houses in a 16 row within one-eighth of a mile of that captain’s station- house. Others in varions parts of the city have been known by the committee to exist. It is but justice to the police force, however, to state that the failure to suppress such places effectually is not always chargeable upon them alone. A very curious case will be found in the testimony of Captain Gunner (page 1310). When this captain was in command of the Eigliteenth Precinct, a house of this char¬ acter was running in I'wenty-second street, kept by a woman named Ileniy. The captain sent two of his officers into the house in plain clothes. The result of their visit was that six girls wei'e arrested for an indecent exposure of person ; the keeper of the place, the woman Henry, was arrested as a partioeps criminis, and three other girls who were inmates were arrested as witnesses. What ensued is a curious illus¬ tration of the ineflicienc}^ of the manner in which the law deals with such cases in the city of New York. The woman gave bail at once, when taken before the magis¬ trate, to go to the Court of General Sessions ; the six girls were tried, very properly convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for a year (the testimony of one of them, Annie Wilson, was taken before the committee when visit¬ ing Blackwell’s Island, and will be found on page 1080); the other three girls, against whom no charge-whatever was made, Avere sent to the House of Detention for wit¬ nesses upon the 29th of January, 1875, and remained until the 1st of June, 1875—four months and three da 3 's —and were then discharged; nor has any prosecution of the complaint against the kee])er, certainly by far the principal offender, ever been had. The ]iet result is that the six girls, the woman’s instruments, were sent to prison for a year ; thi-ee of the girls, innocent, so far as the law knew, of any offence, were locked 17 up for four mouths; while the instigator, the money¬ maker of the parties, went scot free, and resumed business, at the same place, immediately. The extraordinary con¬ tempt with which some of these people hjok upon any ef¬ forts to suppress tliem is well illusti’ated in the case of Sarah Meyers, whose name recurs again and again throughout the testimony taken on this subject before the committee. She lives in the Fifteenth Ward, and ap¬ pears to be the proprietor and responsible manager of an indefinite number of disreputable houses in that neigh¬ borhood. She has been fourteen times indicted, and twice tried ; on one occasion she received a sentence of four months in the penitentiaiy, which she served out; on the second occasion, the presiding justice, deeming her a fit object for mere}’, suspended the sentence. The man¬ ner in which she treated citizens who presumed to com¬ plain of her is exquisitely illustrated in the testimony of Hanna (pages 65 to 69). The ramifications of her infiu- ence ap])ear to extend in every direction ; police magis¬ trates let her go on parole (page 2134); witnesses against her, whose names were sent in to the prosecuting officers, were not subpccnoed (page 2135); and the burlesque of the whole matter is found in the remark of an attache of the District Attorney’s office, “ That it was a perfect piece of persecution against this j)Oor woman ” (page 2136). It was of this woman that a man, who was, for nearly two and a-half years, captain of the precinct in which she re¬ sided, testified that he did not know that she kept a house of prostitution. HOUSES OWNED BV liESPECTABLE CITIZENS. Among the other curious elements that enter into this subject of prostitution, is the fact that a number of houses 2 18 ill the Eighth and Fifteenth Wards, wliich are let and oe- cnpied as low dens, are owned highly reputable people, some of them pillars of the Church and State. Some of these worthies were brought before the com¬ mittee and testitied (see pages 53, 135, 2277, 2344, and 2724); in other cases whei’e the business was transacted through agents, the agents were examined (see pages 90, 2281, 2352, 2354). Quite a number of these persons have been indicted, but the indictments appear to be mere mat¬ ter of form, as one of the parties against whom these in¬ dictments had been found, testified before the committee, that he was then serving on the Grand Jury himself (page 136). It is not a pleasing subject for contemplation, that these most disreputable houses should carry grist to the mills of highly reputable citizens, nor is it an agreeable thought for citizens of Kew York that an indictment stands on record against an ex-Mayor of the city for own¬ ing a house of prostitution (page 62). The assurance that some of these reputable gentlemen showed, when exam¬ ined before the committee, is almost ludicrous. On page 2344, et seq., will be found the testimony of one of them ; it will appear that he claims absolute ignorance of the disreputable character of his house, but that he never in¬ quired of the captains, nor took any steps, apparer.tly, to find out what they were. On page 2348 are the following questions and answers: “ By the Chairman : ‘■^Q. Do you say that you know now for the first time, to-day, that those houses are kept as houses of prostitution ? “J.. I have heal’d insinuations made—that is all. “ Q. Did you hear that the Grand Jury insinuated, by finding an indictment against your brother ? “A. Yes, sir; I understood that; that is a year and a half ago. “ Q. That is a very strong insinuation, isn’t it ? “A. They were all turned out, except one house.” Which last answer is not true. A little social ostracism administered to such worthies would do more good, per¬ haps, than all the criminal laws that could be passed. BI.AME PXSEWIIERE THAN ON P(.)LICE. In this connection it is proper to say that all the blame must not be laid upon the shoulders of the police. Again and again houses of prostitution that were disorderly have been “ pulled ” (a police term, meaning arrested), and the inmates taken before the magistrates; again and again magistrates have dismissed such cases, either from an honest opinion that the testimony was insufficient for a conviction, which was assuredly in most cases utterly erro¬ neous, or from some other less creditable motive. Hun¬ dreds of others have been held by magistrates, have given bail to go to the General Sessions, have been indicted there, and nothing has ever been done with them. After giving bail they resumed business directly, either in the same place or in an immediately adjoining one. GAMBLING. Another phase of crime, depending for its existence almost exclusively upon the connivance or inefficiency of the police, is gambling, which takes in the city of Hew York a multitude of phases. There are, it is claimed, one or two places which are conducted honestly; there have been multitudes of others, known in police vernacular as “skin games;” then there are absolute swindles, such as 20 “ l)aiico” and others. A graphic and interesting descrip¬ tion of these Tai’ions gambling games will be found on pages 1516 c’i seq. It is the opinion of all the competent witnesses scattered throngliout the length and breadth of the testimony that gambling houses could not continue in a precinct without the connivance of the police force, un¬ less it be in the case of a very few places whose doors are closed and barred, and into whose doors no person is ad¬ mitted who is not known to the doorkeepei’S. While very great improvement in respect to the number of gambling houses has taken place, especially since the sessions of this committee began, we cannot doubt that there is room for still further amelioration in the condition of the city in this respect; and it will only come when the existence of a gambling house for anj’ length of time in the precinct of a captain is made adequate cause for his dismissal from the force. Several of the best officers have indicated their willingness to be subjected to a rule that shall hold their positions responsible for the continued existence of gambling houses within thirt}' days after powei’ is given them to suppress it. This is a subject which ought to be treated with the greatest severit}' by an efficient police force in a great city like New York, and while the com¬ mittee believe that it cannot be absolutely possible to suppress gambling altogether, there is no doubt in their minds that it can be so far suppressed, that unwaiy strangers who come to the city cannot be led into any such place as those in which so many have been plundered of their money. There is no doubt Avhatsver that gam- blins: houses have been run in active collusion \vith the police ; the whole judgment jind common sense of the community point that way, and, though a difficult topic upon which to get testimony, sparks of evidence before the 21 committee indicate this in a manner not to be doubted. It is utterly beyond credence, for instance, that a place as notorious as Mike Murray’s “keno”gameon Broadway, was, when Mr. Fember visited it in 1871, (see page 208, et seq.), could have been kept open two nights without the direct connivance of the police, notwithstanding the doubts e.xpressed by the captain of the precinct as to whether or not Murray kept a gambling house, (page 304). LOTTERY AND POLICY. The lowest, meanest, worst form, however, which gam- bliug.takes in the city of New York, is what is known as policy playing. Policy is described pretty thoroughly in the testunony of Marcus Cicero Stanley (page 1570, et seq.), who, undoubtedly, knows all about it, having him¬ self been in the business. It is described by him as a parasite on lottery, and the description is a terse and cor¬ rect one. In direct and flagrant violation of law, lotteries which are said to be chartered by the Legislature of the State of Kentucky, are advertised in many of the leading journals of the city of New Y"ork, and their daily di'awings published through the same medium. A full :tnd enter¬ taining account of the lottery business will be found in the testimony of Mr. Stanley, with copies of the schemes, drawings and lottery tickets, and a more full explanation of the complications of the matter for those who care to examine into it. Policy selling appears to be a betting by individuals with policy dealers upon the result of the daily drawing of the lotteries in Kentucky. It does not involve the purchase of a lotteiy ticket, but is mei’clv a private wager ui)on the result of a lottery drawing A number of people, estimated by some at as large 22 a number as 1100 at times, altliou^li this number we believe to be an exaggeration, but certainly several hundreds, are engaged in the business of selling polic}’^ in the city of New York; and while all classes of the community do more or less mingle in the purchase, yet by far the greater poi'tion of the purchasers are found among the poorest, lowest, and the most ignorant classes of the community. Di-eam books are published by these policy' people, and small soothsayers delude the ignorant bj"^ ad¬ vising them as to lucky numbers. In the testimony of Luthy, himself a large policy dealer, is found a remark¬ able statement of the character of policy (page 1600). “ It is a right down incorporated swindle from the word ‘go,’ right through; it ought to be stopped. To make a long story short, it makes boys steal revenue stamps and go and sell them, and women take the bank-book of the men, and when they want to go into business, where’s the money? It takes the pennies off dead men’s eyes.” Most of these small dealers transact business in little shops, some of them marked “ Exchange,” with a few gold dollars in the window to carry out the idea; many of them small segar stores or petty liquor stores; some even of J:he dealers have no stores themselves, but perambulate the' streets with polic}’ books, from which they scribble tickets. The majority' of these men do not do business on their own account, but are simpl}^ petty employees of the central organization. This central or¬ ganization has, in the testimony before the committee, a somewhat misty form, and clouds of doubt and unwilling¬ ness to testify accumulate before it; yet there is no doubt that it is substantially the same bod}’^ of men who own the lottery f i-anchises in Kentucky; that they are widely known to the police, to the other authorities of the city. 23 and to many citizens; tliat they are wealthy, {)Ovverfnl, and influential, and that their wealth, their power, and their influence, have in some indescribable way stood for years, not only between themselves and punishment, but between their hirelings who swindle the poor and the de¬ luded, and the punishment that was their just due. Arrests have been made again and again of policy deal¬ ers. In many instances, no doubt, the polic.e force have been in active collusion with them, and in many other instances^ the^police force seem to have discharged their duty in this particular ; hut from the whole catalogue of arrests, althougli they have been followed by hundreds of indictments, y^our committee have been able to learn of but two convictions of policy dealers for years in the city of New York. So i)owerful, indeed, is the central or¬ ganization, that it is able to maintain not oidy a defensive but au ott’ensive stand, and to wage war upon those indi¬ vidual dealers who choose, as the phrase is, to “ back their own books;” that is, to do their own betting on policy, and nut to act as hirelings of others. A curious story of this will be found in the testimony of Mr. Luthy, above referred to. Ca])tain Hedden states (page 456), that policy shops are to be found in nearly all the precincts in the city of New York, and tliat about twenty existed in the Fifteenth Precinct alone when he was in command of it. A curious illustration of the intense folly, to say the least, of the way in which courts deal with. put. No weapon of any kind was found anywhere near either of the bodies, excepting a little pen-knife which was found on the floor of the bed-room near Mary Ryan’s body. Two policemen, hearing a cry from the window, entered the house, went up stairs, found the body of Nicholas Ryan on the landing, and found the body of Mary Ryan in the room. They removed and covered her body, removed the articles 'of clothing found on a chair and placed them on the bed, handled them with bloody hands, handled the pen-knife and covered that with blood, walked up and down the house and suffered everybt)dy else, who saw fit, to do so, distributing bloody inn)ressions in every direc¬ tion, and finally, under the direction of their superior offi¬ cer, a roundsman, carried the body of Nicholas Ryan from the ])lace where it lay to the room, where they laid it clown by the side of the sister ; thus obliterating almost all the circumstances which might, by a careful and attentive scrutiny, have revealed the secret of the mysteiy which 26 ever afterwards remained a sealed one. Any person wlio chose to was allowed to leave the lionse; no search was made of the adjacent houses or of the adjacent rooms. No discretion, no judgment, no common sense even, seems to have been shown by the police authorities in this bloody tragedy. Tlie testimony of the then coroner. Nelson W. Young, severely condemns the conduct of the police in this matter. DETECTIVE FOKCE. • That all the other classes of crime have received at times the earnest support of the police, will appear by look¬ ing at the detective system of the police force in the city of New York. The detective sj'stem of the city is divided into twf) branches, the head-quarters detectives and the ward detectives, although the latter do not seem to be ex¬ pressly recognized by that name, and are variously styled at times in the testimony “ ward detectives.” “ special duty men,” “ detail men ” and by various other appellations. The head-quarters detective force consisted of about twenty- five men under the command of a captain up to January, 1875. The ward detectives were about two in number, in each precinct, although varying; there being sometimes only one and sometimes three or four. The duties of the head-quarters detectives were the investigation of crimes assigned to them for that purpose bj'^ the superintendent. The duties of the ward detectives were also the investi¬ gation of crimes in the precincts, and in this respect they and their captains at times clashed with the head-quarters detectives ; and they were also understood to be in general supervision of, and acquaintance with, criminals, thieves, prostitutes and gamblers, in their respective precincts. In addition to this, a very important branch of their business 27 seems to have been the management of the financial re¬ lations between the dishonest captains and the criminal classes under their control. This latter fact will be found reitei-ated again and again, witli greater or less emphasis in different portions of the committee’s testimony, and of the fact there can be no question whatever. The ward detectives are selected by the captains from the patrolmen under their command, a most ingenious method of making them the absolute tools of their captains. Indeed, at various times, the captain, on moving from one precinct to anothei’, appears to have taken his ward man along with him, and the same firm has set up business in a new sphere of operations. That ward detectives are eminently desirable, that their local knowledge and constant activity, would be of great benefit to the police force, your com¬ mittee cannot question, but that a more hopelessly ridicir lous means of appointing them, than now exists, could be devised, we do not believe. The headquarters detectives had continued pretty nearly' unchanged for a good many years, saving the natural changes that arose from the passage of time, and there is no doubt whatever that in shrewdness, in experience, and in capacity, many of them were abundantly equal to the duties imposed upon them. There is, unfortunately, also, no doubt that a great majority of them were rascals. The stoiy of their wrong doing is a sickening one, for it shows that these guardians of the ptdfiic, these men whose duty it was to ferret out and bring to justice criminals, were not only the active partners of criminals, but absolutely their instigators to crime. The whole story will be found in the evidence submitted by the committee, but a few illustrations of it may here be given. In the winter of 1873 a large amount of forgeries were perpetrated in 28 Eiig'land upon the Bank of England—the forgers being Americans, of whom the two most conspicuous were Bid- well and MacDonell. MacDonell’s confession, directly implicating the detectives, will be found at page 1639 of the testimony taken before the committee, and although it is the statement of a convicted felon, the committee see no reason whatever to disbelieve it, substantiated as it is by man}' pieces of circumstantial evidence. The evi¬ dence before the committee traces home to the cliief of the detective force two cable dispatches from MacDonell sent from London and asking the captain to meet him on his arrival in New York. The evidence of Clapp and Bennett (pages 1369 and 1621) shows that the same officer was in j’eceipt of a telegiam from Bid well, at Ilavaiia. The testimony of an employee in the Post Office (page 1659) shows that registered letters which MacDonell says in his confession he mailed at Charing Dross, arrived from Charing Cross and were delivered at the respective residences of the captain of the dectective police and one of his subordinates and were there respectively receipted for by an inmate of the captain’s house, and by the subordinate in person. It is a curious commentary upon this testimony that tlie old Board of Police in the year 1873, who held what they were pleased to call a trial of these officers upon those charges, refused to receive any of this testimony and so conducted themselves, that the present Attorney-General of the United States, wlio re¬ presented the Bank of England there, retired from the conduct of the case in disgust, while the accused were Ibonorahly acquitted. The Quincy bank robbery, a bur¬ glary upon a baid< in Quincy, Illinois, is another illustra¬ tion of the way in which the headquarters detectives did business. The conduct of the detectives in that matter * 29 will be found very fully set up in the testimony of Claj^p, an ex-detective, commencing at page 1363. Clapp, then a detective, knew of this I’ohbery, which occui-red on the 13th of Fehniary, 1873, and amounted to $184,000. On or about the 5th of March, he learned from another de¬ tective, who confirms his testimony (page 1370), who the thieves were, and that they were iii New York. lie went to the then superintendent of police, made a stipulation with him that ho should observe sehrecy, and then told him the facts and asked him to write to Quincy for an officer to come on -with a warrant of extradition. The next (ilapp knew ahont it, was that the chief of the de¬ tective force berated him for not giving the information to him, and Clap]) learned that the su})erintendent had com¬ municated the facts to the captain, and that the western officer, a man named Mc.Graw, had arrived and had been put into the custody, not of Clap]), hut of two of the cap¬ tain’s particular pets on the force. It should he stated, by the way, that the man McGi-aw communicated with the com¬ mittee and was leady to come from Quincy, full}' to cor¬ roborate Clapp’s story if the committee deemed it neces¬ sary, to charge the State with the expense of his jouiaiey; the fact that he was ready to coi-rohorate seemed to them to he sufficient, without going through the form of pro¬ ducing his evidence. McGraw seems to have meant busi¬ ness ; hut the detectives in whose custodj^ he was, wished to take him up to show him the Central Park and in other ways amuse him, and went through with him, with the curi¬ ous performance mentioned on page 1808, which is called in the testimony, “ standing a man u]),” that is, exhibiting him for the information of a man who was represented to him to he a railroad agent, hut who turned out to he an¬ other detective. The upshot of the matter was, that the 30 thieves received such iiifonnation from some source or other tliat they vanished, that no arrest was made, and that nothing was ever done t and if the information of thieves l)e regarded as of any value, it will be found npon page 1371 that they said tliat they paid $10,000 to the headcpiarters detectives in that matter. Another curi¬ ous story of the headquarters detective is stated by Mr. Bangs, superintendent of Pinkerton’s Detective Agency,on page 1634, being a matter of forged Chicago and North¬ western bonds, that came to light in the fall of 1874. The Pinkerton Detective Agency found a man in Philadelphia who had been concerned in issuing these forged bonds, and who gave up to them the names of his principals, so that they proposed to use him as a witness against them. The principals were New York bond forgers, and the next circumstance in the story is, that six of the headquarters detectives, headed by their captain, together with two other persons, proceeded to the residence of this man in Philadelphia without any warrant whatever, and attempted to kidnap him. They got him as far as the station, on their way to New York, when their plan was prevented by the accidental interposition of two of Pinkerton’s men. It is a matter of pleasing contemplation for the citizens of New York to know that the chief of their detective force and five of his principal assistants stand indicted in Phil¬ adelphia for attempted kidnapping. Finally, such a condition of villainy and jealousy arose among the headquarters detectives as is illustrated by the horse-blanket case, concerning which a considerable amount of testimony was taken by the committee. One of a number of stolen horse-blankets, which had been brought to headquarters for identification, was found in the closet appropriated to the use of two of the detectives. 