Читать книгу The New York Tombs Inside and Out!. Scenes and Reminiscences Coming Down to the Present. A Story Stranger Than Fiction, with an Historic Account of America's Most Famous Prison онлайн

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I have often told my friends when showing them around the building I would rather bury a relative of mine than have him spend a week in this dirty, immoral pest hole. During the past five or six years there has been an average of 75 to 80 boys a day in this prison, and shocking to relate, one-half have frequently to be treated for venereal disease. If you want your boy to be a full-fledged degenerate and outcast send him to the Tombs Prison, for only a few days, and when he comes out of this School of Crime he will dare anything in the line of criminality!

It is a fact that cannot be denied that in this prison some of the boys plan crime and execute it on the outside. This has been proven scores of times, when these young crooks return to the prison on fresh charges. If you question them they will admit that they received their incentive to do crooked deeds while in the Tombs. Those who are sent to the Protectory and the House of Refuge are seldom improved when they come out. Barney McGill, who had been a lieutenant in the Navy during the Civil War, was one of the best and kindest of keepers. He was in the Department of Corrections for many years and was noted for his outspoken fidelity. While in charge of the Boys’ Prison a few years ago, he wore a gold watch and chain exposed to view. Some of the “kids” thought it was a “dead-easy” thing to get Barney’s watch. An East Side boy named Mickey Cohen, promised to secure it without much trouble. One morning this young crook called Barney to his cell and said, “Keeper, I want to speak to you. Excuse me, I am afraid to speak loud ‘cause if some of dese kids hear it, dey will kill me.” “Speak out, my little man,” said Barney, “I will see that no one harms you.” Then he told Barney a “fake” tale of some boys who intended to escape. While he was doing this he stole Barney’s watch, leaving the chain dangle in front of his vest. In half an hour Barney missed his gold watch. After threatening to “kill” a half a dozen of the suspicious crooks, the guilty one confessed. Afterwards the watch was found in the cell mattress.