USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116
Internal Improvements No. 1. $2,611,967 24
Expenses of government
2. 204,757 962
Militia expenses
3. 24,542 80
Pensions and gratuities 4. 26,295 22
Education 5. 26,259 28
Interest on loans
6. 91,725 00
Internal Improvement fund,
7.
98,579 97
Pennsylvania claimants State maps
9.
2,363 38
Penitentiary at Philadelphia
10.
4,000 00
Penitentiary near Pittsburg
11.
4,364 65₺
Conveying convicts
12.
672 19
Conveying fugitives
13.
933 88
House of refuge
14.
2,500 00
Miscellaneous
15.
8,286 55
3,107,552 51
Balance in the treasury first December,
1828,
189,815 46₺
$3,297,367 97}
No. I. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT.
Turnpikes.
Millerstown and Lewistown 105 00 Bellefonte, Aaronsburg & Young- manstown 15,899 55
16,004 55
Rivers and Creeks.
Jabez Hyde, Jr. John M'Meens and Samuel H. Wilson, commis- sioners for improving the navi- gation of the Susquehanna river, per act of 31st March, 1823 4201 50
Peter Spangler and John Keller, commissioners for improving Sinking creek, per act of 12th April, 1828 450 00
4,651 50
Canals.
Union canal company
5,000 00
Commissioners of the internal
improvement fund, out of the stock loan of 1827 200,000 00
Commissioners of the internal
- improvement fund, out of the stock loan of 1828 1,732,600 00
Commissioners of the internal improvement fund, amount of
. the temporary loan, per act of 14th April, 1828 490,000 00
Commissioners of the internal improvement fund out of the VOL. III. 25
state treasury, per act of 24th March 1828 150,000 00
Canal commissioners, for explor- ing canal routes, per act of 7th April 1826 2,000 CO
-2,579,600 00
Bridges.
The commissioners of Cumberland and York counties, for erecting a bridge over Yellow Breeches creek, per act of 14th April 1827 2000 00 David Porter and others, for erect- ing a bridge over Dunlap's creek in Fayette county, per act of 25th January 1828 636 72
Wilkesbarre bridge company, per acts of 30th March 1824, and 8th of April 1826 1004 78
The commissioners of Somerset and Cambria counties, for erect- ing a bridge over Stoney creek, per act of 13th April 1828 2000 00
5681 50
State Roads.
George Rider and others, improv- ing a road in Fayette county, per act of 13th April 1827 629 69
Arthur Robeson, Jr. and Jno. Ney- man, for improving a road from the town of Franklin, in Venan- go county, to the town of Butler in Butler county, per act of 7th February 1828 2000 00
Commissioners of Cumberland and Perry counties, for a road from Landisburg to Carlisle, per act 14th April 1828 400 00
3029 69
Public Ground.
Commissioners for improving the public ground at Harrisburg, per act of 14th April 1828 3000 00
2,611,967 24
No. II. EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT.
Senate.
Pay and mileage of the members 14,430 05
Clerks
1,862 34
Transcribing
575 00
Sergeant at arms and doorkeeper 1,231 00
Printing
5,172 81
Contingencies 8,090 83
31,361 83
House of Representatives.
Pay and mileage of the members 43,242 15
Clerks
1,882 00
Transcribing
1,800 00
Sergeant at arms and doorkeeper 1,288 00
Printing
8,258 12
Contingencies
10,496 63
66,906 90
8.
304 38
194
AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT-EXPENDITURES.
[MARCH
Executive Department.
Governor's salary 4000 00
Secretary of commonwealth's do. 1341 37
Deputy secretary do.
do. 1000 00
Clerks
2847 21
Contingencies
1815 57
587 00
11,004 15
Judiciary Department.
Chief justice's salary
2878 51
Associate justices of the supreme
court, salary 7757 53
Joel Bailey, inspector 1st brigade, 6th division, salary 591 61
Disbursements
880 44
Presidents of courts of common pleas salary and mileage 26,104 72
Judges cf district courts 9,276 80
Recorders of mayors' courts 1800 00
Associate judges, salary and mile-
age 14,892 54
68,740 10
Treasury Department.
State treasurer's salary
1400 00
Clerks
2395 16
Printing annual report for 1827 412 00
Contingencies
551 05
4,758 21
Accountant Department.