31 and only two theories cati be advanced to account for the fact; eitlier it was stolen by these two detectives for the nse of the captain, or it was placed there by some of the other detectives, with the malicious determination of ruining these two. The committee do not feel called upon to weigh the conflicting testimony on this point; but, in either event, what a dreadful condition of demor¬ alization is shadowed forth. After all these matters, it seems to be of less account that the most notorious re¬ ceiver of stolen goods in New York was in the habit of visiting the captain of the detective force (page 1359); that detectives witnessed successful attempts on the part of other detectives to make away with stolen goods found upon the persons of thieves brought into headquarters see pages 1346, 1356, 1362). That detectives employ every means in their power how not to do it when put on the scent of a notorious panel-thief by a victim (see pages 468, 469, 472, 490). Nor is it to be wondered at that the detectives themselves should have become demoralized and corrupt, when their superior officers deliberately sent them out of the city to watch over race-courses, gambling- houses, and hotels, and even out of. the State, to perform police duty for another government (see testimony of Captain Irving, page 720; Heidelberg, 828 and 830; Sellick and Kerns, page 848). It is not to be wondered at, that with such a force, the District Attorney and Mr. Allen, the Assistant District Attorney, should utterly refuse to put any confldence whatever in headquarters detectives (page 1650). In¬ deed, Mr. Allen expresses the opinion derived from confldential communications made to him, that head¬ quarters detectives are not only in collusion with thieves, but that when certain thieves have tried to reform and 32 lead honest lives, they liave been instigated and ac¬ tually compelled into crime bj' the headquarters detectives (page 1658). It is proper to say, after these reflections upon tlie headquarters detective force, that in January, 1875, the Police Board, principally through the instru¬ mentality of Commissioner Voorhis, largely broke up the headquarters force. The captain was sent to command a boat in the harbor, and many of the men were ordered on patrol duty; some of them, thereupon, resigning. A few wei’e left at headquarters, in whom some confldence was placed, and, in some of them at least, the committee be¬ lieve that this confldence is not ill-judged. The force was then put under the direct control of the superintendent, he being assisted by a roundsman, and the superintendent was allowed to draft in patrolmen, from time to time, and ex])eriment upon them, to see what sort of a detective force he could create in this manner. The results have, so far, not been very happy, and the imbecility of the force is amusingly illustrated in the exploit of Chief Warlow, as narrated in his own testimony (page 498), and in that of his assistant, Reilly, an old officer (page 503), and in the^testimou}^ of Mr. Aub, at that time one of the counsel for' the committee (page 511). The counsel became aware of the existe)>ce of a gambling house, and made application to the superinten¬ dent to send a force with him to break it up. A force of detectives under the command of Warlow was despatched and Warlow himself was taken to a place where he could see the lights, hear the cards, hear the chips and whence, if he chose to extend his head forward, he could have seen the game. He preferred not to extend his head, on the ground that if he did he would he seen, and stated, that notwithstanding all that he had heard, he had not seen 33 gambling going on, and therefore he could not do anything, and so marched his force home again. The matter ere- i ted considerable i-idicule in the press at the time it was brought before the committee, and in one sense it is laugh¬ able enough. But it is far from laughable to think that the interests of the community in the grave matter of the detection and ferreting out of crime are lodged in such absolutely imbecile hands. The pay of the detectives is precisely the same as that of the patrolmen, $1,200 a year, and no increased compen¬ sation is given even to the oldest and most experienced officer among them, except when he is allowed by the grace of the Board to receive some portion of the reward )iaid foi- the recovery of stolen property. In rank and in salary the oldest detective stands merely on a par with the newest patrolman who walks his beat. APPOINTMENT AND INSTRUCTION OF PATROLMEN. .V patrolman, on his joining the force, which he does after swearing to a considerable variety of things, many of which do not seem to trouble his conscience much, as witness the testimony of Mr. Walters, at page 739 and 740; and after being certified to by a number of reputa¬ ble citizens wlio have known him for five years, which ap¬ pears to be a mere form, as witness the testimony of the same individual, and that of Captain Robbins, page 747, Mr. Goodrich, 752, Mr. Colliding, 763, and, after passing medical examination as to cpialifications, is put in the school of instruction, under a drill captain, for a month. Upon receiving Ids appointment, and before entering the school of instruction, he becomes a full patrolman and no power exists in the Board to get rid of him except upon trial in the same manner as with any officer. At the end of a 34 month, or if he proves an exceptionally stupid scholar, at the end of two months, he goes upon the force, and from the hour that he receives his appointment he draws pay at the rate of $1,200 per year, the same not only as tlie oldest and most experienced patrolman, but as any roundsman upon the force. ROUNDSMEN. The roundsmen are attached to each precinct, and it is their duty to traverse the precinct from point to point, in order to see that the patrolmen are dischai’ging their duty faithfully. SERGEANTS. Above them in grade, stand the sergeants, who receive $1,600 a year, who are appointed by the Board at pleas¬ ure, after an examination is held, and four of whom are attached to each precinct, while a few others discharge independent duty, such as the command of court squads, etc. The sergeants, in turn, preside at the desk in the station-house and keep the “ blotter,” so called, a book in which, with great minuteness of detail, all the transac¬ tions of police life are entered, as, at “ six o’clock, the new pati-ol goes out.” At 6:15 a sergeant goes out on leave of absence.” “ At 6:30 the captain goes out to inspect the posts.” ‘‘ At 6:35 a prisoner is brought in by ofidcer so and so, charged with such and such an offense;” the age, the nationality, the residence, the occupation of tlie prisoner are all entered, and, at a subsequent time, the disposition made of the case. The sergeant, while pre¬ siding at the desk in the absence of the captain, exercises the authority of the captain, and their positions requii’e grave judgment and very considerable capacity, coolness. and courage. The eoininittee can say that, after having visited a number of the precincts themselves and witnessed the proceedings there, they are satistied that in the main tliose duties are well discharged. CAPTAINS. Above the sergeants, rank the captains, who receive $2,000 per annum. Those in command of the precincts are absolutely sup’^eme, under the control, of course, of their superior officer and of the law. Their power, and the manner in whicli they have exercised that power, has been discussed at length above. INSPECTOKS. In rank above the captains are four inspectors, whose salary is $3,500 apiece, and who, up to the summer of 1875, seemed to be curiously unnecessary, or, rather, use¬ less appendages to the police force. One was in charge of the Street Cleaning Bureau, another acted as a sort of dejmty to the superintendent, and the other two were daily supposed to wander about the city and inspect, with no pow’er, with no right to do anything whatever, except, apparently, to report to the superintendent. By the exer¬ tions of Gen. Smith, the })resent President of the Board of Police, this ridiculous system was done awai’ with, and the city w'as divided into four inspection districts, of which the two most important, the first and second, include the whole of the city below’ Forty-second street, and these are now commanded by the two oldest and most exj)erienced inspectors. The inspectors now have authoritj’, each in their district, over the captains. The captains report daily to them, and they report an abstiact to the superin¬ tendent. A small force, tw’o serijeants and a rounsdman, 8(5 is allotted to each inspector, and beyond all donbt, with a little amplilication of the system, great good may be ex¬ pected to flow from its adoption. SUPERINTENDENT. Above the inspectors, stands the superintendent whose salary is $6,000 per annum, and who holds, perhaps, one of the most important places, in some respects, in the United States. Beyond all question, more duties devolve upon the superintendent, than it is possible for any man to do well. Not only is he the chief executive of the force; not only is he the mouth-piece through whom legitimately all the orders of the Board must come; not only is he charged with the supreme government of the force in all its ramifications, subject only to the written orders from the Board of Police, but he is in addition charged with the whole management of the criminal business, the personal superintendence of the headquarters detectives, and a vast variety of other duties which render the place one of the most onerous conceivable. The present superintendent is an old officer of nearly thirty years’ standing on the force, of un¬ blemished reputation, and of unquestioned police ex¬ perience, yet the committee do not believe that he, or anybody else, is competent to dischai-ge all the duties which now rest upon the Superintendent of Police. COMMISSIONERS. The Board of Police Commissioners consists of four commissioners, appointed by the Mayor, one of whom, elected by his associates as jiresident, draws a salary of $8,000, while the other three receive $6,000 each. They are entrusted with the absolute government of the whole 37 police force of the City of New York, subject only to such restrictions as the Legislature has provided in its laws. All the rules and the regulations of the De])art- ment emanate from them, and in addition to that, all the appointments and all the promotions are made by them. The trials of all the offenses charged against policemen, from petty offenses against the military code, such as a disordered button, up to the very gi-avest charges of blackmailing and villainy, are held before one or all of the Commissioners, and are decided by the Board, as a Board. It should seem that the Legislature of the State has not deemed these duties sufficient to occupy all the time of a competent Board of Police, for, in addition, it has imposed upon them the management of the cleaning of the streets of the City of New Yoi'k, a vast labor, which employs a large number of men and carts, and which re¬ quires the almost incessant attention of one at least of the Commissioners. The Commissioners are further obliged to take charge of the Bureau of Elections, which, during a large portion of the year, consumes a great deal of their time. They appoint all the inspectors of elections, some¬ thing over 2,000 in number, all the poll clerks; they designate all the ])olliug jdaces; in fact, the whole ma¬ chinery of election is under their direct and immediate control. The president of the Board of Police is in addi¬ tion a member of the Health Board, an ari’angement the desirability of which your cotnmittee do not question. P( )LITIC A L INTE RFERENCE. One of the greatest difficulties experienced in procuring an efficient police, has been the continual inlermedling of politicians with the government of the force. Patndmen have generally been appointed through political influence; promotions have been made on the same ground, and even details i'or dnt}' have freqnentl}" been regulated iu the same maimer. Strong, healthy patrolmen have, by such in¬ fluence, been detailed to lounge at the end of piers—a light duty which should be reserved for deserving veterans. The present Board have announced to tlie force that any officer who procures politicians to attempt to influence the action of the Boai-d, will receive no consideration at tlieir hands, and it is to be hoped that the steady enforcement of this rule may lead to the abatement of this intolerable nuisance. DISCUSSION OF REMEDIES FOR EVILS. Having sketched the condition of the police force as to the past, and to some extent in the present, having indi¬ cated the evils which exist, and many causes of crime which emanate from the authorized guardians of the public peace, the more difficult duty devolves upon us, of point¬ ing out what we deem to be reruedies for the existing state of things. INCREASED FORCE. In the first place, one difficult}' stares us directlv in the face. There are not enongii policemen in the City of New York. This is a subject upon which all the experts agree without any dissent what¬ ever. The testimony of Gen. Smith, page 244V; the testimony of Judge Bosvvorth, -page 2475; the testimony of Commissioner Vooihis, page 2482; the testimony of Inspector JJilks ; the testimony of Commissioner Dishecker, the testimony of Inspector McDermott, and the testimony of Superintendent Walling, all confirm this statement in addition to ;'.u wliich nearly evei’y one of the captains who was examined, stated the force nnder his command to he inadequate to the discharge of the duties required of it; Gen. Smith in his test-imony at page 2470, gives some very interesting statistics showing the duties absolutely required of the police force as at present organized, and it is a rather startling array of figures. It appears that the total num¬ ber of night posts in the City of New York, is 820, the aggregate length of the night posts is 825 miles, 3 furlongs, 38 rods, 5 yards. The average length of each night post is one mile and 2 rods. The total foi'ce of patrolmen in patrol precincts 1,946. Average absent from any cause 408. Average effective force 1538. Averatje effective force on each night 769. Average length of each actual night post, 1 mile, 23 rods and 2 yards, aggregate length of day posts, 825 miles, 3 furlongs, 38 rods and 5 yards. Avei-age effective day force 384. Average length of each actual day post, 2 miles and 4 rods. A patrolman is re" quired while walking his beat at night, to examine the door of ever}’ house on his post and to see whether or not it is closed securely. When the average length of such a post is considered, one mile and upwards of 23 rods, it may be imagined easily, how long a time it takes a patrolman to get from one end of his beat to the other, and how long an interval must ensue after the time at which he leaves any given point on his beat before he retui-ns to it again. The criminal class dofibtless know these statistics and these facts quite as well as the authorities and much better than the average members of the community, and it is therefore only necessary for them, when engaged in the perpetration of a burglary or some similar crime, to observe when the patrolmen on his beat passes on, and they can reckon with accuracy as to how long a time will ensue before he 40 retai'Ds. The iininl)er necessary to make the force ade¬ quate is variously stated, and doubtless the view expressed by Inspector McDermott, that 2,000 additional policemen are desirable, is true, but it is not to be supposed that anj'- such number as that can, in the present iinancial condi¬ tion of the city, be given ; but 500 additional policemen, are absolutely essential to the safety of the lives and prop¬ erty of the citizens in New York ; and the economy which deprives the tax-pa^^ers of such protection, is economy which entails only extravagance in the end. We most earnestly recommend to the constituted authorities, whether to the Legislature or to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, that another year be not allowed to ensue without 500 additional policemen being given to insure the safet}' of the people of New York. On this point we desire to expi-ess our opinion in the strongest possible terms. And, in connection with this matter of expense, it ought to be said that by a reasonable adjust¬ ment of wages, the additional expense can be veiy easily settled. GKADATION OF WAGES OF PA'l'ROLMEN. The patrolmen at present receive $1,200 per annum, a rate fixed in the year 1860, when the prices of all the necessaries of life were very much greater than at present. In these times it is not to be doubted that $1,200 a year is a compensation which would be Eagerly sought after by many persons competent to perform clerical duties requiring very considerable skill and education, and yet the simplest recruit just entered upon the force as a patrol¬ man, even before he has gone through the school of in¬ struction, receives this same rate of compensation. And an¬ other absurdity is that such a man should receive the same 41 annual salary as an experienced officer who has been on the force for years, aye, even as one who has been pro¬ moted to the responsible position of roundsman. That no discrimination should have been made, that no gradation of wages should have been established, seems almost in- ciedible to the committee. The committee recommend that three grades of patrolmen, as to ])ay, and not other¬ wise, be constituted. The tirst grade to receive $800 per annum, the second grade $1,000, and the third grade $1,200. That all the new persons appointed to the force, shall enter as of the first gi-ade and shall only be promoted into the second grade for merit, or for distingnislied con¬ duct, ill any manner which the Board may deem a proper subject for promotion ; public notice of such promotion to be given by the Board. That the three grades of $800, $1,000, and $1,200 a year, shall, as near as practicable, contain an equal number of patrolmen each. Your com¬ mittee would not recommend the present distribution of the patrol force by main force into such a categoiy, but would suggest that the Board of Police may have discre¬ tion in tlieir judgment to reduce in rate any patrolman they deem proper, from the highest grade to the next lower or to the lowest, if they think it necessary ; and the law should further provide, that a punishment to be in¬ flicted by the Board of Police, after judgment upon trial, may be disrating in similar manner. That so soon as by this process of arrangement the force shall have reached three equal divisions, at $800, $1,000, and $1,200, it shall be maintained in that ratio as nearly as possible and as nearly equallj’ divided, and that promotions from one gi’ade to the other, shall follow upon efficienc}' and merit, and not upon mere length of service or upon in¬ fluence of any kind. If this svstem weie now 42 adopted, it would be possible to employ 315 extra policemen, without addiuoj one cent to the expense of the city, and this calculation is made after allowing for the increased compensation to the superior officers which will be mentioned hereaftei'. So that to establish a permanent force of 500 additional patrolmen, would really not re- quii-e a very much greater outlay from the city than it at present sustains. SALARY OF ROUNDSMEN. The i-oundsmen should receive an additional salary be¬ yond all question, $1,300 a year; an increase of $100 a yeai-, would, probably, be enough in their case. SALARY OF SERGEANTS. The salary of seigeants ought to be raised to about $1,750 pei- annum. SALARY OF CAPTAINS. The captains now receive $2,000 a year. On this sum they are expected to dress like gentlemen, to appear and conduct themselves, at all times, like gentlemen, and they are exposed to some of the severest temptations which a man can possibly encounter. The compensation, as com¬ pared with the responsibility, the power and the tempta¬ tion, is l idiculously inadequate, in the opinion of every coiiqietent witness examined b}' the committee, and in the nuanimous judgment of the committee themselves. The salary of the captains should not be less than $3,000 per annum, and we most earnestly recommend to the Legisla¬ ture an increase of their salary to that extent. 