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„   REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTER       4
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS SUPPORTEu SY THE STATE
AND ALL
CITY .VXD COIM POOR AM WORK HOUSES AND JAILS,
OF THE
STATE  OF NEW YCXFtlK.
Transmitted to the Legislature, January 9, 1857.
             ALBANY:
C. VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER TO THE LEGISLATURE,
,           No. 407 Broadway.
                1857.
 
HSWr 
itate  u»f  KetasftTorlu
No.   8.
IN  SENATE,   JAN.   9,   1857.
                         REPORT        ^^^

 Of Select Committee appointed to visit Charitable Institu-
   tions supported by the State, and all city and county poor
   and work houses and jails.
   Mr. Spencer from the select committee appointed by the Senate,
 under a resolution passed February 7, 1856,  " to visit, after the
 adjournment  of the Legislature,  all charitable institutions sup-
 ported or assisted by the State, and all city and county poor and
 work houses  and jails," and " to examine into the condition of
 the  said establishments,  their receipts and expenditures, their
 methods of instruction, and the government, treatment, and man-
 agement of the  inmates, the conduct of the  trustees,  directors,
 and other officers of the same, and all other matters whatever
 pertaining to their usefulness and good government,"

 REPORTS:

   Since the adjournment of the Legislature, they have, for five
 months, with some intermissions, been engaged in the  investiga-
 tions required by the resolution of the Senate.  They have dil-
 igently examined into the existing condition of the poor houses,
 work houses, hospitals, jails, orphan and lunatic asylums, and
 other charitable and reformatory institutions, supported or assist-
 ed by the State ; and  have committed to writing the evidence
 taken in the course of their  investigations, an abstract of which
 is appended to this report.

   Much of the evidence is necessarily of such a character, that
a publication of it, in  detail, for  general  perusal, would not be

  [Senate, No. 8.]            1                   [u. n.J 
2
[Senate
desirable.   The abstract prepared by the committee, as an appen-
dix to this report, is sufficient for the purpose of illustrating and
sustaining the criticisms, remarks, and arguments of the commit-
tee, and of communicating such statistics and details, not other-
wise contained  in the report, as seem to be requisite for public
information.

    I. POOR HOUSES, ALMS HOUSES, AND KINDRED
                       CHARITIES.
  Exclusive  of the alms houses and poor houses in New-York
and Kings counties, (which  are particularly referred to in the
appendix,) there are  fifty-five poor-houses in the State ; the ave-
rage number of inmates for the year, according to the testimony
taken by the committee, being 6,420.  The actual  number of
inmates at the time when the committee was engaged in its exam-
inations, was  4,936, of which 2,670 were foreign born, and 1,307
were children.   During the past year, the  number of deaths in
these fifty-five poor houses was 770.  Such a great mortality as
this number indicates, should arrest the public attention.

  The  number  of  lunatics found  confined  in the poor houses
(excepting those in New-York and Kings counties) was 837, (329
males and  508 females) of which number  301  were received
during the  last year.  Of the whole number, 130 were reported
as being in  cells and chains.  During the year, 59 improved, and
26 recovered.  All were paupers except 27.  Why these twenty-
seven should be confined in a poor house can only be accounted
for by the inadequate provision now made by the State for accom-
modating the poor insane.  This circumstance impressed the com-
mittee with the urgent necessity of providing additional establish-
ments similar to  the  State Asylum  at Utica. At least two such
are  required  for present emergencies.   A  bill was reported to
the  Legislature at  its last session,  by a select committee of the
Senate, providing for this necessity, which in its principal features,
at least, and  probably in its details,  deserves the favorable con-
sideration of  the Senate, and, in the judgment of the committee,
ought to become a law.  Sufficient  reasons for such  an opinion
may be found  in the report of the select conrmittee  who intro-
duced  the bill, and they are fortified by the facts attested to by
the  various witnesses whose testimony is appended to this report.

  There was  found in  these poor houses  273 idiots, 25 deaf
mutes, and 71 blind persons.  Of those numbered as idiots,  many 
No. 8.]
3
are simply demented, and are suitable subjects for lunatic asylums.
The average weekly support of the inmates is  eighty three cents.

   The poor houses throughout the  State may be generally des-
cribed as badly constructed, ill-arranged,  ill-warmed,  and ill-
ventilated.   The  rooms are crowded with inmates; and the  air,
particularly  in the sleeping apartments, is very noxious, and to
casual visitors, almost insufferable.  In some cases, as many as
forty-five inmates  occupy a  single dormitory, with low  ceilings,
and sleeping boxes arranged in three tiers one  above another.
Good  health  is incompatible  with  such arrangements.   They
make it an impossibility.   (Note A.)

   The want of suitable hospital accommodations  is severely felt
in most of the poor houses.  The sick, considering their physical
condition, are even worse cared for than  the healthy.  The ar-
rangements for medical attendance are  quite inadequate to secure
that which is suitable; the physician is poorly paid,  and conse-
quently gives only such  general  attention as his remuneration
seems to require.   In  some  cases, the  inmates sicken and  die
without any medical attendance whatever.  In  one county alms-
house, averaging  137  inmates, there were 36 deaths during the
past year, and yet none of them  from epidemic  or  contagious
disease.   Such a proportion of mortality indicates most inexcu-
sable negligence.

   A proper classification of the inmates is almost wholly neglect-
ed.  It is either impossible, or when possible, it  is disregarded.
(Note B.)  Many of the  births occurring  during the year are
doubtless, the  offspring of illicit  connections.  During  the  last
year, the  whole number of births was 292.   The indiscriminate
association of the  sexes generally allowed  strongly favors this
assumption.   By day,  their intercourse is  common and  unres-
tricted; and there  is often no sufficient safe-guard against a pro-
miscuous  intercourse by night.  In  one  case, the only  pretence
of a separation of the sexes  consisted in the circumstance of se-
parate sfairs being provided at each end of a common dormitory;
and a police  regulation, requiring one sex to reach it by one
flight, and the other sex  by another, appeared  to be deemed a
sufficient preventive of all subsequent intercourse.

  In two  counties, the committee found that the poor houses
were supplied by contract, the contractor being allowed to profit
by all the labor which he could extort from the paupers.  In both 
4
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counties, the contractor was a superintendent of the poor; and in
one, he was also keeper of the poor house.  In one, the keeper
received his compensation from the contractor; and in this case,
the food  supplied was not only  insufficient in quantity,  but con-
sisted partly of tainted meat and fish.  The inmates were conse-
quently almost starved.   They were also deprived of a sufficiency
of fuel and bedding, and suffered severely from cold.   So gross
and inhuman  was the conduct of the contractor  for this poor
house, that  two female inmates (lunatics,) were frozen in their
cells (or rather sheds,) during the last winter, and are now crip-
ples for life.

  The treatment of lunatics  and  idiots  in these houses is fre-
quently abusive.  The cells and sheds where  they are confined
are wretched abodes, often wholly unprovided with  bedding.  In
most cases, female lunatics had  none but  male attendants.  In-
stances were testified to of the whipping of male and female idiots
and lunatics, and of confining the latter  in loathsome cells, and
binding  them with chains.   In one county, where eleven luna-
tics wer? confined, six were in  chains, some of whom were fe-
males.  In several of these cases, the patients were not violent;
but it may be proper to say that the severity and inhumanity of
their  treatment were  probably  owing to the apprehensions and
ignorance of the keepers, rather  than to any intentional harsh-
ness or any unkindness of disposition.

  In some poor houses, the committee found lunatics, both male
and female, in cells, in  a state of nudity.  The cells were intoler-
ably offensive, littered with the  long accumulated  filth of the
occupants, and with straw reduced to chaff by long use as bed-
ding, portions of which,  mingled with  the filth, adhered to the
persons of the inmates  and formed the only covering they had.

  A great  evil  of  the  poor  houses is  idleness.  Its effects are
most visible in the winter season, when the houses are crowded,
when there is little  out door work to be  done, and when the in-
mates are in the most vigorous  state to do full work.  In all the
large counties, at least, work houses should be established, either
in connection with the poor houses or as distinct establishments;
and suitable legal  Dower should be given to the  proper officers
to consign able  bodied  paupers  to the work house instead of the
poor house proper.  Such work houses would tend  to diminish
pauperism; at all events, to diminish the burthen of it.  Under
suitable regulations, and with little public aid, the committee are 
No. 8.]
5
satisfied that work houses, if generally established, would become
most useful and economical auxiliaries in the support of paupers,
and in restoring them to positions of independence and respect-
ability.  (Note C.)

  A still  more efficient and  economical auxiliary in supporting
the poor, and in the prevention of absolute  pauperism, consists,
in the opinion of  the committee,  in the proper and systematic
distribution of out door relief.   Worthy  indigent persons should,
if possible, be kept from the  degradation of the poor  house, by
reasonable supplies of provisions, bedding,  and other absolute
necessaries, at their own homes.  Half the sum requisite for their
maintenance in the poor house would often save them from desti-
tution, and enable them to work  in their households and their
vicinity, sufficiently to earn the remainder of their support  during
the inclement season when indigence suffers the most,  and when
it is most likely to be forced into the common receptacles of pau-
perism, whence it rarely emerges without a loss of self-respect
and a sense of degradation.  The committee are confirmed in
their opinion by the success of the system of out door relief prac-
tised in the city of New York; and they see no good reason why
a similar system might not be adopted throughout the State, with
great benefit to the several counties, as well as to those indigent
persons  who require only occasional  assistance.  The  present
provisions of law seem to be inadequate and ill-suited  to  the
purpose.

   In many instances the committee learned  that the poor houses
were not visited by the supervisors for  more than a  year.   They
cannot but regard this as a gross neglect of public duty, and
therefore submit it to public criticism, and  to such  legislative
interference as may effect a more efficient supervision.

   It will be seen that in the counties  of Queens and Suffolk, no
county poor houses are established.  By the appendix it will  ap-
pear that a poor house for two towns, in  Queens county, were
visited by the committee, but here they saw nothing  creditable
to those  having charge of the establishment, and it was  under-
stood, in  some of  the others towns of that county, the man who
would bid the lowest price, secured to himself the profit of keeping
the poor of the town, and that they were accordingly delivered
to his care.  The committee visited one town poor house at River
Head, in the county of Suffolk, and though there were only three
or four inmates seen, they were evidently well provided for and 
6
[Senati
 kindly treated.   It was  represented that  there was similar pro-
 vision made in all the other towns in the county.

   The opinion is prevalent that the poor  houses  are asylums for
 the worthless and vicious only.  Among  the inmates, however,
 the committee  found persons  of  great worth  and respectable
 character, reduced to extreme poverty, not by any  vice or fault
 of their own, but by some inevitable loss of property, or of friends
 and relatives who, if living, would  have supported them in their
 age and infirmities.   In  one county, they  met with a soldier who
 had served under Washington in the wars of the revolution, still
 of sound  mind,  and in good  health; but who was until  lately
 ignorant that he  was  entitled  to  a pension that would suffice  to
 make the residue of his  life comfortable outside of a poor house.
 He is now about to obtain it, as he doubtless deserves it.  Poor
 houses, if properly conducted, might be what they were originally
 designed to  be, comfortable asylums  for worthy  indigence.  To
 suffer them to become  unsuitable refuges for the  virtuous  poor,
 and mainly places of  confinement for  the  degraded, is to pervert
 their main purpose; and  the present management  of them is such
 that decent poverty is virtually excluded until the last extremity
 of pauperism is reached, when the  necessity of supporting mere
 existence  compels it reluctantly to seek the scanty comforts of a
 poor house rather than to suffer the horrors of starvation outside.

   The most  important point in the whole subject confided to the
 committee, is that which concerns the care and education of the
 children of paupers.   There  are at  least thirteen hundred of
 these now inmates of the various poor houses,  exclusive  of those
 in New-York and Kings county; enough, in these nurseries, if
 not properly cared  for, to fill  some day all the houses of refuge
 and prisons in the State.   As  receptacles for  adult  paupers, the
 committee do not hesitate to record their deliberate opinion that
 the great mass of the poor houses which they have inspected, are
 most  disgraceful memorials  of  the  public  charity.   Common
domestic animals are usually more humanely provided for than the
 paupers in some of these institutions; where  the misfortune of
poverty is visited with greater deprivations of comfortable  food,
 lodging, clothing, warmth and ventilation than  constitute the
usual penalty of crime.  The  evidence taken by the  committee
exhibits such a record of filth,  nakedness,  licentiousness, general
bad morals,  and disregard of religion and the most common re-
ligious observances,  as  well as of gross neglect of the most ordi-
nary comforts and decencies of life, as if published in detail would 
No. 8.]
7
disgrace the  State and shock humanity.  The committee hesitate
to record  in  the pages  of  their report  the particular  instances
which would  amply justify their general condemnation of these
misnamed charitable provisions for the adult poor.  But  with
respect  to children, the  case is far worse; and the committee are
forced to say  that it is a great public reproach that they should
ever be  suffered to enter or remain in the poor houses as they are
now mismanaged.  They are for the young, notwithstanding the
legal provisions for their education, the worst possible nurseries;
contributing an annual accession to our population of three  hun-
dred infants,  whose present  destiny is  to pass their most impres-
sible years in the midst of such vicious associations as will stamp
them for a life of future infamy and crime.  From such associa-
tions they should be promptly severed; and provision should be
made for them either in asylums devoted to their special  use, or
in such  orphan asylums as would consent to take charge of them
for a fair  compensation to  be provided by the State,  or by the
several  towns and counties properly chargeable with the expense.

   Although  pauperism is not  in itself a crime,  yet that kind of
poverty which ends in  a poor  house,  unless  it is the  result of
disease, infirmity, or age, producing a positive inability to earn a
livelihood, is not  unusually the  result of such self-indulgence,
unthrift, excess,  or idleness, as  is  next of  kin to criminality.
With such pauperism as that it is certain that the young should
not be associated and trained to maturity; for it is an association
with discomfort, evil manners,  profanity, and licentiousness. The
education which the statutes provide  for them  is not  suited to
their particular case.   In-door  instruction is often confided to un-
fit and  vicious teachers  (Note D.); and the attendance of pauper
children at schools in the vicinity of the almshouse is accompa-
nied by a sort of disgrace attaching to  their position which has a
most unfavorable influence.  Orphanage is not subject to the like
stigma; and therefore to go from an orphan  asylum to a public
school does not expose  the orphan to the same taunts and incon-
siderateness that  follow the pauper child who is the inmate of a
poor house; which  is generally reputed, in its vicinity, as a habi-
tation for vice and  degradation, so low has it fallen from  its ori-
ginal purpose.

.   If adequate provision cannot be made in  the various existing
orphan  asylums, and such as may be  hereafter  founded, for the
support and education of these unfortunate children of poverty, 
8
[Senate
 as a consideration for increased  benefactions  from the State or
 from the counties, then the committee most earnestly recommend
 the establishment of special institutions for the purpose of main-
 taining and educating them by themselves, apart from the con-
 taminations which now surround and vitiate them.   It would,
 in the end, prove a most  useful  and economical  public charity,
 and one which the present state of the  almshouses seems to de-
 mand very urgently, if the welfare of succeeding generations is
 worthy of the care of the  present one.   (Note E.)

   Attempts have been made, in some of the counties, to establish
 separate asylums for insane paupers.  As a saving of expense to
 the county in the maintenance of these appears to be a principal
 object, it is obvious to the committee, considering  all the circum-
 stances requisite to be observed, that such efforts must terminate
 either in sacrificing the lunatic or the purpose of economy sought
 to be achieved,   A lunatic asylum for  every  county, properly
 constructed, on suitable grounds, and with due regard to warmth,
 ventilation, bathing, and all the peculiar  necessities of the insane,
 including suitable medical and other attendance, must necessarily
 involve not only an original outlay, but  a constant annual ex-
 penditure, far exceeding, in comparative amount, that  which
 would be inr urred for the support and care of  the same number
 of inmates in four or five  larger institutions properly distributed
 throughout the State.  So many different asylums could not em-
 ploy, without extravagance, the necessary medical aid and expe-
 rience; and  they could not be so constructed and arranged, with-
 out great expense, as to allow of a proper and essential classifica-
 tion of the  patients whether for health, improvement, or cure.
 They would doubtless  serve to ameliorate somewhat the condition
 of those who  are now unfortunately confined  to the  ordinary
 almshouses;  but, at considerable  additional expense to the coun-
 ties, they would  still leave  them in a  worse condition  than if
 they were the  inmates of an asylum assisted and managed by the
 State.

   It would  not be difficult to  show that it  must cost a county
 more  to support an independent asylum  for its insane poor, with
 the same care of the patient,  than to send them to the State Asy-
 lums  and support them there.  It would be still  easier to show
 that  if the difference of cost were  the reverse of that, the well-
 being of the insane will be sacrificed in  an equal or greater pro-
portion.  The parsimony  which would  stint them in the enjoy- 
No. 8.]
9
ments and  comforts  that might  conduce to their restoration, if
curable, and would certainly solace their nights and days if incu-
rable, is very questionable in its humane, as well as its econom-
ical,  aspects.   In the opinion of the committee, therefore, it is
not desirable to encourage the foundation of such a multiplicity
of lesser asylums as would place each county on an independent
footing  with respect to insane paupers.  It is bad economy and
worse humanity; and the tendency of it must be to send to the
State Asylums as " indigents" simply, and at  the charge of the
counties, many who are legally li paupers,''  and who, under that
designation, would,  but for the  interference of humane friends
and  considerate judges,  be  necessarily  consigned to such unfit
abodes as the county asylums, to  be at the mercy of some selfish
contractor, who might farm out a contract made on starvation es-
timates  to  some subordinate who must reduce  the starvation
limit still lower, if he would not starve himself.

  The details and statistics respecting the alms houses and kind-
red institutions in New-York and Kings county, and respecting
poor  houses, work houses and penitentiaries  in other parts of
the State, are fully given in the appendix to this report.

  Before passing from the subject of poor houses, the committee
may be allowed to say that it is  much to be regretted that our
citizens generally manifest so little interest  in the condition even
of those in their immediate neighborhood.  Individuals who take
great interest in human suffering whenever it is brought to their
notice, never  visit them, and are entirely uninformed, that in a
county house almost  at their own doors, may be found the luna-
tic suffering for years in a dark and suffocating cell, in summer,
and  almost freezing  in the winter,—where a  score of children
are poorly  fed, poorly clothed, and quite untaught,—where the
poor idiot is half starved and beaten with rods because he is  too
dull to do his master's bidding,—where  the aged mother is lying
in perhaps her  last sickness, unattended  by a physician, and with
no  one  to minister to her wants,—where the lunatic, and that
lunatic  too, a  woman, is made to  feel the lash in the hands of a
brutal under-keeper—yet these are all to  be found—they  all
exist in our  State.  And the committee  are quite convinced that
to this apparent indifference on  the part of the citizens, may be
attributed in a great degree, the  miserable state to which these
houses have fallen;  and they would urge upon the benevolent in 
10
[Senate
all parts of the State to look into their condition, and thus assist
to make them comfortable abodes for the indigent and the unfor-
tunate.

                 II.  ORPHAN ASYLUMS.

  It is  agreeable to turn from  the  consideration of the poor
houses and their mismanagement, to the examination of the Or-
phan Asylums to which the benefactions of the State  are con-
tributed.  The committee visited them all.   Whether it be that
the principal charge of these is confided to females, or whatever
be the cause, it is certain that with less comparative expenditure
of the public moneys an incomparably greater amount of comfort,
cleanliness, kind treatment, health,and good education is secured
to the inmates, than happens to be the lot of the paupers in our
poor houses.

  To a cordial expression of praise respecting the general man-
agement and good  condition of the Orphan  Asylums, the com-
mittee most cheerfully add a recommendation of them to the
liberal support of the State government; and especially if addi-
tional benefactions can be made the means of relieving the poor
houses of their young inmates, by providing for their support
and education in the Orphan Asylums as heretofore suggested by
the committee.  Children, whose parents are paupers in the legal
sense, and actual  residents in pauper asylums, are generally to
all practical intents as much orphans as those who are deprived
by death of their natural  protectors ; and their actual  condition
is much more pitiable.  An association with their destitute  pa-
rents, anl their necessary poor house companions, is not only a
deprivation of the attention and comforts which they ought to
enjoy during  their tender years,  but it is  a fatal  exposure to
examples of most evil tendency.  Their chance  to become virtu-
ous and exemplary citizens is the most desperate of all human
chances ; and upon a future generation is inflicted the  necessary
consequence of supporting them as  criminals  in our jails and
prisons.

