{ title: 'The corrector. (Auburn, N.Y.) 1839-18??, May 24, 1839, Page 4, Image 4', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn89071059/1839-05-24/ed-1/seq-4/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn89071059/1839-05-24/ed-1/seq-4.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn89071059/1839-05-24/ed-1/seq-4/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn89071059/1839-05-24/ed-1/seq-4/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
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N o , Clute was in. Asked Green for a copy o f N o . 2 which he gave ta,him. Henry Stone, Jr. says he has worked in Allen and Lounsbiffy’s office about a y ear and a haif~heljj|j£h print the 4th N o . o f the Chronicles-Louasbury said he thought the 3d N o . wouM b e printed at Princes. N e v e r said ” |l ! g about it after it was printed. Mr., B liss paid wit. for work, in helping to set up and print. Allen and Lounsbury never said any thing about the 4th N o . Mr. Allen was in the office in the evening when *we were to work at the press. T h e type was finished being set up Sunday afternoon, w ere set up in a room on the opposite side o f the hall from the printing office [occupied usu ally by Lounsbury as an Editors “ sanc tum '’]. Bliss read the proof. T h e door was locked when A llen came. A llen hallowed to Paul. Paul answered him, and let him in. When Lounsbury, in July last, resigned his In spectorship in the prison, his principle reason was o s tensibly that he was opposed to the method o f feed ing the convicts adopted by Capt. L. and approved of at the time by him and his co-inspectors. Hav ing resolved to prostitute the press, over which he presided, to purposes of personal malice, it was of course necessary that ho should assign the best rea son of which the case admitted. The change in the manner of feeding, was a singular subject^ out of which to manufacture a question of humanity . but, by dint, of continually harping upon it, through his regular paper,. and, occasionally, through his “ Chronicles,” the whole dressed up in suitable phraseology, and aided by now and then a nerve chilling paragraph from a kindred press, and all the other paraphernalia of an excitement, he has con trived, in the absence of xll means of contradicting falsehood, to work up quite a catastrophe. Many very honest men have come to believe that there is in fact something manifestly wrong in the matter. But, to look at it sensibly, what is there so frightful, so inhuman, in the* convicts taking their three meals as they have always taken their supper? W e do not intend to go into an elaborate discussion of the question but merely to state a few facts that may not be generally known. 1st There is not aprison in the U. S ., w ith the exception, perhaps o f one in Ohio, where the same system o f feeding is not pur sued- Now, is it perfectly indisputable that Louns bury and bis co-agitators are so much in advance of the spirit o f the: age ? Arc all prisons through out the Union, managed by inhuman and tyranni cal creatures, such a s we are asked lo believe the officers o f the Auburn prison are? This, we trust, will hardly be contended—The question, then, like all others, has two sides. All we ask, then, is that it may be met fairly. 2nd. The health o f the con victs is enhanced by the change. We gave in our last a comparative statement o f the amount o f sickness, or rather o f time lost from inability to labor, in one of the shops. Since that, we have ascertained that if the contrast is not, in all eases, as great, it is by no means confined to that particular department of the prison. W e consider the fact as sufficient alone to settle the question— for if the health of the convicts is enhanced nothing is an adequate off-set. But, we will be asked, perhaps, how it is that the mere place in which a man takes his meals can make so remarkable a difference. It must be recollected that we are not guilty of the absurdity of attributing it all to this circumstance. We contend, merely, that the time allowed for mastication and the re spite from tabor, are favorable to digestion,— and that there circumstances, taken in connection with (lie opportunity afforded those whose habits are ne cessarily sedentary of such exercise as the limits of the cells will admit, and, on the other hand, the op portunity for rest which others, from their different labor, require, are conducive to health. That the convicts are more healthy can not be denied. The testimony which we have given on the subject, and which we offer to day abundantly bear out the as sertion, 3rd. It is a saving o f expense. Less keepers and guards are necessary; and consequently, the prison is better able