43 SAI.AKV OF IFSl’KCTOKS. The four inspectors now receive $3,500 a year each. If the captains are raised to $3,000, there should be a greater distance between their salaries and that of the captaiiivS, and the committee recommend that their salary be raised to $4,000 each. Then there is the detective foi’ce to be taken into consideration ; but of tlie salaries of those otiice"S and of their duties we shall speak presently. SUl’EKINTKNDENT AND ASSISTANT SFl'KRINTENDENT. The committee are also of opinion, as shadowed forth in their statement concerning the duties of the superin¬ tendent, that the obligations and labors imposed upon the superintendent are too great for any one officer to fully pei'form. We would recommend to the Legislature the creation of the office of assistant superintendent of police, which officer shall be charged especially with the manage¬ ment of the criminal duties pertaining to the superintend¬ ent’s office; the details of crime and its suppression ; the government of the detectives, both ward and headquarters; the general charge of all tliat is expressly directed in the government of the police force to the ])revention and detection of crime. They would then impose upon tlie superintendent the great duties of chief executive of the police force ; directing it, gcverning it, promulgating the rules established by the commissioners, and issu¬ ing all the orders for its management and govei-u- ment throughout the entire city. They would i-ecommend that the salary of the assistant superintendent be the same as that now received by the superintendent, $0,0*>0, and that the superintendent receive a salary of not less than $8,000 a year. The duties of this hitter office are of such 44 great importance, the responsibility is so severe, that it is certainly necessary that an adequate compensation should be provided for a man fitted to fill so great a place. The superintendent now alone of all the force depends upon the Board of Commissioners absolutely for his office, and may be removed at any time without cause. The com¬ mittee would recommend that this shall continue to be the case with the superintendent, while the assistant superintendent shall be in all respects assimilated to the condition of the inspectors and other officers. DOORMEN. The doormen, another force employed on the police, men who have charge of the locked prisons atl ached to each station-house, and who perform various errands and messages connected with those various places, now receive $900, which might properly be lowered to $800, and the committee would suggest that old patrolmen of good standing, who are superannuated and unable further to discharge police duties, may be appointed to such posi¬ tions, without detriment to the interest which their widows or children may have in the police fund. PURIFICATION OF PRESENT FORCE. The gj'avest question with which the committee have to deal, is the question of what shall be done to purify the force as now existing. Upon this subject great difference of opinion has existed, not only among witnesses, but among the members of the committee themselves. It has been the opinion of many of us, that the most efficient and the best way of dealing with the police force, would be to give to the commissioners directly and perpetually, the absolute power of removal, without cause, other than they 45 * deem the persons removed unfit for any reason longer to re¬ main in the force. This opinion is combatted by the testi¬ mony of all the witnesses, who seem most thoroughly to un¬ derstand the police force, and, while the committee cannot but deem it the true theory of management, they are not pre¬ pared to place their opinion, perhaps, crudely formed, against the views of those who have, for years, considered this matter from a practical point of view. But that some such power must be temporarily lodged somewhere, no man who knows anything about the present police force, can doubt for a moment. It is absolutely essential to the good government of the present force, and to the end of its ever becoming a useful and profitable body, that a larj^e number of its hiorher officers should now be removed from its ranks; and yet it is not possible to obtain against them charges which can be sustained by such technical evidence as will support the review to which they may be subjected b}" an appeal taken certiorari to the Suju'eme Court at General Term. The consequence of this is, that officers whom everyone of the commissioners and every superior officer know in their hearts to be dishonest and unfit men, continue in the command of precincts, and the only way to do anything with them is to try to put them in precincts where there is as little to steal as possible. We, therefore, recommend to the Legislature, the passage of a law granting to the pi’esent Commissioners of Police, a body of men in whom the public seem to have justly, absolute confidence, the right to inquire into the present c.ondition of the police force, to take such testimony, whether in public or in private, as they may deem pro 2 )er, lo compel the attendance of witnesses by attachment, if necessary, and for, say, three months from the date of the passage of the act, to dismiss any member of the force •without assigning any reason therefor wliatever. This, no doubt, is a radical remedy, but the disease is such as to call for radical i-emedies, and nothing short of this can possibly serve the present purpose. There are officers upon the force whom it is absolutely indispensable in the interest of good government to get rid of, and unless the force is purged of their presence, all other measures taken for its reformation will be absolutely futile. After this tem])orar 3 ^ emergency is satisfied, it may be well to restore the system of trial, and to provide that no person shall be dismissed except upon a trial and after charges preferred and beard. POWKK 'I'O COMUEr, ATTENDANCE OF WITNESSES. But it is certainly essential, if the Police Commissioners are to be restricted in their dealings with their force, to a system of trial, that they shall have the power to procure the attendance of witnesses, and it is absolutely necessary, that the Legislature should pass an act granting to the Police Commissioners the power to subpoena, and the right to compel by attachment, the attendance and testimony of any witness whose evidence they deem essential in a cause before them. It is a fact that, at least, one captain of the police escaped justice because a patrolman who had re¬ ceived money directly for him, resigned from the force, rather than testify against him, and then snapped his fingers at a subpoena, after he became a private citizen. DICTEC'JTVE FORCE. In the first place the headquarters detectives and the ward detectives should no longer be separate and indepen¬ dent forces. One detective force, large enough in num¬ bers to perform the duties of both branches, should be 47 created, and the members of that force sliould be appoin¬ ted directly as detectives by tlie commissionei's upon the recommendation of the superintendent or in such other manner as they may deem most advisable. The due pro¬ portion of those, one or two, as the case may be, to each precinct, should be assigned by the superintendent to the different precincts to perform the duties now discharged by the ward detectives ; the value of such services and their importance to the well being of the community not being questioned even by those commissioners-and ollicers who most strongly deprecate the present manner of their appointment. Those detectives, while assigned to precincts, should be subject to the order or the captain under regula¬ tions established, and should make their report both to the captain and the inspector of the district. As to the duties now performed by headquarters detectives we recommend a great change in the system in force, a change which will be found mentioned with approval in the testimony of Com¬ missioners Smith, Voorhies and Disbecker. We believe that a secret system of detective police is the oidy one that can effectually perform the duties required of that branch of the force, and that the “ shadowing,” the ferreting out of criminals can only be effectually performed when the persons who are discharging that duty are unknown to the criminals themselves. At present when a crime of great magnitude is committed, the indefatigable agents of the press gather about i’olice Headquarters in flocks, and it is announced the ne.xt day to the whole community that the duty of ferreting out the criminal has been assigned by the su]»ei-intendent to Detective Smith and Detective Jones. The criminals, in common with all the rest of the community, read this notice, and it is simply a warning to them to look out, 48 especially for Smith and Jones, as well as for the general detective force, whose jyersonnel they know intimately. At least a portion of the detective force should be known only to the commissioners and to the superintendent; should never be seen at police hcadqnartei’s ; should never hold any intercourse with other membei’S of the police force ; should, when matters are placed in their hands b}^ the superintendent for investigation, report to him, either at his private residence or in writing. It may be desirable that a certain number of other detectives, known to the public, should be at police headquarters to perform duties which it is almost impossible to have discharged in secret, and, perhaps, it would be well, for instance, that a force of thirty detectives, besides the ward detectives, should be established, say twenty of whom should be secret, and ten openly known. These latter and the ward detectives, might make the arrests after the facts have been ferreted out by the secret detectives. But all systems designed to procure greater efficiency in the detective force must fail, unless greater compensation is given to experienced de¬ tectives. As has been previously stated, the most experi¬ enced detectives receive only the same compensation, and have onB the same rank as the common patrolmen. This should be all changed. The lowest compensation paid to any detective should be $1,500 a year. From that point a graduation should be established up to perhaps as much as $4,000 a year for very experienced and accomplished officei'S. In the same way graduation of rank might be established among them, although this point perhaps is not of so much consequence as the other. At all events they should not rank as patrolmen; they should be separ¬ ated and independent from the patrol force, and not liable to be ordered off upon patrol dnty mdess reduced to the 49 grade of patrolmen upon trial and as a ])UTiisliment. That with the adoption of such a system, and with the acknowledged skill of the present Superintendent of the Police force, who was long captain of the detectives, it would be possible to establish an honest and effective de¬ tective force in a reasonably short time, the committee have no manner of doubt. GAMBLING. The committee have not many suggestions to make on the subject of gambling, so far as the police branch of their investigation is concerned. In the portion of their report relating to the criminal courts, they have suggested an emendation and sim])lification of the law's for the pun¬ ishment of gambling. The })revention of it seems to be am])ly enough provided for, if the police will do their duty. The captain of a precinct should be responsible for the continued existence of gambling in his precinct, and the fact that a gambling house flourishes wdthin his jnris- dictio'.i, should be of itself sufficient ground for his re¬ moval. These matters are wdthin the present pow'er of the police commissioners, and the committee believe that the present board will enforce such a regulation. One change, however, in the law' seems desirable. Under chapter 453 of the Laws of 1864, it is provided that ])rop-erty used in gambling may be destroyed by the police, under such regulations as they may make. Under this law^ it seems that the counsel of the police hoard has advised them that they have no right to make any regu¬ lation for the destruction of such pi'operty', except after the conviction of the offender; and, in consequence, the ex¬ traordinary result is obtained that the police commissioners, the guardians of the public order and morality, have re- 4 50 turned to gamblers a very large quantity of gambling implements, from time to time (see page 122(), et seq., list of gambling property returned). Without discmssing the soundness of the views enunciated by the counsel for the police board, the committee recommend legislation detin- itely requiring the Police Commissioners to destroy such property. It has been suggested that such legislation would be in contravention of the constitutional right that a man has to his property, unless deprived of it by trial by jury. This argument is surely entitled to no weight what¬ ever'. It would apply with equal force against the consti¬ tutionality of the statute providing for the confiscation and destruction of burglars’ tools and obscene articles. When articles are manifestly only to be used for illegal purposes, the law does not lean so strenuously to the side of the criminal as to prevent their summary destruction. PANEL HOUSES, BANCO GAMES, ETC. No legislation upon these topics is necessary. It is sim¬ ply necessary that the police do their duty. It is the con¬ current opinion of all those competent to express an opinion, commissioners, superintendent, inspectors and captains, that any captain can keep his precinct clear of these classes of crime if he is competent and willing to do his duty. They should simply be held to a more rigid responsibility for the existence of such places in their precincts than has been heretofore the case. LOTTERY AND POLICY. The laws for the suppression of this class of crime, are ample enough, at least in so far as the police duties are concerned, and the only requirements are that the laws should be complied with ; and that, after arrests are made, 51 punishment should ensure. But the committee would recommend to the Legislature the passage of a concui-rent resolution, respectfully inviting the attention of our sister State of Kentucky, to the fact that those swindles are carried on under what purport to be chartered fanchises granted under the laws of that State, and that the daily drawings are reported to occur under the supervisou of officials of the commonwealth ; and urging that, if such be the case, the great wrong and knavery tliat is practised in consequence in the city of New York, should be looked upon as a sufficient reason by tlie authorities of Kentucky for the siip])ression of so iniquitous an offeiise. The conduct of those public journals of the city, which, in direct violation of law, publish advertisements of lotteries to be held, is most reprehensible and the statute against such offenders should be rigidly enforced. HORSE-CAR ROBBERIES AND HABITUAL CRIMINALS ACT. Upon the subject of horse-car robberies no direct legis¬ lation is necessary. The suggestion made by Mr. Martinot on page 2527, as to a reinforcement of the rule established by Inspector Carpenter, is undoubtedly a good one, and may be recommended to tbe Board of Police. But, in tills connection, an amendment to the Habitual Criminals Act may be suggested. Though undoubted ly well designed, it has proved ineffectual, owing to the fact that it only provides for the commitmentof habitual criminals, who are found in horse cars, depots, and other places of public resort, with intent to commit crime ; and the police justices have held that the intent must be proven, and this being, of course, impossible, the law has fallen to the ground. The Committee do not doubt that this is an un¬ sound construction of the law, but, to make it clear, 52 tlie statute should be so amended that the presence of the habitual criminal in such places should, of itself, be evidence of the intent, and unless rebutted, should be deemed conclusive. This may seem to some tender hearts a hard law, but unquestionably the welfare of society demands it, and the interests of the very few innocent who may suffer under it, must give way to the universal public good. PROSTITUTION. In approaching the discussion of this subject, the com¬ mittee are aware that it is a most delicate topic, and that the mei’e mention of it seems to many people an insult to the morality of a nation. Your committee, however, can¬ not be deterred by the fear of shocking sentimental moral¬ ists, or even of wounding honest susceptibilities, frornmn- deavoring to throw some light upon a subject which is of such vast importance to the well-being of society. The evidence before them shows, what every man knows to be the fact, that there are large numbers of houses of prosti¬ tution in the city of New York, containing many inmates, and also a large number of individuals who, living in their own apartments, continue to prostitute themselves there ; that these scattered all over the city, in many instances being found in some of the most fashionable and respectable quarters; that many of them are absolute eye¬ sores to their respectable neighbors, carrying on their in¬ famous business not in quiet and obscurity, but flauiiting- ly, openly, indecently and offensively ; and that attempts to check even this latter class are very irregular and very inefficient. The law, construed to its letter, looks upon all prostitutes as disorderly persons, and upon all houses of 53 prostitution as disorderly places. They are under the ab¬ solute ban of the law, and no distinction whatever is, in theoiw, made between them In consequence, the result flows which alwaj's flows from outlawiy, a peculiarly hard¬ ened character, a singularly desperate life, and in addition to that, in the demoralized condition which our police force has attained, it being within the power and being in a strictly legal sense, the duty of a captain of police to sup¬ press every house of prostitution in his precinct, it has come to be a custom for the proprietors of these places to pay black mail to captains in order to secure immunity. The committee do not wish to be understood as saying that this prevails without exception ; tliey are assured to the contrary ; but that in many cases such has been the result, and that so long as the law fastens an ineffaceable stigma upon every house of prostitution, the temptation must ex¬ ist to lead to that result, the committee cannot doubt. Under the law as it now stands no power of classification, no power of localization, no power of restriction or con¬ trol or inspection is legitimately given to the police authorities. Theii- theoretical duty is to suj) 2 '>ress prosti¬ tution. It is a fact, however, which the experience of all mankind proves, that laws of this sort are dead let¬ ters upon the statute book. Human nature is so constitu¬ ted that prostitution will coiitinue in the future as it has ill the past, no matter what laws are fulminated against it, and no matter liow strictly they are sought to be enfoi’ced. If the committee could deem it probable—if they could deem it, in the faintest degree, possible—that the passage of statutes of the greatest severity, and their enforcement, with the most rigid honesty, would absolutely put an end to prostitution, and would not lead to results worse than prostitution, in turning unhallowed passions into injiuy to 54 other spheres of life, they miglit recommend such statutes and sueli enforcement; but they must judge from the ex- pei'ience of the world in all its days, and from the opin¬ ions expressed before them by the wisest and most expe¬ rienced officers of police, that such laws are absolutely nugatory, and can lead onlj^ to harm. Brought face to face with this fact, the question remains for the legislative body of this State to decide whether or not it is Muse to continue the nominal, legal ban under which prostitution is placed, to close the eyes of the law¬ making power to a fact wdiich their hearts cannot ignore, and putting aside all considerations of local welfare, of the gi eatest happiness of the greatest number, to go on in the future as they have in the past, taking no steps towai’ds permanent or healthy reforms. Whatever may be the odium incurred by^ the suggestion among honest people who have not mingled with the world, who are ignorant of its passions and of their fatal effects, the committee are willing to take it upon themselves in earnestly recommend¬ ing to the Legislature the regulating or permitting, or, if the word be not deemed offensive, the li(;ensing of prosti¬ tution. They are met at the outset with the suggestion that this is licensing crime, and in fact there seems to be, even in the mind of so intelligent a person as the super¬ intendent of police, an objection to the word “ license.” As to te]’ms the committee are not tenacious. If any¬ body’s conscience can be soothed, his moral doubts assuaged, by dropping the word “ license” and using the word “ l egulation,” the committee have no earthly objections; but that the objection to the substance of the proposition is an ill-founded one, we cannot doubt. It behooves legis¬ lators to take the world as it is, and to pass laws, not such as would be in accordance with the highest code of morals. bi;t such as would enable the world to be the best governed and the greatest amount of happiness to accrue to the great¬ est number of people. Could we fusion our code of laws upon the code of the Ten Commandments, of the Sermon on the Mount, and of the Golden Rule, and could such laws be carried out, no doubt we would be a far better and a far hap- *pier people ; but every legislator knows that laws in pursu¬ ance of this high system of morality cannot be enforced, and that therefore it is idle to pass them. Legislatures descend to a lower plane. They leave to the moral sense of the community tlie icgulation of the higher theories of honor and duty, and content themselves with so adjusting their legislation that property shall be to the greatest possible ■extent protected, that life shall be as absolutely safe as possible, that health, and that the general welfare of the people may be iu the greatest possible degree augmented. Laws are not based upon codes of ethics. They are based upon the practical convenience of the people; and unless they ai’c enforceable they are worse than useless. An old apple-woman stops in the street with a tray covered with apples; she is liable to be arrested, to be removed by a police officer, because she is an obstacle to traffic. A man suffers the benefactor of his life, the founder of his for¬ tunes, to die in the poor-house, without giving him a cent to keep him from starvation. Society enforces no legal penalty against the latter. The moral offense of the latter is of the highest order. There is no moral offense in the case of the apple-woman, yet the law-making power feels that it can enforce and render practically useful a law against obstructing public highways, but that no law against ingratitude can be of any practical avail. So all legislation should proceed upon this wise theory, not to aim at what is best, but at what can be attained that is 56 best. This theory has been recognized by repeated acts of legislation. The sale of liquor is licensed and regulated- No man can doubt, certainly your committee cannot, with the experience that they have had, that at least ten times as much harm ensues to tlie community from unlimited drinking than from the effects of prostitution; and yet this evil, so much greater, so much worse in its effects, is * accepted, is regulated, and is licensed. Is it because legislatures have deemed it desirable that it should con¬ tinue? We believe that the moi’al sense of .the commu¬ nity would put an end to it to-morrow if it could, but it is because the common-sense of mankind has shown that all prohibitory laws are absolutely idle, that we have re¬ fused to adopt them in this community, and that they are only called for by a few honest and misguided fanatics, while the practical result of licensing and regulating is- found to be in the highest degree beneficial. Now, what would be the good effects of placing prosti¬ tution in the city of New York under police regulation? In the first place, the houses could be located ; the keepers could be required to remain in certain localities. Hespect- able people, living quietly in their homes with their families, would no longer be annoyed by disreputable neighbors, and would be no longer constrained to run from police captain to police court, from police court t<» district attorney, from district attorney to police commissioner, and back again throughout the circle, as the witnesses be¬ fore the committee have testified that they have been compelled to do, without obtaining redress in the end. In the second place, the whole temptation as to bribery of police officers would cease at once. Prostitution being indirectly recognized-by the law, the houses and inmates being registered, the police cuptains’ only authority over 57 them would be to see that they lived harmlessly and iu obedience to the law. At the same time, such a system would prevent all street walking, all indecent exposure of every kind, all offensive demonstrations from windows. Any prostitute* who was guilty of such an offense, should have her permit taken away, should be sent to jail; and every house whence such demonstrations issued should have its permit taken away and its inmates dispersed. In addition to these reasons, the institution should be under medical supervision. The doctors attached to the police department, should examine the inmates, and when they are found to be afflicted with contagious diseases, they should be removed to the hospital. This is a suggestion which doubtless would cause clamor from well-meaning people, on the ground that men who visit these places should not be protected from disease. Without discussing that question, the committee deem, that at least all should unite in saying that even if men should not be protected the innocent wives whom they marry and the innocent offspring to whom they give birth should be protected from carrying with them through life the seeds of an in¬ sidious and dangerous disease. And in this connection, the words of one of the ablest of modern moral writers, Mr. Lecky, in his history of European morals, volume 2, page 300, seem to be apposite. “ However persistently society may ignore this form of vice, it exists nevertheless, and on the most gigantic scale, and that evil rarely assumes such inveterate and j^erverted forms as when it is shrouded in obscurity, and veiled by the hypocritical appearance of unconsciousness. The ex¬ istence in England of unhappy women, sunk in the verj lowest de[)ths of vice and misery, and numl)ering certainly not less than 50,000, shows sufficiently what an appalling 58 amount of moral evil is festering, uncontrolled, undis¬ cussed, and unalleviated, under the fair surface of a de¬ corous society. In the eyes of every physician, and, indeed, in the eyes of most continental writers, who have adverted to the subject, no other feature of English life appears so infamous as the fact that an epidemic which is one of the most dreadful now existing among mankind, which