   The Orphan Asylums are twenty-six in  number  and  contain
 2816 children, of whom 2224 are of foreign parentage ; to whose
support the  State appropriates the annual sum of thirty-five
 thousand dollars. 
No. 8.]
11
  In connection with this fact the committee desire to state that
the cost to the public of supporting 678 prisoners confined in the
jails, is eighty thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars.   The
inference is, that to educate one orphan to usefulness, the public
treasury expends less than one-tenth as much as it does to main-
tain one useless convict in jail.

  At suitable ages, orphan  children  are  placed  in  respectable
families, (by which they are frequently adopted as children,) or
they are indentured, the boys to farmers and mechanics, the girls
to learn housekeeping and needle work.   The care of the  man-
agers still follows them beyond the precincts of the asylum, until
they become of age, and if they are unsatisfactorily provided for,
or are  ill-treated, new situations are obtained for  them.   The
committee in all cases made strict inquiry as to  the standing and
reputation of the inmates  who had left the asylums, and it was
ascertained  that, with few exceptions, they became good and use-
ful citizens.

                 III. LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
   For statistical and other details respecting the lunatic asylums
endowed or assisted by the State, the  committee refer to the ap-
pendix to this report.  They are as well and efficiently managed
as is possible with the means and conveniencies at the command
of the superintendents and managers,  and in conformity to the
existing provisions of law.  A particular examination of these,
has forced the  committee  to a  conclusion which seems  to  have
been generally adopted by the  superintendents and managers of
such asylums, both in this  country and abroad; that the common
practice of  transferring insane convicts,  or convicts assumed to
be so,  from the prisons to the lunatic asylums  is impolitic, in-
jurious and  unjust.  Lunacy has no  necessary association  with
crime;  nor  should lunatics be enforced  to an association Avith
criminals.  It is an  association every way detrimental to the
lunatic, and no way beneficial to the criminal.  While lunacy
may be wisely deemed a sufficient cause for absolving a convict
from punishment, it is not a sufficient one for  letting him  loose
on the  community at large, and much less upon that  afflicted
portion of it, for whose protection and care asylums  are founded
and maintained.  A decent respect for their infirmity demands
that they should not be legally associated with  those outcasts of
society, who, in the possession of their faculties, have degraded
themselves  by crime. 
12
[Senate
   The original act establishing the State Lunatic Asylum made nO
provision for insane convicts; and experience shows that it was
wisely framed in  that particular.  Of fifty convicts discharged
from incarceration for crime,  and transferred to the State lunatic
asylum,  fourteen  eloped soon after  the  transfer.   Only one
or two of these were really insane.  The others feigned insanity.
They were mostly burglars or robbers, who preferred the chances
of escape from an ill-protected asylum,  to the  certainty of de-
tention in  a well guarded prison; and who therefore simulated
insanity as the shortest way to impunity and freedom.

  The existing statutes seem to favor such modes of escaping the
penalties of crime,  and  defeating criminal justice.   While  the
law requires that a plea of insanity  interposed before conviction
shall be  tried by a jury upon competent evidence; yet, after a
conviction, it allows a question of insanity to be decided by the
sole judgment of the medical and other  officers  of a prison (not
usually experts in insanity,) who are legally impowered to trans-
fer a convict from a prison, where labor and severity of treatment
are his due punishment,  to an asylum, where he is not only free
from both, but is tempted by  a facility of escape of which he does
not hesitate to take speedy advantage.   A prison is a  place of
strict confinement and enforced labor, by way  of punishment; an
asylum is simply a place of confinement,  by way of isolation, and
for the benevolent purpose of protection and cure.  To make the
two places common, is to confound two  different  intents of the
law and  of humanity, and to defeat both.

  It seems to the committee, therefore, that there is an imperative
necessity to provide some safe building connected with a public
prison, as a part of its hospital  department, to  which  convicts
who are found, on a proper legal investigation, to be  insane, may
be removed; and in which they may be confined, not  only for
the cure of their insanity, but for the safe keeping of their persons,
and for the protection of the community against their criminal
propensities.  Their  case is very* different from the case of the
usual inmates of lunatic  asylums.   They  have  been convicted
justly of crime; and, but for their subsequent infirmity, would
expiate their offence by the usual severities and disgrace of incar-
ceration.  Lunacy should absolve them from actual punishment;
but it  should not involve the innocent insane in  the  terrors,
dangers and disgrace of an association with them. 
No. 8]
13
  While the committee, for these reasons, feel constrained to re-
commend,  most  earnestly, the establishment of a separate insti-
tution for insane convicts, they are equally constrained to recom-
mend a greater conformity to the usual forms of law and judicial
proceeding, in  solving the question of their insanity.   The pre-
sent looseness in that respect, produces great evil.  If it be pro-
per, as  it has always  been customary, to  require that no person
shall  be deprived of the control of his person or property with-
out an inquisition  by a jury, on due legal proof, as to his capa-
city to control  himself and his affairs; or if it be proper that a
person  indicted for a  crime, who offers a plea of insanity for his
defence, should have the question of his sanity tried by a jury;
it certainly seems  to be much more important, that after a due
conviction  on the verdict of a jury, under the  instructions of a
court, it should not lie in the mere discretion of the medical and
other officers of a prison, to subvert the course of criminal jus-
tice, and to dismiss a convict from the rigid constraints of a pris-
on to the comparative ease of an asylum, and the consequent fa-
cility  of an  escape to renew  his offences.   Whenever the ques-
tion of insanity  arises  in  respect  to crime and its penalties, it
should be adjudged according  to the usual forms of law; and
more  strictly so after a conviction than before it.  A conviction
is the  legal stamp of guilt, after all the evidence of both parties
is heard: an indictment is  merely the formal  suggestion of it,
after hearing the evidence of the accuser  only.  The opinion of
the medical officer  of a prison,  (especially if he be an expert in
insanity,) respecting the sanity of a convict, might suffice for some
emergency, or for a temporary purpose;  but it should not suffice
to discharge him from punishment, nor be tantamount to an over-
ruling of the judgments of courts and juries and the  sentence of
the law. An allegation of insanity, pending imprisonment, should
be tested as formally,  and by the same judicial modes as a plea
of insanity pending a trial.   The same reasons apply to both cir-
cumstances, and with more force after a conviction.  Medical ad-
visers are important in their place; but it is not their particular
vocation to be the substitutes for courts and juries, or to have a
substantial appellate  power, enabling them, as the statutes now
do,  to  overrule  in the  most informal and summary way, both
courts and juries, as well as to exercise a kind of executive pow-
er by  virtually  remitting  or modifying the  punishment  of
crimes. 
14
[Senate
  The  committee do not by any means intend to intimate that
the discretion of the officers of the prisons in this State, in regard
to insane convicts, has  been abused or  misdirected.   They state
the case upon  general principles.   The insanity of convicts, like
the insanity of other men,  should be ascertained by the usual
legal modes.  The inquisition of a jury may not be absolutely the
surest way of reaching the truth ;  but it is the usual way, con-
formable to the common law, and to the  feelings and customs of
the country.  If such an inquisition be properly required by law
to test  a plea of insanity interposed  to an indictment  before a
conviction, it seems to  be more requisite after a conviction when
the effect of it may be to discharge the convict from a penalty to
which a jury on suitable evidence, had adjudged him to be legal-
ly amenable, and to which the court had given its sanction  by
pronouncing a sentence according to the degree of the offence.

   The  whole number of convicts who become really insane is not
so great as to demand extensive accommodation for their especial
use ; and those who simulate insanity deserve as little accommo-
dation as  consists with security.   A small  appropriation for a
building to be erected on the  capacious grounds enclosed within
the outer walls of the  Auburn prison, would enable the State to
make a  fair experiment of a separate establishment for insane
convicts  ; an experiment which is demanded by humane consider-
ations  towards lunatics not under conviction for crime, as well as
for the protection of the community against those who are.

   The grounds of the Auburn prison have been suggested by the
committee as a  site, because of the centrality and healthfulness
of the position, the magnitude of the area now safely inclosed
(about four acres) and the economy with which the proposed ex-
periment may be made.  Should the Legislature see fit to found
such an asylum, it should be placed under the general charge of
the Inspectors of Prisons.  But there should also be a board of
visitors, having the same  general powers and duties as the Man-
agers  of the State  Lunatic  Asylum, and to be appointed in the
same manner.   A majority of them should be of the vicinage to
facilitate the performance of their duties.

   The  asylum  being a part of the hospital department  of  the
prison, the physician of the prison  should be  its ordinary physi-
cian and superintendent.   But he should be at liberty to consult
 with the superintendents  of such lunatic asylums as are within 
No. 8.]
15
   the control of the State authority, and it should be  made their
   duty, by law, to give him their advice whenever required.

      The discipline of such an asylum should not, of course, be the
   ordinary discipline of prisons; but provision should be made for
   the employment of its inmates in such modes  of labor as may
   conduce to their support, with due regard to their health, and to
   their physical and mental improvement.  Their insanity having
   been duly ascertained by  the inquisition of a jury before their
   removal from the prison proper, they should  be legally presumed
   to be insane, and retained in the asylum, until another inquisition
   shall establish their sanity, and they should then be recommitted
•   to prison  to  pay the  prescribed  penalty  for their crimes.   The
   prison physician  should  therefore  be  required  in all  cases,
   whether of feigned insanity or of presumed restoration to reason,
   to apply to the proper tribunal for an inquisition to establish the
   fact, and the verdict of the jury  should  determine the question
   of confinement whether in the prison or in the asylum.

      IV. ASYLUMS FOR IDIOTS, DEAF  MUTES AND THE
                              BLIND.
                        state idiot asylum.
      The asylum for idiots was established,  and commenced receiv-
   ing pupils in 1851.   It was first  opened  and placed under the
   direction of a board of trustees appointed by the State, a  few miles
   north of the city of Albany, where it continued till August, 1855.
   The success of  the undertaking being established larger accom-
   modations were required, and it was determined to erect suitable
   buildings in a more favorable location.

     The citizens of Syracuse having  offered to  contribute a sum
   nearly sufficient, to purchase suitable grounds near that city,
   eighteen acres of productive land  were bought for the site of the
   new asylum, and in September,  1854, the  corner stone of the
   new edifice was laid.  The site is an  elevated one, being sixty
   feet above the general level of the  plain,  upon which the city of
   Syracuse is built, and  commands a fine view of the surrounding
   country.  The building which presents a pleasing exterior,  was
   completed in August,  1855,  and the pupils removed to  it in  the
   following  month.  It  is  constructed according  to a plan  sub-
   mitted to the Legislature in 1855.  The convenience comfort  and
   safety of the pupils are apparently well provided for; the school
   rooms  are hardly  surpassed in convenience of arrangement by 
16
[Senate
 any in the State; the whole are well warmed, the  dormitories
 well ventilated, and a large gymnasium affords all necessary faci-
 lities for training  the physical organs, so necessary to children of
 this class.   The whole property has not cost over 75,000 dollars;
 and an examination of the buildings  convinced  the committee
 that the money of the State has been judiciously and economically
 expended by the trustees.

   The asylum is capable of accommodating 150 pupils, and there
 are now 104 under instruction.   The annual expenses will be
 found  to be 16,000 dollars  and last year $2,333.88 was received
 from paying pupils.  In consequence of the failure of the annual
 appropriation a considerable balance against the asylum has ac-
 cumulated, which the trustees have  been compelled to borrow
 upon their individual responsibility, and from which they should
 be promptly relieved.  By its failure also the operations of the
 asylum for the current  year  have  been  greatly  retarded; a
 number of indigent idiotic  children entitled  to admission have
 been refused, and  provision ought to be made  if possible against
 the effects of a similar occurrence.  It is  highly important that
 the grounds should be  enlarged by the purchase of the adjoining
 land on the north side  of,  and very near to the principal edifice,
 and it  is supposed  that this is a favorable time for obtaining it.

  The committee had  full opportunity to  witness  the system of
 instruction in the asylum, the chief object of which  is to raise the
 imbecile from his degradation and  awaken him to a conscious-
 ness of existence as  a  moral and intellectual being; and it was
 truly gratifying to find that these unfortunate ones are suscept-
 ible of a high  degree of improvement.  This however can only
 be accomplished by a skilful, enthusiastic, patient superintend-
 ent; assisted by teachers possessing similar qualifications, and it
 was noticed by the committee that those chosen for this difficult
 task, were all females, whose gentleness and patience commended
 them to his choice.    The condition of most of those  received here
 can hardly be  known except to those who  have visited the asy-
 lum.   Commissioners appointed by the Legislature of a neighbor-
ing state to visit  this institution, said of them : many are pitiable
objects, often  unable to  walk  or speak,  uttering  the  peculiar
moan of the idiot, frequently malicious, violent,  destructive and
 filthy in their  habits ;  it would seem that  they were beyond the
reach of human aid—monuments  of God's anger—but this is not
the view the superintendent and the teachers take of them.  Past 
No. 8.]                       17
experience has convinced them, that  these beclouded intellects
into which the first ray of reason has not yet shown may be en-
lightened, that these brutal natures may yet offer from humble
and loving hearts their petitions for pardon, and their orisons of
praise to our Common Father.

   The State of New York was the first to erect a State Idiot Asy-
lum, and has now the satisfaction of having successfully demon-
strated that those usually called  idiots may be so trained and
instructed as to render  them useful to themselves and fitted at
least to learn some of the ordinary trades, or to engage in agri-
culture, and her citizens as they pass her great western thorough-
fares may now point to this elevated building, as evidence of the
wisdom  of the undertaking, and  completing  the  circle  of our
State's  charities, now embracing  every  class  whose  infirmities
call for public aid.

   The committee visited and examined the institution for the in-
struction of the deaf and  dumb and the asylum for the blind,
and refer to the appendix for particulars respecting their condi-
tion and progress.

   V. HOSPITALS,  DISPENSARIES AND INFIRMARIES.
   With respect to these institutions the committee  refer for par-
ticulars to the account  given of them in the appendix.  They
are  under good management, and deserve the commendation of
the committee, as well as  continued encouragement and benefac-
tions.

                VI. HOUSES  OF REFUGE.
   The State of New-York  claims to have been first in the United
States in establishing houses of reformation for juvenile delin-
quents.

   The New-York house of refuge is now in the extent of its ope-
rations, the greatest reform school  in the world.  Established in
1824, it has served as a model to the various houses  since esta-
blished  elsewhere.  In  1848  the State purchased a  small farm
near  Rochester, and erected  a  house  of refuge, and placed it
under the care of a board of managers.

   These houses of refuge are under similar regulations; the insti-
tution in New-York receiving both boys and girls  from all parts
   [Senate, No. 8.]             2 
18
[Senate
of the State, the one in Rochester receiving boys only,  both being
schools of reformation—receiving such children only, as are com-
mitted by judges or police magistrates, and retaining the control of
them till they are of age.  Strictly parental in their government,
the managers  take the place of the parent who has forfeited  his
natural claim to guardianship,  and educate and discipline  the
child for the period the parent would  discharge  the same duty;
and they receive them in full confidence that though stained with
crime, the stains may be washed away, and past deficiencies be
remedied by instruction and discipline.   Here the State provides
a home for the neglected erring child, and in many cases a more
comfortable and happy home than they have ever  known before;
where they are properly provided for—receive  instruction  in  the
ordinary branches of a common school education; are  trained to
habits of industry, and have instilled into their minds those prin-
ciples of moral and religious truth, which will fit them for a  life
of virtue, happiness  and usefulness.  After  remaining in   the
house a sufficient time, which varies in different cases, but averag-
ing perhaps  a year and a  half, they are indentured to  persons of
good character, living in the  country, away from their former
companions and thickly spread snares of the city;  and  it is found
that there is no want of demand for these children as apprentices,
which shows that their  training makes them valuable as  such,
and that there is no stigma branded upon their characters—and
their conceptions of their own position is transformed into earnest
confidence and hopeful aspirations.  They leave the refuge feel-
ing a sense of independence, that their stains are washed out, that
they are restored, and look back in after life to these houses of
mercy, invoking blessings on  those by whose interposition  the
headlong current of their early life was stayed, and turned into
channels of private worth and social usefulness and respectability.

           VII. JAILS  AND  PENITENTIARIES.
  Nearly all  of the jails  in the State are insufficient to fulfill  the
purposes contemplated by law.   No adequate provisions are usu-
ally made by the counties to enable the jailer, however well dis-
posed, to discharge the duty which is clearly enough imposed on
him by the statutes.  Witnesses and criminals are often confined
in the same  apartment,  (not  unfrequently a cell,) and  females,
without discrimination of the  various  causes for their  commit-
ment, are compelled to  associate together.  In one instance,  the
committee found a lad of eight years confined in a cell with two 
No. 8. J
19
 old offenders, one charged with rape, and the other with burgla-
 ry.  Cases not unlike this are common.  (Note F.)

   Many of the jails are extremely unhealthy places of confine-
 ment-    They are  insecurely built, damp, and unventilated, and
 the air which the inmates  are  compelled to respire continually,
 is very offensive and productive of disease.

   The statutes require  that each room or cell in a jail shall be
 provided with a Bible.  This is often disregarded.   They also re-
 quire the classification of prisoners ; and to this point the com-
 mittee were particular in making inquiries.  In most cases  the
 answers were  to the effect that the jail accommodations were
 such as to forbid such a classification ; and a personal inspection
 by the committee usually corroborated the truth of the answers.
 For this grave  omission of duty, the  county authorities are re-
 sponsible, rather  than the subordinates in immediate charge of
 the jails; many of whom seem disposed to conform to the law as
 closely as their limited means will permit; but so little attention
 has been paid to the just requirements of the law, that there  are
 but fifteen jails in the State in which prisoners can be  classified,
 and only thirty-two  in which  they are  supplied  with  Bibles.
 (Note  G.)

   Grand juries have from time to time visited these county pris-
 ons, and presented many of them as nuisances; but the mere pre-
 sentment of them  has no legal effect, and serves merely to call
 the public attention, in a formal way, to the existence of the evils.
 If such presentments could be made to assume the legal force of
 an indictment against the supervisors, the jailer, or other delin-
 quent whose  duty has  evidently been grossly  neglected,  they
 might have an effect in ameliorating the state of the  jails, and
 producing a conformity to the humane and  politic intentions of
 the law, which are  now sadly  overlooked  or perverted.  The
 committee suggest that an amendment of the statutes might pro-
 vide that whenever such presentments are made by the grand
 inquest, it shall be the duty of the court receiving the present-
ment forthwith to require the district attorney to frame an in-
dictment against the actual or presumed delinquents, and to de-
tain the grand jury until they shall find or ignore it.

   The  whole number of persons confined in  the jails is 678, and
intemperance is the cause of the confinement of three-fourths,-or
75 per  cent, of the whole number.  The  average cost of  their 
20
[Senatk
support, so far as it could  be ascertained, is  about two dollars
and twenty-six cents each per week.

  Compared with the cost of supporting paupers and orphans, the
cost of supporting criminals would seem extravagant.  In a pu-
nitive respect, it would be more humane and consistent with jus-
tice that the case should be reversed.

  In the three penitentiaries of this State there are 1212 inmates, as
stated in table C annexed to this report, showing that the whole
number in penitentiaries, jails, houses of refuge and work houses,
is 3863.

  The committee cannot close their  remarks on the jails of our
State, without alluding to one other point in connexion with this
subject.  Observation has  led us to the  conclusion that one at
least of the  objects of imprisonment of those guilty  of crimes and
misdemeanors is lost sight of.  The community at large, officers
of justice, jailers and keepers of penitentiaries, seem to think that
violators of good and wholesome  laws, should not only suffer the
penalty attached to the violated laws, but the association of wrong
doing and criminality with the criminals, leads many to feel that
the wrong  doer has  by his wickedness  cast himself beyond the
reach of human sympathy.  Hence he is too often treated as an out-
cast, and is  not only incarcerated within the walls of a prison,
but when there, often treated  inhumanely.