Auditor general's salary
1400 00
Clerks
2392 86
Prinsing annual report for 1827
70 00
Contingencies
645 12
John Ludwig, inspector 1st bri- gade, 8th division, salary 376 24
Disbursements
604 94
Land Office.
Secretary of the land office, salary 1400 00 Clerks
3765 26
Contingencies
1034 77
Disbursements
500 00
6,200 03
Surveyor General's Office.
Surveyor General's salary
1400 00
Clerks
3175 00
Contingencies
421 00₺
4,996 00}
Contingent Expenses.
Wardens of the Port 1831 28
Stephen Duncan, chairman of the
joint committe, state library 450 00
William Musgrave, state librarian 200 00
Disbursements
207 15
Stambaugh and Cameron, printing the laws for 1827-8 2972 00 *
497 22
James Trimble, deputy secretary, money expended for carriage of the laws
106 48
J. Meyers, for carriage of the laws
150 00
Thomas Finney dlo. do.
115 00
Elias Beidleman do. do.
300 00
John King do. do,
15 00
Henry Sprigman, stitching, cover- ing and delivering the pamphlet laws of last session 143 00
-- 6,282 76
204,757 963
No. III. MILITIA EXPENSES.
George B. Porter, adjutant general, salary
500 00
Samuel A. Smith, inspector first brigade, second division, salary
300 00
Disbursements 281 77
Christian Snyder, inspector second brigade, second division, salary
400 00
Joseph Eneix, inspector of 2d bri- gade, 13th division, salary 301 52
Disbursements 498 09
Expenses of elections, per act of 1828 138 00
621 52
John Filson, inspector second brigade, third division, salary
Nathaniel W. Sample, Jr. inspector second brigade 4th divition, salary 250 00 Michael Doudle, inspector first brigade, 5th division, salary Disbursements 337 00
600 00
Thomas C. Miller, inspector 2d brigade, 5th division, salary Disbursements 216 70
354 20
Circuit expenses 5500 00
Attorney general's salary 530 00
1472 05
Jeremiah Shappell, inspector 2d brigade, 6tlı division, salary 350 00
Disbursements 314 20
664 20
George Hess, inspector 1st brigade, 7th division, salary
168 75
Disbursements
355 34
Joseph Wilt, inspector 2d brigade, 7th division, salary 206 25
Disbursements
144 41
350 66
John Baldy, late inspector 1st bri- gade, 8th division, salary 85 00
Disbursements 250 10
335 10
981 18
Samuel Thomas, inspector 2d bri-
gade, 8th division, salary 400 62
900 62
Joseph J. Wallis, inspector 1st brigade, 9th division, salary 281 24
Disbursements 174 57
455 81
Ephraim B. Gerould, inspector 2d brigade, 9th division, salary Disbursements 500 10
--
725 00
John Hasson, inspector 2d brigade, 10th division, salary 290 07
George M'Feely, inspector 1st bri- gade, 11th division, salary 293 66
Disbursements 48 31
341 97
Jacob Bahn, inspector 2d brigade, 11th division, salary 225 00
Disbursements 360 52
Expenses of elections, per act of 1828 66 00
651 52
David Fore, inspector 1st brigade, 12th division, salary 300 00
Disbursements 130 60
430 60
John M'Carty, inspector 2d brigade, 12th division, salary
62 50
Thomas M'Quaide; inspector 1st brigade, 13th division, salary 150 00
431 77
Nathaniel Brooks, inspector first brigade, third division, salary Disbursements 310 06
311 46
937 61
325 00 | Benjamin Anderson, inspector 1st
225 00
- 4,507 98
524 09
137 50
195
AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT-EXPENDITURES.