communicates itself from the guilty husband to the innocent wife, and even transmits its taint to her offspring, and which the experience of other nations conclusively proves ma}^ be vastly diminished, should be suffered to rage unchecked, because the Legislature refuses to take official cognizance of its existence, or proper sanitary meas¬ ures for its repressure.” For many years prostitution has been under rigorous regulation in Paris, in Hamburg, in Berlin, in Vienna, and in others of the lai-ge cities of Europe. Despite the immense amount of prejudice to the contrary, it has even been regulated, and with eminent success, in the English garrison towns, such as Portsmouth, the English people, with their curious lack of logical reasoning, but fond¬ ness for ]n’a.ctical results iu legislation, having confined the operation of the law to the garrison towns for the benefit of their soldiers, but having been unwilling to introduce it into the large cities, like London and Liver¬ pool, on account of an unwise public sentiment. The same system was introduced with great success in the city of St. Louis, and a very interesting summary of the work¬ ing of the system thei’e, with many statistics, will be found stated with remarkable force and ability in the evidence of Inspector Dilks, page 2570, et seq. The statistics, which are very curious, can be found on page 2579. The concurrent opinion of President Smith, Superintendent 59 Walling, Inspector Dilks and Inspector McDermot, have deservedly had great weight with the committee in the consideration of this question. In the interest of the well-being, the decorum, the de¬ cency of society; in the interest of the peace and happi- nesl of by far the greatest nnmber of people; in the in- tei’cst of the preservation of the purity of the guardians of the public peace; in the interest of public health, and for the sake of thousands yet unborn, the committee earnestly urge nj”)©!! the Legislature, as the only means of grajtpling with the social evil, the granting to the police of the power of regulation, of localization, and medical visitation. What fees, if any should he paid, should be left to the judgment of the Board of Commissioners of Police. STKKET CLEANING. The whole charge of cleaning the streets of the city of New York is now under the control of the Board of Po¬ lice. One of the commissioners is compelled to devote the gi-eater portion of his time to it, while his colleagues have to spend more or less of theirs. Two of the cap¬ tains oT the force are likewise detailed on duty connected with this department. There is no conceivable reason why the street cleaning should ever have been attached to the Police Department, or why it should remain there. It is the concurrent opinion of all the late members of the Police Board, two of whom are members of the pres- CTit Bedard, that the Street Cleaning Department should be taken away from the Board of Police. It merely oc¬ cupies their time to the exclusion of matters directly and importantly connected with the subject over which they have supreme control, and it has no fitness whatever in 60 their hands. As matter of fact, while, perhaps, it is pass¬ ing a little bej’ond the bounds of the committee’s jurisdic¬ tion, we are of the opinion that the Street Cleaning Bureau should be attached to the Department of Health, where it seems to us to belong with the most eminent propriety, and its work should be contracted and performed under the supei'vision of the Board of Health; or, if the Legis¬ lature are unwilling to do this, a separate department should be established. THE nUEEAU OF ELECTIONS. The Bureau of Elections is likewise attached to the Police Department. They are charged with the appoint¬ ment of some 2240 inspectors and 1220 poll clerks, be¬ sides the designation of about 560 polling places, and all the complicated work connected with the election bureau. As matter of theory, it would probably be better to relieve the Board of Police of this incongruous duty also, but as matter of fact and as matter of convenience, while the Board is constituted as at present, has a non-partisan character, and seems to enjoy the confidence of the com¬ munity, it is, perhaps, better that these very delicate duties should remain where they are. The only way that seems equally advantageous would be to constitute a new com¬ mission composed of an equal number of members, and non-partisan in character, for the purpose of taking charge of the Election Bureau, and as the duties of the Bureau of Elections only exist during three or four months of the year, this is probably not desirable. While recommend¬ ing, therefore, the i-emoval of the Street Cleaning Bureau from the Board-of Police, the committee are not prepared to recommend the removal of the Bureau of Elections. 61 LAW OF SURVEILLANCE. Amongst the numerous excellent suggestions, which have been made to the committee for the suppression of crime, there is one that has struck them witli peculiar force. It is that a law should be passed granting to the criminal courts at the time of sentence, the power of add¬ ing to a sentence of imprisonment, a sentence of surveil¬ lance foi- an additional time, not to exceed the term of imprisonment; that is to say, if a prisoner is sent to State prison for four years, he may at the same time be sentenced to four additional years of police surveillance, and this should be exercised in some such way as this. A registry should be kept at head-quarters and every person under sentence of surveillance should be required while in the city to report himself not less than once a month at head¬ quarters, in person, giving his name and address, and should he fail to do so and be found in the city, he should then be liable to punishment as for a misdemeanor. A similar law should be passed against the use of aliases, and persons giving a false name when apprehended for any offense should bo liable to additional punishment, if found guilty of other crimes, or to punishment as for a misdemeanor if no offense be charged against them. The effect of these two laws will be to make the where¬ abouts of the criminal classes better known to the police, and the detectives will find it easier to deal with them. To carry out the same idea, whenever a New York prisoner is about to be discharged from one of the State prisons, or from the county penitentiary, it should be the duty of the warden of the institution to notify the Superintendent of Police of the fact and of the date on which the discharge will take place. These 62 notices should be entered in a record book to be kept for that purpose at bead-quarters, and by that means the ad¬ vent of the criminal may be prepared for. POLICEMEN IN POLICE COUKTS. Since the adjournment of the committee, a dispute has arisen between some of the Police Justices and the Com¬ missioners of Police as to the governmentof the policemen who are detailed to the Police Courts. Without enterina: at all into the merits of this controversy, the committee are of the opinion that it is a waste of good material to keep policemen detailed as process-servers and messengers at the several police Courts. The judges should be permitted to appoint a sufficient number of attendants for that pur¬ pose, and at most one patrolman might be detailed to eacb Court to perserve order. Such an arrangement would re¬ lease five sergeants and forty men for general police duty. PENSIONS. The pension laws of the police force should be so amended that the board should have the power to put any man on the pension list who has performed ten years or more of patrol duty, and who applies for such a pension when incapacitated ; or to put on the list any one who is incapacitated after the same length of service, if he does not apply for that action on their part OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS. The police board should have power to take a patrol¬ man on trial. A patrolman when now appointed, before entering the school of instruction, is absolutely a member of the force and can only be removed after a hearing of regular charges and a judgment. It shoidd be within the 63 power of the board, within sixty days after the entry of any patrolman on the force, to dismiss him without cause assigned, simply upon the report of the drill officers that he does not show sufficient capacity or willingness to learn the duties properly. The persons so appointed should re¬ ceive pay for the time which they remain members of the force. After sixty days they should become full mem¬ bers, and not subject to removal except for cause. The police commissioners should have the right of removal on the groiind of incapacity or incompeteiicy, a power which is not now lodged in their hands, and yet one which is surely most essential to the proper government of the force. They should have the power to disrate as a pun¬ ishment. It might not, perhaps, he desirable to reduce captains to the gi-ade of sergeants, because a degraded captain would probably make a very bad sergeant, but it should be within the power of the Board to reduce ser¬ geants to roundsmen, roundsmen to patrolmen, and patrol¬ men of one of the grades to an inferior grade, as a punish¬ ment, on a judgment, after trial. LODGEES. Every station-house in the City of New York receives Tiightly a large number*of lodgers of both sexes, who spend the nights within the station-house. No doubt some of them are deserving and sutfering poor. Many others are tramps of the most worthless character and the most vagabond habits. The tramp nuisance is attracting a great deal of attention throughout the country, and, be¬ yond all question, large numbers of these vagrants come to ISew York, and “ revolve” from one station-house to an¬ other, living during the day on beggary and petty pilfer¬ ing. But one way of dealing with this class of the com- 64 mnnitv has been found effective, and it is to make them work for tlieir lodging. The genuine tramp has an intense horror of work, and the very suggestion of it causes him to flee to otlier parts of tlie country. The honest poor will be perfectly willing to pay with their labor for a night’s shelter ; and, in addition, the city might very prop¬ erly provide those who labor and lodge with them a meal. The work that they could do would, undoubtedly, be the cleaning of the station-houses, and, to some extent, the cleaning of the streets. This suggestion is enforce d and recommended by the testimony of several of the police justices and other experts, including Mr. Sinclair Tousey, the President of the Prison j^ssociation, whose wide ex¬ perience as a practical philanthropist entitles liis views to the utmost respect, both from the committee and from the Legislature. On the whole, with the passage of the laws recom¬ mended by the committee, they deem tha prospects of the police force much brighter in the future than their per¬ formances have been in the recent past. Without entering into the merits of the controversy in the late police board, one thing was certain, that harmony did 'not exist, and that the board was divided equally in opinion upon almost all vital topics. The present police commissioners, four in number, are equally divided in party politics, but seem to be a unit in their judgment as to the proper government of the police force. The president is widely known throughout the whole coi;ntry, and the people of this communitjq and, indeed, of the United States, have a confidence in him which it is believed he will thoroughly deserve. If a proper increase is made in the number of the police force, if laws necessary for its efficient manage¬ ment are enacted, the committee look forward under the 65 Dew police commission to a great improvement in the efficiency, the character*, and the usefulness of the force, and to a great decrease of crime. HOUSE OF DETENTION. In connection with the subject of the police, allusion should be briefly made to the House of Detention for Witnesses, which is under the control of the Police De¬ partment, and is managed by a Sergeant with one patrol¬ man and three doormen under his command. In this place are detained those witnesses for the people in criminal cases who are unable to give security for their appearance at trial. From the examination of Sergeant Taft (p, 1315, et sey ), it will appear that on the day on which he was examined thirty-live persons were then detained, while the number has been as high as fifty-seven. One person had been kept there seven months, Avhile two boys, who were witnesses in the Stokes’ case, remained in the House of Detention several years. On leaving, they may receive such small sum of money, by way of compensation, as a judge may deem proper to allow them, lu one case, four girls were kept four months as witnesses, while the pris¬ oner was on bail all the time, and, after all, they were dis¬ charged without any trial being held. The Committee are, emphatically, of opinion, that such a state of things is a disgrace to a civilized land, and ouffht not to be tolerated for a moment loimer. The remedy for this abuse is very fully stated in the testimony of John K. Fellows, Esq., Ex-assistant District Attorney, a thoroughly competent witness (p. 2939 et seq.). Let the 5 66 testimony of a witness, who cannot give bail, be im¬ mediately taken, de heiie esse, in the presence of the Dis¬ trict Attorney and tlie prisoner’s counsel, and if, at the trial, the witness cannot be procured, let bis written tes¬ timony be taken instead. It is Mr. Fellows’ opinion, tliat in 98 cases out of 100, tlie personal attendance of the wit¬ ness would be easily obtained at the trial. CRIMINAL COURTS. The criminal courts in the city of New York, ascending from the lowest to the highest, consist of the Police Courts, the Court of Special Sessions, the Court of General Ses¬ sions and the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Of these the three latter are exclusive!}' trial courts, while the Police Courts are courts of • commitment, and, in some cases, courts of trial as well. POLICE COUKTS. The Police Courts in the city of New York are held by eleven police justices, or magistrates, appointed by the mayor of the city under the provisions of the statute of 1873, and holding office for terms of varying duration. They receive salaries of $8000 per annum each, and are dis¬ tributed into six courts as follows : the Tombs Police Court, two justices; the West Washington Place, formerly the Jefferson'3 Market, Police Court, two justices; the Essex Market Police Court, two justices: the Yorkville or 57th Street] Police Court, two justices; the Harlem Police Court, two justices, and the Tremont Police Court, one justice; the last tribunal having been created by the act which provided for the annexation of the new wards for- 67 inerly in Westchester County to the city of New York. The statute law of the State requires that prisoners shall be taken to the nearest police court, and, in the city of New York, the designation of police courts to which the various police precincts are to send their i)risoners is made by the Commissioners of Police. The ensuing result is that the business of the courts as now constituted is most unequally divided, both territorially and with respect to business transacted. The Tombs Police Court has an average of 74 prisoners a day; the Washington Place Court, 63 ; the Essex Market, 46 ; 57th street, 36 ; Harlem, 9, and Tremont, 2^; while in the whole vast portion of the city lying west of Fourth avenue and north of Wash¬ ington place u)) to the extreme northern limit of the city, which is the southern boundary of the city of Yonkers, not one police court exists. Although two justices are as¬ signed to each of the courts excepting the court at Tre- mont, but one sits at a time. For a week each assio-ned justice holds court in his district, examining prisoners, receiving complaints, issuing warrants, taking bail and dis¬ charging all the business of a police court. The succeed¬ ing week is an off week with him, unless he happen to sit three times during the week in the Court of Special Ses¬ sions, or unless examinations of any length are set down before liirn during that week. The arrangement seems bad in eveiy respect, inartistic and unsatisfactory, and should be entirely altered. The present police justices took office on the 4th of No¬ vember, 1873, succeeding to a board of police justices elected under the old law. The old clerks and attendants remained in office one week longer, and, on the 11th of November, were succeeded by the new appointees. But one of the old police justices was re-appointed, and none, 08 we believe, of the new appointees had ever held the posi¬ tion before. It is the general opinion of the witnesses before ns that, on the whole, the new board of police justices has been an improvement on the old, and the Committee do not doubt that a system of appointed police justices would naturally work more satisfactorily tlian a system of election of justices, in districts, b}" the people. The tenui'e of office, too, is long, which is in itself a desir¬ able thing. It cannot be said, however, that the new po¬ lice justices have left nothing to be desired as to the man¬ ner in which they have discharged the duties imposed upon them by law. One curious fact may be collated from the testimony of nearly all of those wlio were exam¬ ined, viz.: That, on their entry into office, they did not make it their business to have made a thorough examina¬ tion and codification, for tlieir own purposes, of tlie laws governing their courts, but, apparently, took the traditions of tlie old courts from the clerks who remained with them one week, and, after that, they groped after the law as- best they might. In consequence of this neglect, many plain directions of the statute law have not been complied with by the police justices. And, at this point, it seems proper to remark that, while we suggest some amendments to the laws governing police courts, on the whole, the statute law of the State is, in this respect, remarkably good, and, in the judgment of so experienced a witness as Mr. Allen, for many years Assistant District Attorney, stands in need of but little alteration. What is required is, that the police justices should obey the law. The most important of these omissions, is the omission to comply with the plain letter of the statute governing the examin¬ ation of prisoners. The provisions of that statute will be found, given in detail, on page 992 of the testimony, and 69 it is there provided tliat, after the witnesses for tlie prosecution liave been examined, the justice shall take the prisoner into a private room, only the coun¬ sel for the prisoner being present, if the prisoner so desire, and there examine him touching all the circumstances of the case. The practice has been that when any prisoner stated either personally or through counsel that he waived examination, the justice has merely taken the foi’inal statement of his name, his age, and the fact that he thus waives examination, and has then signed the papers 'and transmitted them to the proper tribunals. No such result was ever intended by those who framed the statute. It was designed that the prisoner should have no right of waiving examination, although, of course, he could not be constrained to answer any question unless he felt disposed so to do; but it was the duty of the magistrate to examine him rigorously as to the cii’cum- stances <.)f the case ; and, beyond all doubt, were this law complied with, a very great benefit to the administration of justice would be obtained. An innocent prisoner, upon being interrogated directly after his arrest, would generally be able, and ought to be glad, to narrate the circumstances of his defense, so that no harm could ensue to him ; while if a guilty prisoner told falsehoods under examination, these might be subsequently detected ; or, if he declined to answer pertinent questions, his examination, being under the law producible in evidence at his trial, would weigh heavily against him. The object apparently intended by the law-makers was to give to the magisti’ate a power of cross-examination, so to speak, something like that possessed by juge d’instruction in France, ex¬ cepting that the prisoner here may have the presence of liis^counsel if he desires. The excellent effects that have 70 followed from this system in France are well known to all who are familiar with French jurisprudence. It is hoped b}' the Committee that now that the attention of the justices has been called to this statute, of which, or, at least, of the effects of which, they seem to have been ignorant, they will put it actively in force; and in this connection the language used by Mr. Allen may very properly be quoted; “ Q. When the prisoner waives an examination, does it follow that the magistrate is bound to waive it? “A. No, sir; what that means is, that the prisoner waives his right to produce witnesses ; I have seen hun¬ dreds and hundreds of cases when examination has been waived, where the papers have come down from the magistrate’s, court Avith nothing but the complainant’s statements, without even the statement of the prosecuting witnesses, so that the District Attorney is unaware of what the witness is going to swear to. The result is that, when the case comes to the District Attorney’s office, the facts of the prosecution are all spread before the defend¬ ant, and he and his ingenious counsel have access to them, and tliey have all the interim between the time of the ex¬ amination and the commitment, and the day of trial, to make np their defence, and the prosecution is disarmed by that process ; whereas, if the magistrates did their duty in all cases, and compelled the prisoner to put himself on record then and there when brought before him, the Dis¬ trict Attorney would be put on an even footing with the Other side, and justice would not fail.” And later Mr. Allen adds: ‘‘The effect of it is, I may say, that justice is left without her sword” (page 1650). On page 1049 Mr. Allen says : “ I think that one of the principal reasons why crime in this city is not suppressed. ri is that tlie police magistrates, not only now, but of late yearS; either have been seriously ignorant of their duties or have wilfully neglected them in several respects.” Another matter wherein the plain letter of the statute has been violated by the police magistrates is in that stat¬ ute which makes it mandatory by the magistrates in all cases to bind over the witness to appearand prosecute. If this law were complied with, it would have a great effect in putting an end to one of the most powerful causes of crime in this city, the compounding ot felonies. If com¬ plainants and witnesses were put under their own recogni¬ zances to prosecute, it would not be so easy for shyster lawyers to compound cases by settling with the complain¬ ants, and thus procuring the dropping of the cases on the part of tlie complainants. Among the defects of the present system, of law is that no magistrate can take bail in a case which has been com¬ menced before another, without the consent of the first magistrate. This, in many instances, leads to great hard¬ ships. The only power given to the magistrates to punish in¬ toxication, which constitutes the great mass of the cases brought before them for summary disposition, is to sen¬ tence the prisoner to a fine of not exceeding ten dollars, or, in lieu thereof, a commitment for not exceeding ten days; and this is the case, although the same offender should be brought up a dozen times in a year, as not un- frequently happens. One of the great difficulties \\ith which police justices have had to struggle, as have jdl the other authorities, in dealing with crime in any of its phases, lias been the con¬ stant interference of politicians on behalf of prisoners. Police justices all testify to the