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.)
Mrs. Foster during her long and useful life, was a very charitable lady,
and in course of a year gave away much money, clothing, shoes and
railroad tickets and meals, to hundreds of men and women as they came
out of prison. That she had been deceived scores of times by worthless
“fakirs” cannot be denied, yet she continued in this thankless work down
till her untimely death. In early life, she had the means to give away,
and she gave it with a lavish hand. But much of the money, clothing and
railroad tickets which she so generously gave to “panhandlers” and
crooks just out of prison was worse than wasted, as a great deal of it
went for drink, and before long all those “bums” which she had helped
were back in the Tombs again. I can recall at the present moment a
person of this character, receiving money from Mrs. Foster on a Sunday
afternoon to go, as he said, to his home in Connecticut, where he said
his friends would give him employment. She was careful when she gave him
the railroad fare to hand him a postal card, requesting him to write a
few lines when he arrived at his destination. For weeks afterwards,
whenever I met her, I asked her if she had heard from the fellow whose
fare she had paid to Connecticut. But she always replied in the
negative. That worthless fellow was a sample of hundreds of others who
had been befriended, but who used the money for drink. My own impression
was that he never left the city. When I afterwards came to place him, I
found that his name was Murray. I then remembered that he was a chronic
“dead beat,” and always took a special delight in swindling
tender-hearted humanitarians.
One of the last cases that Mrs. Foster took an interest in before her
death was that of Florence Burns, who was charged with the murder of a
young man named Brooks. The examination took place in the Court of
Special Sessions, before Justice Meyers, who acted the part of a sitting
magistrate. The District Attorney was represented by one of his
assistants, and ex-District Attorney Backus, of Brooklyn, represented
the defendant. Justice Meyers, who is the personification of fairness in
his rulings, satisfied both sides. During the hearing, which lasted
several days, Mrs. Foster stood by the young woman as her best friend,
when all others had apparently forsaken her. But this is just the kind
of work Mrs. Foster had been doing—of the most unselfish and loving
character to prison unfortunates for nearly twenty years. A year or two
before her death, a couple of lying officials of the Tombs told her an
untruthful story about one of the missionaries. As soon as she learned
how these officials had deceived her, she shunned them forever
afterwards.
As is well known, some of the habitues of “Bummers’” Hall become very
religious after their own way, and are ready to believe in any or all
the creeds of Christendom, provided they can make a few dollars out of
the credulous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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