1829.]
brigade, 14th division, salary 300 00 283 38
Disbursements
Lot Lantz, inspector 2d brigade
14th division, salary
294 86
Disbursements for 1827 608 22
Do. for 1828
402 79
Nathaniel Patterson, inspector 1st
brigade, 15th division, salary 358 45
Disbursements
519 12
Robert Orr, Jr. inspector 2d brigade, 15th division, salary
306 25
Disbursements 396 00
· Expenses of elections, per act of 1828 117 00
Samuel Power, inspector 1st brigade 16th division, salary
511 10
Disbursements 944 06
Expenses of elections, per act of 1828 162 00
Edward A. Reynolds, inspector 2d brigade, 16th division, salary 393 12
Disbursements
639 66
Expenses of elections, per act of 1828 195 00
Andrew M'Farland, inspector first brigade, 15th division, expenses of electlons, per act of 1828
Isaac Bowman, inspector 2d brigade, 8th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Samuel Ringwalt, inspector 1st brigade, 4th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Edward Armour, inspector 1st brigade, 11th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Thomas Jones, inspector 1st brigade, 3d di- vision, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Robert Fleming, inspector 1st brigade, 9th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
John Davis, inspector 1st brigade, 2d divi- sion, expenses of elections, per act of 1828 Henry Barnhart, inspector 1st brigade 10th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Henry Daub, inspector 2d brigade 2d divi- vision, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
181 00
Benjamin Tanner, for maps furnished, per resolution of 28th March, 1825 2,363 38
No. X.
122 00 PENITENTIARY AT PHILADELPHIA.
Thomas Sparks and W. Davidson, per act of 14 April, 1828 4,000 00
No. XI.
PENITENTIARY NEAR PITTSBURG.
John K. M'Nickle, for iron furnished 39 23 S. Rice and W. Stewart, labour 74 70
James Kelly, lime 69 00
6 00
James M'Vicker, laths
6 00
Joseph Saxton do.
do.
12 72
James Banford do.
do.
15 00
Samuel Beltzhoover do.
125 00
24,542 80
No. IV. PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES. Amount of pensions and gratuities, by spe-
cial acts of the legislature, and under the power vested in the board for the relief of officers and soldiers of the revolutionary war
$26,295 22
No. V.
EDUCATION.
Washington college 1,000 00
Dickinson college 3,000 00
Jefferson college 1,000 00 Western university 4,800 00
Madison college 5,000 00
Deaf and Dumb institution 7,459 28
Clearfield academy 2,000 00
Beach Woods academy 1,000 00
Allegheny college
1,000 00
26,259 28
819 25
No. VI. INTEREST ON LOANS.
The bank of Pennsylvania and others, on the 5 per cent. loan of 1827, 46,500 00
The bank of Pennsylvania and others, on the 5 per cent. loan of 1828 30,000 00
The bank of Pennsylvania and others,on the 5 per cent. stock loan of 1825 7,500 00
1227 78
The Harrisburg bank & others, on loan per act of 1st April 1826 7,725 00
-
91,725 00
162 00
No. VII.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT FUND.
196 00
Auction duties
72,744 42
Dividends on bridge & turnpike stock 17,965 00
168 00
Collateral inheritances 5,993 41
Escheats 101 45
161 00
Dividends on Bridge & turnpike stock, received in 1827, 1,600 00
Collateral inheritances, for 1827 175 69
1,775 69
59 50
No. VIII. PENNSYLVANIA CLAIMANTS.
144 00
George Chahoon
304 38
174 50
No. IX.
STATE MAPS.
Alexander Hanna, inspector 2d brigade, 12th division, expenses of elections, per act of 1828
Thomas Atkinson, keeper of the arsenal at Meadville, salary
150 00
George W. Tryon, repairing public arms E. G. Nelson for colours
1977 21 100 00
John W. Salter do.
250 00
454 20
John Ford, cleaning and repairing muskets Joel Bailey, repairs at the arsenal, Harris- burg, per act of 14th April, 1828
63 54
Samuel Porter, carriage of public arms,
34 50
Richard Bowen, nails 49 26
David M'Elvy, brick
198 20
John Carson, repairing pumps
13 00
Frederick Wendt, glass 1 50
Robert Brown, stone 79 50
Benjamin Darlington, ironmongery 57 06
Ruth Hopkins, sand 23 93
William Hartupoe, smith work 207 18
96,804 28
112 00
$98,579 97
1617 16
583 38
1305 87
877 57
Isaac Wickersham, wire
196
AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT-EXPENDITURES.
[MARCH
Clemson Moore, do. 77 41
Thomas C. Cassel, bridge-toll
2 75
Moses Boreland, painting
301 19
Stafford Young, laths
5 00
Martin Weaver, cost in do.