annoyance growing out of 72 this matter, and it is undoubtedly one which should be rectified. The Annual Report of the Board of Police Justices has been completed since the Committee concluded its ses¬ sions, and the statistics therein contained are of great in¬ terest in dealing with this branch of the Committee’s business. The total number of cases disposed of in the police courts during the last year was 84,399, of which number 60,331 were males and 24,068 females. Of these 54,655 were held, 29,733 were discharged, and 11 cases were still pending at the time of the preparation of the report. Of those held, 3,126 were for felonies, 8,053 for misdemeanors, and the balance for summary proceedings, such as intoxication, disorderly conduct, vagrancj'^, etc. KEMEDIES SUGGESTED. The eleven police justices of the city are probably not enough to deal adequately with the great mass of crime in the city, yet the number would be much more nearly adequate were they properly redistributed. If the Court of Special Sessions be made a special tribunal, as the Com¬ mittee suggest further on, and the eleven magistrates be distributed to eleven different courts in the city, a great improvement in many respects would ensue, and this sug¬ gestion meets with the approval of many of the most ex¬ perienced and competent justices. The six present courts should probably be continued with one justice apiece, and five other courts distributed with reference partly to the density of the criminal population and partly to the ques¬ tion of territorial jurisdiction, so as to equalize the labor among the eleven courts as neai’ly as possible; and the Committee see no reason why these five additional courts should not be held in certain designated police station- 4 73 houses. It would be a great benefit to the city, in the opinion of ex Police Justice Ledwith and of other compe¬ tent witnesses, if a police magistrate could sit in each police station-house in the city of New York. The con¬ venience of complainants, the welfare of those arrested, and the efficiency of the police would be greatly aug¬ mented by such an arrangement. But in view of the financial condition of the cit}’, this is probably out of the question. At all events the present justices should be dis¬ tributed, as above indicated, one to a court, and the five extra ones should hold their courts in station-houses se¬ lected as most appropriate for that purpose. One of the inconveniences of the present system is the length of time which a large number of the police force have to consume in conveying their prisoners to the police courts and in remaining there till their cases are dis¬ posed of, thus diminishing the effective force of the po¬ lice in the city of New York every day bj a very con- siderable number. The labor of a justice assigned to such a court would be no more arduous than at present, and there seems to us no reason wdiy such a system should not be at once can-ied out. If a justice holding a particular court is absent owing to sickness, or is taking a furlough, his court could be lield for him by a brother justice, just as is now the rule in the civil district courts in the city of New York. The salary of the justices is probably too high, although of course, under the Constitution it cannot be altered as to any of the present justices during their present terms of office. The Committee would suggest to the Legislature that $5,000 per annum, the salary which all the old police justices received, excepting during about eighteen months, would be a sufficient salary, and would recommend the 74 passage of a law fixing the compensation of justices to be hereafter appointed at that snin. It is also suggested that the force of clerks and court officers is probably unnecessarily large, and that opinion the Committee are not prepared to dissent from. The law of intoxication should be so altered, that any justice may commit a person chai’ged with that offense a second time for a ranch longer period. Singularly enough, this is now the law in eveiy portion of the State except the city of New York. For what reason the city of New York was excepted the Committee are utterly at a loss to imagine. There is no place in the State where such a law would be more beneficiah It is repeated in the testi¬ mony before the Committee, with wearisome reiteration, that people are brought up ten, fifteen and twenty times a year before the police courts for intoxication, and sent to the Island foi' ten days ; and the testimony of the officials of the prisons is, that ten days’ confinement in such cases is absolutely of no use whatever. The mere physical effect of the licpior is not worked out of the sys¬ tem by the end of such a period. Such persons should be confined for six months, or even for a year, should be kept away from all use of intoxicating driidts, should be treated with proper medical treatment, and should be made to work. The effect would be to go far to remove the gnawing taste for intoxicating drinks, which many of these people feel. Another statute which should be passed is one granting to the justices the right to take bail pending examination. In many cases these examinations stretch over weeks, being adjourned from time to time, and tliere is no authority under the law at present to take bail from pilsoners. There seems to be no good reason why this power should 75 not be given to the magistrate, and it should be accom¬ panied, of course, with proper provisions for the enforce¬ ment of the penalties against the sureties. Tlie hardship growing out of the law which provides that no justice can take bail in a case which is pending before another should be obviated. It is claimed that abuses may flow from tlie existence of such a powei-, but the Committee are not disposed fo attach much weight to that suggestion. It should be provided, at least, that any justice who is sitting in any one court may take bail in any case which has been commenced in that court; a custom which has been introduced in practice by Judge Bixby, This amendment would probably obviate all the difficulties suggested. No police courts are now held on Sunday afternoon, and persons are sometimes improperly arrested after the close of the police courts on Sunday morning -who are locked up until Monday. It should be made obligatory on the police justices to have a court on Sunday afternoon, say from five to seven, wherein one justice shall sit to hear complaints and admit to bail for the whole city. This provision would be sufficient to meet the difficulty and would undoubtedly tend to the welfare of the community. The prisons attached to the police courts are now under the control of the Commissioners of Charities and Cor¬ rection, and difficulties of jurisdiction have arisen from time to time. The Committee think that these prisons should be under the control of tlie police justices, under such regulations as they may make. They are not prisons in any just sense of the word ; they are mere places of detention, and ought to be managed by the magisti'ates under whose orders the prisoners are there detained. The courts are now served, as is mentioned in the the report on the subject of the police, by squads of police attached to each court, who serve papers, run errands and perform other similar duties for the the police justices. As is intimated in that portion of report, this system should be abolished and the justices should be allowed to appoint three or four attendants to each court at small salaries, who should do this duty. These attendants would be under the absolute control of the police justices, which is in every way desirable, and this method would avoid the conflict of authority, which has already arisen; while, at the same time, a number of policemen would be released to discharge the important duties which the community expect of them. In excise cases the police magistrates are now required to accept bail not to exceed $100, while in other cases ■the amount of bail is left to their discretion. The com¬ mittee see no reason whatever for this distinction, and recommend the placing of the amount of bail in such cases on the same footing with that in all other cases. One other subject suggests itself to the consideration of the Committee, and that is that the police justices here after to be appointed should be lawyers of a certain dura¬ tion of practice. Only long experience, coupled with eminent ability, as is the case with the oldest serving po¬ lice justice in the present board, can compensate for the lack of legal training and legal knowledge; and scattered throughout the examinations of some of the police justices, will be found indications of ignorance of the principles of law. The popular theory that common sense is all that is needed in a police justice, is absolutely false. Common sense is a pre-requisite, but a knowledge of common and statute law is likewise essential. One other suggestion made by Judge Kilbreth (page 77 2314), is entitled to serious consideration. It is that the District Attorney should from time to time make a re¬ turn to the police justices individually, of the disposition of cases sent him by them. This would enable a police justice to give information when necessary, would furnish a record for the purposes of the history of criminal trans¬ actions, and would tend largely to fix the responsibility for the failure of justice, which, unfortunately, ensues in so many cases. COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS. The Court of Special Sessions of the Peace, having jurisdiction over all misdemeanors and over a very few felonies, sucli as petty larceny, is held by three police justices, who sit alternately for a month at a time. They sit thrice a week for about three or four hours, and dis¬ pose of an average of upwards of thirty cases a day. No prosecuting officer appears in this court, and in many cases the magistrates act as prosecuting attorneys, as counsel for the prisoners, as judges and as jury, a loading of responsibility which ought not to be encouraged. It is manifest that many grievous errors have, in one way and another, crept into the transactions of this court, and the Committee cannot doubt that they largely flow from the utter lack of time in which properly to dispose of its business. Many of the justices while sitting at the Court of Special Sessions leave their police courts, some of them at the other end of the city, without any presiding justice, and they are naturally anxious to dispatch the business of the Court of Special Sessions as rajridly as possible, in order to return and dispose of the mass of police busi¬ ness which must accumulate during their absence j hence a nervous rapidity in dealing with crime 78 which often tends to injustice to the prisoner, and often to injustice to the public. One or two instances were brought to the attention of this conunittee in which certain cases had been tried and disposed of by the Court of Special Sessions, although they clearly had no legal jurisdiction; and it became almost impossible to fix the responsibility for this, as the clerk of the Special Sessions stated that he simply acted minis¬ terially in placing the cases on the calendar, while the judges stated that they did not have time to examine the cases and took their calendar directly from the clerk. The case of Burr, a policy dealer, is testified to in various por¬ tions of the testimony, particularly on pages 1613 and 1614. After reviewing the whole question and examining it with great care, the Committee is decidedly of opinion that it is not only advisable but absolutely necessary to the suppression of crime in the city of New York, that an in¬ dependent court of Special Sessions should be created, consisting of two justices or perhaps three; that the mem¬ bers of this court should have no magisterial duties to perforin, should sit every day, and should bestow their entire attention upon the court of Special Sessions; and that the District Attorney’s office should be represented in the court of Special Sessions; to accomplish which it will be necessary that the Legislature should authorize the District Attorney to appoint another assistant. One of the evils now fiowing from the present constitu¬ tion of the court of Special Sessions is that the police justice who has held the prisoner upon examination may, and in fact often does, sit on his trial. Some of the judges seem to think that they can rise superior to the prejudice which naturally must ensue in any human breast under 79 such circumstances, but the judgment of the law-making power of this State on such a subject has already been expressed in an amendment to the Constitution, which provides that no judge of a higher court shall sit in review of his own decisions, and likewise in the universal practice of criminal courts, that any member of a grand jury which found an indictment is disqualified from sitting on a petit jury trial of that indictment. If this court thus sitting every day be constituted, another great reform can be introduced which the Com¬ mittee hope and believe would largely tend to the diminu¬ tion of crime in the city of New York. In the past, for quite a number of \'ears, large numbers of criminals who, upon being arrested, have given bail and demanded a jury trial, which they cau only obtain at the Court of General Sessions or the Court of Oyer and Terminer, have, from the great pressure of business on those courts, absolutely gone unwhipped of justice ; and this has been peculiarly the .case with the gamblers, ])olicy dealers, keepers of dis- ordeily houses and those guilty of similar offences. Un¬ der the Constitution, they cannot be deprived of their right of ti-ial by juiy, and under the Constitution practically construed they are entitled to bail. The Court of Special Sessions as reconstituted should have the power to summon a jury and to try all misdemeanors wherein a jury trial is demanded as well as all other misdemeanors, with the pos¬ sible exception of offences growing out of the conduct of public officials. Some of these cases which rise to the dignity of state trials are, as is well known, only misde¬ meanors under the law, but doubtless they should be tried by the highest courts, of the State ; but, putting these aside, there seems no reason why the Court of Special Sessions, if clothed with the power of summoning a jury, should not so try all misdemeanors. The effect, in the first place, will be celerity of punislnnent, whicli is almost as important as pnnishmeut itself towards the suppression of crime. Place before a criminal the certainty that he will be speedily tried and he will be much less ready to risk the chances of the trial than when he has the law’s delay and the long chapter of accidents in his favor. On this point the com¬ mittee make the most earnest representations to the Legis¬ lature. The expense of such a tribunal would be but a trifle in addition to the present expense, especially in view of the suggestion of the diminution of the salaries of the police justices as their present terms expire, and we are satisfied that there is not in the whole subject of criminal jurisprudence in the city of New York, a more vitally im¬ portant topic than this one. If the Legislature will create a permanent Court of Special Sessions, whose judges have no distracting duties and who are burdened with no dis¬ tracting influences, which shall sit every day and all day, which shall have the assistance of the District Attorney’s office, and which shall have the power to try all misde¬ meanors, whether with or without a jury, we believe that great good will ensue to the city of New York. This sug¬ gestion is found most earnestly urged in the testimony of several of thp ex-police justices of long experience, and in that of several of the present justices, and is peculiarly pressed in the views expressed by the wisest and most ex¬ perienced of the present j ustices, the only one who has been long upon the bench. His opinions, in view of his experience and of his unquestioned ability and character, are entitled to great consideration at the hands both of the Committee and the Legislature (see page 2649). The laws concerning gambling and policy dealing should be remodeled. As at present constituted, having 81 been passed at different periods, and with different ends in view, they leave dangerons loop-holes open through which a doubt can creep as to whether the offence be a misdemeanor or a felony. Whichever the Legislature may deem it proper to make the offence, should be speci¬ ally set forth, and should be one and the same for all the branches of the offence. As it now is, tlie keeping of a policy shop is a misdemeanor, and the selling of a policy is a felony, a distinction where there is no difference. Probably all the offences against these laws should be made felonies, and should be so punishable. FINES. The subject of fines is an important one, both with reference to the duties of the police magistrates and to those of the Courts of Special Sessions. Numbers of convicts are sentenced to imprisonment and to fine in ad¬ dition, and the great majority of these are unable to pay the fine. Some of them languish for a considerable time in jail; some are almost immediately discharged after the expiration of their term of imprisonment, and in the case of some, application seems to be made for their discharge even before the expiration of their term. The statistics in reference to this subject, in so far as prisoners sent to the penitentiary are concerned, may be found on pages 2017, etc. A custom not by any means universally observed seems to have sprung up of regarding the additional fine of one dollar as capable of being mulcted by an additional im¬ prisonment of one day ; that is to say, if a prisoner is sent to the penitentiary for two months and sentenced to pay fifty dollars fine he shall remain in tlie penitentiary fifty days after the expiration of the two months, and then his 6 H2 fine may be remitted. The Committee see no good reason why this custom should not he established as law and why the dangerous uncertainty an 1 vacillation of the present system should not thereby be brought to an end. They therefore would recommend this suggestion to the favora¬ ble consideration of the Legislature. One further suggestion inade by one of the experienced judges is, that the civil district court and the police court in the new wards should be consolidated into one tribunal, as neither of them has much to do. This system, which would make a court somewhat like that of a justice of the peace in the country, would seem to meet the exigencies of the case and is recommended to the Legislature. COUET OF GENERAL SESSIONS. The Court of General Sessions has for many years been held by the Recorder and the City Judge. Since the 1st of January, 1876, an additional justice, known as the Judge of the Court of General Sessions, has been added. It has only been customary in the past to hold one monthly term of this court. The Committee are not at all satisfied that it was not perfectly practicable to hold two terms monthly during many of the months at least, and are of opinion most decidedl}' that a great many of the cases which have not been tried, owing to a lack of court facilities, might have been disposed of had the permissive power of the statute authorizing the court on the application of the Dis¬ trict Attorney to order two terms been availed of. How¬ ever that may be, the law now specifies that two monthly terms shall be held every month, and it is the earnest hope of the Committee that this provision may tend to clean out the criminal calendars. We believe that its present place of session, in the old S3 Court-liouse in the City Hall Fark, is not a desirable one, and that it should sit in the more immediate vicinity of the Tombs, so as to avoid the un[)leasant spectacle of hand¬ cuffed prisoners being marched up and down from the Tombs to the court. At least one of the judges of this court has exercised what is called the power of suspending sentence—that is, after a person is convicted even of a felony, not sentencing him, hut letting him go, and holding the sentence in terrorem over his head for an indefinite time. There is not, so far as we have been able to learn, the faintest warrant in law for this proceeding. It seems to be an infringement upon tlie pardoning power of the Executive, and in every re¬ spect an injustice which ought to cease. The Committee recommend the passage of an act forbidding any judge, presiding over a criminal court, to defer or suspend sen¬ tence of a convicted prisoner for a longer period than the close of the term at which such prisoner shall have been convicted. THE COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER, the highest criminal court in the city, is held four or five times a year by a justice of the Supreme Court. Ko sug¬ gestions as to its management seem to be essential. CORONERS. There are four coroners in the city of New York, who receive compensation by fees, and who spend substantially their entire time in the duties of their office. After ex¬ amining pretty thoroughly into their proceedings, the Com¬ mittee find nothing very striking to report to the Legisla- 84 ture concerning the manner in which their duties are per¬ formed. They in general seem to perform their duties well, and the results of their labors are, on the whole, sat¬ isfactory. They have all been guilty of an utter violation of law in issuing warrants for the arrest of persons before any verdict of the jury is rendered. This is a manifest violation of the plain letter of the statute, and no warrant for it is found in tlie common law, as one of the coroners seemed to think before the Committee. The most important suggestion which we can make in reference to this office is, that the coroners should be sal¬ aried officials. There seems no special I'eason why they should be paid by fees any more than police justices, whose dirties theirs somewhat resemble, and while they should undoubtedly be well-paid officers, it is probable that they are rather overpaid now. The fact that they ai’e paid by fees, too, has led to collisions between them and the financial officer of the county, and to a series of law suits which appear to have merely entailed costs and other expenses upon the city. The Committee would suggest to the Legislature that after the expiration of the terms of the present coroners, the fee system shall be abolished, and that each coroner shall i-eceive a salary of say $8,000 per annum. The power they have to summon physicians should con¬ tinue as it now exists, and these may very properly be compensated by fees, as is at present the law. It may be a question worth taking into consideration whether any particular advantage accrues from keeping up the system of coroners in the city of New York. The Committee have not been able to learn that any great good is derived from their continuance in office, which might not be obtained through other sources just as well. 8 ;') The power of permitting the burial of ])ersons, and the duty of inspecting tlie deceased wlien any suspicious cir¬ cumstances exist, might be relegated to the Board of Health, while the examinations into such cases, now held by coroners, might, possibly, be conducted before the police justices. This suggestion, however, has.not been elaborated, and is merely thrown out for the considera¬ tion of the Legislature. DISTRICT ATTORNEY. This is by far one cf the most important offices in the City of New York for the suppression of crime, and it is to the District Attorney that the people must look, more than to any other officer connected with the criminal ad¬ ministration of justice, for the suppression of crime. The Committee entered upon the examination of the administration of the affairs of that office, not oidy with V the hope, but the