to sustain itself. The additional expen diture, under the olher system would run it in debt. Any pecuniary savings would be a consideration perfectly out of the question, among alt men of the least pretension to humanity, were the health of the convicts or even their personal comfort thereby sac rificed. The convicted felon is placed without the pale of society, for no such unchristian purposes. The objects of imprisonment arc to prevent the r e petition of crime, and to reform the offender. Peo ple may differ as to the a mount and nature of pun ishment. Needless crupltics, none but brutes in human shape, would tolerate. So far as health is concerned, we have already said sufficient. As to the comfort of the convicts we contend that 4 th. A majority -of them are in favor o f the present plan. We have reason to believe that the propor tion is far greater, but a majority is sufficient to set tle the question, if lhis were the only consideration. For proof upon this point we refer the enquirer af ter truth to the Rev. B. C. Smith—we must beg his indulgence for the liberty we have taken with his name— a man, among all others, best qualified lo speak un derstandingly upon the subject- H is office gives him an opportunity of conversing daily with the prisoners, and of ascertaining their opinions upon all subjects. His veracity is undoubted. None but those who, like the midnight assassin, shrink from the light of open day to effect their hellish purposes, and the dastardly assailants of an amiable and de fenceless female, have ever dared to call it in ques tion. Against such attacks we cannot consider it necessary to interpose a shield. It being a fact, then, that the convicts themselves prefer the present mode of feeding, what earthly pretext can a person have for seeking t o a lterit on the score of its inhu manity 1 The idea is preposterous. We could give many other reasons why the cell system is not only not obnoxious to all the charges which have been brought against it, b u t is superior in most respects to the table sy«tem; but do not con sider it necessary. Public opinion, we a re told, how ever, is against it. The “ public Opinion” on this subject is all factitious; manufactured and kept tip just as public opinion on any olher subject, about which\ people itl general a re necessarily uninformed, can he manufactured and kept up. The interior of a prison, from necessity, is excluded from the univer sal gaze of community. Hence, there is’no subject upon which men o f the most honest intentions, can be so easily misled, by designing persons—especially where those persons have a t command so powerful an engine as a public press, and no means on the other hand of refuting its calumnies. After all, it i 3 a matter of much doubt what public opinion in re ality is, concerning the past management of the pris on. Within the last few weeks, hundreds, owing to the thousand reports in circulation, have taken the trouble to see with theirown eyes every department of the institution. With all such there is no longer the least ground for complaint. They have seen things as they really are. So far as the Inspectors Agent and Keepers are concerned, it may be assum ed by political knaves that they are materially dif ferent from mankind in general. Such assump tions may serve to ‘‘adorn a tale” of ‘‘shocking barbarities” ; to embellish a “ peep” into a terres- tial hell;” or afford the theme for those pimps o f a restless faction who, as a means of earning an un worthy bread, resort to the most infamous attacks upon private character, regardless alike of public o r der or domestic quiet. Sensible men and women, or even sensible children, however, should not allow themselves to be bnmbugged by such raw-head and-bloody-bones stories. “ T h e notary who was a brisk old man, and took delight in rallying, asked what physician attended the canon. I answered D o ctor Sangr-tdo.” “ This learned phy sician had a very solemn appearance, weighed his d iscourse and g ave an emphasis to his expressions. H is reasoning was geom etrical, and his opinions singttlar.