  The facts stated above show most conclusively that in a very large
majority of  our jails, prisoners cannot be confined long, without
serious injury to their health;  cold, damp, many of the cells below
the surface of the surrounding grounds; with no means of ventila-
tion, the inmates breath the same foul atmosphere  day after day,
and are supplied, too, often, with coarse and insufficientjfood, straw
for a bed, no employment  to help them  pass their dreary  hours,
the old and hardened criminal associated with the juvenile of-
fender instructing him in all the tricks and devices of the most
depraved.   What wonder  is it that he  comes out  of prison, not
only a more hardened villain, but mad with all the world!  He
may feel he has done wrong in the commission of the crime for
which he was  imprisoned, but he still feels he is a human being
and entitled to humane treatment.   Instead of receiving this, his
bodily sufferings have been such as to make him look upon every
man he meets as his enemy, and he goes forth to commit further
depredations upon society. 
No. 8.J
21
  We believe that offenders against our laws, should be subject
to the penalty of the violated laws.
  Punishment should be sure to follow transgression.  The object
of confinement  should be, not only the punishment of the of-
fender, and the protection  of community against further depreda-
tions, but should also seek the reformation of the criminal.  It
should be so conducted, and tempered with mercy that when the
offender  goes forth after his incarceration, he will be a reformed
man, an honest citizen.  This can only be done by a change in the
construction, and in the government of most of our jails; making
them more healthy by constructing  them in all cases above the
surface of the surrounding grounds; by providing means for free
ventilation and  cleanliness, better food for the inmates, a proper
classification of the prisoners, constant employment; not suffering
the old hardened criminal to corrupt the youthful delinquent by
the history of his own deeds of villainy, and last, though not least,
by affording  suitable  moral  and  religious  instruction.    Thus
teaching them, that the path of rectitude is the only path to re-
spectability.
   The most fertile source of pauperism, lunacy, and crime, as all
statistics respecting these  evils show, is intemperance.  It sends
to the lunatic asylums a large  proportion of their inmates, to the
poor houses seventy per cent, and to the jails seventy-five per
cent.  The propensity to it is either  inherited or acquired.  In
one case, it is a  disease; in the  other it may become so.  In either
case, it demands peculiar treatment, the result of which, whether
for  restraint or cure, would usually be favorable  to the patient
 and to the community.  The  Legislature, satisfied of this, has
accordingly passed a law incorporating an institution for the care,
 reformation,  and restoration of inebriates.   Should it prove a
 successful  experiment, it would obviate a great difficulty now
existing  in  the way  of classifying the inmates  of our charitable
 and reformatory institutions.   It would provide a proper retreat
for many of them, and thus open the doors of other institutions
for the admission of suitable cases which are now excluded from
the asylum they need.   The  experiment, therefore,  should re-
 ceive such encouragement from the State as its importance, in an
 economical view, seems to require.
   There are various associations in the State, and particularly in
 the cities and larger towns, for charity, reform and education,
 which not  receiving  aid  from the State, do not fall within the 
22
[Senate
 terms of the resolution of the Senate under which the committee
 have pursued their investigations.   Many of them, however, have
 been visited by the committee for purposes of information and of
 comparison with other institutions of a kindred character which
 were the legitimate  subjects of visitation.   They are generally
 supported  by private endowments and contributions, with occa-
 sional aid,  perhaps, from the local  authorities.  Homes for  the
 friendless,  and industrial and  other schools  are of this class;
 oharities devoted  to  the maintenance or training of vagrant and
 destitute children, to the care and  protection of young  females
 out of employment or in reduced circumstances, as well  as of
 aged or decrepid women.  They deserve to be favorably regarded
 when the Legislature is considering  any general and  economical
 plan of charity or reform. Those, more particularly, which have
 for their object the support and training of destitute children, and
 their salvation from the evils of vagrancy, idle habits, and vicious
 examples,  are worthy of attention and encouragement.   The
 management of such charitable enterprises happens fortunately to
 be confided mainly to benevolent women, whose thrift, economy
 of expenditure, skill  in management, and tenderness of feeling,
 enable them to produce greater  results with less means than is
 the usual fortune of the other sex.   The public bounty bestowed
 on such institutions, under such management, goes farther and is
 more certain of producing a suitable return, than the  usual ap-
 plication of it.  It gives the  committee great pleasure  to com-
 mend such charities  to approval and support, as no insignificant
 part of  the great scheme of  benevolence and reformation which
 it is the duty of every good government to maintain.

  The general result of the examinations made by the committee,
is a conviction of the necessity of providing by law :

  1st. For  a more  efficient and  constant supervision of all the
charitable and reformatory institutions  which participate in the
public bounty, or are supported by taxation; and a commission of
well qualified persons, to be appointed by the Governor and Se-
nate, with such arrangement of the terms of service as  will con-
stantly secure experience, appears to be the best mode of effecting
the purpose.

  2d. For the better regulation of poor houses, so as to make  fit
asylums for the worthy indigent; for which purpose better struc-
tures than now commonly exist,  should be legally required, with 
No. 8.]
23
such arrangements for warmth, ventilation, bathing, classification
of the inmates, separation of the sexes, labor, medical attendance,
instruction, and religious exercises, as decency, health, and sound
morals demand.

  3d. For the better  maintenance, and  education  of pauper
children, either in the orphan asylums, or in such local institutions
as may be established in the several judicial districts by special
provisions of law.

  4th. For  the  establishment of two  or  more asylums for the
insane,  in addition  to  the existing asylums, and to be under
similar control and management with the State asylum.

   5th. For  the establishment of an asylum for insane convicts in
the prisons grounds at Auburn.

  6th. For  the more efficient regulation of county jails in regard
to their structure, and  most of the particulars requisite for the
better regulation of poor houses as above  specified.  (Note H.)

   7th. For a revision of the poor laws.  (Note I.)

                   Respectfully submitted.
                                   MARK SPENCER.
                                   GEO. W. BRADFORD.
                                   M. LINDLEY LEE. 
 
APPENDIX.
•^Ti'I"-"■ ■'•Mi111 ■•' I'miiii ffiVr!■ i1 f iill tiiiTIriiMm* irihr'-^-■^-"■ ■* ■ -» ^ ■ '• - ■*■■.■-«..■■■.i-*-■■-.■ > *■ ■ ■^^--iiJt-—^ 
 
I.  POOR HOUSES.
      ALBANY CITY AND COUNTY POOR HOUSE.
  This establishment located at the city of Albany, embraces four
buildings constructed of brick, two stories in height above the base-
ments, one in size 40 x 70 feet and two others 32 x 90 feet, connect-
ed  with a farm of 216 acres,  yielding an annual revenue es-
timated at $6,000.00.  The basements  of one  building are used
for domestic  purposes, the others are unoccupied.  In the poor
house proper are 10 rooms, warmed by furnaces and  stoves, but
with very little ventilation.  This building was erected 34 years
ago.  From  six to  forty paupers are placed in a single room.

  The number of  imates was 319, 120 males  and 299 females.
Of  these three-fourths are foreign born,  and eighty  are under
six  years of  age.   The sexes are  kept  separate, only meeting at
their meals,  which are eaten in the same mess-room.

  The average number of inmates is 350, and the keeper reports
that the number is  declining, and states as causes of such decline,
a reduction  in the  amount of emigration,  and  the  improved sys-
tem adopted by the  Commissioners of Emigration in forwarding
emigrants to their  destinations.   They  are supported at an ave-
rage monthly cost of ninety cents, exclusive of the products of the
farm.  As is common, the paupers who are able  are employed
on the farm  and about the house.   Once during the past year the
supervisors  have visited and inspected  the house, in a body.  It
is supplied with bibles, and the city missionary preaches once or
twice each Sabbath.  A teacher is employed in the house during
the whole year, who teaches  the common  English branches to an
average number of about fifty children.  On  arriving at proper
age they are bound out to various trades and employments, by
the  overseer  of poor of the  city.   The common council of Albany,
impose rules and regulations for the government of the house, and
under their direction supplies  are furnished.   The fare  of the
paupers is plain and wholesome.  To attend the paupers, a phy- 
28
[Senate
sician is employed at an  annual salary of $800.  He is assisted
by two resident medical students,  who are boarded for their ser-
vices.  The  physician  visits once  each day  and  the  students
twice.   For bathing, two bath-rooms are furnished  in the insane .
asylum and  two in  the fever hospital.  During the past year,
have  occurred  in the  house thirty-two births and seventy-one
deaths.  The keeper thinks twenty-five of these births were ille-
gitimate offspring.   During the same time the inmates have suf-
fered from small pox, typhoid fever and dysentery.   They have
a good pest or fever house, constructed of brick twenty-four by one
hundred feet and two stories high above thehasements. It is heated
by furnaces, and is quite  well ventilated by numerous openings
into a hollow wall.   It embraces four  wards, with capacity for
one hundred beds.   There are now in hospital thirty-two sick;
only two cases of fever, the residue chronic cases.

  Of the inmates  seventy-three are lunatics, thirty-two  males
and forty-one females,  seventy are  paupers, the remaining, three
cases pay from  $3.00 to $4.50 per  week.   There is provided an
insane  asylum in connection  with the  alms house, built  of
brick, forty by ninety feet, two stories in height, containing thir-
ty-eight rooms above and eight in the basement, with convenient
halls and yards.  Thirty-nine lunatics have been admitted during
the past year.  They are under the care of the house physician,
who is required to devote to them particular attention, and four
attendants, two male and two female.  Two are confined in cells
or small rooms, which is the only kind of restraint used.   When
out of the building they are  confined in  commodious yards.
Seven during the year have  been dismissed  as cured, and two
improved.   It is judged that two thirds of the whole number of
insane may be safely pronounced improved.   One lunatic escaped
on the 5th of January  last and  froze to death.  Frequent appli-
cation has been made for admission  to the State institution, and
refused.

  Four of the paupers  are idiots, three males and one female, two
are under sixteen  years  of age.   There  is one deaf and dumb,
fourteen years old, and three blind.

  No corporal punishment is administered in the house.

   One half, at least, of the paupers  are reduced to their present
position by reason of intemperate habits. 
No. 8.J
29
              ALLEGANY COUNTY HOUSE.
  This house is located two miles  from Angelica.  It is of good
size, two stories in height, and built mainly  of stone; connected
with it is a farm of 180 acres, yielding a revenue of $1000.  The
basements are not occupied by the paupers.   There are seventeen
rooms or wards warmed by stoves, but without ventilation.  The
number of inmates is seventy, the  sexes being about equally di-
vided.   Of these two-thirds are of foreign birth, and eight under
sixteen years of age.  The sexes are separated at night.   They
are under two keepers, both male.  The average  number of in-
mates is fifty-seven,  supported at  a weekly cost of $1.03, exclu-
sive of the products of the farm.   The paupers are employed on
the farm and about the house.   The supervisors have once  during
the past year visited the house.  There is no religious instruction
furnished, nor is the house supplied with bibles.  The children
attend the district school.  The superintendents furnish  to the
paupers a plain and wholesome fare.   A  physician  is employed
at a salary of $80, who visits the house once each week, and
oftener when called.   No provision is made for bathing.   During
the  year there have been  five births  and eight deaths.   Of the
inmates  four are lunatics, two  males  and two females;  all are
paupers.  One, a female, is constantly confined in a cell.  The
insane are generally confined in this way, sometimes by the ball
and chain.   None within the last year are reported  improved or
cured.  They have no attendance  of any kind.  Their cells are
of  the most filthy and loathsome  description.  They sleep only
on straw, and make their evacuations in their rooms, which are
seldom if ever  cleaned.   They are  treated  barbarously.  The
lunatics frequently  escape; one last spring,  of whom no  trace
was found, and it was represented that he  starved  in the woods.
Seven of the inmates  are  idiots; four males and three females.
Intemperance brings here two-thirds of the paupers.

   There is at this time no regular keeper in charge of the house,
but only an ordinary hired man attending on both women and men.
The superintendent of the poor chanced to be at  the house dur-
ing  the visit of the committee, and being asked if corporal  pun-
ishment was administered to the paupers, replied that the keeper
sometimes gave the unruly ones a " tanning;" and being asked
what that signified, said " he took them by the collar and  flogged
them with a rawhide."  The house is poorly kept. 
30
[Senate
            BROOME COUNTY POOR HOUSE.
  This house is located three miles from Binghamton, and con-
sists of three buildings, two of them of the following size, 34 x 40
and 20 x 24 feet, affording seventeen rooms  for the occupancy of
the paupers, but without ventilation and no provision for bathing.
It is warmed by  stoves.   The number of  inmates was thirty-
seven—fourteen male and twenty-three female; three foreign and
thirty-four native born, including five children under sixteen
years of age.    From one to six beds are placed in a room.   The
average number is forty-five.   They are under the care of one
keeper, who with his wife provides for the wants of the family,
and with the  assistance of the paupers work  also a farm of L30
acres.

  The inmates are supplied with plain substantial food, which is
purchased by the keeper, who also regulates and determines the
amount and  quality of food.   The  sexes are kept  in different
buildings but meet during the day in the performance of their
respective duties—at night the  separation is  complete.  One of
the superintendents of the poor, is a physician, and  has charge
of the medical treatment  of the family.  During the year there
has been one  birth and one death. The children are sent to the
district school, and when of suitable age are bound out by  the
superintendents.  The house is supplied with bibles, but enjoys
no other religious privileges specially.

  The weekly cost of the inmates is $1.08  each, aside from the
products of the farm, estimated  to be worth $800 annually.   One
third of the inmates come here consequent upon habits of inebri-
ation.

   Twenty-one  of the paupers  are lunatics ;  eight  males  and
tnirteen females, not one  of whom has been cured or improved
during  the year, nor do they receive any special attention  as
insane, more than the other paupers.  All are locked in cells at
night, only one constantly in confinement, no  other restraints are
employed. The most of the  insane are  mild and  inoffensive,
some of them verging upon idiocy.

   To the twenty-one lunaties out of the thirty-seven in the house,
eleven  are to be set down as  idiots, three  males and  eight fe-
males, several of whom are  promising subjects for Dr. Wilbur
of the state idiotic asylum. 
No. 8.]
31
  The buildings are insufficient to meet the varied wants of such
a family, but have the appearance of being well kept.

            CATTARAUGUS  COUNTY HOUSE
  Is built  of wood, thirty-six  by  thirty-eight feet  long.  Con-
nected is a farm of 200 acres, yielding  a revenue of $1000.
There are no basements.  There are nine rooms or wards warmed
by stoves and without ventilation.  The  number of inmates is
thirty, one-half males.   Twenty-three are  of native and seven of
foreign  birth.   Four are under sixteen years of age.  There is a
complete separation of the sexes;  they are under the  care of a
single keeper.   The average  number of  inmates is thirty-five,
supported at a weekly cost of $1.4') each.   The paupers are em-
ployed on the  farm and in domestic avocations.  The house has
not been inspected  by  the supervisors during  the year.  The
house is  partially supplied with bibles, and there is a church near,
where the* paupers  attend if they choose.  The children attend
the district  school.  The superintendents  furnish supplies and
regulate the government of the house, and prescribe the system
of diet.   The fare is plain and wholesome.  A physician is em-
ployed by the year at a salary of $65, who attends when called.
During the year have occurred three births and two deaths.  No
contagious disease has prevailed.   Of the inmates three  are luna-
tics, all  males, and all  paupers.  For the accommodation  of the
insane are two small houses;  one an old and dilapidated  one, very
cold in the winter from its loose construction and  much decay,
and at all times particularly offensive from the accumulation of
filth; the other is a new  structure, though an inferior  one, and
illy planned.  This, from some reason, is very  little  used.  In
these cells the insane sleep on straw, with very little  clothing,
the straw becoming  filled with filth before being changed.  Two
are confined in these cells.   The insane are  attended  by a male
pauper.   None during the year are improved or cured; they re-
ceive only the same medical attendance as the remaining paupers.
No application has  been  made for admission to the State asylum.
In the house is one idiot and one blind person.   Intemperance is
the cause of one-half of  pauperism here.   The  house  is a poor
one, and the poor, especially the insane, are illy cared for.

                 CAYUGA COUNTY HOUSE,
   Is located about three miles from  the city of Auburn.  The
structure is a long wooden building of two stories, quite ancient
and dilapidated, being for the most part occupied as a farm house 
32
[Senate
prior to its purchase by the  county, and conversion to its pres-
ent uses.  There is a farm attached of ninety acres all in a state
of cultivation.  The house  contains about thirty rooms, wards
and cells, almost all  of  which are small, confined and destitute
of all means of ventilation.   The building is  warmed by stoves.
The number of inmates was seventy ; forty males, thirty females;
fifteen of them are under sixteen years of age.   They  are bound
as apprentices by the superintendents of the poor on reaching this
age, or as soon as suitable opportunities present.  About one
hundred is the average number of inmates, and three-fourths  of
these are of foreign birth.  During  the  day  the sexes mingle
promiscuously, but at night there is an attempt at  separation.
The males who are able labor on the farm.  Their fare' is plain
and wholesome, furnished by the superintendents at a weekly
cost of seventy cents each.  For four months  during the  past
year a school has  been kept in the  house for  the instruction of
children, and others disposed  to  attend.  Of religious instruc-
tion there is none save  occasional preaching during the summer
months.  The house is supplied with bibles.   Six deaths have
occurred since last December, at which time the present  keeper,
took charge of the  house.  There  was but  a  single birth.  A
physician is employed by the year and visits  the house once a
week and oftener if called.  Connected with the house are no fa-
cilities for bathing and the appearance of the paupers would indi-
cate an entire ignorance of the bath and its uses.

   Nine lunatics  were  found here; five males, four females;  all
 paupers.  Three of them have been at the State Lunatic Asylum,
 and returned  to the county.  They are attended by the keeper of
 the house but receive  no  special attention.   Those  disposed to
 violence are often placed in small dark  cells, but as we  are  in-
 formed, only for a single day or night.  As a means  of restraint
 the ball and  chain is frequently used.  In the winter they are
 often  placed in cells, without means of warmth, and their limbs
 frequently become frozen.  It is rumored, that some even have
 died  from this exposure.   They  receive no  medical attendance
 unless physically ill, when the house physician prescribes.   Three
 have  been admitted since last December.   The construction of the
 house allows of no classification and except  v/here furious,  the
 insane mingle with the other paupers.  Nine have been improved
 or cured since entering the house.   Three of  the paupers are idi-
 ots; all females. 
No-8.J
33
   During the year no contagious  disease has visited the house.
 As a precautionary measure a small but neat " pest house" has
 been erected a short distance from the main buildings.  This  is
 not yet finished and furnished, otherwise it might well be used to
 relieve the main building of some of its too crowded inmates.

   From its age and original faulty construction, the main  struc-
 ture is now utterly unfit  for the  purpose  for which it  is used.
 At all seasons of the year it is impossible properly to  ventilate
 the rooms and to a person in health the  sensation produced on
 entering them is nauseous and sickening.   The ill and the maimed,
 the filthy and the diseased are crowded in the same rooms, and in
 many cases lie on  the floor together, wrapped in wretched blank-
 ets, more like beasts than human beings.   As many as ten is the
 usual number so placed together in one room.

   The basement is low—this part  of the building is quite open
 and so  illy  supplied with stoves as to  be seldom sufficiently
 warm in winter.   Some rooms or cells are never warmed, and
 in these, when the building is crowded, the paupers are made to
 sleep without other covering  than their wearing apparel.  Du-
 ring last winter a  number of emigrants, sick with ship fever, were
 sent to the house.  These men, women and children were placed
 in these basement  cells, in size about eight by ten  feet, fourteen
 in each cell, with no stoves or other means of warmth, with no
 covering for their  protection at night and nothing but some  straw
 litter to keep them from the damp floor.  At this time the mer-
 cury  was twenty degrees below zero-  Of course numbers were
 frozen.  The house is a disgrace to the county, and in no way fit
 for the reception of paupers.