expectation, that here would be founJ ability, honesty, and a faithful discharge of duty. With a large salary which is attached to the office, and the honorable position which it gives an incumbent, the best talent in the legal profession, and men of the highest in- tegrity and social position are glad to accept and fulfill the duties of the office. With the salary attached to the position of the assistants in the office, lawyers of moie than ordinary ability are glad to obtain it. Even the position of Chief Clerk in the office is one which a man of legal ability, honesty, and culture would not refuse to accept. Immense power attaches to the office of District Attorney, which can be wielded for good or evil, and under the laws as they at present exist, crime 86 in tlie City of New \ ork can be greatly diminished if the incumbent of that office has but a single eye to the public good. There is no offense which has come under the coffui- zance of this Committee, in any of the departments which they have examined, which cannot be acted upon in the first instance, either directl}" or indirectly, by the District Attorney. With his power in connection with the Grand Jury, it would be difficult, did he exert it, for captains of police b; confederate with thieves or disorderly persons, or for magistrates to neglect or disregard their plained uties. The Committee regret to say that they have found that the office of the District Attorney has been, for a nurabei- of years past, negligently and inefficiently administered. Case after case was brought to the attention of the Com¬ mittee, vonclied for by individuals, and supported and confirmed by the recoi’ds of the court, whicli could leave no doubt in the minds of the Committee as to the truth of this statement. The cases of Mrs. Eoddy, page 1228 to 1267, and 1273 to 1278 ; the McCarthy homicide, at page 654 to 665 ; the Levi Ahrens’ case, at page 523 to 650, 635 to 647, 816 to 819; the Eliza Collins’ outrage, at page 1723 to 1745, aptly illustrate, and the case mentioned by Mr. Comstock, the Agent of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, on page-. While the Committee make no charge of dishonesty of purpose against the District Attorney, they regret that he refused to appear and make explanations in regard to matters, which upon their face exhibited inefficiency or neglect, and suggest new remedies which might be the means of preventing them in the future. In the judgment of the Committee, some of the assist- 87 ants are persons of oi’dinarj merit and legal abilit}', and to them, holding no official responsibilit}*, seems to have been intrusted, to a very great extent, the rnnning of the office. Prisoners seem to have been indicted and dis¬ charged without the knowledge of the District Attorney ; bail taken a})parently without his consent; and prisoners taken from the jurisdiction of the inferior magistrates without his suggestion by an Assistant District Attorney, and even by a clerk in his office; and these persons dis¬ charged without any apparent reason or cause. Without his knowledge it would appear that more than one hundred indictments were found in one day through an assistant against lottery dealers—(testimony of Mr. Allen, at page 1662). Without his knowledge an attempt was made to indict one of the most respectable and reputable citizens of this city—see testimony, page 1686—against whom there was no cause for complaint, but evidently intended for the purpose of saving from indictment two persons against whom there was good cause. • Hundreds of indictments against lottery dealers, keepers of houses of prostitution, and other disorderly persons, have been found, and only the very smallest per¬ centage of them has been tried. The most successful forgeries e\er known have been committed ; many of the criminals were arrested at great expense, and most of them were discharged. One of these men, Eoymond, was extradited from Europe and detained for a few months in the Tombs, and was then removed, under a writ of habeas corpus ad testificundum to Elmira, since which departure he has never been heard of by the authorities in Hew York, nor has any report concerning him ever been sent from Elmira. Many of 88 those who were known to have been associated with Tweed in his extensive. depredations have been arrested, and hut few of them have been tried and punished. A 2 :ainst Tweed himself twentj'-two indictments for felony and seven indictments for misdemeanor have been found, and but one indictment for misdemeanor against him has been tried ; and now, through the gross negligence of some one, as yet unpunished, this man is now’ at large. In his testimony before the Committee, Mr. Peckham, wdio has been one of the most active attorneys associated with .the District Attorney, testifies, at page 1810: “I have nodoul)t we were ready to try those men,” meaning Tweed and his associates, “ at any time after the matter was firet investigated; there has never been a time that we were not ready to try them after the bills were found.” And again he says, at page 1813: “If I had had entire charge of them, they would all have been tried ; but then I say that, supposing I should have had no other duties that would have provanted my doing it.” In the face of the facts as they exist, and of this testi¬ mony unexplained by the District Attorney, the Commit¬ tee can have no doubt that he has been negligent in his duty. Many other instances showing negligence on the part of this officer, or his assistants, appear in the testimony ])roduced before the Committee. It seems to the Committee, from the few cases presented of persons who h 9 .ve been bailed, that if a person can manage to procure bail, he could safely feel that he was released from further prosecution. The excuse given for the want of prosecution in such cases, is that sufficient facilities did not exist to enable the District Attorney to perform this portion of his duty, and yet it has been made apparent, that by the consent of the courts, on the application of the I 89 District Attorney, two terms of the Court of General Ses¬ sions might have been held each month, while, in fact, with the exception of four or five months, only one court was in session. It is to be hoped, that with three judges, now author¬ ized to hold the Court of General Sessions, and with di¬ rections to hold two terms each month, and the fresh fa¬ cilities given to the District A.ttorney by the appointment of an additional assistant, no such excuse can again be offei'ed. Should the Legislature conclude to adopt the sug¬ gestion heretofore made in this report, of authorizing the appointment of additional judges, to sit permanently, to hold special sessions, with power to empanel juries; the District Attorney’s office will be relieved of a large num¬ ber of petty cases, and the Committee believe he will be fully able to dispose of all other cases with alacrity and certainty. KKMEDIKS SUGGESTED. There are but few remedies which the Committee are called upon to suggest, but some of these they deem very important. The assistant district attorneys and the chief clerk, also, if intrusted with the powers which tlie chief clerk in the office of the District Attorney of this city seems to be intrusted with, should be sworn officers, and the Committee therefore recommend the enactment of a law compelling them to take and subscribe, before a Justice of the Supreme Court, an oath of office. At present, the grossest dereliction of duty can only be pun¬ ished by removal from office. The Committee recommend that the Legislature ])ro- vide, that all bonds given for bail, in criminal cases, shall be made a lien \ipon the property described in the bond. 4 1>0 from the time it is filed with the Clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer and Geneo'al Sessions, and that such bond be filed forthwith with such clerk, and in cases of bail taken before committing magistrates, such bond shall be forthwith filed with the same clerk. This, the Committee belie\e, will be the means of pre- Yenting, to a great extent, the giving of bogus or “ straw ” bail, which has been so common. At present, it is no un¬ common thing for a person to become bail, and then transfer his property, and, when the bail is forf(dted, there is no property upon which to levy. It has come to the attention of the Committee, that at times a deposit of money has been accepted in the Dis¬ trict Attorney’s office in lieu of bail. The Committee be¬ lieve that there is no law authorizing any such practice, and yet they feel satisfied that cases might occur in which provision authorizing such a deposit in lieu of bail would be just and proper. They therefore suggest the enact¬ ment of a law that no money shall be received by the District Attorney in lieu of a bail bond, except upon an order of the court to that effect, specifying the amount to be received. All moneys so received should be forthwith de¬ posited in a bank or trust company to be designated by the court, to the credit of the court in which such money or deposit shall be received, and to be withdrawn only upon the order of one of the judges of the court, payable either to the City Chamberlain or the bondsman, or his representative, as the case may require. A large amount of forfeited recognizances upon which judgments have been entered remain uncollected. Under the law as it at present exists, it is believed that the Dis¬ trict Attorney is not compelled to take action for the collec¬ tion of such judgments except by order of the court. 91 and it has been ir.tiniated to the Committee that'obstruc¬ tions to such collections exist from the refusal of the Sheriff to levy and sell without security being furnished to him. The Committee, therefoi'e, recommend the enactment of a law to the effect that notice be immediately given, by the clerk of the coui't in which a bail bond or recog¬ nizance is presented, to the Corporation Attorney in the City of NeW York, whose duty it shall be to prosecute such further and necessary proceedings upon it as shall be required, and that no security shall hereafter be demanded by the Sheriff before he levies and sells. It was formerly the practice to renew a bail bond after an indictment was found, but that wise custom seems to have fallen into disuse. Under the old practice, the bail given before a committing magistrate came up for review before the District Attorney, and thus a person who managed to escape detection in giving bogus bail before the magistrtrate, found himself checked by the examina¬ tion of the District Attorney. The Committee, therefore, suggest the enactment of a law requiring the renewal of bail bonds after indictment. Testimony was given before the Committee showing, in some instances, that the amount of bail had been fixed, and bail taken in the office of the District Attorney with¬ out it appearing in the minutes of the court that any order had been made by the court authorizing such proceeding. The Committee believe that there is no law authorizinunishment as persons sell¬ ing without a license. 7. Iletail grocers desiring to sell spirituous or malt liquors should be requii-ed to pay the highest grade of license fee. 8. Upon any complaint against a person for selling liquor without a license, proof that the person com¬ plained of had liquor exposed upon his premises, shall be prima facie evidence against him, and upon such proof any magistrate shall issue his warrant for the arrest of the person so chai'ged, and cause the liquor so exposed to be seized and brought be¬ fore him to be held as evidence. The law",_as it at present exists, is utterly useless for the purpose of preventing the sale of liquors by un¬ licensed parties. The police complain that when arrests are made by them of persons for selling liquors without a bcense, the persons arrested are seldom held, and, if they are held, the bail is in such small amount that they care nothing for it, and they return immediately to their un¬ lawful business. The magistrates complain that the police fail to furnish to them sufficient evidence, and that,. iOl therefore, the\' have no authority, and are powerless to impose or inflict adecpiate punishment. Both parties are correct. It is the law itself which is to blame. In nine cases out of ten the policeman can¬ not furnish such proof as is required by law. lie sees a man, in a public place, drinking something at a bar, which he believes to be licpior; perhaps he knows that the proprietor has not a license to sell liquor. The policeman is not permitted to leave his post to enter the public bar-room, and he cannot swear that liquor was sold. Even in cases where the proof is clear, the magistrate has power only to hold the party to bail for trial, and expe- I’ience has taught those who thus defy the law, that they need not fear prosecution thereafter. To suppress the ofPense of selling liquor 'yithout a li¬ cense is an easy matter ; all that is required is to treat it as other offenses are treated, and to prevent politics from intei'fering with the subject. PRISONS AND REFORMATORIES. In the course of the examination conducted by the Com¬ mittee into the causes of crime and the treatment of crimi¬ nals, they have deemed an important portion of their labor to be a complete examination of all the places of confine¬ ment of criminals from the city of New York, with the single exception of the State prisons, which, although they receive many prisoners from the city of New York, did not seem to the Committee to be legitimately within the scope of their inquiry. Excluding the State prisons, there remained the following institutions under the custody of 102 the" Commissioners of Charities and Correction : five prisons attached to the police courts of tlie city of New York; the Tombs, or City Prison; the Penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island ; the Work-honseon Blackwell’s Island ; the School-Ship Mercnry and Hart’s Island. Besides these, there are the Ilonse of Refuge, the Roman Catholic Protectory and the Juvenile Asylum, all managed by pri¬ vate corporation’s, yet all receiving sentenced criminals from the city. POLICE COURT PRISONS. Each of the Police Courts, except the one located at the Tombs, has a small prison attached to it in which are kept prisoners a'syaiting actioii on the part of the Police Justices. Some conflict of jurisdiction between the Commissioners of Charities and Correction and the Police Justices has occasionally arisen, and while the Committee would recom¬ mend that the prisons should remain under the custody of the Commissioners of Chailties and Correction, they would suggest that the prisoners shall be kept in the prisons and sent away therefrom onl}^ upon the order of the Police Justices, and should be at all times produced upon the order of the Police Justices. The prison attached to the Jeflerson Market building, nowin process of construc¬ tion, will be a very large and greatly improved one, very much larger in all probability than will be required for the puqiose of the Police Court to be held in that build¬ ing, and in accordance with the suggestion of the Police Justices, it is recommended that prisoners may be detained there in the same manner and under similar circumstances with those now detained in the Tombs. 103 CITY PRISON, OK TOMBS. The City Pi-isoii, or Tombs, was erected about forty years ago. It is situated on the block bounded by Centre, Elm, Franklin and Leonard streets. The building contains the Comt of Special Sessions, and the First District Police Court, the necessary clerks’ offices, a male prison, a female prison, a boys’ ju’ison, and a structure known as “Bummers IJall,” in which the five and ten day prisoners are confined. Taken as a whole, and with reference to all its present con¬ veniences, the building is, in the emphatic words of Justice Bixby, “ A shame and a disgrace to the jieople of the city of New York ” (page 2659). It was built upon the site of the old Collect Pond. It was con¬ structed in days when the theory of a prison seemed to ,be that it should be as much a place of torture as possible, and when modern enlightenment had not reached the con¬ struction and management of prisons. It is grossly in¬ adequate for the number of inmates, and it has been utterly mismanaged for years past. Probably no reforma¬ tion in the pi’csent structure can ever reach the root of its evils. A new city prison should be erected as soon, at least, as the city can afford the expense. Fpon the dav^ when the Committee visited it, it had within its walls 505 prisoners of all classes ; 233 of these were in the male prison, a dismal and gloomy structure of oblong shape, with four tiei’S of cells, the rows of cells being separated by a narrow pas¬ sageway, from the end of which all the light that the prison receives is admitted. Some of the lower tier of cells are always damj), and all of the cells are unquestion¬ ably uId^ealth 3 ^ It should be observed that most of the prisoners confined in the Tombs are not convicts, and are 104 merely persons awaiting trial, either such as through pov¬ erty are unable to give bail, or such as to whom, from the gravity of the alleged offense, bail has been refused. When it is considered that the law presumes all these prisoners to be innocent, and that they are merely retained there for the purpose of detention while awaiting trial, it would certainly seem that they should be treated witli a kindness and consideration not necessarily to be shown to convicts. The exact reverse, however, is the fact, and there is no prisoner in the Tombs, unless he be one who, by the payment of money or through other influence, obtains special advantages, who might not well envy the condition of a convict at Blackwell’s Island. They are herded together, three or four to a cell, the clean and respectable prisoner with the filthy inebriate, the innocent youth with the hardened criminal, without any pretense whatever of discrimination, except such as is obtainec^ through bribery or corruption. One startling fact struck the Committee, that the division into cells is not made by the executive head of the prison, but by the nearly irre¬ sponsible keepers, who preside over the different tiers; and the Committee, upon their first session upon this topic, emphatically expressed their opinion that this division should be made upon the entrance of a prisoner by the Warden in the main office; but they have yet to learn that their suggestion met with any consideration whatever. The fact being that the prisoners are distributed into cells according to the will of the keepers, the necessary conse¬ quence follows, that the keepers accept bribes for the pur¬ pose of placing prisoners in more comfortable cells. (See the testimony of Mrs. Millett, page 1176 ; Sacia, page 1185 ; Walsh, page 1202, et seq.) And especially that of Jacobi, who being free at the time he was examined before the 105 Committee, testified without fear of petty tyranny (see page 1324, et seq.) Tlie story that Jacobi gives of the abuses and injury to which he was subjected by reason of his not paying the exhorbitant bribe demanded is a sick¬ ening one and deserves to be read in detail. He testifies that at the time that four prisoners were confined in a cell when he at last obtained the liberty of working about the prison, he saw eight empty cells in desirable localities, kept doubtless in the hope of extorting money from the prisoners for their use. Amongst the many other abuses of this scandalous place it appears that no bath is ever given to prisoners; that sheets are changed about eN ery six or seven weeks; that the prisoners’ clothes are never washed except upon their paying for the services; that the food is served out to them in tin platters like dogs, with¬ out knives or forks or spoons and that all of these conveni¬ ences may be obtained by paying blackmail therefore. And while these necessaries were denied the prisoners, it will ap¬ pear from the testimony of theComnrissioners, of theWarden and of O’Brien, the steward of the Tombs (page 1210), that a supply of these articles were kept in the prison, and was supposed by the Commissioners at least to be used for the benefit of the prisoners. While these abuses are carried on by snbbordinates, it is by no means possible to excuse the neglect to rectify them either on the part of the AVar- den or on the part of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction. In particular the attention of the Committee was again and again attracted by the evidence of unim¬ peached witnesses, to gross instances of extortion on the part of one of the keepers named Duffy, and yet, though the Commissioners of Chailties and Correction were re¬ peatedly notified of these facts, the man Duffy continued to be a keeper of the prison up to about the time when 106 the Committee ceased its labor, according to the testimony of Commissioner Cox. The Committee learn that he has since been discharged. By the testimony of Mrs. Millett, of Sacia and Jacobi, it appears that a man who was previously in the prison, named Raymond (one of the bond forgers, the curious history of whose escape is given in that portion of the report whiph refers to the District Attorney’s office), was the financial go-between who trans¬ acted the bribery business on behalf of the keepers. He had apparently the full liberty of the prison at all times, and was the instrument through whom money was ex¬ torted. The male prisoners are locked up in their cells all day and all night, saving that for half an hour in the morning they are allowed to walk up and down the gloomy corri¬ dors in front of their cells. Spacious yards exist within the prison walls, and by a little management and a little care, there seems no reason why these pi'esumably inno¬ cent men should not be allowed to breathe a little fresh air daily. In another portion of the building there are several rooms of considerable size which are put appa¬ rently to no use whatever except when tliey serve as the reception parlors of certain favored criminals as mentioned in the testimony of Mr. Tousey (page 2851). Mr. Sinclair Tousey, whose testimony is here alluded to, is the President of the Prison Association, an organization of benevolent gentlemen who have for years devoted them¬ selves to the task of ameliorating the c.ondition of our prisoners, both during and after confinement. Mr. Tousey’s testimony, both upon the subject of prisons and upon other topics to which allusion is elsewhere made, is •of deep interest, and deserves to be carefully studied. While a philantrophist in the highest sense of the word. / 107 lie is a thorough]}' practical man, and all his views seem to be based, not merely in cliarity, but in common sense as well. Another abuse about which not much testimony has been taken, but concerning which there are some sparks of evi¬ dence, and as to the fact of which no man who knows the Tombs entertains any doubt wliatever, is that certain crimi¬ nal lawyers are allowed access at all times to the prisoners, and every means is taken to compel tlie prisoners to use their services. (See testimony of Sacia, page 1189, and the testimony of Judge Berr}*, page 1343). This latter gentleman, a reputable lawyer, but not one of tlie Tombs ring apparently, called at the Tombs to see his client, Sacia, jiresented his professional card at the gate and was refused admittance by the Warden in pei'son, in a most offensive and insulting manner. From the testimony of Jacobi it will appear that a notorious criminal schyster, whose career is a scandal to the city, is at all times allowed free access to the inner prison itself. The testimony of Mrs. Millett, at jiage 1172, et seq., deserves ))eculiar consideration. She is a benevolent wo¬ man, the wife of an Episcopal clergyman in this city, who for thirty-five years ])ast has almost daily visited the })enal institutions, and particularly the Tombs, on errands of charity : and the strong manner in which she condemns the management of the Tombs, is of itself the weightiest possible testimony against it. It is but fair to say that some of the abuses here referred to occurred under previous Commissioners. The women’s prison consists of several tiers of cells, all of which are open during the day, so that the iTimates wander to and fro at ])leasure. This must necessarily lead to muih evil being done by the intercourse of young 108 people with hardened criminals, and yet, with tlie present miserable accommodations, it seems an evil difficult to he remedied. There seems to the Committee no reason why any con¬ vict should be kept in the Tombs except those awaiting the execution of sentence; but a number of persons sen¬ tenced to five and ten days imprisonment are retained there, dawdling away their time in each others’ company. These prisoners should all be sent to the work-house, and should be made to work. The health of the prison is unquestionably bad, although a vigorous attempt is made by the physician and by some of the Commissioners to vindicate it by a fallacious system of statistics. 