\ D o ctor Oliphant o f the “ Journal” has promtilged his professional opinion in the Von E c k e a s e . H e says, “ I f the disease o f the lungs and bowels were produced by the state o f the brain, then certainly the disease o f the brain must have existed more than two or three days, or more than two or three w eeks. Gramercy good D r . ! Adjust those vitreous optichs of thine, and tell us who set up this opinion, against which thou hast so doughtily broken a lance? Badinage apart, it exists only in his own morbid brain. And thi3 is a sam p le o f our treatment throughout this vexed matter. Gross and malicious pe r- versions o f language and false representa tions of m otives have been the order of the day. Aware ah initio that the foun dation o f this rabid excitem ent was “ such stuff as dreams are made of,” in hot h aste they attempted to render it available by ministering to tho worst feelings of hu- maniiy. N o w , the scaly monsters with stony tears are prating o f their personal friendship forD o c t. Briggs. O f h is “ near family connexions” on the jury, & c. & c. From all such friends and “ near family connexions” “ Good Lord save us.” Dr. Briggs’ defence is before the public. H e claim s no one’s sympathy. H e de mands justice. T h e kennels of the “Jour nal” and “ Patriot” are opened and their anonymous scribblers unleashed. T h e dogs o f war are let slip. Tray, Blanch, Sweetheart “ Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound “ And curs of low degiee are on his trail. H e sim p ly a sks a peru sal o f his defence. s y s t e m o f f e e d i n g p r a c t i c e d th e r e a t th e p r e s e n t time. H e a l t h o f C o n v i c t s , again. —It'appears from the books o f the'prison, t h a t the expenditures for medicines, liquors &c. used in the Hospital during the last year of the agency of John Garrow, and while Dr. Bigelow was Physician, amounted to 8624,40 And, that, for (he last year, during the agency of Capt. Lynds, ten months o f which Dr. Briggs was Physician, the expenditures for similar articles was but §270,22 W e leave the reader to draw such inferences from this contrast as he shall see fit. So far as we are able to judge, it seems to afford no slight evidence of the proper management of the prison ; and, at the same time, a strong argument in favor of the Is it not true, that instead of not one death ex cept t h a t of Winterscale having occurrqp during the six months previous to the death of Von Eck, three had occurred— and that during the last eight months seven have died. Let a correct statement be published from the Prison Register in the next “ Corrector.” — Auburn Journal Instead of “ six” we should have said five months. The matter is unimportant. That there was any intentional misrepresentation, would be absurd to suppose, for as every body may know, the official report of Dr. Briggs shows that 3 convicts died in the month of Nov. last. Now the sapient editor of the Journal has proved so satisfactorily that it was all right that 16 of the IS jurymen in the Von Eck investigation were “ whigs,” we will ask why it was that all the Doc tors (for so courtesy and usage compel us to call them) were of the same political school ? We pause for a reply. W hy did G o v. Seward and his friends dt em it advisable, contrary to the wishes o f the Inspectors and Agent here, not to send up the Assemblvs committee upon state prisons?Oh ! B illy O’ Seward ! W e ore obliged to omit many things to day. In our next probably we shall “ a tale unfold” in relation to the afflic- tinns o f 65 convicts, in the Summer and F a ll o f ’37 by SC U R V Y in consequence o f B A D F O O D ! S epenofthem have since died. A R E A L case o f “ inhumani ty'' ! “ L e t the galled jade wince” ! We lay before our readers the following corres pondence between Capt. Lynds and the Inspectors of the Prison. It would seem that the causes which led to the resignation of the former are not sufficiently understood. The correspondence be low, will, therefore, be the means of undeceiving many who would, otherwise, suppose that there had been a disagreement between the late agent and the Inspector’s by whom he was appointed and at whose pleasure he held his office. For aught that lias come to our knowledge, an uninterrupted har mony has existed between the two Departments since the withdrawal of VV. Lounsbury from the board in July last. State Prison, Auburn, A p r il 19,1839. Gentlemen : It is perhaps due to the Board o f Inspectors, that I should an nounce thus early my intention o f discon tinuing my connection with this prison af ter the 13th o f M a y next. It is not unknown to som e o f y ou, that the duties and responsibilities o f this sta tion were not sought for by me. Indeed, had I consulted exclusively my own inter est and w ishes, I should notffiave accept ed the station proffered m e * b y friends, whose partiality led them to think my do ing so might conduce to the public inter ests. H o w far these anticipations have been realized, you, gentlem en, from your situation, are best qualified to judge. I have the satisfaction o f b elieving, howev er, that my earnest endeavors to place this institution on that high ground where it will best advance the great objects o f its establishm ent, have not been in your es timation entirely unsuccessful. As long as my continuing here present