43 14
S. Rice & W.ilson, labour
48 00
F. Graham & W.Frazer, carpen- ter work
M. M. Murray, clerk hire
21 274
C. Avery, paints
40 87}
David Evans, superintending
249 00
James C. Dawson, stones
98 25
William Sturgeon, plastering
149 44
F. Graham, carpenter work
250 00
John Hannon, stones
22 00
Hugh Davis, lumber
101 36
Commissioners of the penal code, compensation aud expenses
2,143 30
Alexander Johnson, Jr. inspect- ing locks
20 00
Jacob Boyer & William C.Leav- enworth, informants in the case of the escheated estate of Henry Bohn, deceased
347 70
Ephrame Pentland, deputy es- cheator of Allegheny county, costs in Ross' case 21 04
William Leckey, sheriff of said county, costs in said case
35 67
James Parks, informant in said case
50 72
William Courtney, examining penitentiary near Pittsburg
51 00
James Patterson, do. do.
36 00
Thomas Henry, do. do.
24 00
James Orr, do. do.
27 00
William Spear, do. Huntingdon 54 68
Jacob M'Kinney do. Northumb. 94 40
Commissioners of Bucks county
amount paid by them to sheriffs
40 00
Forster Millikin, sheriff of Miff- lin county
98 00
Jonn Hipple, do .- Perry
133 45
Charles B.Seaman, do. Pike
57 00
Joseph Culbertson, do. Franklin
85 31
672 19
No. XIII. CONVEYING FUGITIVES. John T. Brown, bringing back a fugitive from justice
21 81
Samuel Hibbs, do.
do.
47 86
"John Mills, do. do. . 103 50
William Stokes, do. do:
138 00
William Leckey, do. do.
214 86
James Bowen, do. do.
116 983
John Metzker, do.
do.
67 37
William Jaggers, do. do. 56 873
Samuel P.Garrigues,do. do. 166 62
933 88
No. XIV.
HOUSE OF REFUGE. John S. Henry, treasurer of the house of refuge, per act of 2d March, 1827
2,500 00
No. XV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
William W. Potter, collecting public money
100 00
Amzi Fuller, do. do.
19 00
W. W. Fetterman, do. do.
22 00
George M. Dallas, do. do.
25 26
Thomas Kittera, professional ser- vices in Melish's case
150 00
George M. Dallas, do. in
Nicholson's case
100 00
Samuel Douglass, do. in
Heister and Passmore's cases
150 00
Thomas M. Jolly, do. in Wentz's case
25 00
-
George R. Horter do. do.
4 22
J. G. Ostler, Jolın Cameron, Simon Cameron, J. N. Milti- more and Richard T. Jacobs, witnesses in said case 44 99
Darius Bullock, counsel fee, per act of 14th April, 1828
30 00
Thomas Fairman, John Hannon, .
James Anderson, and Richard Gray, amount due them, as a- warded by the commissioners appointed per act of 9th April, 1828
«
1,402 92
Commissioners for erecting the penitentiary, lock, clothing, &c.
569 31}
4,364 65}
No. XII. CONVEYING CONVICTS.
Samuel Gregory, sheriff of Sus- quehanna county
109 35
William O'Keefe information rel- ative to unpatented lands in Cambria county
214 50
John Taylor, county
do. in Indiana
528 00
William Wilson, do. in Lycom- ing county
327 00
David Furguson, do. in Clear- field county 379 50
Garrick Mallary, examining the concerns of the North West Bank of Pennsylvania 32 00
M'Carty and Davis, 45 copies of Purdon's Digest
200 00
John S. Wiestling, printing two certificate books 30 00
Henry Sprigman, binding laws of last session
25 00
Solomon Springman, do. do.
15 00
Henry Miller, stitching & bind- 112 50 ing militia laws, do. Charles F. Muench, binding di- 442 40 gest of road and election laws Philip Lenhere, refunded him, 138 97 per act of 8th March, 1828 James Lowry, assignee of D. Thrustor, refunded him per act of 20th March, 1811 84 45
Hiram Finch, treasurer of Sus- quehanna county, over pay- ment on retailer, s licences 3 75
Hugh M'Clelland, treasurer of Venango county, tax on Peter Baynton's lands 22 50
Joseph Miller, sheriff of Wayne county, serving process on R. Beardslee, late treasurer of said county 91
Edward A Reynolds, inspector 2d brigade, 16th division, per act of 12th April, 1825
39 00
William S. Harvey and others laying out a state road, leading from the state road at or near Samuel Hills', in Greene coun- ty, to a point on Biddle Island,
Hugh Bellas, do. in the case
of the Harrisburg canal, &c. Do. serving subpoenas in said cases 2 25
150 00
Alexander Jordan, do. do. 16 16
Thomas Wallace, witness, do.