             CHAUTAUQUE  COUNTY HOUSE,

   Is an old and dilapidated building of wood and brick, erected
 in 1832. in size thirty-two by ninety-six, with  a wing,  twenty-
 four by sixty feet, aside from these is a small  building  for the '
 insane; attached is a farm of one hundred a$d sixty acres,, yield-
 ing a revenue of $2,000  There are ncHjaasements..  The rooms
are warmed by  stoves, but are  without me%ns of ventilation.
 The number of inmates was fifty-six; forty males, sixteen females.
 Of these forty-six  are native born, ten  foreign, and seven under
sixteen years of age.   Thesexesareseparatedonly at night; they
are under two keepers, male and female.   In one room as many
as thirty-two  persons were placed.
[Senate, No. 8.]           3 
34
[Senatx
  The average  number  of inmates is one hundred and  thirty,
supported at a weekly cost of forty-four cents.   The paupers are
employed on the farm and about the house. The house has not been
visited during the year by the supervisors.  It is supplied with
Bibles; though  no provision is made for religious instruction they
often have service on the Sabbath.  A common school is taught
in the house during six or eight months of the year.  The fare of
the paupers is plain and wholesome and supplied by the keeper.
For medical attendance a physician is called when  needed and
paid per visit.  During the year there have occurred six births and
seventeen deaths.  They have no pest house.

  Of  the inmates twelve are lunatics;  six males, six females; all
are paupers and six of them have been treated at the State asylum.
They have no  particular medical  attendance.  A small wooden
building, size twenty-six by forty feet, has recently been erected
for their accommodation,  though hardly fitted for  its designed
purpose.   The cells are small, illy ventilated and constructed of
rough hemlock  boards and plank, in which the  lunatics are con-
fined  with no bedding but straw, and an insufficient supply of
clothing.   The building is so open that it  is impossible properly
to warm it in winter.  Four are confined in cells.   They are also
sometimes restrained by the "  mittens."  The construction of the
house is such as to allow classification;  the power of discharge is
exercised by the superintendents.  Application  has been made
during the year, for admission to the Utica asylum in six cases,
and as often  refused.  The  lunatics sometimes escape  and are
never again heard from.  Ten  of the paupers are idiotic, all males.
There is one blind.   Two-thirds are brought here through intem-
perance.

            CHEMUNG COUNTY POOR HOUSE,
  Is located at Horseheads.   The main building is sixty by forty
feet with an out building, forty by twenty  feet, furnishing eleven
rooms and five cells, with no means of ventilation and no pro-
vision for bathing, it is heated by stoves.   Connected with the
house is a farm of 180 acres, yeilding  an annual revenue of about
$1000.  The number of paupers was fifty-two, one half males and
one half females, thirty-five of whom  were  foreign and  seventeen
native born, embracing  thirteen children under sixteen years
of age, all under the care of one keeper, who with his wife assisted
by pauper labor, work the farm and provide for the family.  The
superintendent  purchases all needful supplies aside from the pro- 
No. 8.]
35
ducts of the farm, and  imposes rules regulating the diet.   Binds
out the children on their arriving at a suitable age, and exercises
the power of discharging lunatics when cured.  The house is sup-
plied with bibles, but no provision is made for instruction reli-
giously or otherwise.   The  average  number accommodated in
this house is seventy.   The board of supervisors occasionally visit
here.  A physician is employed by the year, at a salary of $55.00
to visit the  house once a week, and as much oftener as his ser-
vices may  be required. During the past year eight have died,
there have also been 9  births, (seven illegitimate,)  one originat-
ing in the house.

   Six of the inmates are lunatics, four males and two females, and
all paupers; two have been received  during the year, but none
have been improved or cured.  They are allowed their liberty
during the day, but are locked each in separate  cells  all  night.
 The mode of restraining the insane is by hand cuff, and shutting
 them in cells.  They receive no special attention either medically
or otherwise.   Three of the paupers are idiots, two males and one
 female,  and two-thirds of the whole number are reduced to the
 necessity of sharing in public charity, consequent upon habits  of
 inebriation.

   The paupers seem to be well fed and cared for, costing eighty
 cents per week per head,  aside  from the products of the farm.
 But the house is too  small to afford adequate  accommodation;
 the lodging rooms are too crowded for comfort or health.

            CHENANGO COUNTY POOR  HOUSE,
    Is located at Preston, and consists of a number of buildings,
 as poor and broken as  the inmates they contain, entirely unsuited
 and  insufficient properly to answer the ends for which they are
 appropriated.   It  was stated that during the last winter some of
 the apartments were so open as to admit the snow.   It was fur-
 ther stated that the board of supervisors for the last few years
 had discontinued their visits to the house.   These buildings have
 twenty-nine apartments appropriated to the use  of the paupers,
 but  with no special provision for ventilation, and in which from
 one to twenty are placed.  Nor is there any provisions for bathing.
 It is warmed by stoves.   Connected with the house is a farm of
 one hundred and  seventy acres,  yielding an annual  revenue of
 $800.   The number of inmates was eighty; thirty-five male and
 forty-five  female; seventy-three  native  and seven foreign born, 
36
[Senate
 including twenty-five children.  The paupers commingle freely
 throughout  the day, but  at  night  the  males and  females are
 placed  in separate departments.   All are under the care of one
 keeper and his wife, assisted by the paupers.

   The superintendent of the poor purchases the supplies for the
 house, and imposes rules regulating the diet of the inmates. The
 food furnished is plain, substantial fare.  The weekly cost of the
 support of the paupers is fifty-six cents each.   Religious services
 are held once in two weeks.  The house is but partially supplied
 with Bibles.   A school has been taught in the house six months
 the past year.   A  physician is employed, who charges for his
 services by the visit.   There  have  been nine births during the
 year, (six of them illegitimate,)  and ten deaths.   The average
 number of the inmates is about ninety.  Of the inmates, eight
 are lunatics, three males and five females, and all paupers.  Three
 have been received during  the past year.  The lunatics have no
 special  attendants,  and  receive  no special  medical attention.
 One has recovered, and four are kept constantly confined in dark
filthy cells.   The modes of restraining adopted are the straight
 jacket, handcuff, and confinement in cells.   The house does not
 admit of the classification  of the insane.  The " fool house/' as
 it was called, was disgusting  in  the  extreme.   Will  not some
 humane  member of the board of supervisors espouse and plead
 the cause of the poor lunatics 1  Seven of the paupers are idiots,
 and two of them under twenty years of age.

   Three-fourths of the recipients of public charity in this county
 become  so consequent upon habits of inebriation.

                CLINTON COUNTY  HOUSE,
   Is located four miles from Plattsburg.  The building is an ex-
 tremely old  one, of stone,  sixty by thirty feet, two  stories high.
 It has been built twenty-eight years, and is very much dilapidated.
 Attached is a farm of ninety  acres, yielding a gross revenue of
 $800.   The  basements are  occupied  for  domestic purposes.   In
 the house are fourteen rooms or wards, indifferently warmed by
 stoves, but destitute of ventilation, except what  may be afforded
 by the cracks and crevices of the walls and ceiling.   The ceilings
 are very low, and the air  close and bad.  In the  winter water
 freezes in the rooms, and the snow blowing through  the crevices
 forms banks.   Sometimes twenty paupers are placed in a single
 room, usually as many as it will hold. 
No. 8.J
37
  The number of inmates was forty-eight—thirty-two males, six-
teen females.    Of these, three-fourths were foreign born, and
eleven under sixteen years of age.  The sexes are not separated
either day or night, but mingle promiscuously.  There is one
keeper assisted by  a  man  who  works the farm.   The average
number  of inmates is sixty-five, supported at  a weekly cost of
$1.00 each.  The males  are employed  on the farm, and the wo-
men about the  house.   The supervisors have visited the house
once during the year.  There is no religious instruction furnished
except through an occasional funeral service, which is performed
whenever the  dying pauper particularly requests  it; neither is the
house  furnished with Bibles.  There is  no provision made for
other instruction; the district school refuses  to receive the chil-
dren, and they were at large. At sixteen years of age  they are
bound out by the superintendents.  The superintendents regulate
the government and system of diet, and furnish supplies.   Since
the first  of March last, a  plain, wholesome diet has been furnished
the paupers.   At that date the present keeper took charge of the
house.   Prior to that time their diet is reported to have consisted
of pea and bran soup; Indian pudding and sweetened water.   They
used no  knives and forks.  The new keeper  found every one of
the inmates ailing, and most of them confined to their rooms and
beds.  Besides this, the rooms were so filthy, and  the air so im-
pure, as  to immediately sicken a healthy person entering them.
From the present appearance of the house, improved as the keeper
reports it is, the committee find no difficulty in giving credence to
the foregoing statements.  The water is obtained from springs lo-
cated at  the foot of a slope, which is the  focus of drains from the
barnyards and privies of the establishment; as a  consequence the
water is  extremely impure and unfit for use.  A physician is em-
ployed at a  salary of $75 per  annum,  who attends whenever
called.   During the  year have  occurred  three births  and six
deaths.  No pestilential disease has raged.  No pest house is pro-
vided.

  Of the inmates six are lunatics, one male, five females, and all
paupers.   Two have been admitted within the year.  They have
no medical or other special  attendance.   Two are confined the
whole time in cells, chained to the floor, with straw for a bed.
Two others are confined, but  only at night.  As a mechanical re-
straint the ball and chain are used.  The cells are without ventila-
tion and  exceedingly filthy.   One lunatic  has escaped since March
last, and  no intelligence  has  since been received regarding him. 
38
[Senate
The construction of the house is not such as to allow of classifica-
tion.  The superintendents alone exercise the power of discharge.
Ten of the inmates are idiots—eight males, two females.   But one
is under twenty years of age.   There is  one blind.  As a means
of punishment, paupers are shut in dark cells, and a rawhide is
sometimes used.

  Intemperance is here reported as the direct cause of one-half the
pauperism.
  This house is a very poor one, indifferently kept, and a disgrace
to the county in which it is located.

              COLUMBIA COUNTY HOUSE.
  This establishment consists of a number of wooden buildings
of various sizes and forms, all two stories  in height; connected is
a farm of 204 acres, yielding  a revenue of $1,400.  The base-
ments  are occupied as  kitchens, &c.,&c.  In the buildings are
eighteen rooms, or wards, occupied by the  paupers and warmed
by stoves, but not at all ventilated;  the  ceilings  are seven feet
high.  The number of inmates was 187; 112 males and 75 females.
Of these one-third are of foreign birth and thirty-four under six-
teen years of age.   The sexes are kept separate; they are under
a single keeper who has charge of the house.  The average num-
ber of inmates is 208, supported at a wreekly cost of $1.00.  The
more able paupers labor on the farm and about the house.  Once
the supervisors have visited the house during  the past year.  It
is supplied with Bibles, and religious services are attended twice
each month.  For the instruction of the young a school is taught
in the house during the whole year, and the boys are kept entire-
ly separate and apart from the older paupers.   The superintend-
ents of  the poor procure supplies, regulate the government of the
house, bind out  the children on their arrival at proper age, and
exercise the power  of  discharging  lunatics.   The  fare  of the
paupers consists of meat, bread and vegetables, of good quality.
Tea and butter are also furnished daily.   A physician is employed
by the year.  No facilities are afforded for bathing.  During the
year have occurred in the house twelve births and fifteen deaths.
No contagious disease  has prevailed.  A fever or pest-house is
connected with the establishment.   Of the inmates thirty-five are
lunatics, fifteen  males and twenty females; all are paupers, ?ave
two, who each pay one dollar a week; e.ght have been admitted
within the year.   Their only attendance is from the same  paupers. 
No. 8»]
39
Four are confined in cells, one of whom has been  so confined
three years.  They are also restrained  by mitts and by the ball
and chain.   The keeper says he sometimes whips  the lunatics, but
that  " he believes it does no good."  Five of the inmates are idiots,
two  males and  three females.  Three-fourths of the paupers are
brought here by intemperance.

  During the year two lunatics have escaped from the house, and
no search was instituted for their recovery.  The children here
are kept clean, and wrell clothed, and  are in all respects well
cared for.  The house is very badly constructed, but is kept clean,
and the inmates well fed.  The cells, of which there are twenty-
four, are clean, and beds are provided in them whenever the luna-
tics wall allow  them to remain.

            CORTLAND COUNTY POOR HOUSE
  Is located about two miles from  the  village of Homer.  It is
an old two story wooden building,  thirty by sixty feet, with a
wing, twenty-two by sixty, one and a half story, also an asylum,
twenty-two by fifty feet,  one  story, to  which is attached a farm
consisting of 118 acres, and  yielding a revenue of $600.   The
number of rooms appropriated to the use of the paupers is twenty-
five, including ten cells for the  insane.  It  is warmed by means
of stoves and fire places.  The rooms have low ceilings, and no
ventilation.

  Fifty-two inmates  were found in the house which is about the
average number, of these  twenty-four  were males  and twenty-
eight females, of whom two were foreign and fifty native born, in
charge of one keeper  and his wife, who has also as is  usual the
oversight and management of the poor house farm.  The sexes are
separated at night and also during the  day, except as they come
in contact in the discharge of duties about the house.

  There were  nine  children under sixteen years of age, all  of
whom .of suitable age attended the district school.

  The inmates are distributed through  the house in groups, from
one to six a room.  A physician is  employed by the year, at a
salary of $40, and is required to respond at all times when called
upon,  and although  there  are  two penstocks discharging pure
clear water  in  the yard, the  year round  the house is destitute
of a bath; an omission under the  circumstances that seems singu-
lar when viewed as a question of economy or health. 
40
[Senate
   The paupers are  supplied by  or under the direction of the
 superintendent of the poor, with plain wholesome food, consisting
 of meat, vegetables, milk and butter, at an average weekly cost of
 65 cents each, the paupers assisting according to their several abili-
 ties in the performance of the work upon the farm and about the
 house.   The house is supplied with Bibles, and preaching is en-
 joyed at 5 P. M. every Sabbath, the services being performed by
 neigboring clergymen in rotation  and without  compensation.
 When the children attain suitable age they are  bound out by the
 superintendent.

   The house has  been visited once by the  board of supervisors
 during the year.  There have been  during the same time seven
 deaths and three births. Of the  inmates ten are  lunatics, five
 males and five females, nine of whom are paupers.  During the
 year four have been received, three of these  lunatics are confined
 in cells night and day,  and the remainder  only nights.   Of the
 above number, not one has been cured or improved, but one has
 escaped and has never been found.   The forms of restraints used,
 are  confinement in cells, hand cuffs  and occasionally slapping.
 The accommodations for the insane admit of a partial classifica-
 tion, but they enjoy no special attention either medically or other-
 wise.  The superintendent delegates to the keeper the right to
 discharge lunatics in his discretion.

   Of the inmates three are idiots, one  male and two females, the
 boy  about ten years old.

   Two-thirds of the  whole  number supported  at  this house are
 brought there consequent upon habits of inebriation.

              DELAWARE COUNTY HOUSE.
   This is a two-story house of wood, very  old and dilapidated,
 thirty by forty feet.   Beside  this is an asylum  twenty-five by
 thirty feet.   Attached is a farm of one hundred and seventy-five
 acres yielding a  revenue of $250.00,  The basements are  used
 only for the storage  of produce.  In the house are twelve rooms
 heated by stoves and furnaces, destitute of  ventilation and with
 extremely low ceilings.   The number of inmates  was fifty-eight;
 twenty-five males and thirty-three females; of these two-thirds
 are native and one-third foreign born; eleven  are under  sixteen
 years of  age.  The sexes are  kept separate.  They are under one
keeper assisted by his wife.   From two to  twelve paupers are 
No. 8.J
41
placed in a single room.   The average number  of inmates  is
sixty-five; supported at an average weekly cost of one dollar.
The able males are employed on the farm and  the wromen about
the house.  Once during the year past the supervisors have visit-
ed the house. It is supplied with Bibles, and there are occasional
religious services;  the children  are sent to the district school.
The superintendent procures supplies for the house, and prescribes
rules  and regulations concerning government and system of diet.
He also binds out  the children  and exercises the power of dis-
charging lunatics.   A physician  is employed by the year, who
visits  the house when called.  There  are no  arrangements  for
bathing and no water for the  house except what is drawn  from
the river.  They have  a  well, which  is now (August  16,) dry.
During the year have occurred seven deaths.

  Of  the inmates,  thirteen are lunatice; three males, ten females,
all  except one  are paupers.  For the reception  of lunatics is
erected another and separate building, in size  twenty-five by
thirty feet.  In this are fourteen cells, close and without  means of
light  or ventilation, except by a small diamond hole in the door.
The inmates sleep on straw changed once a week.  Two are con-
fined  in these cells the whole time and all at night.  They have
no  special medical or other attendance.  Sometimes they are  re-
strained by handcuffs.   The keeper reports two as  improved and
three cured during the year; but  the committee fail to discover
how improvement or cures can  be effected with the facilities here
offered.  Eight of the paupers  are idiots; five males, three  fe-
males.  There is one deaf and dumb.

               DUTCHESS COUNTY  HOUSE.
  Is  constructed of wood, connected is a farm of one  hundred
and seven acres, yielding an annual revenue of $1,631.00.  The
basements are occupied both for cells and lodging rooms.  There
are twenty-five  rooms or wards, warmed by stoves but destitute
of ventilation.    The number of inmates  was two hundred and
forty; one hundred males and  one hundred and  forty  females.
Of these two-thirds are foreigners, one-third are native born, and
sixty-one under sixteen years of age.   The sexes are kept sepa-
rate.   They are under a  single keeper.  On an average about
eight  paupers are placed in a single room, in the largest  thirty to
forty.  The average number  of inmates is  two  hundred and
twenty, supported  at a  weekly cost of ninety-five  cents each.
The paupers who are able  are employed on the farm and about 
42
[Senate
 the house.  The supervisors have  visited the house once during
 the year.   It  is supplied  with Bibles  and a Sunday school, and
 religious  worship is regularly conducted.   A school is taught
 in the building during the whole year.   The  superintendents
 furnish supplies;  the diet is plain and wholesome. A physician is
 employed  by the year.   During the  last year forty-nine deaths
 have occurred.

  Of the inmates twenty-seven are lunatics, ten males and seven-
 teen females.   All are paupers.   Twenty have been admitted
 within the year.   They receive no  special attendance.    Two
 lunatics are confined in cells and chained to the floor, one  is
 placed in  a straight-jacket.   The only  classifiation consists in
 placing the violent in cells and others in rooms.    The superin-
 tendent exercises the power of discharge.  Five of the inmates
 are idiots, two males and three females.   There  are four blind.
 There is a pest house connected with the establishment.

  The lunatics sometimes escape but they are always advertized
 or followed and secured.  The physician  of the house states, that
 during the three years he has been  in charge nine lunatics  have
baen cured and thirteen improved.

                  ERIE COUNTY HOUSE,
  Is located within the limits of the city of Buffalo, but about six
 miles from  the port, in a  northerly direction.  There are two
 buildings, one designed  for use as the poor house  proper, and
 the other for accommodation of the insane.  They are constructed
 of limestone, quarried on the farm.   The main structure is sixty-
 five feet front, octagonal in shape, with wings extending 225 feet.
 Attached  is a farm of 153 acres, yielding a revenue of $2,700.
The  basements of the  building are occupied only for domestic
 purposes.   In the house are thirty-four rooms,  or wards, occu-
pied by the paupers, well warmed by stoves and partially ven-
 tilated. In some apartments as many as thirty are lodged.   The
number of inmates was  225, 150  males and  75 females. Of these
eleven-twelfths are reported as of foreign birth.  There is a par-
tial separation of the sexes during the day, and a complete one
at night.   There are six keepers, three males and three females.
The  average number of inmates is 300, supported at a weekly
cost of $1.00 each.  The paupers who are able are employed on
the farm and  about  the house.  The  house has been inspected
twice during the past year by the supervisors.  It is supplied 
No. 8.J                       43
with Bibles, but no provision is made for religious instruction.
For the instruction of the young a teacher is employed the whole
year.  The school  averages forty-five children.  On arriving at
the age of sixteen  years they are bound out by the superintend-
ents of the poor.   There are  now at the house, below that age,
seventy-five children. The superintendents prescribe  rules regu-
lating their government and system of diet, and furnish supplies
which consist of-plain, wholesome food.  For medical attendance
a physician is employed at a salary of $400, who visits the house
twice each week.  A student remains at the house and is in con-
stant attendance.  No arrangements are had for bathing.  During
the year there have occurred  in the house thirty-four births and
eighty-three deaths.  No  contagious diseases have prevailed.
There is a pest-house connected with the  establishment.  Of the
inmates  seventy-one are  lunatics, twenty-six males and forty-five
females.  All but  four of these are paupers.  Twelve of these
lunatics have been  treated  at  the  Utica Asylum.  Forty have
been admitted within the year.