ed a reasonable prospect o f public useful- ness, I felt called upon to yield my per sonal p references to the wishes o f friends. But recent demonstrations render it doubt ful whether it can longer be considered so. I cam e to the Auburn prison with out any personal connection with the con troversies about its direction, and dispo sed to know nothing o f them. But I ve ry soon found m y self condem ned in ad vance, by men determined to make me the victim o f their personal a n im osities— From that time to the present, no effoit o f m alice has been spared to misrepresent my conduct and the condition o f the pris on. A thousand stories of cruelties and suffering within its walls have been circu lated, as alien to truth, as inflicting them would be foreign to my nature. B y this means niuch excitem ent and prejudice has been created in this community. So far a s my m o tives have been thus tradu ced and my character a ssailed by detrac tion, i f I were the only sufferer, I could cheerfully leave to time and the result the redress o f the injury and the punishment o f the slanderer; but from the experience this vindictive war will not c e a se, at w h a t ever hazard to the best interests of this institution, while I continue its agent.— W h ile the institution is made the subject o f fierce personal and political conflict, it can never flourish ; its discipline can nev er be s u c c e s s f u l; it can never comnfand that confidence and support o f public o- pinion which is the foundation o f its use fulness. B e lieving my own prospect o f useful, ness has been measurably lessened, I am induced by my regard to the welfare of the prison as well as my own dislike of turmoil and contention, to resign to you the trust reposed in me. For your con tinued kindness and support,-^gentlemen, I am deeply grateful. c With considerations of the highest res pect, I am your ob't. serv’t., E lam L y n d s , A g ent. To M e ssrs. J. Hoskins, F. G. Jewett, J . L . Richardson, & H . G .yondusen, Inspectors. Auburn Prison, A p r il 19. Elam Lynds, E s q .— Sir ; W e have re ceived your letter announcing your inten tion to resign the office of A g ent and K e e per o f t,his Prison. W e very much regret the circum stances referred to in your let ter, and which are made the foundation of the step taken bv you. T h e prosperity of the prison at all times is chiefly dependent upon an energetic, in telligent and faithful discharge o f the du ties o f your station, always arduous, ami sometimes rendered difficult and irksome, by circum stances beyond the control of the officers o f the institution. It affords us pleasure on this occasion to bear our testim ony to the skill, fidelity and a- bility with which the various responsible duties o f agent and keeper o f this prison have been discharged by you since our connection with it, and to assure you, on your retirement from the station you hold in it, o f our continued confidence. Y ery respectfully, yours, & c. F . G . J e w e t t , J . H o s k i n s , J . L . R ic h a r d s o n , ■ H . G. V a n d u s e n , Inspectors. S. B. D e n n i s , late Inspector. From the Monroe ( M ichigan ) Times. T h e C o r r e c t o r . — I s the title of a new semi-monthly publication recently com menced at Auburn N. Y. Its object seems to be to disabuse the public mind from the. alledged false impressions studiously cir culated in that vicinity, respecting the management o f the State Prison. That there may have been on the part o f some subordinates employed in the Prison, a disposition to cruelty, we think very prob able, but that the reputations o f all con nected with it, should be made to suffer in discriminately, for mere political effect, is neither generous nor just. With the pre sent physician o f the prison, D r. Lansingh Briggs, we have long been acquainted, and can bear most willing testimony to his character for skill and attention in the du ties o f his at best but thankless profession. W e were ourselves once stretched, a stranger and alone, upon “ a couch o f suf fering,” from which we had never risen, were it not for the blessing o f Providence, upon the untiring skill and watchfulness of this very individual, whose personal and professional character is now so rudely assailed. W e can only say that “ our life on’t” we believe him innocent of the char ges alleged against him, and if “ the bles sing o f him who was ready to perish” can avail aught in assuaging the pangs which a noble and sensitive spirit must feel under the malice o f its persecutors, he has it most freely, most fully. T H E Is printed semi-m onthly, at the Auburn “ Job Printing Office” for the Publishers. T e r m s — made easy to all who desire to arrive at the truth. \
