Opening the text

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.Munro, John Josiah

History

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.

Name: 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.
Author: Munro, John Josiah

Munro, John Josiah

Crime -- New York (State) -- New York; Halls of Justice (New York, N.Y.)

Some time ago, a New York paper gave a list of persons who were confined
in the City Prison charged with the crime of homicide. In this list the
names of thirty men, two women and a boy were given. They were then
awaiting trial for murder. All of them have since been tried, with the
result that several have been sent to the death house at Sing Sing, a
large number to prison for long and short terms, and a few discharged
for lack of evidence. In an analysis which we personally made at that
time we counted twenty-five persons who admitted that they were under
the influence of strong drink when they committed the crime of murder.

At that time, Dr. Robert S. Newton, a New York physician and specialist
in mental disorders, presented a carefully prepared paper on the causes
that led to murder in each case, but, strange to say, he does not
mention strong drink, although that was the principal direct cause of
twenty-five out of the thirty-three cases. Dr. Newton never met any of
these persons mentioned in this article, charged with the crime of
murder, nor had he any conversation with them before or after their
imprisonment, but simply from the standpoint of an alienist, he presents
a speculative analysis of what he considered the causes that led to
their crimes.

I met all of these people face to face, conversed with them, and watched
their trials in the Criminal Courts till finally disposed of. Most of
them made voluntary statements in relation to their crime, and I was
painfully struck with almost the identical words from the lips of each,
and all of these men, who closed the narrative by saying: “I was drunk
at the time, and did not know what I was doing.” They did not say this
for the purpose of securing sympathy, or apologizing for their crime,
but simply admitted that strong drink made them half-insane, and in that
state they committed the crime of murder.

With only the names of the actors and victims before him, and a brief
statement of each crime given by a New York paper, Dr. Newton proceeds
to give reasons for the homicides in detail. This is what he says by way
of explanation:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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.Munro, John Josiah

History

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.

Munro, John Josiah

Crime -- New York (State) -- New York; Halls of Justice (New York, N.Y.)

Some time ago, a New York paper gave a list of persons who were confined
in the City Prison charged with the crime of homicide. In this list the
names of thirty men, two women and a boy were given. They were then
awaiting trial for murder. All of them have since been tried, with the
result that several have been sent to the death house at Sing Sing, a
large number to prison for long and short terms, and a few discharged
for lack of evidence. In an analysis which we personally made at that
time we counted twenty-five persons who admitted that they were under
the influence of strong drink when they committed the crime of murder.

At that time, Dr. Robert S. Newton, a New York physician and specialist
in mental disorders, presented a carefully prepared paper on the causes
that led to murder in each case, but, strange to say, he does not
mention strong drink, although that was the principal direct cause of
twenty-five out of the thirty-three cases. Dr. Newton never met any of
these persons mentioned in this article, charged with the crime of
murder, nor had he any conversation with them before or after their
imprisonment, but simply from the standpoint of an alienist, he presents
a speculative analysis of what he considered the causes that led to
their crimes.

I met all of these people face to face, conversed with them, and watched
their trials in the Criminal Courts till finally disposed of. Most of
them made voluntary statements in relation to their crime, and I was
painfully struck with almost the identical words from the lips of each,
and all of these men, who closed the narrative by saying: “I was drunk
at the time, and did not know what I was doing.” They did not say this
for the purpose of securing sympathy, or apologizing for their crime,
but simply admitted that strong drink made them half-insane, and in that
state they committed the crime of murder.

With only the names of the actors and victims before him, and a brief
statement of each crime given by a New York paper, Dr. Newton proceeds
to give reasons for the homicides in detail. This is what he says by way
of explanation:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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.

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.

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