   Apart from the  main building has been erected one of  lime-
stone, sixty by thirty feet, two stories in height, devoted to the
insane.  Attached are ample yards for their use, and special at-
tendants  are  provided.   In  the asylum are  seventy-two cells
opening on  four halls.   The structure seems  well fitted for its
designed purpose.   Of the lunatics five only are of native birth.
But one is constantly confined; the  rest spend the day in the
halls and yards, and at night are placed in separate cells.  As a
means of restraint  they are often confined in a chair, and some-
times  shackles and hand-cuffs  are used.  Six within the year
have been improved and five recovered.  They receive only such
medical attendance as is provided for the other paupers.   They
receive their discharge from the superintendents, who are guided
by  the advice of the physician.  This asylum is  commodious,
cleanly and well kept.   The  insane  receive good care and are
classified according to their different  stages of insanity.

  In the poor house are eleven  idiots, four males  and seven fe-
males;  three are under sixteen years of age; there are also  three
blind.  It is  estimated by the  keeper that three-fourths of the
paupers are  brought here as the result  of intemperate habits.
Two years since the cholera visited  the house and large numbers
of the paupers  were carried off.  There was  then no sewerage
about  the premises; the house was an old structure, and  there 
44
[Senate
were large and offensive accumulations of filth.   Since that time
all  this has been remedied.   The old house was burned down
shortly after, and the present one, erected in its place, was com-
pleted only during the  last year.  This is  kept in a clean and
orderly condition.

                 ESSEX COUNTY HOUSE,
  Is located between Essex and Elizabethtown, about six miles
from the former  place.   The building is a wooden one, two stories
high, without basements, attached is a farm of 100 acres, yield-
ing an annual revenue of  $1200.00.  In the house are nineteen
rooms or wards warmed by stoves, but destitute of means of ven-
tilation. They are occupied by, from one to twelve paupers. The
average number  of inmates is sixty-seven, the present number
sixty-five, thirty-two  males and thirty-three, females, twenty are
foreign born  and  forty-five  native  born.  Ten are under  sixteen
years of age.   The sexes mingle during the day, but are separated
at night.  Two  keepers care for the  paupers, one  male  and a
female.  The paupers are employed  on the farm and about the
house.  They are furnished with  a plain wholesome  diet under
the direction of the superintendents of the poor, no person being
allowed to contract  for  its supply.  The average weekly  cost of
this support is sixty-two cents each.  There is preaching in the
house each week, and it is wrell supplied  with bibles.  For the
instruction of the young, a school is  taught in the house  during
the  whole year. At the  age of sixteen  years the children are
bound out to service by the  superintendents.   For medical at-
tendance, a physician is  employed at a salary of $50 per annum,
who visits the house once each week and oftener when  called.
For bathing  a  shower bath is  provided.   During the year have
occurred three births and six deaths.

  During this time the house has  not been  inspected by the su-
pervisors.

  Of the inmates twelve are lunatics,  six  male  and six  female,
all are paupers.  None are confined, and  they have  no medical
or other special  attendance.  They are placed in cells.at night,
but  are subject  to no mechanical restraint. Three have been
cured during the last year, and during that  time three admitted.
The construction of the house is  not such as to allow of their
classification.  The superintendents  alone possess the  power of
discharge.  Application has been made to the State  asylum for
admission of a pauper and refused. 
No. 8.J
45
  Three paupers are idiots, all females and all over twenty years
of age.  There are two blind.  There is here no resort to cor-
poral punishment.  They have no pest house.

  Seven-eights of the paupers are reduced to their present con-
dition through intemperance.

  This house  though an old one and unfit for its present use, is
kept extremely well and with great neatness and  order.  The
paupers  are cleanly and well  dressed, and  appear happy and
satisfied  with  their  lot.  For the  facilities furnished,  the com-
mittee pronounce it one of the best  kept houses in the State.
Much credit is due the keepers.

               FRANKLIN COUNTY  HOUSE
  Is  located about two  miles from the  village of Malone.  The
building is  of wood, poorly constructed,  and illy fitted for  its
present uses.  It was originally a farm house, and in size  80x24
feet, two stories high.

  There is attached  a  farm of  110  acres, yielding a revenue of
$1,500.

  The basements  of the  building are occupied for domestic pur-
poses  only.  In  the house are eighteen  rooms or wards, well
warmed  by stoves, but without ventilation.  From one to eight
paupers are placed in a single room.

  The number of  inmates was thirty-eight, fifteen males and
twenty three  females.   Of these twenty-eight are foreign, ten
native born; nine are under sixteen years of age.  The sexes
are separated at night, but  mingle together during the day. The
average number of inmates is forty-eight, supported at an expense
of thirty-one  cents per week each, exclusive of the products of
the  farm.   The  paupers are  employed,  the men on  the farm,
the women  about the house. It has been  visited once during the
year by the board of supervisors.   They regulate the government
of the house and the system of diet.  The food of the paupers is
of a  plain and wholesome  quality.   The  house is supplied with
Bibles, but  there is  no regular religious instruction.  A teacher
of the common English branches was employed in the house for
three months during last winter, but the children usually  attend
the district school. 
46
[Senate
  A physician is employed by the year  at $28, and comes  only
when called.  There are  no facilities for  bathing.  One birth
and two deaths have occurred during the last year.  No conta-
gious diseases have raged.

  Of the inmates seven are lunatics, three males and four females,
all  paupers, none  are reported improved or cured.  But one is
constantly confined, and he  in a cell.  They are restrained by
confinement, and sometimes handcuffs, shackles, and the straight
jacket are used.   Two have  been admitted within the  year.
They receive no medical or other attendance, nor does the house
permit  classification.    The superintendents  usually discharge
the  insane;  sometimes  the  power is exercised  by the keeper.
Two of the paupers are blind, four idiots—two male, two female.

  The keeper  reports nine-tenths of the paupers as here by rea-
son of intemperance  and its  effects.

  There is  here a poor cripple, almost idiotic, whose  limbs are
drawn up and  under him in  strange contortions, and his tongue
paralyzed by the disease.  He can wear no garments but a  loose
shirt.

  There is also a girl of twenty years a complete  idiot, the off-
spring of a father and daughter.  The unnatural  parents  were
committed to prison,  and the child sent to this house.

  The hospital department  of the house is wretched, and the
nursing and medical attendance inadequate.  The general appear-
ance of the establishment however is good, and the rooms are
particularly neat and clean.

                FULTON COUNTY  HOUSE.

  This is a wooden building thirty by one hundred  feet, two
stories high, recently constructed and  adjoining an  old dwelling
house formerly used  for  this  purpose.  Connected  is a farm of
ninety-four acres, yielding a  revenue of $200.00.

  The building furnishing eleven rooms and wards for  the use of
paupers, is  warmed by stoves, but destitute of all means of ven-
tilation.   Sometimes  ten persons are  placed in  a  single room.
The present number of inmates is thirty; twenty males, ten fe-
males.  Of  these, five are foreign born, twenty-five native  born.
Four are  children under  sixteen years of age.  The  sexes are 
No. 8.]                       47
separated only at  night.   They are under the care of a  single
keeper and his wife.   The usual system of registration is kept.
The average number of inmates is fifty.  They are supported by
contract  at an expense to the county of $1.25 each per week,
beside the avails of the farm.   The keeper who has this contract,
is also one of  the superintendents of the poor, and beside the con-
tract price U allowed such labor as he can obtain from the pau-
pers on the farm.   Und.-r this  system  they receive a diet  of po-
tatoes, meal, rice, beef, pork, &c.

   The house has been inspected by the supervisors once during
the year.  It is supplied with Bibles, and occasional preaching
is  afforded.   Children  are sent  to the common school  of the
district, in which the house is located.  A physician is employed
by the year.   During the year there has been in the house three
births and six  deaths. The scarlet fever has prevailed among them.

   Of the inmates five are lunatics; all females and all paupers.
These are not  confined  or  in  any way restrained.  In one case
corporeal punishment was resorted to as a means of discipline.
One has recovered, and one improved.  The latter for two years
before being brought to this house was confined in chains.  Since
coming to the house she has been unconstrained and is now  slowly
recovering.   Four have been admitted since January last.  They
receive no particular medical attendance, and the construction of
the house is such as only partially to allow of their classification.
One lunatic escaped and is noAv in the custody of friends.  There
is one blind.   Intemperance brings here one-fourth of the inmates.

            GENESEE COUNTY  POOR HOUSE.

   Located in the town of Bethany, consists of a single main
building attached to which is a wing designed and used for the
accommodation of the  insane.  The  main structure is of  brick,
thirty by forty feet, the addition  of  stone,  forty by thirty feet.
Connected is a farm of 133 acres, yielding a revenue of $1,300.00.
There  are no  basements.   There is  no ventilation ;  the main
building is warmed by stoves,  the asylum by a furnace.

   The number of inmates was seventy-five, forty-five males,
thirty females ; of these twenty-five are foreign born, fifty native,
embracing fifteen children under sixteen years of age.  The sexes
are separated  during the night but mingle  together during the
day.  They are under four keepers, two males, two females.   In 
48
[Senate
 the house are thirty rooms or wards, ten of which are occupied
 by the insane.    In those occupied by the paupers ten persons
 are sometimes placed, in the asylum, but  one.

   The average  number of inmates is  ninety, supported  at a
 weekly cost of seventy-two cents each, in addition  to the products
 of the farm.  Able bodied men among the paupers are employed
 on the farm, the women about the house.    The house has been
 visited once during the year by the board of supervisors.    It is
 supplied with  Bibles and in the summer a Sunday school is sus-
 tained with  occasional  religious  service.    For  about  seven
 months in the year a common school  is taught  in  the  house.
 The  superintendents of the poor in conjunction with the supervi-
 sors, procure supplies for the house and prescribe rules regulating
 the diet.   At  suitable ages  the  children are bound  out by the
 superintendents.   A physician is employed by the year.  During
 the past year there have been  two births and seventeen deaths.
 A shower bath  and tub is provided for bathing.    There is no
 pest  house.  Of the inmates twenty are lunatics, seven males and
 thirteen females.  Five of these are received from other counties.
 Fifteen are paupers.  Five lunatics have been  admitted  during
 the year.  They are under the care of the keeper assisted by two
 attendants, and receive medical  assistance only from the house
 physician.    But a single one is confined and he by a chain in
 his room.    The rest are restrained in separate rooms at night,
 though mostly at liberty during the day.   Two  have been cured
 during the past year, and one-fourth are considered  improved.
 The  construction of the house is such as  to permit their classifi-
 cation.  The power of discharge is exercised only by the superin-
 tendent.    The lunatic asylum has been erected about ten years.
 Since its erection  the condition of the insane is materially im-
 proved.   Classification is allowed, ventilation is in a measure^
 though  not  sufficiently, introduced,  and  the  rooms  are  weli
warmed.

   The accommodations are so ample that  the superintendents
receive and provide for the insane poor of adjoining counties, at
a charge to those counties of the actual expense of their support.
 It is  believed by the management, that of the newr cases commit-
 ted here as many are cured as at other asylums.   Of the paupers
about ten  are idiotic, four males and  six females.   One blind.
 About one-third of the paupers are reduced to their present con-
 dition through intemperance. 
 No. 8. |                       49

                 GREENE COUNTY HOUSE.
   The building is of wood, in size equal to two hundred feet  in
 length.   Connected is a farm  of one hundred and  thirty acres,
 yielding a revenue of $800 to $900.   In the building are twenty
 rooms  or wards,  warmed  by stoves, but destitute of ventila-
 tion.

   The number of inmates was eighty-eight; forty-four  males and
 forty-four females.   Of these, forty  are foreign  and forty-eight
 native born.   Nineteen are under sixteen years of age.  The sexes
 are separated at night.   The keeper has no assistants.

   The average number of inmates is one hundred  and thirty, sup-
 ported at an average weekly expense  of seventy-five cents each.
 The able bodied paupers are employed on the farm and about the
 house.   A committee from the board of supervisors has visited
 the house once during the year.  It is  supplied  with Bibles, but
 no provision is made for other religious instruction.  A common
 school is taught in the house during most of the year.  The su-
 perintendents of the poor furnish supplies, regulate the system  of
 diet, bind out  the children and exercise the power of discharging
 lunatics.   The fare of the  paupers consists of meat,  fish, vegeta-
 bles, milk, and tea and  coffee.  A physician is employed by the
 year, who visits the house when his services are needed.  During
 the past  year  have occurred four births and  thirteen deaths.
 They have no pest house.

   Of the inmates eleven are lunatics—six males and five females.
 All are paupers.  But one has  been admitted within the year.
 Their only attendance consists in the care bestowed by a male
 pauper on both sexes.  Six are confined in cells, five of them are
 in chains, including two women.  They are restrained by confine-
 ment, and by wearing chains about their legs and arms.  Some are
 chained to the  wall.  While visiting the house the committee ob-
 served two men  and one woman taken from their  cells to the
yard for air; there they were all chained to the fence,  within  a
few feet of each other.  Those confined in  cells are without air
except from the small hole in  the door.   They are in a  wretched
state.  None are cured or improved, a result certainly  to be ex-
pected from their present treatment.

  In the house  are nine idiots—five males and four females, none
under sixteen years of age.
  [Senate, No.  8.]             4 
50                     [Senate
  There are two blind and one deaf and dumb.
    *
  It is estimated that three-fourths, at least, of the paupers are
made  such by their intemperate habits.

  This whole house is most illy constructed, without ventilation
and with low ceilings.  As a certain consequence  the air is most
impure.
              HERKIMER  COUNTY HOUSE.
  This establishment consists of  two stone buildings, thirty by
forty-six  feet  each, two  stories in height, and an  asylum build-
ing including a school house, built of wood, in size sixty-eight by
twenty-four feet,  and two stories  in height connected is a farm
of sixty five acres, yielding a  net  revenue, the past year  of $739.
The basements are  occupied  for  culinary purposes, except  one
which is mostly above ground and occupied by old and  decrepit
persons.   In  the  house are seventeen rooms and twenty  cells
warmed by stoves, but with no means of ventilation; the ceilings
however are quite high.  The number of inmates was seventy-six,
fifty males and twenty-six females.  Of these one half are foreign
born and eleven under sixteen years  of age.   The sexes are en-
tirely separated at night and partially during the day.   They are
under charge of a keeper who  employs three assistants, two males
and one female.

  The average number of inmates is 130, supported at an average
weekly expense of $1.10 each,  including the products of the farm.
The paupers are employed on  the farm and about the house, ac-
cording to their ability.   An inspector appointed by the  board of
supervisors, visits the house once a month.  It is supplied with
Bibles, but no other provision is  made for religious instruction.
For six or seven months a common school is taught in the house.
The keeper is superintendent  of the poor  and exercises his own
discretion in the government of the house and in furnishing of sup-
plies.  A physician is employed at an annual salary of from $200
to $250,  who  visit  the  house three times per wreek and oftener
if called.   During the year  four  births  and seven deaths have
occurred in the house.  No contagious disease has prevailed.

   Of the inmates seventeen are lunatics, twelve  males  and five
females,  all are paupers.   They have two  attendants but  no parti-
cular medical care.   Three or four have been admitted within
the year, three are  confined in cells  and others placed in, rooms 
No. 8.]
51
and allowed to exercise in a yard.   During the year one person
has recovered.   The construction of the house allows of a partial
classification of the insane.

  Eight of the inmates are  idiots,  four  male and four female,
one girls is .only eleven years of age.  There is one blind.   No
corporal punishment is administered at the house.

  Three-fourths of the paupers are  made such by  intemperance.
This house is  evidently in charge of a keeper, whose heart is  in
the right place,  and who labors  to cheer and sustain the broken
in body and spirit of those who may by misfortune become the
recipients of public charity in this county.

              JEFFERSON COUNTY HOUSE,
  Is located near Watertown; it is a large, substantial, well-built
building of limestone, in size one hundred by thirty-six feet, and
three stories in  height beside basements.  The  basements are
mostly  above ground.   Attached is a farm of one hundred and
seven acres, yielding a  revenue  of $1500.00.   In the building
are about forty rooms or wards occupied by the  paupers.  These
are  warmed mainly by furnaces,  and are kept comfortable  in
winter, but are destitute of all means of ventilation.  The num-
ber  of inmates was one hundred and twenty-five, the sexes about
equally divided, and one  half native and one half foreign born.
Fifteen are children under sixteen years of  age.  From two  to
ten are placed in each room.  The  sexes  are separated at night
but  mingle during the day.   All are now in the charge of a sin-
gle keeper.  The average number of inmates is one hundred and
fifty, supported at a  weekly charge of seventy five cents.   As
usual, the males who are able to  labor are employed on the  farm
and the females in domestic affairs.   Once in two months a com-
mittee from the board of supervisors visit and inspect the house,
the good  result of which is  evidenced in the superior  appoint-
ments and clealiness of the establishment.  It is supplied  with
Bibles, but no provision is made for other religious instruction.  A
teacher  is employed who teaches the common branches of an Eng-
lish  education, in the building, during the whole year.  The keeper
furnishes supplies of food, and together with the superintendant
imposes rules for the government of the paupers, and regulate  their
system of diet. Their fare is of plain, wholesome food. The keeper
provides medical attendance as the wants of the paupers demand.
No facilities exist for bathing, except in the  apartment designed 
52                      [Senate
 especially for lunatics.  During the last year there has been ten
 births, and thirteen deaths.

   Of the inmates, thirty-one are lunatics; thirteen males, eighteen
 females.   Twenty-nine of these are paupers; the remaining two
 pay $1.50 and $2.00  per week respectively.   One  is from  St.
 Lawrence county and is supported by that county.  For the ac-
 commodation of lunatics the county has recently erected an asy-
 lum in connection with the county house.  The building is eighty
 by twenty-eight feet,  two stories beside basements, and these are
 mostly above ground.   There are twenty-one sleeping apartments
 in the two upper stories opening into large halls or parlors, where
 the patients remain usually during the  day.   Basements are oc-
 cupied for domestic purposes, except four cells or sleeping apart-
 ments for the more violent insane.  There is in  the building a
 good bath room for the use of patients, and a plentiful supply of
 water.  Patients are received from adjoining counties at a charge
 of $2.00 per week.  During the past year two have been  dis-
 charged as cured. All are  confined in separate rooms  at night.
 But one is subject to  constant confinement.  The insane  have
 one attendant, a female, beside assistance from the paupers.   The
 more violent are restrained by  confinement and sometimes the
 straight jacket is used.  Ten have been admitted during the past
 year.   They  receive particular medical attendance from the house
 physician, who has the general charge of the asylum.   Its con-
 struction is  such as to allow  classification of the insane.  The
 superintendant, keeper and physician jointly exercise the power
 of discharge.   No application has been made to the State asylum
 to receive patients during the last year, the county, with its pres-
 ent accommodations, preferring to assume themselves the care of
 their poor insane.

  Much credit is due Mr.  Ely, of Watertown, for his efficiency
in securing this valuable and commodious erection for the insane
poor of his  county.  Their improved condition and  healthful
appearance testify to its beneficial results.

  Of the paupers eight are idiots; two males, six females.   There
are two deaf and dumb; three blind.

  Corporeal  punishment is sometimes administered both in cases
of adults and children.

  Intemperance brings to this house three-fourths of  its inmates. 
No. 8.]
53
              KINGS COUNTY POOR  HOUSE.
   The several buildings  embraced in the alms house, establish-
 ment in this  county are  located just outside the limits of the
 city of Brooklyn, some three or four miles from the East river.

   Among the more important buildings may be mentioned:

   1st. The alms house proper, built of brick, 50x250  feet, three
 stories high above the basement.
   2d. A hospital building, 48x254 feet, four stories.
   3d. A nursery, 50x200 feet, three stories.
   4th.  A lunatic asylum 260 feet long, wings 45 feet, and the
 centre 80 feet wide, four  stories high.