611 page 1199, the physician stated that they had had in a year 31,000 prisoners and only 16 deaths, of which three were suicides. But the trouble with these figures is, that most of these 31,000 prisoners were detained in the Tombs but a very short time; that many of them when taken side were sent to the liospital and died there, (see page 1200 ); and tliat probably many others carried with them to their homes the seeds of fatal disease. As to the subject of remedies, there is but one remedy that will ever be effectual, and that is to destroy tlie old pest-hole and build a decent prison npon modern scien¬ tific principles. If this is not to be done, the present building should at least be enlarged, ventilated, given light and in every way improved, as suggested by Mr. Tousey (page 2851). The prisonei’s should be distributed into their cells upon their arrival by the Warden ; the Commissioners should themselves see to it that they are supplied with the necessaries of life ; they should be allowed air and exer- 109 ^ cise; they should be protected from extortion, and no favors should be shown to individual prisoners on account nf wealth or influence of any kind. And in accordance with tlie suggestion made by Mr. Tousey, the vacant rooms which now serve as the parlors of the wealthy prisoners, should be turned into prison cells and all the waste space about the building utilized for the general good. In addition to this, the suggestion made above, that some portion of the new Jefferson Market prison, when com¬ plete, should be used for the same class of })risoners as those now confined in the Tombs, should be carried out, and the officials of the jirison should be made to under¬ stand that they are there, not to tyrannize and to plunder, but to deal with all the kindness consistent with safety, with the unfortunate beings under their charge — such an idea as is expressed by the Warden of the pi-ison, on page llGl, “ Don’t you think on the (piestion of morals, that something should be done in regard to that ? A. Well. I have not much idea of reforming people after they get into prison,” should be laid aside forever. In short, the persons who are selected for wardens and keepers to manage this and similar institutions, should not be cJiosen because they happen to be backed by a certain quantity of ward politicians, but because they have some qualification in character, in training, and in capacity, which would fit them properly to discharge the duties that are confided to them. Here, as in every other branch of the Committee’s investigation, the miserable effect of appointments through political influence are but too ' apparent. no MANNER OF CONVEYING THE PRISONERS. Prisoners are now conveyed to and fro between the Tombs and the Courts of General Sessions and Oyer and Terminer, which are located about one-third of a mile away, in the cnstod}- of certain utterly irresponsible peo¬ ple, who are merely the attendants of these courts, ap¬ pointed by the judges. JN’o higher authority is responsible for their acts, and a necessary consecpience is, that escapes are effected in broad daylight, and that petty extortions are, from time to time, perpetrated. The Commissioners of Charities and Correction should be charged with the duty of conveying prisoners backwards and forwards to the courts, and with the custody of the prisoners while in the courts, and should be empowered to appoint a suffi¬ cient number of guards for that purpose, and the Commis¬ sioners should be then held themselves res])onsible for the safe keeping and proper treatment of the prisoners. It is a fact stated in testimony before the Committee, that pris¬ oners have actually been taken from the Tombs to the court and back again under the custody of a boy from the District Attorney’s office. This is an abuse which should immediately be rectified. PENITENTIARY. The Penitentiary of the county of iMew York is situated on Blackwell’s Island, and contained, on the 30th of Sep¬ tember, 1^75, 933 inmates. Of these 158 were women. » Yery elaborate accounts are given in the testimony of Warden Fox of the Penitentiary, and of some of his subordinates, of the whole rcuitine and management of the prison, from the reception to the discharge of the prisoners, to which we need not here refer more at length, Ill • as oil the whole the system seems to be good, and the management comparatively unexceptionable. Tlie great abuse in tlie prison to whicli oiir special at¬ tention was directed was the absolute failure to separate prisoners in accordance with' their age and characters. The youth and the old criminal were joined close together, and the idea of making a distinction seems first to have presented itself to the prison authorities after the exami¬ nation made by the Committee. We are informed that since our visit to Blackwell’s Island the Commissioners of Charities and Correction have ordered a classification of the prisonei's to be made. The present penitentiary building is inadecpiate for the number of inmates. It consists of three wings, one of which was intended to be reserved for women, but owing to the great increase of the number of male inmates, and to the much greater danger of escape on the part of these latter, this wing has also been given up to the use of the men ; and the 158 women, young and old, innocent and wicked, sleep together in one large room, which was in¬ tended to be the chapel of the institution, on little cols placed as close together as possible. No more hopeful means of turning the innocent youth into hardened criminals could possibly be devised. A new prison should be erected, for the present one is not only inadequate in size but has not been constructed in accordance with the improvements introduced by modern science ; and if this work must be done slowly on account of the financial difticulties in the way, it should at least be inaugurated by the immediate con¬ struction of a female prison, upon a plan which should make it eventually a portion of a new complete structure. One great improvement has been eft'ected by the present 112 Commissioners, the providing of work for the inmates of the Penitentiary. Hampered as the}'^ have been by the utterly preposterous law which prevented them from dis¬ posing of any of the results of the labor of the prisoners, or from contracting that labor, they have, nevertheless, managed to introduce new arts from time to time, until, at length, most of the necessaries of the prison are made in the prison by the prisoners, and many other utensils which are employed by the Commissionei-s of Charities and Correction in their other departments are now manu¬ factured there. As, for instance, the Committee saw a fine new prison van, on the occasion of their visit to Black¬ well’s Island, entirel^^ constructed, painted, and in every respect finished within the prison walls ; and this brings us to the most important recommendation that we have to make to the Legislature of the State, in reference to the government of convicts in the city of New York. As has been above stated, the Commissioners are not now allowed to contract prison labor or to sell material constructed in the prison, and a great part of the work that is provided for the prisoners is hence mere idle waste of time, such as. breaking stone and building sea wall, which is of little or no practical use. This law appears to have been passed upon the theory that to allow the contracting or sale of prison labor, would be to interfere with the fruits of honest labor in the city. No more utterly absurd, un¬ reasonable, or illogical law was ever passed. When prisoners are kept in idleness, or when the labor that they perform is of the utterly' unproductive character alluded to, the charge of their keeping, their custody and their maintenance, falls upon the taxpayers of tlie city, and the taxes of the city are paid, not by' the wealthy alone, but by every honest laboring man who, in 113 the increased price which he gives for rent, for fuel, for food, and for clothing, contributes his share to the cost of maintaining a hei’d of idle vagabonds in the prisons. If, on the contraiw, the Commissioners are allowed to con¬ tract the prison labor, or to sell its results, the prison, nndei' proper management, may well become self sustain¬ ing ; the burden of its charge may be lifted from the tax- paj’ei’s of the city, and each laboring man will be so much the wealthier, and have so much more of the product of his own labor to devote to his own comfort and that of his family. The Albanj’' Penitentiary is well known as the standard example of all that is good about a penal institution. While no prisoners are better fed, clothed, and cared for, than the inmates of that penitentiary, yet by its judicious management and by the system of disposing of the products of its labor which is there pursued, not only is it self sustaining, but it pays into the treasury of the county of Albany, about 50 per cent, profit annually upon the expense of its maintenance, thus relieving taxation in that county to just so great an extent. It has been sug¬ gested by Governor Seymour and others, that it might be well to devote the profit of each prisoner’s labor after the expense of his maintenance is met, to a fund to be kept for his own use when he leaves the prison. This sugges¬ tion, not elaborated, is presented for the consideration of the Legislature. At all events, a law should be passed at once, allowing the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, in their discretion, either to sell the products of prison labor or to contract it, in such manner and under such regulations as the Legislature may deem best. Such a bill has been pre¬ pared under the auspices, as we understand, of the Prison Association, and is now pending before the Legislature. It 8 114 seems proper to call attention to an amendment to the bill as now introduced, which is desirable, and that is, that the Commissioners should be allowed to take the money which is received as the result of prison labor and employ it in the maintenance of the prison. Under the present act it must go into the general fund, and cannot serve either to sustain the prisoner or abate taxation in the present year, but must go into next year’s budget, if at all. This should not be ; the money received should be devoted in the first instance to the maintenance of the institution ; if any bal¬ ance remains over, it should then be paid into the city treasury. And this recommendation with regard to the disposal of prison labor, should apply not onlj'^to the Peni- tentiar}-, but to the Work-house and all the other convict institutions under the custody of the Commissioners. If this be done, and if the institutions be economically and properl}^ administered, the Committee see no reason to doubt but that in the first place a sufficient number of keepers may be emploj'ed, the number being now entirely inadequate; that a proper compensation may be paid to high officials, such as the Warden of the Penitentiary who now receives onlj" $1,650 per annum, without any boar-d, and that the institutions may become absolutely and alto gether self-sustaining, and their continued existence im¬ pose no tax upon the citizens of New York. THE WOKK-HOUSE. The Work-house is a large building, near the northern end of Blackwell’s Island, to which are sent persons con¬ victed of such petty offences as drunkenness, wife aban¬ donment, disordei’ly conduct and the like, together with a certain number who are committed as destitute, upon their own applications to the courts. 115 There were in the Work-house on the 30th of September, 1010 inmates, and during the winter months, the number is much larger. The building is divided into two great wings, one for male and the other for female prisoners. It seemed to the Committee, that rather too much inter¬ mingling of male and female prisoners occurred in the institution for good discipline. But the fact is that the number of kee])ers attached to the place is ridiculously inadequate to the custody of the number of inmates there, although the number of keepers is as large as the appro¬ priation under the control of the Commissioners will war¬ rant. One of the gi-eat evils of the system of commitment to the Work-house has been adverted to in that portion of the report which refers to the police courts, wherein it has been recommended that for repeated offenses of drunken¬ ness the Judges may have the power of commitments for longer periods ; persons who are sent to the Work-house, should be made to work as a first requisite, as a welfare to the institution, and while the Committee are well satis¬ fied that very great improvement in this respect has been effected within the last year, there still remains room for further improvement, particularly in the case of the pas¬ sage of the act above recommended, allowing the disposal of the results of convict labor. A year or two ago, it would seem that the Work-house was a mere loafing place, wherein nothing whatever was done. As a consequence, its hospitable walls were eagerly sought in winter by tramps and vagabonds of every description. The partial •work to which they have now been put, has had a happy effect in weeding out a considerable number of this class, and the number of inmates is much smaller than it was two years ago. One of the striking features of the Work-house, in the 116 evidence before the Committee, is, that 488 escapes, called, in the euphemistic language of the institution, “ elope¬ ments,” occurred within the space of twelve months. And this accounts for the wearisome reiteration with which the Police Justices have testified before the Committee, that they have repeatedly sent people to the Work-house for three months, and liave had the same prisoners brought before them within the space of a fortnight. The author¬ ities of the Work-house do not seem to be to blame in this matter, for the number of guards is absolutely inadequate for the protection of the institution, especially as the Com¬ missioners have directed the guards not to carry or use firearms—a philanthropic theory, as to the correctness of which your Committee entertain some doubts. The cells in the main wing are divided into three tiers: those on the lower tier containing 4 prisoners each; those on the second tier, 12 prisoners each ; those on the third tier, 26 prisoners each, hlo pretense of classification with regard to ao-e or character is made. It does not seem, in view of the large rooms that there are in the institution, very difficult to make, at least, a partial classification upon this basis. Work-house prisoners perform a variety of labor for the Commissioners in otlier institutions under their custody, such as the hospitals—an arrangement to which there seems to be no valid objection. A singular feature of the workhouse will be found in the testimony of Mr. McDonnell, the deputy superintendent, on page 1116, where he states that a number of children, some as young as nine and ten years of age, have been, from time to time, committed there. Why Police Courts should have sent little children to the Work-house, when it was entirely within their power to send them to reformatory institu- ions, the Committee are at a loss to imagine. 117 THK SCHOOL-SHIP MKRCURY. Is a ship owned by the city, in which a number of boys, committed for petty offenses, vagrancy, truancy, and the like, are confined. Your Committee visited it and made a very thorough inspection of it. Upon the day upon which the Committee visited it, 193 boys were living in it. It has been customary, in the past, for this ship to make, annually, five or six short cruises of ten days or a fortnight each, and one long cruise, for three or four of the wintei’ months. Tlie boys were trained as sailors, and, it appears from the testimony of the captain, that a large number of boys from this vessel have gone as sailors into the United States Navy, and also into the merchant service. The reports received by the captain of the be¬ havior and usefulness of the boys who have been sent from tbe ship, have, in general, been very favorable, and the naval officers, in particular, have expressed emphatic approval. The cost of maintaining the vessel, in all re¬ spects, including salaries, repairs, and the support of the boys, was about $25,000 last year. Owing to the reduced • appropriations, the Commissioners of Charities and Cor¬ rection have been compelled to put the ship out of com¬ mission, and send the boys on shore. hart’s island. At Hart’s Island a number of boys, men and women, transferred from the Work-house, are kept under the custody of the Commissioners of Charities and Correc¬ tion. This seems a very good place on which in the future to build new penal institutions, and it is a matter which one looking judiciously to the welfare of the city in years to come may well take into consideration. 118 HOUSE OF KEFTJGE, The House of Refuge belongs to a corporation known as the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delin¬ quents, which was chartered bytlie State in the year 1824-, chapter 126 of the Session Laws of that year. To its custody may be committed all boys convicted of crime in the First, Second, and Third Judicial Districts of the State, and all girls convicted of crime from any portion of the State. Upon the day that the Committee visited it, it con¬ tained about 800 inmates. The children are kindly cared for, are taught trades, i-eceive a good school education as well, and every effort appears to be made towards a re¬ formation of their characters. The labor of the inmates of this institution is contracted for. It should seem that the law-making authorities did not suppose that such an operation would conflict with the claims of honest labor, and, as a consequence, although the laborers are young and inexperienced, the institution is very much more self-supporting than would otherwise be the case. The income of the institution in the year 1874, was derived as- follows: From appropriations by the Legislature,$60,500 from the profits of labor, $41,594.48 ; from the Board of Education, $7,468.16, and from theatre licenses, a tax im¬ posed uj:on theatrical performances in the city of New York for the benefit of the institution, $7,000; from the sale of unused articles, $964.53—a total of $117,527.62, supporting the whole institution. The buildings are spacious and comfortable, and are located upon Randall’s Island, which lies in the East river, nearly opposite the mouth of the Harlem rivei’. The institution is governed by a board of managers, holding office for the terms of 119 three years, and elected by a vote of the members of the iiistihition, which is very nearly a nominal body, linger them, the executive charge is intrusted to the superintend¬ ent, with a proper corps of officers. Thei-e seems to be nothing left to be desired about the institution. It is in every respect an honor to the city and to the gentlemen who have it in charge. ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. The Roman Catholic Protectory is located in Westches¬ ter County, near the village of West Chester, and a little distance deyond the present city boundary. It consists of two enormous buildings, one for boys and one for girls, with a large number of smaller structures surrounding. It is owned by a corporation and receives children under substantially the same circumstances as those sent to the House of Refuge, and also a very large number sent for vagrancy, truancy and similar petty offenses. While con-r ducted under the management of the Christian Brothers, a benevolent society attached to the Roman Catholic charge and while especially designed to receive Roman Catholic children, there seems to be no disposition to proselytize, when those of other faiths are committed to its custody. On the day when the Committee visited it, it contained about 2,000 inmates, and it is difficult to imagine a more thoroughly benevolent, useful and beautiful institution. Children are taught trades, the proceeds of their labor being sold; are also taught the ordinary rudiments of education, and are undoubtedly cared for with a kindness and good management which is beyond all jn-aise. It is governed by a board of managers, and under them, the executive charge of the male department is confided to a Christian Brother; that of the female department to a 120 Sister of Charity, Its income is derived as follows : $110 per annum from the city of New York for each child committed there, or a proportionate amount for the time that the child actually remains in its custody, and the rest of its support from private benevolence or from the pro¬ ceeds of the sale of the manufactures made there. This institution also meets with the unqualified approval and commendation of the Committee. THE NEW YORK .JUVENILE ASYLUM. Contains two buildings, one in Thirteenth street, a house of reception, and one at Fort Washington, the Home. It receives children under fourteen years of age, committed by magistrates for thcA^arious petty offenses, and the num¬ ber of inmates in the two buildings was, on the first of January, 1875, 644. Ti-ades are taught to the children; they are instructed in the rudiments of education, and every care and kindness seems to be extended to them. A very important part of the working of this institution is the process pursued by it of sending large numbers of its children to Illinois, where it has an agejicy, and whence they are indentured out, principally to farmers. This portion of the working of the institution is looked upon as a peculiarly desirable one by its managers. From all three of the institutions above alluded to .children are indentured to masters under proper bonds of apprenticeship,and the officers of the institutions still con¬ tinue to exercise some supervision over the children after they are apprenticed. The Committee cannot dismiss this branch of the subject without expressing the deep gratification that they have experienced in the visits that they have paid to the House of Hefuge, the Catholic Protectory, and to. the Juvenile 121 Asylum. They are, in all respects, model institutions. Children are not treated in them as convicts, but as human beings, susceptible of reformation and amenable to kind treatment, and the amount of good that is ensuing to the city of New Tork from the sending of children to those institutions instead of, as formerly, confining them in prisons, is absolutely incalculable. The city owes, and the Committee should express, a deep debt of gratitude to those benevolent men, who, without any earthly reward, devote their time, their labor and their means, to the sup¬ port of these noble institutions. The Committee would recommend to the Legislature the passage of a lawmaking it mandatory upon courts to com¬ mit children under 16 to one or the other of those institutions, and forbidding them to send any such imma¬ ture persons to the penitentiaries and to the workhouse as seems to be too often now the case. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. The testimony of Dr. Elisha Harris, for many years Registrar of Vital Statistics (j). 2816, et seij.), and especially the memoranda submitted by him in writing to the Com¬ mittee (p. 2832, et seq.), point out very clearly what is no doubt one of the most fertile causes of crime, viz. : the over crowding of people in tenement houses. Those who live in comfort in their own homes can with difficulty realize the dreadful condition of the poor who reside in tenement houses, three, four, and five to a small and filthy room. No home comfort invites the growing youth to re¬ main with the family, and without there is furnished to him no harmless place of amusement and recreation to which he can resort. The nearest liquor store is the only spot he knows.of where he can meet with his follows and 122 have any social intercourse. Naturally, therefore, he falls into evil coinpau}" and evil habits, and grows up a promis¬ ing recruit for the great army of crime. Two remedies seem to suggest themselves to our con¬ sideration, the most patent being a law to prevent the over-crowding of tenement houses. Such a law has been enforced in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other cities in Great Britain, and if the statistics of Glasgow’s crime, given on page 2838, are to be taken as a criterion, the effect in reducing crime is fairly astonish¬ ing. In this connection it may be added that the expected completion of rapid transit roads will furnish our people with a swift and cheap means to reach homes more fitted for the future usefulness of their inmates, which may yet be procured at prices within the incomes of all laboring men. But a law preventing the over-crowding of tenement houses should in any event be passed and rigidly enforced. Whatever temporary inconvenience might be caused, the final effect would be greatly to benefit the community at large, and the honest, laboring poor in particular. In addition to this, your Committee would suggest to the Legislature the propriet}'^ of allowing the city authorities to furnish rooms in different parts of the city, to which all should be welcome, where public journals should be kept and such books as might be donated, and even in¬ nocent means of amusement, such as chess, cards, domi¬ noes, etc., might be provided ; in short, a sort of free club for the laboring classes. The expense of such places would be trifling compared to the inestimable good that would flow from their frequent use. 123 LUDLOW STREET JAIL. In addition to the duties imposed upon the Committee b}’’ the resolution of May 19, 1875, tliey were furtjier in¬ structed by the resolution adopted May 21, 1875, to investigate the management of Ludlow street jail, in the city of New York, and the general subject of arrest upon civil process in that city. The very onerous nature of the duties imposed upon the Committee under the first resolution, has rendered it im¬ possible for them to bestow that attention upon this subject which it deserves. But they have inspected the jail thoroughly, have twice held sessions there, examining the officers and a number of the inmates, and have taken some other testimony from outside, bearing upon the manage ment and upf)n the subject of aiTest upon civil process. The number of prisoners confined in Ludlow street jail, on civil process, was not so large as we expected, being on the day that we visited it only 33. In addition to these prisoners, there were seven others confined for non-payment of National Guard dues and fines. These constituted all the prisoners held on civil process in the city of New York, a great majority of them having been arrested by the sheriff, a few by the marshals. While we did not enter as extensivel}^ as the resolution seemed to contemplate into a detailed examination of each prisoner, it appeared probable to us, that a-majority of the inmates were arrested upon such charges as libel, slander, breach of promise of marriage, assault and bat¬ tery, and other charges, for the punishment of which, ample remedy seems to be provided in the crimnal law and in the right of action, on the civil side of the court^ without the additional power of arrest. Only a minority, 124 apparent]}', were held for causes growing out of breach of trust or fraudulent representations. The building known as Ludlow street jail, is a large structure, belonging to the county of hTew York, erected about thirteen years since. While the building is erected and owned by the county of New York, it is under the exclusive management of the sheriff, who is responsible for the safe keeping of all persons arrested upon civil pro¬ cess, whether they be confined in Ludlow street jail, or give bail, or are at liberty by the permission or connivance of the sheriff. From this condition of things, the sheriff being absolutely responsible for the prisoners, and the re¬ cipient of whatever emoluments are derived from the jail, has arisen a dangerous and unpleasant complication be¬ tween the sheriff and the financial officers of the county as to who shall be held responsible for the expenses of the jail, and what charges, if any. should fall upon the county. Certainly the cost of maintaining the jail should bo defrayed by the county, for scarcely any legitimate emoluments can be derived by the sheriff from the jail itself, and it is not to be expected that he will pay its ex¬ penses out of his own pocket. It has always been the practice that the county should pay for the maintenance of the prisoners, and up to within two or three years, this practice was unbroken. Differences of opinion, however, having arisen, the Leg¬ islature last year passed an act (Chap. —, Laws of 1875) which made the maintenance of prisioners who were des. titute a county charge, and required that the Board of Supervisors should fix a rate per diem, which should be paid by the county, for the support of such prisoners. In pursuance of this, the Board of Supervisors fixed the rate at seventy-five cents a day for all such prisioners as would 125 swear that they were unable to pay for tlieir own support Bills have accordingly been made out by the warden of the jail on this basis, but as yet they have not been paid nor has any reason been given for their non-payment Other disputes as to who shall defray the cost of maintain¬ ing the prisioners have arisen. Tlie comptroller has re¬ fused to pay tlie doctor’s bill. Between the comptroller and the sheriff, no coal has been provided for the freezing prisoners this winter. This is a state of things which, for the honor and the credit of the city, ought to cease at once. If there be any defect or doubt in the law, it should be amended, so as to provide that the county of New York shall pay for the poor debtors who are thrust by it into jail, and not leave them like the prisoners on the poor side of the old Fleet and Marshalsea prisons in London, to starve, to freeze, and to beg for bread. The jail is a large, well ventilated, and, apparently, well constructed building, containing, in its main hall, four tiers of cells—in all 61 cells—which are of fair size, considering that each cell is expected to accommodate two prisoners. The general equipment of the jail, as to beds, bedding, water-closets, etc., is probably as good as could be expected. The washing conveniences were ex¬ ceedingly deficient, being only one tank, eight feet long and two feet wide, with four water taps in it, to accom¬ modate 68 prisoners (the number in confinement the day the Committee first visited the jail). There is a bath-room attached to the place, but we have yet to learn that any¬ body ever used it. Meals are supplied to the prisoners, except the boarders, in their rooms ; the fare, consisting of bread and coffee for breakfast, meat (generally salt beef), bread and potatoes for dinner, with soup twice a week, and bread and tea for supper. The quantity and 12(1 the quality of the food seemed to be good, and no com¬ plaint was made on that subject. The prison is under the management of a warden, a deputy-warden, and eight keepers, in addition to a sort of assistant-warden, recently appointed by the sheriff. Tlie routine of life observed in the jail is somewhat as follows: The prisoners have breakfast at eight o’clock in the morning, dinner at twelve, supper at five. At dark, they are supposed to be locked in their cells until the next morning. Exceptions, however, to this latter rule are numerous. First, is the class known as “ utility men; ” a number of prisoners who are allowed, as a privilege, (!) to do all the dirtj work about the jail, the cleaning of bed-rooms, washing out the privies, etc. The inducement held out to prisoners to thus degrade tliemselves is, that they are allowed to have their cell doors unlocked until half past ten at night. Then, there is tlie class of boarders, of whom there were only five in the jail the day we visited it. These people pay $16 a week each, for the privilege of eating their meals down stairs in the keepers’ dining¬ room ; and, of cour.se, receive infinitely better fare. There seems no valid objection to persons who are able to do so, being allowed to pay board. But, in the first place, the price charged is enormously extortionate; and, in the second place, these boarders are allowed the privilege of having their cells unlocked until half past ten, and are given cells upon the first tier, which is simply affording them advantages over other inmates of the jail, for money. In addition to these classes, it is very manifest that the keepers receive bribes from certain persons, for allowing them to have their cell doors open until later. See testi¬ mony of Stratton, page 1541, Allyea, page 1558, and Leslie, page 1560. In fact, the keepers seem to practice all sorts 127 of petty extortions upon the prisoners, and the general eharacter of the keepers is pronounced by the deputy- warden, Mr. Gardner, an old and experienced officer, not good. It does not appear that any rules of discipline vvdiat- ever exist for the governtnent of the keepers. Mr. Gard¬ ner testifies at page 1510, that 12 or 13- years ago, there were rules, which ceased to exist when Mr. Tracy became Warden, eight years ago. Since that time, he saj's there have been no rules in existence. Mr. Gardner’s opinion is expressedly given on page 1510 ; that without some rule governing the attaches of the place, the warden ought not to be held personally responsible. The absence of rules is abund¬ antly demonstrated by the absence of discipline, and, while it is fair to say that the general testimony is that a great improvement has occurred in the jail within the last two years, still there is sickening testimony of abuse, brutality, and extortion on the part of keepers. Leslie testifies that he paid keeper McCarty $10 for his room (page 1561). That there is an understanding that he shall further pay him for the privilege of having his door open. Stratton testifies that he paid $18 for a cell, to one Sam. Oppenheimer, a prisoner who has been there nearly six years, who runs the bar—of which presently—and who seems to be general go-between of the officers and prison¬ ers. The White case, the case of a prisoner who had an encounter with a keeper, is variously testified to, but it is (juite manifest from the testimony of Mr. Gardner (page 1503), of Mr. Stratton (page 1536), and even from the ad¬ mission of Ilochmuth that the keeper struck White when he was down, and that the keeper was grossly to blame. In addition to that, it is testified that brutal and obscene language is frequently used by keepers to prisoners. The testimony of Stratton (page 1537), and Norton (page 128 1552), It further appears on the testimony of all the witnesses, including the keepers, that in flagrant defiance of the law a regular bar is maintained in the ])rison, the emoluments of which go to the superiors (Gardner's testi¬ mony, page 1507). Prisoners frequently get intoxicated there, although the witnesses think that the keepers take some pains not to let them get too drunk (see page 1542). Keepers also are seen drunk (page 1558). But the most strik¬ ing example of the results flowing from the maintenance of the bar and from the conduct of the keepers, is to be found in the Zimmerman case, which is testified to at length hy Coroner Eickhoff at page 2207, and by the witnesses Westbrook (2229), and Alton (2238). It appeared that Zimmerman got drunk at the bar, was hustled into his cell and locked up, and there had an attack of delirium tremens. The prisoner who was locked in with him, clamored for aid, and was taken out. Zimmerman com¬ menced to shout and beat at the doors, and to smash the furniture. No one ever went near him to restrain him, or to pay any attention to him, although his shrieks could have been heard a block off. Alton, the prisoner in the adjoining cell, soon heard him groaning as though strangling, and called to the keepers to come to his as¬ sistance, but no one came. In the morning, Zimmerman was found dead, with his head thrust through the iron wires of his bedstead, and with these wires strangling him around the neck. These witnesses did not testify before the coroner’s jury, apparently from fear of the keepers. At the time they testified before the Committee, they were out of the jail. It is worthy of note, that the affidavits of poverty re¬ quired to be taken, in order to enable a claim to be made against the county for the support of the prisoners, were 129 found on tile by the Committee, as made in the cases of those prisoners who paid board, although the deputy- warden asserts that these affidavits were not used in their cases. It is further to be observed, that the testimony of Norton (page 1552, and Leslie, 1560), shows that when they first entered the jail, they paid board, and yet, affi¬ davits made by them are on file, of which they charge that the dates are falsified. An extraordinary feature of the jail is, that there are confined in it 28 prisoners arrested as criminals in the United States courts, and charged with such crimes as perjury, robbery, smuggling, counterfeiting, forgery, and piracy (see page 1500), and also certain other United States prisoners who have been tried, convicted, and are, in fact, working out their sentences, without performing any labor, in our jail for poor debtors (see page 1756). No separation is made between these criminals, even though they be convicts, and the debtoi’S and National Guard prisoners. All day long they are free to mingle in each other’s company as much as the}' please. Nor does it even appear that the distribution into cells recognizes any distinction between the two classes of prisoners. In other branches of their work, the Committee have complained of a lack of classification between young and old criminals, but nothing so scandalous as this has elsewhere been seen. Nothing so utterly demoral¬ izing, for instance, as to put a boy like Stark, fifteen years old (see page 1515), to herd with old pirates and forgers. Yet, so long as the county does not expect to support the prison, and so long as it throws its charge upon the sheriff, and requires him to make both ends meet in his financial management, or, if it is possible, to make something out of it as a money-getting affair, so 9 130 long will such abuses continue. It is needless to point out that a law should be instantly passed, forbidding the in¬ carceration of these United States criminals in our jail for civil prisoners. They might be provided for in the new Jefferson Market prison, or in any other criminal jail. While making these strictures upon the management of the jail, it is but fair to say that the Committee have every reason to believe that a great improvement has taken place in the welfare of its inmates, and in the general manage¬ ment of the institution in the last two years. Yery much, however, remains to be done. Since the Committee finished taking all its testimon}'^ concerning Ludlow Street jail, it has become suddenly notorious all over the civilized world, by the escape of William M. Tweed from the custody of the sheriff, while out driving in company with the warden of the jail and one of the keepers. The occurrence is in every respect a scandalous one, but the Committee did not deem that they could do any good, or throw any light upon the mystery, by examining into it, especially as the District Attorney immediately brought the matter before the Grrand Jury, and they examined all the witnesses who could have had any information to report. Your Committee would recommend that the cost of sus¬ taining the prisoners be taken away from the sheriff, as hardly any legitimate income can accrue to him from the prison, especially if the United States prisoners no longer remain there : That the warden have, as is the case with the warden of the Tombs, absolute and uncontrolled au¬ thority over its management, subject only to the authority of his superior—an arrangement which it seems very doubtful that the prison has enjoyed for the last year : That the county maintain the prison, making a proper 131 appi’opriation for all its expenses, the pay of its keepers, the fuel, food, medical attendance, and all the other wants of the prisoners. In this way, the prison wdll cease to be looked upon as a money-getting institution, and will be worthy of the great city which it now disgraces. But your Committee would further recommend an entire revision of the laws concerning arrests on civil ]n’ocess; if, indeed, the Legislature deem it wise to continue imprison¬ ment for debt any longer—a matter as to the advisability of which the Committee entertain grave doubts. They re¬ commend that the Code of Pj-ocedure be so amended that no order of arrest shall be granted in cases of injury to person or cliaracter, for breach of promise of marriage, or for a line or penalty, or because the defendant is claimed to be about to leave the State ; thus restricting the power of arrest in civil process substantially to cases of fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust. We see no reason for maintaining the pow'er of arrest in such cases as libel, assault and battery, slander, etc. In libel cases, if civil remedy is souglit, an action for damages lies. If the punishment of the offender is sought, a criminal action may be brought and the one remedy does not shut out the other. So, also, of assault and battery cases. The practical working of the law as it now stands, is that pettifogging lawyers are perpetually striving to embroil their neighbors witli each other, and perpetually persecuting defendants by taking out orders of arrest in such cases, and, indeed, husbands are frequently arrested in this city for alleged slanders committed by their wives. Two women in a tenement house, get into an altercation, and call each other hard names and the pettifogger gets hold of one of them, and the first thing the husband of the other knows, is that he is arrested in a slander suit. It may happen in 132 a few cases here and there, that some good continues to flow from the existence of this law, but in the great majorit}^ of cases, it is merel}' an abuse and a nuisance, and the Committee unhesitatingly recommend its entire repeal. They further most earnestly recommend a more speedy trial of the issue, as to whether or not a ground for arrest lies. A man is now arrested upon ex parte affidavits, and if he cannot give the bail recpiired, his only alternative is to answer by other ex parte affidavits wliich are again liable to be rebutted ; and unless he can get discharged upon such an application, he must lie in jail until his case may be tried. Now, where a man’s liberty is con¬ cerned, the technicalities of hearing upon affidavits ought not to continue. Provision should be made by law, that within not to exceed fourteen days, from the time of his arrest, a prisoner upon his demand may be brought face to face with the witnesses against him before tlie court, may have the right to cross-examine them there, and may produce his witnesses, and himself to give oral testimony before the court, and then the court shall pass upon the question of whether or not the order of arrest shall con¬ tinue. By passing the two laws here suggested—the one repealing the power of arrest for the generally frivolous or malicious actions mentioned, the other giving to the person arrested a power of speedy audience before the court—the Committee believe that the number of persons hereafter arrested and conflned in Ludlow street jail would bear but a small proportion to those who have heretofore so suffered. One other question is worthy, at least, of consideration by the Legislature. Persons who have not paid their dues in the National Guard, are liable to arrest and con- 133 finement for twenty days, in Ludlow street jail. Seven such persons were in the jail on the first occasion when the Committee visited it. The two who were examined were evidently prevented from paying their dues only by abject poverty. One of them, John Brandt (see page 1562), was a poor Gei’inan, who could not speak English, who claims, whether truly or not, that he was inveigled into the regiment (which has since been disbanded), upon the pretence that it was a sort of benevolent association, and would care fcr him and his family if he were sick or were to die,; that he was only getting $9 a week, had a blind wife and three children; that he had been absolutely unable to pay his dues, and that he would pro¬ bably lose his place by the fact that he was confined in the jail. The question of the National Guard and of its means of enforcing its dues, is undoubtedly a delicate one to deal with, but assuredly such things as ai-e related in this testimony are abuses that ought not to be tolerated. If a man becomes so destitute that he has not the money to pay his dues in the National Guard, it seems to the Committee that he had better be expelled from his regi¬ ment instead of being locked up in jail, losing his means of subsistence and becoming a burden upon the commun¬ ity. If it is desirable to continue the existence of the law, some sumniany means should be be devised by which a prisoner, on showing absolute poverty, should not be re¬ tained in jail. 184 CONCLUSION. lu addition to Mr. John D. Townsend, the Counsel of the Committee, Mr. Theodore Anb, was subsequently appointed Associate Counsel. Upon the resignation of this latter gentleman, Mr. John W. Weed was appointed in his place. To all of those gentlemen, the Committee desire to express their hearty thanks for the great ability, patient industry, and high integrity they displayed in assisting us in the performance of our duties. It would have been very difficult to find anywhere gentlemen more fitted for the efficient discharge of the severe labors im¬ posed upon them. With these closing remarks, the Committee submit tlieir report to the Legislature, trusting that their labors for many months, and their earnest exertions for the gen¬ eral weal, may tend, through the wisdom of the Legisla¬ ture’s deliberations, to produce such results that crime may be largely diminished in the City of New York. Very respectfully submitted. Thos. Cooper Campbell, Leo C. Dessar, John T. McGowan, Jacob Hess, ^ Committee. J The undersigned desires to add, that while heartily concurring in nearly all the Report of the Committee, there are two or three statements of fact in that portion of the report which relates to the District Attorney’s office and excise matters to which I do not wish to be understood as assenting. 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