12 15
181 31
197
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.
1829.]
Virginia, per act of 24th March, 1817
731 00
John Rea, transportation of bag-
gage during the late war
20
William M. Lockhart, bounty
\ for crossing the lines
do.
20 00
Conrad Croft,
do.
do.
10 00
John Baughen,
do.
do.
10 00
Chads Farquar,
do.
do.
10 00
Do. extra pay, do.
12 00
J. R. C. Smith,
do.
do.
4 09
Paid sheriff for bringing to Har- risburg the returns of the election of electors for Pres-
ident and vice president of
the United States,
1,242 50
8,286 55
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.
Observations and Reflections on the Penitentiary Sys- tem .-- A Letter from FRANKLIN BACHE, M. D., to ROBERTS VAUX.
Philadelphia, March 13th, 1829.
My Dear Sir-I regret very much that I have not been able, sooner. to reply to your letter of the 25th of January last, in which you pay me the compliment of requesting my opinion on the subject of the separate confinement of prisoners. The question which you propound is in these words :- "Is separate confinement a wise mode offtreating prisoners." In the following ob- servations, I shall endeavour to answer it to the best of my ability, according to the lights which I may possess.
It would seem to be the most direct way of coming to a solution of this question, to inquire what may be the evils of the gregarious confinement of prisoners, in order to determine whether their separate confinement would or would not remove them.
The evils of gregarious confinement are too manifold to be enumerated in the present letter; but the princi- pal ones may be mentioned under the following heads:
1. Mutual countenance and contamination.
2. The fostering of bad passions and evil propensi- ties, by living in a community, in which many of the crimes committed by the most depraved portion of so- ciety, living at large, are re-enacted.
3. The impossibility on the part of the best disposed prisoners, after being discharged, of avoiding the fel- lowship of the most abandoned, who may be privy to their disgrace.
4. The notoriety of the prisoner's disgrace to a large number of the most depraved members of socie- ty, which operates to deter his relatives and original friends, through pride, from giving him countenance and support.
1. Mutual countenance and contamination.
No one cause is a more fruitful source of the harden- ing of offenders, more particularly young. offenders, than the countenance which they receive upon enter- ing a community of convicts. We may imagine it pos- sible, that a young convict, on entering a prison for the first time, may experience contrition, may have his feel- ings much subdued, and penetrated with a sense of his disgrace; but how altered is he in a short time. He is received with open arms by his new associates. If he continues to evince a subdued spirit, he is scoffed for betraying weakness; if his spirits begin to revive, he is sustained by narratives of successful knavery, by ap- plauses bestowed on his criminal acts, or by exciting re- sentment in his breast for the alleged injustice or hard- ship of his case. How different may we suppose the progress of the feelings of the same individual, on enter- ing a solitary cell. Instead of shaking off the salutary feelings with which he is supposed to enter the prison, they are enhanced. Instead of drowning the sense of his disgrace in noise, reckless mirth, and vicious con- versation, the silence and loneliness of his cell, deepen
the tone of his previous feelings. His heart sinks with- in him, and he has ample time to scan the course of his past life.
As it respects mutual contamination, it need hardly be remarked, that in a community of criminals, every member of it approaches to the state of the most depra- ved individual which it contains. There is no redeem- ing influence of the less criminal over the more harden- ed portion: all rapidly tend to grow worse. But this is not all; the sum total of vice is not merely increased; but if I may so speak, it is increased in intensity. Now all these evils are avoided by the separate confinement of the criminal, and at the same time, a positive good substituted; for I hold it as exceedingly probable, that a criminal becomes better, the very moment he is pre- vented from growing worse, as I cannot conceive him to remain stationary.