   Connected  with  the alms house is a  farm of seventy acres,
 owned by the county; also forty acres  held by lease.  This  land
 is worked mainly by pauper labor, and yields an annual revenue
 of $3,515.

   The basements of these several buildings are used for domestic
 purposes.  Furnaces  and stoves are  employed for heating the
 apartments.   The importance of ventilation is acknowledged by
 an abortive attempt to secure it.   The lunatic asylum is the only
 budding essentially benefited, and even there it is  by no means
 what the necessities  of the case require.  1,365 inmates were
 found in the establishment as follows :
 Alms house proper,..................................  380
 Nursery,...........................................  350
 Hospital, ..........................................  430
 Lunatic asylum,....................................  205

   Of these 674 are  males and  691 females; 870 are foreign, and
 495 native born,  including 424  children  under sixteen years of
 age.

   The supervision and management of the alms  house is under
 the care of one keeper, aided by three male and four female assis-
 tants.   A complete  separation of the  sexes is  preserved  at all
 times.

  The food furnished appeared to be of good quality, and  in suf-
ficient variety and  quantity, consisting of meats, fish, milk, and
the various vegetable products of the farm.   The average num- 
54
[Senatr
ber of inmates during the  year> is 1,800.  The number being
much the largest during the  cold season.  All who are able are
required  to labor  about  the house or on the  farm.   Children
upon reaching twelve years of age are  bound out by the superin-
tendant.

  The establishment has been visited once during the year by
the board of supervisors.  By the kindness and efforts of bene-
volent individuals, preaching is enjoyed  every  Sabbath, both in
the alms  house and in the lunatic asylum, also a Sabbath school
is maintained.  The house is supplied with Bibles.  A few cases
of yellow fever, small pox and scarlatina have been received and
placed securely in the pest  house during the year; but these di-
seases have in no case extended to the resident inmates.

  The number of deaths during the year is 342.   The number of
births 142.

  A physician  is employed  at a salary of $200 to prescribe for
and- treat those in  the alms house building.  The hospital is in
charge of a resident physician, aided by four assistants.

  There is also  a resident physician in the lunatic asylum.

  Of  the inmates five aged ones are blind.

  The only form of punishment practiced is solitary confinement.
It is estimated that two-thirds of all the inmates are reduced to
the necessity of receiving public charity  consequent upon habits
of inebriation.  A  school is maintained  in the nursery depart-
ment  through the year, with an average attendance of two hun-
dred  scholars,  all under the care  and  instruction of a single
teacher, who, of course, can do little more than  exercise a super-
visory control.

  There  are  a  number of other wards  in the same building in
which the smaller children are gathered and classified  according
to' their respective ages, and in charge of attendants whose mission
it is to minister to the constant and varied wants of these little
ones, and it was gratifying to your committee to observe the care
and interest that were in various ways manifested in their behalf.
In the nursery hospital there were twenty-five  cases mostly op-
thalmia,  under the care of the hospital physician. 
No. 8.]
55
  The hospital building possesses ample accommodations, judi-
ciously arranged to meet the wants of the inmates of such an es-
tablishment.   Though sadly deficient in ventilation, this defect
is  partially atoned f >r by spacious corridors that surround the
building, at each story, arranged so as to be closed or opened ac-
cording to circumstances.
  The lunatic asylum is a fine edifice, very conveniently arranged
in its construction, and better ventilated than either of the other
buildings, and is capable of properly accommodating 150 patients,
but containing 205 at the time of the committee's  visit.   During
the year, 145 new cases have been admitted (one eight and one  four
years of age).  Ninety-three patients have been cured and  dis-
charged, and sixteen more have been materially improved, which
result is the best eulogium that the physician and  managers can
receive, county asylum though it be.

   The building  contains ten halls, five appropriated to the use of
the males and five for the females.   The patients are  classified
according to the nature and stage of their respective maladies, and
are constantly under the watchful eye of attendants of whom there
are twenty—ten males  and ten females.   Of the lunatics, seventy-
nine are males, and 126  females.

   No mechanical restraints have been imposed upon any of the pa-
tients for the last year, during which time it has been under the
control of the present  physician, and only one is confined in his
room.  The lunatics freely mingle together in the halls or in the
yards provided for them, in which to take air and exercise.   The
committee were  informed that one year previous, under a different
administration, from forty to fifty of the inmates were constantly
confined to their rooms,  and twenty more subjected to mechanical
restraints of different  kinds, of which number five were made
cripples, and three of them permanently so for life from that cause
in the old asylum, and that quite a number exhibited upon their
person, marks of violence received after their admission into the
asylum.   A different policy now prevails.  The resident physi-
cian observed that he considers " kindness" more potent  than
chains.
 Since the above was in type, a letter has been received from the resident physician of
Kings county lunatic asylum,stating the "corporeal punishment," above alluded to, "was
inflicted by the attendants, as I have been informed, unknown to the superintendant."
                  LEWIS  COUNTY HOUSE.
  This building is built of stone, forty by sixty feet in hight, two
stories above the basement, and  has been erected for nine years. 
56
[Senate
 The basements are occupied  for culinary purposes, and also con-
 tain two dark cells for offenders and the insane.   Connected with
 the house is a farm of fifty-nine acres, yielding an annual revenue
 of $600.  The building contains  eleven rooms, or wards, and is
 heated by furnaces.   It is  partially ventilated  by registers in
 some of the  windows.  The number of inmates is fifty, thirty
 males and twenty females.  Of  these three-fourths are  foreign
 born.  Of the  inmates there are twelve  under sixteen years of
 age.  The sexes are separated at night and partially during the
 day.  They are under one  keeper.   Sometimes as many as twelve
 paupers are placed in one room.   The average number of inmates
 is ninety-three, supported at a weekly expense of ninety-seven
 cents each, aside from the products of the farm.   The paupers
 are employed on the farm, so far as able, and in domestic matters
 and the manufacture of clothing for the house.  The supervisors
 have visited and  inspected the house twice during the past year.
 It is supplied with Bibles and a Sabbath school is sustained.   No
 other religious instruction is afforded.   During four months of
 the year a common school is  taught.  The superintendents of the
 poor furnish supplies and impose rules for  the government of the
 house and regulations for the system of diet.  The food furnished
 is good  and wholesome, equal in quality to that which a majority
 of the tax payers themselves eat.   A physician, who  visits the
 house four or  five times each week, and oftener if necessary, is
 employed at a salary of $200. There are no facilities for bathing.

  During the  last year one birth has occurred in the house and
 nine deaths.  No contagious disease has visited the house.  The
 lunatics number only four, two males and two females.   All are
 paupers, and, as a remarkable fact, one of them was found lying
 on a feather  bed.   Two have  been admitted within  the year.
 They have no particular medical or other attendance,  and none
 are confined or in any way restrained.  There is  no case of im-
 provement or cure.   The superintendents of the poor alone ex-
 ercise the power of discharge.

  There is in the house one idiot, a female about twenty-two years
 of age;  also one blind  and one deaf and dumb.  The house can
be kept comfortable in winter.   The proportion of pauperism
here caused by intemperance is estimated at one-half. The house
appeared to be very well kept. 
No. 8.]
57
              LIVINGSTON COUNTY HOUSE.
   Located near Geneseo, is constructed of brick, three stories in
 height, in size 108 by 53 feet, including two wings.  Attached is
 a farm of 118 acres, yielding a revenue of $2,000.00.   The base-
 ments are occupied by male lunatics to a limited extent.    The
 number of inmates was seventy-five, the sexes  equally divided ;
 of  these  forty were  of foreign  birth,  thirty-five native born.
 Twenty-five  were  children, under  sixteen years of age.   The
 sexes  are kept separate at all times.   They are under two keep-
 ers, a male  and  female.   Five or six  paupers are sometimes
 placed in one room.  The rooms are warmed by stoves and a fur-
 nace, no means  of ventilation are furnished.   The rooms  and
 wards number seventy-five.   The average number of inmates is
 107,  supported at a weekly expense of  seventy-four and a half
 cents, inclusive of the products of the farm.   The stronger males
 labor on the farm and the women about the house.  Once during
 the past year the house has been inspected by the supervisors. It
 is supplied with Bibles, but there are no regular arrangements for
 religious services or instruction.

   A teacher is employed in the house nine  or fen  months of the
 year, to instruct the children in  the common English branches.
 The keeper purchases supplies and furnishes the house, himself
 imposing rules regulating the government and system of diet.
 The superintendents bind out the children on their arrival at suit-
 able ages.  The fare of paupers consists of plain wholesome food.
 A physician is employed by the  year who visits the house when-
 ever called.   He is paid a salary of eighty dollars per annum.
 No facilities exist for  bathing.   During the past year there have
 occurred four births and seventeen deaths.  The keeper reports
 that heretofore illicit intercourse between the sexes has  to  some
 extent existed.

  There is no pest house, but during  the past year the paupers
have suffered from  no pestilential or contagious diseases.  Four-
teen of the inmates are lunatics, five males and  nine  females.
Of these all are paupers.    Five have  been admitted within the
year.   The males are under the general  care of the keeper, the
females have an especial female  attendant.   A single one is  con-
fined in a cell.  This is the only means of restraint in use, except
in extreme cases, when resort is  had to handcuffs.  Three during
the year have been considerably  improved.    The insane receive 
58
[Senate
no particular medical attendance, nor is the house so constructed
as to allow a proper classification of the patients.  The power of
discharge  is exercised  alone by the superintendents.   Four of
those, now inmates of this  house, have spent some time at the
State Asylum, and  have been discharged as-cases  of hopeless
lunacy.

  Three of the paupers are idiots, two males and  one female,
one under ten years.  There is one deaf and dumb and two blind.
Lunatics sometimes escape but have always been recovered.  The
keeper reports three-quarters of the paupers as brought here by
intemperate habits.

  The house has been constructed six years, and is much better
than an average of the buildings used for this purpose. The rooms
are built around and open upon ranges or galleries, passing round
an open court  or  hall,  which aids  materially in  the ventilation
of the building.

            MADISON COUNTY  POOR HOUSE.
  Consists of three  stone buildings,  each two stories  in height,
the first used for sane and healthy paupers, one hundred  and fifteen
by forty feet, the second is used  as  an hospital,  thirty-eight by
thirty-two feet, the third  as  a  lunatic asylum, thirty-eight by
thirty-two.  In the poor house are nineteen, in the hospital elev-
en, in the  asylum  seventeen.  Attached is a farm of one hundred
and thirty five acres, thirty acres wood land, yielding  an annual
revenue estimated at  $1500.00.  The basements are  used for
domestic  purposes.  The  buildings are warmed  by stoves  and
about one-third of the rooms are  ventilated.  The number of in-
mates was one hundred and eight, seventy-two males and thirty-
six females, of these three-fourths are of  foreign birth.  Among
the paupers  are  thirty children.   The  sexes are  separated at
night,  but mingle  during the day,  they  are cared for by the
keeper and his wife.  Those in a single room range from one to
thirty-five.   The average number of inmates is one hundred and
thirty, supported  at a weekly cost of fifty-six cents  each, exclu-
sive of the products of the farm.   The males so far  as able  labor
on the farm and the women in domestic  avocations.  The house
has been inspected by the supervisors once  during the year.  It
is supplied with Bibles, but no religious instruction  is  furnished.
A teacher is hired and  school taught during the  whole year, the
average number of scholars is seventeen.   The superintendents of 
No. 8.]
59
the poor furnish  the house  with supplies and  impose rules for
government and  regulate the system of diet.   They  bind  out
children on their arrival  at  proper ages and exercise the power
to  discharge lunatics.  The present keeper is a superintend-
ent.  The fare of the paupers consists of beef,  pork, bread, &c,
plain wholesome food.  A physician is employed by the year at a
salary of $100, who visits the house whenever called.  There are
no arrangements for bathing, but usually a plentiful supply of
water furnished.  During the year one birth  and five deaths have
occurred.  Of the inmates fourteen  are lunatics, five males  and
nine females, all but one are paupers.  Three have been admitted
within the year.  They are  under the care of a single attendant
and receive no medical attendance.  Nine are  confined in cells,
and three of these are  so violent that the attendants are unable
to keep them clothed, they are frequently tied  or chained to the
floor.   During the past year none have been either improved or
cured.  The construction of the house allows classification to a
fair extent.

   Seven of the paupers are  idiots, four males and three females,
four of these are under fifteen years of age.

   The house can be kept  comfortably wTarmed in winter.  In-
 temperance brings to this house  three-fourths of its inmates. This
establishment in the ampleness of its accommodations and in the
cleanly and orderly  manner in which it is kept, ranks among the
best poor houses in the State.

             MONROE COUNTY  POOR HOUSE.
   These buildings located  near  Rochester are  of large size,  four
 stories in height, and three in number; two are of brick, one of
 wood, connected with a farm of one hundred and thirty-four acres
 yielding  an annual revenue of  $3,500.00.   There are two base-
 ments, occupied for cells for the insane, and for sitting and sleep-
 ing rooms.  The buildings  have no ventilation and are  heated
 principally by stoves.  The number of inmates was two hundred
 and eighty, the sexes being equally divided; of these but forty
 are native born!  Seventy-five are children under sixteen years
 of age.   There is a complete separation of  the sexes.   They are
 under one keeper who employs but a single assistant, who in  turn
 is also  assisted by the  able paupers.   On an average seven or eight
 paupers are placed  in one  room, though sometimes as many as
 one hundred are placed in a single apartment.   The average num- 
60
[Senate
 ber of inmates is three hundred and sixty, supported at a weekly
 cost of sixty-eight cents.   The males who are able are employed
 on the farm and  the women in domestic affairs.   The house has
 been  visited once during  the year by the supervisors, and the
 superintendents of poor visit  the  house  each week.  The house
 is supplied with Bibles  and there is preaching each sabbath con-
 ducted by the students of Rochester University.   Sabbath school
 instruction is also furnished by them.  A common school  is  in
 session at the house during the wrhole year.   The superintendents
 through the keeper, furnish supplies and prescribe rules regula-
 ting the diet, they also bind out  the children at suitable ages.
 The fare of the paupers consists of meat, bread, and vegetables;
 plain but nutritious food.   The keeper himself is a physician and
 furnishes the medical attendance required by the paupers.   Du-
 ring the year  there  has been twenty-three births and forty-six
 deaths.  There is here both a fever and a pest house  apart from
 the main buildings.  Among the paupers are  five blind and  two
 deaf and dumb persons.  There are  furnished no facilities for
 bathing, an omission of  a very important sanitary measure.   Du-
 ring last spring the measles were prevalent in the house.

   Of  the inmates twenty-eight are lunatics; thirteen  males and
 fifteen females; all are paupers.  Forty-two lunatics  have been
 admitted during the year, and  about  that number are  received
 each year.   Ten women and eight men  are  confined in cells.
 During the past year six have  been materially improved.  As a
 means of restraint handcuffs are sometimes used.  Their attend-
 ance consists in a general oversight from  the  keeper, assisted by
 two paupers, one male and a female.   The construction of the
 house is not such as to  allow classification  of the insane  and
 hence recourse  to cell confinement is  had, where its  effects are
 decidedly injurious.   Lunatics at this house,  with its  present fa-
 cilities can by no means receive proper treatment.  They are dis-
charged by town overseers, by superintendents of the poor, and
by the magistrate or person committing them to the house.  There
are now awaiting, two lunatics for reception in the State Asylum,
where admission is now  denied.

  Eight of the paupers are idiots; four male and four female.
 The present keeper, Dr. James, has occupied  his position for six
years, and gives the opinion founded on observation as keeper
and medical attendant, during that time, that fifteen-sixteenths
of the paupers are brought here by intemperance. 
No 8.]
61
   For  so large an  establishment, with  so imperfect and faulty
 accommodations, it seems well-conducted.

          MONTGOMERY COUNTY  POOR HOUSE
   Is an old dilapidated two-story structure, in a rectangular form,
 90x30 feet, on a side enclosing an open space, in the centre  of
 which a fountain of water in ample quantity is constantly play-
 ing,  and the idea of a bath is foreign to  the establishment.
 The house  is attempted to be warmed by stoves, but cannot be
 made comfortable in cold weather.   Connected with the house is
 a farm of 150 acres, yielding an annual revenue of $1,000.  For
 two years preceding the present the paupers  were supported by
 contract, the contractor receiving the use of the house and farm,
 and 62 cents for permanent and  6 5 cents for transient paupers
 per week, and all moneys receivable from the Commissioners  of
 Emigration, and it was  stated,  as a little singular, as well as a
 fact, that the contractor was much more successful in realizing
 money for supporting emigrant poor than the superintendents of
 the county have been.  The present keeper  has been in charge
 but a few months; he represented that the house was in an ex-
 ceedingly filthy condition when he entered  upon the duties of
 his office, and that  he had already used some forty bushels of
 lime in whitewashing, and otherwise in order to make the house
 what it then was.

   The house  affords sixteen rooms and twelve cells for the use
 of paupers.   The present number  of inmates  is seventy-six, and
 as many as  eighteen are sometimes placed in  one room.   Of the
 whole number three-fourths are males and  one-fourth females.
 Of these  three-fourths are  foreign and one-fourth native born,
 including eleven children.   The keeper is assisted by his wife and
 the paupers in working the farm and providing for the family.

   The sexes are not separated by day,  and not entirely at night.
 There is no provision for religious instruction, nor is the house
 supplied with Bibles.  A school is taught six  months in the year
 for the children.  The house has been inspected twice during the
 year by the board of supervisors.   The fare  of the paupers con-
 sists of good, plain,  wholesome food.   The  supplies are  pur-
 chased by the superintendent, or by his orders.  He also, jointly
with a committee  of the board  of supervisors, prescribes rules.
regulating the diet; he binds out the children, &c.  The average
number of inmates is 125.  A physician  is employed who visits 
62
[Senate
the house twice a week, for which he receives a salary of $100 a
year.   Within six months there have been two births  and five
deaths.  Thirteen of the inmates are lunatics, of these twelve are
paupers—nine males and four females; three have been admitted
in the last six months, and during the same time one has escaped
that has not been  recovered.   The lunatics have a pauper atten-
dant to wait upon them, but receive no special medical attention,
seven are confined in cells, and one is sometimes whipped, and he
a cripple.   None have been cured nor improved.

  Five of the paupers are idiots, two male three female.   The
forms of punishment are whipping, shutting  them  up  in  dark
cells, ball and chain to the  leg.  Three-fourths of all the  cases
that  come to this house  come consequent upon habits of inebri-
ation.

            NIAGARA COUNTY POOR HOUSE,

   Consists  of a stone building seventy-five by forty feet,  three
stories; another thirty by forty feet, two stories; connected with
a  farm of one hundred and twenty acres, yielding an annual re-
venue of $1,000.   The basements are used for domestic purposes.
There is no ventilation.  It is  heated  by furnace and stoves.
Shower bathing is practiced to a moderate extent.  The number of
inmates was seventy-eight—forty males and thirty-eight females;
of these sixty-six  were foreign and twelve native born, embracing
forty children.  The sexes are kept  separate.  They are  under
one  keeper,  who employs three  assistants—two  male and one
female.  On an average three paupers are placed in a room.

   The average number of inmates is ninety-five, supported at a
weekly cost of 50 cents, in addition to the products of  the farm.
The males who are able, work on the farm ten hours a day; the
females are  engaged in domestic matters.  The house has been
visited once during  the year by the  board of  supervisors.   It is
also supplied with Bibles, and a Sabbath school is maintained
during the summer.  A teacher is employed most of the time to
instruct the children, who also exercise a general and constant
supervision and control over them,  as  to cleanliness,  behavior,
&c.   The superintendents of the poor, through the  keeper, pro-
cures the supplies, prescribes rules regulating the diet, binds out
the  children, and exercises the  power of discharging lunatics.
the fare of the  paupers  consists of plain wholesome  food.  A
 physician is employed to visit the house three times a week, at a 
No. 8.]                       63
salary of $250.  Another  physician is also employed, who gives
special attention to lunatics.   During the last year there have
been five births and thirteen deaths.

  The measles has prevailed  among the children, three or four
of whom  died.  This establishment is one of the few that has a
pest house.  Of the inmates nineteen are lunatics—six male and
thirteen female—and all but three are paupers; of those three
one  is a man worth  from $6,000 to $7,000, placed here by his
friends because they were denied admission into the State Asylum;
another, a lady, worth still more, placed here by her friends, and
a third,  a girl, placed here by her father.  Thirty lunatics have
been admitted during the year.  They are under the care of a
young physician, assisted by a female attendant.   None are con-
fined unless at night,  and only one  restrained  (a negro) by
shackles to keep  him from running away; he is constantly em-
ployed on the farm, and is an efficient hand, and seemed happy.
During the year five have been cured and discharged,  and two
much improved.  It will be observed that in this house, as in all
others where any proper attention is bestowed upon the insane,
happy results follow.   Four of the inmates are idiots, all males,
two boys 12, and two 16 years of age; two are blind.

  The house is well kept, and by the results proves, that as a ques-
tion of economy merely,  it is less expensive to maintain a good
poor house than it is a poor one.  The only form of punishment
employed is the showrer bath.   The keeper says, " I know intem-
perance brings one-third of the inmates here, and I should think
more than two-thirds.

                 ONEIDA COUNTY HOUSE
  Is located near the village of Rome.   The building has been
occupied as a poor house since 1829.  Connected is a farm of 115
acres, of which about seventy are under cultivation.  The house
is heated by a furnace.

  The present number of inmates is 150—males and females being
about equally divided.  The average number for the past year is
222.  Thirty-seven deaths have occurred.  At least three-fourths
of all received are foreigners.   During all seasons the able  bodied
men among the paupers are employed upon the farm.  The sexes,
are  kept  separate.  A physician is employed  by the year to at-
tend the sick, and frequently visits the  house.  It is  supplied 
64
[Senate
with Bibles, and the inmates have the benefit of religious instruc-
tion.  For the children an  instructor is employed by the year.
There is on the grounds a pest house, located about 100 rods from
the main building.  No contagious disease has visited the house
during the present year.

  The inmates sleep in dormitories, the  largest room accommo-
dates forty-four persons.

   There are here four blind, two male and two female, and three
idiots.  Thirty-one of the inmates are lunatics, twenty males and
eleven females.   For their accommodation has been erected an
asylum building, in which the sexes are  separately confined with
separate yards  attached.   A large  share of these lunatics have
heretofore been inmates of the State Institution, and returned  as
incurable.   The keeper reports  that one of the cases, a colored
woman, has recovered her reason and been discharged from the
house.  They  are confined in rooms,  and  restrained by chains
when boisterous.   The son of the keeper has charge of the insane,
assisted by  a female who is herself occasionally deranged.

   The house is inspected each year by a  committee appointed
from the board of supervisors of the county.

   Exclusive of farm products the cost of support of paupers has
been for  the last year about $1.00 per capita.

            ONONDAGA COUNTY  POOR HOUSE
   Is located on PompeyHill, some four miles from Syracuse.  It
is an establishment quite extensive,  being made up of additions
from time to time as the exigencies of the case have demanded.
The main building is constructed  of stone, three  stories high.
Connected  with the house is a farm of thirty-four acres, the re-
venues  of which was not ascertained, the keeper being absent
from home.   The house is warmed by furnaces and stoves.  The
rooms are not ventilated and some of them poorly lighted, nor
wras there any provision for bathing.  The air in many of the
apartments  wras oppressive, imparting that peculiar  odor, that
is experienced in a close, vitiated  atmosphere not peculiar per-
haps to  poor  houses, but  not  unfrequently found  there, nor,
could it  be specially commended for its cleanliness.

   The number of inmates was one hundred and fifty, seventy-five
males and  seventy-five female, one hundred and fifteen of whom 
No. 8.]                       65
were foreign and thirty-five native born, including sixty children.
The sexes are kept  separate,  in  small  rooms  two persons  are
placed, in larger ones four, six, twelve and even twenty.  The
house  is in charge of two keepers, both  males,  who are assisted
by the paupers both in the house and upon the farm.

  The superintendent of the poor  purchases  supplies for  the
house, prescribes rules regulating the diet and government of  the
paupers, binds out the children and dismisses lunatics  when dis-
charged.  The average number of inmates is two hundred,  the
weekly cost of their support was not obtained on account of  the
absence  of  the  keeper.   A school  is kept  for instructing  the
children. The house is supplied with Bibles and religious ser-
vices are held once in two weeks.

  This house is visited once annually by the supervisors and by
the superintendent of the poor every week.   The food furnished
was plain but appeared wholesome and good.

  A physician is  employed  by the year, who visits  the house
every day.  During the year there had been four births and eight
deaths, from January to June.  The number of lunatics was six-
teen, eight males and  eight females and all paupers.

  The insane receive no special medical attention, and none have
been cured,  two are thought to be improved, four are constantly
confined in  cells, three  males and one female.   A  male and
female pauper are assigned by the keeper to wait upon the insane.
One lunatic was in irons, the straight jacket is sometimes used.

  The house admits of the classification  of the insane.  One of
the paupers  is an idiot, a male, one deaf and dumb, five blind, all
aged.  Corporeal punishment inflicted only upon children.

  Two-thirds of the inmates  rendered paupers consequent upon
the use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage.

             ONTARIO  COUNTY POOR HOUSE
  Is located in the vicinity of Canandaigua.   The main building
is ninety by forty-five feet, two stories in height; another twenty-
eight by thirty feet, both of brick.   Connected with the house is
a farm of 212 acres, yielding an annual revenue of $4,000.  The
basement  is occupied for domestic  purposes.   It is warmed by
[Senate, No. 8.]
5 
66
[Senate
furnaces and stoves.  No ventilation except in the insane depart-
ment;  the ceilings, however, are pretty well raised.  No baths
are provided but ample accommodations are furnished for wash-
ing.   Seventeen rooms and  twenty-one cells are appropriated to
the use of the paupers.  From two to^twenty-six are placed in a
single  room.   The  number  of inmates was  120, seventy males
and  fifty females, eighty of whom were foreign and  forty native
born, including thirty-five children.  There is a complete sepa-
ration of the  sexes.  The house is in charge of one keeper, who
has an assistant, aided by the paupers in  the  house and on the
farm.  The supervisors have visited this  house twice the past
year.  The supplies for the house are purchased  by the superin-
tendent, who  also prescribes  rules regulating the  diet,  binds out
the children of suitable age, and jointly with the  physician exer-
cises the power of discharging lunatics.  The average number of
inmates is 136, supported at a weekly cost of fifty-seven cents
each.  The house is supplied with Bibles, and preaching is occa-
sionally enjoyed during the summer.  One of the most interest-
ing features connected with this establishment is the school house,
standing out  from  the main buildings in  a large and beautiful
front yard ornamented with trees.  In  this house  a school is
taught the year round.   It was  found clean and  neat, and its
walls decorated with  maps, mottoes, &c,—an inviting  retreat.
This school is supported from a fund given by a benevolent indi-
vidual, the interest of which is to be perpetually applied to the
education of these  pauper children.  The  intent of the grantor
seems to find  a realization.

  A  physician is employed by the year at a  salary of $150. There
have been four births and  eighteen  deaths during  the  year.
Among the inmates are twenty-one lunatics, six males and fifteen
females, and all paupers; five of these have been  to  the  Utica
Asylum and returned as incurable.  Application has also  been
made for the  admission of others which have  been refused at
Utica.   Two have been admitted to this house this year, and two
have recovered and four slightly improved.  They are restrained
by confinement  in cells, and  three are confined in cells constant-
ly.   The women are waited upon by a female attendant.  The
insane  do not receive any special medical attention.   This  house
admits of the classification  of the insane; five are idiots, one
male and four females; two are deaf and  dumb, and one blind.
Lunatics sometimes escape and are not always heard from.  Two- 
No. 8. J
67
thirds of the whole  number are brought here consequent upon
habits of intemperance.

                ORANGE  COUNTY HOUSE.
  Is a building constructed of stone, 100 by 40 feet, three stories
in height, and is connected  with a farm of 265  acres, yielding a
revenue of $2,000.   The basements are occupied only for domes-
tic purposes.  There are about sixty rooms in the several build-
ings, warmed by a furnace and stoves  but not  at all ventilated.
The number of inmates  was  138, fifty males and  eighty-eight
females.   Of these  one-half are of foreign birth and forty are
under sixteen years of age.  Not over ten are placed in the largest
rooms.   The sexes are kept separated at night.    There is but
one keeper.   The average number of inmates is 200, supported
at a cost of $1.04 per wreek  each.   As far as they are  able the
males labor on the farm and the women about the house.   The
supervisors have inspected the house once during the past year.
It  is supplied with Bibles and sometimes  religious services are
performed.   A competent teacher is employed in  the house dur-
ing the entire year, to give instruction in the common English
branches.  The superintendents of the poor bind  out the child-
ren on arriving at a suitable age, furnish  supplies and discharge
lunatics.    The fare of the paupers is very good though plain.
A physician  is employed by the year who tends to the sick when
his services are required.    No facilities for bathing exist.   Six
births and twelve deaths have occured  during the  past year.  No
contagious diseases have prevailed.   This establishment  has a
good pest house.

   Of the inmates  sixteen  are lunatics, eight  males  and eight
females.  All are paupers.    Six have been received during the
past year. Two are confined in cells and sometimes the more vio-
lent lunatics are restrained by handcuffs  and even chained to the
floor.   During the year two have been cured and  four materially
improved.    Two women attend the lunatics and  the house phy-
sician prescribes for them when physically ill.  A stone building
26 by 50 is attached to the main  structure with  twenty-two
rooms, for the accommodation of  lunatics.  These  rooms are
about eight feet square, light airy and  healthy, and  the lunatics
are  here made comfortable.    Ample  yards  are  attached for
exercise.
   The school room is in the same building  and  is a good one.
Two of the  paupers are idiots, both males.  Three  are  blind. 
68                      [Senate
Three lunatics have escaped and not returned, during the past
year.   Intemperance furnishes this house with two-thirds of its
inmates.

            ORLEANS COUNTY  POOR HOUSE.
  This house is built of brick, forty by eighty feet, three stories
high, connected with which is a farm of one hundred and seven
acres, yielding, an annual revenue of $721.  The house is not
ventilated.  No  provision for bathing except  a shower bath.
The basement, to a limited extent, is  occupied by  the paupers,
but mostly for domestic purposes.  It is warmed by stoves.  The
number of inmates was forty; twenty males and twenty females,
of whom  sixteen  were foreign  and  twenty-four native born, in-
cluding eight  children.  Twenty-six rooms are  appropriated to
the use of the  paupers in which as  many as eight are sometimes
placed in a single room.  This house is under the care of a keep-
er, aided by an assistant.  The keeper is also superintendent of
the poor, who purchases supplies for the house, prescribes rules
regulating the  diet, which are submitted to and have received  the
sanction  of the county court.   During the past year he has bound
out sixteen children, leaving only one of suitable age to be bound
out, in the house.  The paupers labor in the house and on the
farm  to  the extent of their ability.  The average number sup-
ported is fifty-nine, at a weekly cost of $1.15 each.   The house
is  supplied with Bibles and religious services are maintained  ev-
ery Sabbath.  The children of suitable age are sent to the district
school.   The supervisors have visited the house once this year.

   A physician is employed by the year at a salary of $100.   There
have  been  five births and three deaths the past year.  Of the
inmates seven  are  lunatics; two male and  five  female, and  all
paupers.   Two have  been received, and one recovered and  has
been discharged.   Three of the lunatics are confined  in  a hall
opening into a yard; one is restrained by wearing mittens and one
muffs.  They are looked after by a pauper attendant, but receive
no special medical attention.   There are two idiots, both females;
and one deaf and dumb.

   Four-fifths of the whole number come  to want  consequent
upon habits of inebriation.

            OSWEGO COUNTY  POOR HOUSE
   Is located in the town of Mexico.  It is an old  structure, the
main building twenty-five by sixty feet, of wood, two stories high, 
No. 8.]
69
with a brick addition twenty-five by twenty feet, with a farm of
sixty acres attached, yielding an annual net revenue  of $300.
The basement of the building is used for domestic purposes.  There
are nine rooms or wards appropriated to the use of paupers, and
seven of these for lodging  paupers, in each of which are placed
from one to eight persons.  Forty-seven inmates were found, be-
ing provided for.   Twenty-three males and twenty-four females,
three-fourths of whom were foreign, one-fourth native born, sup-
ported at a weekly expense of $1.08 each.   The average number
provided for in this house is seventy-five, and all placed under
the care of a single keeper, who also has the care and management
of the farm, the male paupers assisting in out door work, and the
females in domestic duties, according to their several ability.

   In this establishment there is  but very little separation of the
sexes, either by day or night.

   Of the inmates seven are under sixteen years of age.  It is the
practice to  transfer the children, on  reaching the age  of six or
eight years, to the orphan asylum in Oswego, at which institution
they are instructed and carefully cared for.  The asylum receiv-
ing $1.25 each, per week,  by resolution of the board of supervi-
sors of the county at its last annual meeting.   Previous to this no
provision whatever existed  for the instruction of the inmates,
either religiously, or in the elements of a common English edu-
cation.  Nor has the house been visited by the board of supervi-
sors during the past year, and the general appearance of the house
and its surroundings would seem to countenance the idea, that it
had not been visited by that honorable body for many years pre-
ceding.

   The inmates are supplied with wholesome plain food, which,
together with  all other stores for  the house is purchased by or
under the direction of the county  superintendent, who  also im-
poses rules regulating the diet.

   In this  establishment there  is no room separate and distinct
from the other, known and used as a hospital, nor is there a pest
house.

   During the year there have been five deaths and three births.
A physician is employed by the year to visit the house and pre-
scribe  for such as need medical attention, once a week, and  as
much oftener as his services  may be required, for a salary of $85. 
70
[Senatb
   There are no baths provided.

   Eight of the inmates are lunatics—five  male and three female,
and all paupers; three have been admitted during the year, two
have recovered, one  improved and one escaped.  They have no-
special attendants nor special medical attention.

   Of the above number, two are constantly confined in cells, and
one restrained by a straight jacket—hand-cuffs, are sometimes em-
ployed.

   There is no yard or retreat provided for  the  insane, and al-
though the keeper thought the house admitted of their classifica-
tion, your committee can hardly comprehend how such a result
could be attained.

   Lunatics are discharged by the superintendent only, or by his
directions.   No lunatics have been sent to the State Lunatic Asy-
lum, at Utica, nor has any application been made for their recep-
tion during the year.

   Four of the inmates are idiots, three male and one female, all
over twenty years  of age.   The house is heated hy  stoves, and
can be made comfortable at all seasons.  It has no ventilation,,
and the ceilings of the apartments are low.  Seven-eighths brought
to this  house come consequent upon habits of inebriation.

   This house is wholly inadequate, in any just sense, to meet, in
proper measure, the  varied wants and necessities of so large a
family.  Here are gathered the aged and the young, the sick, halt
and lame, the vicious, perhaps, and the unfortunate, the idiot, the
lunatic : seventy-five in all, as an average, to be accommodated
in nine apartments, and all to be cared for by one man and  his
pauper assistants.  From these nine rooms take the dining hall,
the sick room, the two rooms in which  lunatics are constantly
confined, and five remain for occupancy by the remainder of  the
inmates of both sexes.  Whether ihi§ is to remain as the gauge
and standard of the philanthropy and christian civilization of the
citizens of  Oswego county  is  a question for them  to answer.
When the  facts are  fully understood by them your committee
cannot, for a moment, doubt what  their answer will be.

             OTSEGO COUNTY  POOR  HOUSE
  Is located near Cooperstown, and consists of several building
of stone, one 24x60 feet, one 24x90 feet, &c, furnishing twenty- 
No. 8.]
71
four cells or rooms for the insane, and fifteen for the other pau-
pers.  The insane departments are ventilated, the others are not,
but without any provision for bathing.  The farm connected con-
sists of 153 acres, and yields an annual revenue of $1,400.  The
number of inmates was eighty-six, forty-four males and forty-two
females, of  whom seventy-nine were  native and seven foreign
born, including sixteen children.  The insane each occupy a small
cell, the residue are placed from one to twelve in a single room.
The sexes  are partially separated by day, completely at night,
and are all under the care of one keeper and his wife, who have
charge of the family and the farm, assisted by the paupers.  The
keeper also purchases the supplies for the house.  The superin-
tendent provides  and imposes  rules regulating the diet, binds out
the  children when  suitable  places are found, and discharges the
lunatics when cured.  The house is supplied with Bibles, and re-
ligious services are held every Sabbath.   The children are sent
to the  district school.  A physician is employed, who  attends
when called upon, and receives one dollar for  each visit.  One
birth the last year (illegitimate) and fifteen deaths.  The average
number supported  in this house  is  ninety, fifty-four of whom
have been  brought here directly, and twenty-nine  indirectly,
from habits of inebriation.
   Fifteen of the  inmates are lunatics, five male and  ten female,
and all paupers;  three have been received during the past year.

   Four  of the lunatics  have been much improved; they have
their liberty during the day, but are  locked up at night.  The
only form of restraint is by  locking  in cells.   The  majority of
the insane  have been in this house from five to sixteen years.
The construction of the  house admits of the  classification of
the  insane.   They have no special  attendants, and  receive no
special medical attention.  Five of the inmates are  idiots, two
male and three female.   The generally clean appearance of the
house, and the order manifested everywhere, speak well for the
sagacity of the superintendents in selecting a keeper.

                PUTNAM  COUNTY HOUSE.
   Is a wooden building of two stories, in size  eighty by thirty
feet, connected is a farm of one hundred  and  ninety six acres,
yielding a revenue  of about $600.   The basements of the house
are unoccupied.  There are fourteen rooms or wards, occupied by
the paupers and warmed by stoves and not at all ventilated.  In
some rooms are placed twenty persons, less in the smaller. 
72
[Senate
  The number of inmates was thirty-seven, eighteen males and
seventeen females, of these three are foreign  and thirty-four na-
tive birth, thirteen are under sixteen years of age.  The sexes are
kept separate, they are under a single keeper who  has  charge  of
the house.   The  average number of inmates is fifty-two, sup-
ported at a weekly cost of forty-three cents each,  all who are
able work on the  farm or about the house.   The house has been
visited by the supervisors, once during the past year.  It is sup-
plied with Bibles  and there are occasional  religious  services on
the Sabbath.  For the instruction of the young a school is taught
in the house during the whole year.   The superintendents of the
poor regulate the government of the house, furnish supplies,
bind out the children and exercise the power of discharging luna-
tics.   The fare of the paupers is  the common one of meat,  bread
and vegetables.   A physician is called when his  services are
needed.  There are no facilities for bathing.  Seven  deaths have
occurred during the year, no contagious disease  has prevailed.
This establishment has a pest house.

  Of the inmates three are lunatics, one male and two females,
all are paupers.   They receive no special medical  or  other at-
tendance.  One has been  chained in his cell for  about  three
years,  he is comparatively a young man and must  prove  a con-
firmed lunatic unless there be a speedy change in  his treatment,
he lies on dirty straw in a miserable dungeon, and his condition
is worse than that of many beasts.   The others are confined in
cells.  None are  reported cured or improved  during the past
year.  Two of the inmates are idiots, both females.  There  is one
mute.   Thirty-six of the fifty-two paupers are  reduced to their
present condition throught intemperance.

                    JONES' INSTITUTE.
  Is located in the town of Oyster Bay, Queens county.   It is
designed only for the accommodation of the poor of the towns of
Oyster Bay  and  North Hempstead.   The  property is  held  by
trustees  under the will of  Mr. Samuel Jones, by whom  it was
devised  to  these  towns.  There is also  in their hands a fund
the revenue of which is devoted toward  its support.   The  re-
maining expenses are furnished by the two towns.