2. The fostering of bad passions, &c.
It is a well known fact, that many of the crimes com- mitted by the depraved when at liberty, are perpetra- ted in prisons, under the system of gregarious confine- ment. Those that occur to me at this moment are mur- der, manslaughter, assault with intent to kill, maiming, perjury, theft, concealing stolen goods, gambling, &c. &c. There are also some crimes, which may be said to be peculiar to this kind of confinement. If then we were to concede for a moment, that the prisoner on his entrance, is not rendered worse by being cast into a community of criminals, still the facts mentioned above clearly show, that he has, in many instances, an oppor- tunity of indulging his particular criminal propensities, just as if he were at large: the only difference is, that his sphere of operations is more circumscribed. In this manner, his bad passions and evil propensities are at least perpetuated, if not rendered more intensely active. What then becomes of the grand principle of moral dis- cipline, the severing of depraved mental associations, and the breaking up of the influence of habit. It need not be added, that on the system of gregarious confine- ment, this principle cannot be brought into operation. Now all these evils disappear, on the system of separate confinement.
3. The impossibility on the part of the best disposed prisoners, &c.
This objection to gregarious confinement is, perhaps, as strong as any that I have urged. The situation of a prisoner on being discharged, who may be supposed.to have formed a strong mental resolution to lead a reform- ed life, is truly deplorable. Claimed as a brother, both in misfortune and crime, by hardened offenders, and studiously shunned by the virtuous part of the commu- nity, if he remain firm to his resolution, he suffers every misfortune that could shake the strongest moral princi- ple. He has no other resource than to hurry from the neighbourhood of his disgrace to some distant spot, where, being unknown, he will cease to be repelled by the good, and inveigled by the vicious. But what
trials await, and dangers beset him in the attempt. His very efforts to change his course of life, give mortal offence to his hardened associates in disgrace; and he is compelled either to fraternize with them, or submit to become the victim of their resentment. If he still repels them, he is, in all probability, the subject of some false accusation, which consigns him once more to a prison; or if he escapes this greater misfortune, he is at least followed up with unrelenting perseverance, and the fatal secret of his disgrace made known wherever he may bend his steps.
It has been alleged, that the disadvantage arising from the notoriety of an individual's disgrace, cannot be re- moved by the separate confinement of prisoners: inas- much as, the courts of law being open, his conviction may be known to the whole community. But this is arguing against the means of obtaining, to a very great extent, an important advantage for the prisoner, be- cause that means cannot obtain the object in view, en- tirely and completely. For it must be obvious, that the
198
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.
[MARCH
notoriety produced by the casual observation of a pro- miscuous crowd in a court,is not comparable to the noto- riety, created by constant and familiar intercourse with hundreds of felons in a prison.
And here I will take the liberty of bringing under your notice, an important consideration, in regard to the system of separate confinement. I conceive that its introduction will tend, gradually, to meliorate the moral condition of society at large. If it should go into opera- tion, it will encounter a mass of evil at the outset, which will retard its operations at first, but which it will have a tendency gradually to remove. What I particularly allude to at this moment, is that concert of action amongst discharged convicts, and their guilty associates who may have escaped the penalties of the law, which consti- tutes them a separate community, at war with society at large, and possessing similar views, feelings, interests, and even a peculiar language. The first discharged conviet, who may have the benefit of separate confine- ment, must encounter the danger of being ensnared by this community of offenders, who may, perhaps, be privy to his disgrace through the courts, or some other channel of information; but who can doubt that the ranks of this confederacy of villains would be thinned faster by death and other causes, than it could possibly be recruited by discharged convicts on the separate confinement system. Foron this system the chain of con- nection is broken, the principle of affiliation is effec- tually destroyed; and each individual of the new genera- tion of convicts would be, to a certain extent, isolated, and unconnected with his brethren in disgrace and crime, while the old generation is fast pasing away. In this way, it would happen, that those evils of the exist- ing system, which might be supposed at first to prevent the full development of the benefits of separate con- finement, would gradually disappear; and in the end, in- stead of having, in the bosom of society, an organized community of criminals, united by the common ties of misfortune and crime,and acknowledging the principle of mutual aid and support; a community, forming a great school of vice, in which the destitute and unwary are taught the lessons of depravity,-we should have sub . stituted a disjointed, scattered, unconnected population of offenders, without concert, and without common principle of action, who so far from having their criminal propensities fostered and confirmed by bad association, might possibly be reclaimed by the influence of the comparatively virtuous communities in which they might happen to be situated.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.