   The  buildings are of wood, old,  irregular in  form and size.
Attached is a farm of sixty-three acres.  There are no basements.
In  the  building are  ten  rooms or wards,  warmed by  stoves 
No. 8.J
73
and not at all ventilated.   Six  paupers are  placed  together in
small rooms  and about twenty in  larger ones.  The  present
number of inmates was forty, nineteen males and twenty-one
females.   Of these two are foreign and thirty-eight native born.
Twelve are under sixteen years of age.  They are under the care
of a single keeper.   The  sexes are kept separate.  The average
number of inmates is 127.   The keeper was unable  to state the
cost  of their support.   The abler paupers are made  to work on
the farm and  about the house.   It is supplied with Bibles, but
no other religious instruction is provided.  The supplies are pur-
chased as needed by the keeper.   In the  house are  four idiots,
one male and three females.   There are three blind.    A physi-
cian is employed by the year.  During that period five births and
sixteen deaths have occurred.   There is no pest house.    Luna-
tics are not  admitted to the house, but are  said to be boarded out
in private families, under direction of the superintendent of the
poor.   More  than  five-sevenths of the  paupers reach their
present position through intemperance.

   This house is very badly constructed and the air in the rooms
is close and unhealthy. There is no school taught in the house,
nor are the  children sent to the district school although one is
located near this house.

          RENSSELAER  COUNTY  POOR  HOUSE
   Is  situated a short  distance  south-easterly from  the city of
Troy, and consists of a building 50 feet by 200, built of brick,
two  stories high.  A farm of  152 acres is connected with the
house, upon wThich the male paupers are employed, so far as they
are able, and which yields a revenue of $2,000 a year.

   The house affords twenty-one large and  fifteen small rooms for
the use of paupers, which are  heated  by stoves, but entirely des-
titute of any means for ventilation.  There is  a small bathing
establishment which, from  appearance, seemed to have gone into
disrepute.  One hundred and thirty-three inmates were  found in
the house, sixty-seven males and sixty-six females, seven-eighths
of whom are foreign and one-eighth  native born, including fifty
children under sixteen years of age.

   The paupers in this county are let by contract.  The contract-
or, Justin E. Gregory, wTho is  also county superintendent, enjoys
the free use of the county buildings  and  farm,  and  in  addition 
74
[Senate
thereto receives one dollar a week for each inmate, whether old
or young, together with such services as they may be able to
render on the farm or in the  house.
  Mr. Maxon, the present keeper, placed there by the contract-
or, and who entered upon  his  duties  within  the  present year,
stated to your committee that when he took charge of the estab-
lishment  he found three lunatic women in cells, who, he  was
informed, had been confined six months without having been let
out.   He further stated that, during the cold season, while thus
confined, lying upon straw as their only bed, saturated with fluids,
the litter of straw froze upon their limbs, and was removed only
by thawing it off.  As a result of this inhuman neglect two of
them had been rendered cripples  for life.  He described the cells
in which they were confined  as being in  a loathsome condition,
and  furnishing abundant  evidence  of the multiplied discom-
forts to which the unhappy inmates must, from the nature of the
case, have  been subjected.   These cells are four and a half feet
wide, seven feet deep and  seven feet high, without ventilation,
with a small hole  cut  in the top of the door to  admit air and
light,—to this should be added a poor quality and a small quan-
tity of food.   Mr.  Maxon  stated further, that when he entered
upon the discharge of his duties he found  a large quantity of
provisions unfit for use, such that he  refused io feed it to the pau-
pers; and  that, accordingly, he threw away three or four loads
of spoiled  meat and fish—the same in kind as the paupers had
been fed upon for seven  months previous.   He further stated,
that during this period  the house was kept by a son of the  con-
tractor, who supplied the house with provisions, and that during
his own time of service provisions had been sent  to him for the
use of the paupers, so utterly unfit and unwholesome that he had
felt obliged to refuse them, and has sent  them back.
   A pauper by the name of Denis was called upon by Mr. Maxon
the present keeper, who was instructed to answer  such questions
as might be propounded by the committee.  Who in reply to
questions put by  the  committee, slated : That the paupers had
suffered very mucli from cold during the winter, owing  to a de-
ficiency  in the  supply of fuel, and  for  lack of clothing.  They
had suffered also for want of a sufficient supply of food and  com-
 plained  that it had not only been scanty in amount but unwhole-
 some in quality,  consisting of  dry  coarse brown bread and beef
 shanks,  boiled and cold.  The truth of which the committee could
 not doubt, if the fare then used, was an improvement  upon what 
No. 8.]
75
 it had been before.  For the bread and the meat exhibited to the
 committee as the fare of the paupers, answered  Denis' descrip-
 tion so accurately that the committee, if they had not  been in-
 formed to the contrary, wrould have supposed the paupers wrere
 being kept on the old bill of fare.  It is only just to add that
 potatoes are said to be added to the present fare twice a day.   In
 further confirmation of the above statements your committee saw
 at  the  Marshall Infirmary, a  man who was brought from  this
 poor  house  last  winter, concerning whom  the physician of the
 infirmary said, that  on his  reception " he was so reduced for
 wTant of food that it wTas some time before he was  able to move
 about."   The man himself stated  that he could not eat  the food
 at the poor house it was so offensive.  The committee received
 information from other sources, all tending to establish the facts
 above set forth in relation to the diet of the paupers and in re-
 lation to the treatment of them.

   It is  claimed that there is a complete separation of the sexes—
 from twenty to  twenty-five are sometimes placed  in a room or
 ward.   The average number of inmates is 190.

   A school is maintained during the year, and is under the direc-
 tion of the board of education.   Religious services are performed
 every Sabbath, and a Sabbath school is maintained, and the house
 is supplied with  Bibles.   The children, upon reaching a suitable
 age, are bound  out  by the superintendent.  A physician is em-
 ployed  by the year.  From April to 1st September there had been
 eight deaths.  The small pox prevailed during the last winter,
 and the measles  were prevailing at the time of the committees'
 visit.   There is  a pest house on the premises, but is unfit to be
 used, and is therefore unoccupied.

  The keeper stated that the house was visited every month by
 a committee from the board of supervisors,  and that the diet of
 the paupers consisted of salt beef, vegetables, soup, milk, coffee
 and tea.  Among the inmates there were  thirty lunatics—four
 mab and  twenty-six females, and all paupers.   Application had
 been made at the State  institution for admission, which was  re-
fused for want of room, and three who were then at Utica were
 required to be taken away.  One  lunatic had escaj ed from  the
house, and no attempts had been made to secure her or bring her
back.  Three cures were thought  to have  occurred during  the
last five months, and were discharged, and during the same time
fifteen  new cases  had been  received.  They receive no special 
76
[Senate
medical attention, but are  waited upon by  pauper attendants.
No restraints employed except confinement in cells, and only one
in confinement, and this one being in one of the cells already de-
scribed, your committee could gain but little  information how the
case  stood inside, from the light afforded through the small hole
in the top of the door.  Your committee, upon expressing a wish
to examine the case more fully, were assured by the keeper that
the occupant of the cell was naked and filthy, and in no condition
to receive or see company, and besides it was not quite  safe, al-
though it was a female, but upon being informed that the com-
mittee's curiosity could only be satisfied by  a further examina-
tion, the keeper requested the committee to retire until she could
be put in a presentable shape.   On our return we found a  healthy-
looking female quietly permitting, and even  assisting in the ad-
justment of her attire, with but very little  evidence of loss  of
reason, so far as the expression of the countenance was concerned.
The bed arrangement consisted of two boards fastened up on the
side  of the cell, one for the bottom, the other a front piece, filled
with the litter of straw which one of the paupers, holding a broom
in one hand, was  sifting through her fingers upon the floor with
the other, for the  purpose of absorbing the fluids and filth that it
might be removed.  The sides  of the cell for five or six feet high
or more were perfectly besmeared with human filth, and this the
abode of a human being, a female, a pauper, a lunatic,  for days,
and weeks, and months together, until perchance frost shall crip-
ple or pestilence destroy.  Your committee dare not trust them-
selves to make comments on the above, but they will inquire of
that committee from  the board of supervisors, who are said by
the keeper to visit the house every month, if this is the  standard
and measure of public charity of the constituency they represent.

   Among the inmates are  two male idiots  and two deaf and
dumb.   Seven-eighths of all that come  to this  house come con-
sequent upon habits of inebriation.

               RICHMOND  COUNTY  HOUSE
   Is constructed of stone and consists of two buildings two stories
high, thirty by twenty feet, and forty-eight by forty-eight feet;
the ceilings are low, without ventilation and without any provi-
sion  for bathing, and a general survey of the house with its fix-
tures, as you approach it, is entirely in harmony with  its name.
The  basement is occupied for domestic purposes, and by two cells
for the insane. The farm in connection with it, consists of 100 
No  8.]
77
acres, and yields an annual revenue of $3,000.  Seventeen rooms
are appropriated to the use of the paupers, and  sometimes from
sixteen to eighteen are kept and lodged in a room twenty feet
square,  without any facilities for ventilation.   It is  heated by
stoves.  Fifty-five inmates are found in it—twenty-five males and
thirty females, three-fourths of whom were foreign and  one-fourth
native born.  The sexes are placed  in  separate  departments at
night, but  require watching  to preserve  the separation.   The
house is under  the care  of one keeper and his wife, assisted by
the paupers, and  supported at a weekly cost of $1.00 for each
pauper.

   The superintendent of the poor purchases the  supplies for the
house, and provides and prescribes rules for the regulation of the
diet, binds out the children and discharges the lunatics when dis-
missed from the house.  The average number of inmates is eighty.
The house is supplied with Bibles—no other means for religious
instruction is enjoyed.  A school has been taught for eight months
the last year.   The board of supervisors have visited the house
once within the year.

   A physician is employed to answer all calls, at  a salary of $100
a year.   There have been three births,  (illegitimate,) and seven
deaths.  Of the inmates five are lunatics, one male and  four fe-
males, and all  paupers,  none of whom  have been improved or
cured.  Two of them are constantly confined in cells, one of them
in a building remote in the field, to whom  food was  said  to be
carried three times a day.  These lunatics have no special atten-
dants, and receive no particular medical  attention.  One lunatic
has been sent to the Bloomingdale lunatic asylum.   The modes
practised to restrain is to lock up in cells, and apply ball and
chain.  One pauper an  idiot.  Seven-eights of the inmates are
reduced to their present position, consequent upon habits of ine-
briation.

   The whole aspect of the house indicated negligence on the part
of all  whose business and whose duty it is to make it a comforta-
ble asylum for the indigent and the unfortunate; instead of which
it  is a cheerless, comfortless abode, and fallen far below what the
county of Richmond should  supply and support.

               ROCKLAND  COUNTY HOUSE.
   The buildings of this establishment are of  wood,  one thirty-six
by forty feet, one twenty-four by sixteen feet, and the other thirty 
78
[Senate
 six feet square.   Connected is a farm of forty-seven acres, yield-
 ing an annual revenue of $700.

   The basements of the building are not occupied.  There are for
 the occupation of paupers, twenty-three rooms or wards, warmed
 by stoves, but not  all ventilated.  The number  of inmates was
 seventy; thirty-five males, thirty-five  females.  Of these  four-
 fifths were foreign  born, and thirty under sixteen years of age.
 The sexes are kept separate; they are under the care of a single
 keeper.  Generally from one to three are placed in a single room.
 The average number of inmates is one  hundred,  supported  at a
 weekly expense of seventy-five cents each; all who are able work
 upon the farm or about the house.  During the year  the super-
 visors have inspected  the house once;  they impose rules for the
 government of the house, and  regulation of the  system of diet.
 The supplies are purchased by the keeper as needed, and the fare
 is plain and wholesome.  The house is supplied with  Bibles, but
 no provision is made for religious instruction.   A teacher is  em-
 ployed in the house to instruct the children during  the  entire
 year.  A physician is  employed who  visits  the house once each
 week and oftener if called.  There are no arrangements for ba-
 thing; during the last year  ten deaths have occurred.  There is
 no pest house.

   Of the inmates six  are lunatics;  two males and four  females;
 three are  paupers,  the others pay for their support.   But  one
 has been admitted during the year.   They have no more attend-
 ance than other paupers.  Two are confined in cells and one  is
 restrained in a straight jacket.  None during the past year have
 been cured or improved.   Eight of the  inmates are idiots;  five
 males, three females.  There is one deaf and dumb.

   Five-sixths  of the paupers are reduced to their present con-
 dition through intemperance.

  This house is in good order and condition  throughout,  the pau-
pers  are well cared for and well fed and kept.  The rooms,  too,
are clean and comfortable.

         ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY  POOR HOUSE
   Is located near Canton, and consists of wooden edifices,  two
stories joined together, each twenty-two by thirty feet on the
ground.  The  farm consists of one hundred and thirty acres,
yielding an annual revenue of $1000.  The  basements are oc- 
No. 8.]
79
 cupied by paupers.  It has no ventilation and no provision for
 bathing.   Twenty rooms are appropriated to  the use of the in-
 mates, in which rooms from  one to seven are placed.   One hun-
 dred and twenty paupers were  found in  the house, forty males
 and eighty females, of whom sixty were foreign and sixty native
 born, including forty children.  The sexes are not kept separate
 either by day or night.   They are in charge of one keeper  who
 assisted by his wife and aided by the paupers, work the farm and
 provide for the wants of the  family.  The supplies for the house
 are furnished  by contract.  The  supervisors  have  visited the
 house once during the year.  The  average number supported in
 the house is one hundred and fifty, at an  average cost of eighty-
 three cents each per  week.  The house  is not supplied with
 Bibles, but a Sabbath school is maintained, and a day school dur-
 ing the whole time at a cost of $1.00 per wreek.  A physician is
 employed who will do the business at the  smallest price, the pre-
 sent incumbent receives a salary  of $90 per year.  During the
 year  there have been ten births and twelve deaths, There is one
 blind, one deaf and dumb, and  twelve  lunatics,  five  males and
 seven females and all paupers.  They have no special attendants
 nor receive any special medical attention.   None have been cured
 or improved the past year.  Some  are confined in cells constant-
 ly.  The  methods of restraining are confinement in cells, hand-
 cuffs  and  shackles.  The  house  does not allow of the classifica-
 tion of the insane.  There  is one idiot  twenty-four  years old.
 Three-fourths of the whole number wrho receive support in  this
 house are reduced to this  necessity consequent  upon habits of in-
 ebriation.
                SARATOGA COUNTY  HOUSE.
   The building of this  establishment is a wooden one,  106 feet
 square, and two stories  in height.  Connected is a farm of  112
 acres, yielding a revenue of $900.   The basements are  used as
 washing and eating rooms.  Above are seventeen rooms, or wards,
 occupied by the paupers and warmed by stoves, but without ven-
 tilation.  The number of  inmates was 102, fifty males and fifty-
 two females.   Of these one-third  are of foreign birth and twenty-
 five under sixteen years of age.   The sexes are separated at night.
 The average number of inmates is  137,  supported at a weekly
 cost of ninety-three cents each.  The paupers are employed, as
far as able, on the farm and about the house.

   The house has been inspected once during the year by the  su-
pervisors of the  county.   It is supplied  with Bibles,  and  there 
80
[Senate
are occasional religious services.  A common school is sustained
in the house during the whole year.  The superintendent fur-
nishes supplies for the house and prescribes rules for its govern-
ment ; binds out the children  and  exercises the power of dis-
charging lunatics.  A physician is employed by the year, who
attends  twice a  wreek,  and oftener if required.  There are  no
facilities for bathing.   During the year have occurred ten births
and thirty-six deaths.   During this time the small pox  has pre-
vailed, but no cases have  proved fatal.  There is a pest-house.

   Of the inmates ten are lunatics, three males and seven females.
All are  paupers.   They receive no special attendance.   Five are
confined in cells, and  some are at times  restrained by  shackles
and hand-cuffs.  The  keeper reports that some have been im-
proved.  Lunatics have escaped from the house and not  again
been found.   Eleven of the inmates are idiots, five males and six
females; all are  over ten years of age.   There  are  three blind
persons.  Of 137 paupers sixty-three were brought here through
intemperate habits.

   This  house is an old one and badly dilapidated.  The rooms
are low, sadly out of repair, and the air in the sleeping rooms is
most  foul and noisome.  It is  very well attended, however, by
the present keeper, and is kept in as  good order as  possible.
Corporal punishment is administered to men, women and  children.

         SCHENECTADY COUNTY POOR HOUSE.
   Is built of brick, fifty by thirty feet and two stories in height.
Connected  is a farm of 116 acres yielding  an annual income of
$1,200.00.   The basements are not occupied by paupers.   In
the house are twenty-eight rooms, warmed by stoves but not  at
all ventilated.  These rooms are small and the ceilings not more
than seven and a half feet high.  Never  more than four paupers
are placed in one room.   The number of inmates was fifty-six,
thirty-one males  and twenty-five females.  Of these one-half are
foreign  born, and twenty under sixteen years of age.  The sexes
are kept separate.   There is but one keeper.  The average num-
ber  of  inmates is seventy-five,  supported  at a weekly cost of
eighty-four cents each.  Able paupers are employed on the farm
and about the house.    During the year the supervisors have in-
spected the house once.   It is supplied with Bibles and on the
Sabbath religious services  are held.   From eight to nine months
of the year a school is taught in the house.  The superintendents 
No. 8.]
81
of the poor regulate the government of the house and its  system
of diet, furnishes the supplies and discharges the insane.   A phy-
sician to attend the paupers is employed by the year.   There are
no arrangements for bathing.   During the year have occurred
one birth and three deaths.  No contagious disease has prevailed.
For sueh an event a pest house is provided.

   Of the inmates three are lunatics, one male and two females,
all are paupers.  Two are confined in  eells, which is the only
means of restraint in use. None are reported improved or cured.
They  receive  no  different  attendance,  medical   or   other,
from the sane paupers.    Seven of the  inmates are idiots, three
males and four females, one, a boy, is under sixteen years of age.

   No corporal punishment is administered  to the paupers.  It is
estimated that nine-tenths are brought here directly or indirectly
by habits of intemperance.  This house is badly constructed and
decidedly unhealthy.

           SCHOHARIE COUNTY POOR HOUSE
   Is located at Middleburgh, and is  a two-story brick building,
100x40 feet, containing nine large rooms or wards, appropriated
to the use of the paupers, with low ceilings, and without venti-
lation, and without  any provision for bathing, and is heated by
stoves.   Connected with the house is a farm of 160 acres, yielding
an annual net revenue of $800.

   Thirty-five inmates were found in the house, twelve male and
twenty-three female, and  of these two were foreign and  thirty-
three native  born.  The  average number  provided  for  at this
house is about sixty, who are under the care of one keeper and  his
wife, who perform all  the  necessary labor connected with the
management of the family and the farm, assisted by the paupers.
At night the males and females are locked, each in separate depart-
ments of the house; during the day there is no separation except
at the tables.  The superintendent purchases all the supplies for
the house and imposes rules regulating the diet, and when  suitable
places are found, indentures the children, and exercises exclusive
control in the discharge of lunatics.   There were seven children
under sixteen years, who are instructed in the house because of
the refusal of the trustees of the school district to receive them
in the district sehool.  The food furnished is of a plain, nutri-
tious character, and no complaint  but that it was in sufficient
[Senate, No. 8.J             6 
82
[Senate
 quantity.   A physician  is employed by the year to answer all
 calls, at a salary of $62.  The house is supplied with Bibles, and  •
 preaching is enjoyed once in two weeks.   The supervisors of the
 county have visited the house once during the year, during the
 same time there have been seven deaths.

   Of the  inmates  two were lunatics, both females and paupers.
 None have been  admitted during the year, nor any improved or
 cured.  They are occasionally restrained by placing them in cells
 in the basement.   They receive no special medical attention.  The
 county is supporting six lunatics in the State Asylum.

   Ten of the inmates are idiots, eight males  and two females.
 Full  two-thirds  of all who receive support in this  house are
 brought there consequent upon habits of inebriation.

   The general appearance of the establishment indicated a dispo-
 sition on the part of the keeper to discharge  his duty, impaired a
 little, perhaps, by an effort to show, on  a comparison with his
 predecessor, that he wras supporting. the  paupers at a cheaper
 rate than he.  Seventy-five cents per week was given as the cost
 of their support.

                   SCHUYLER COUNTY.
   This  county having been recently organized, has not  as yet
 built a county poor house.  The  method  adopted and practised
 is for each town to support its own poor  within its  own  limits,
 and to send such cases as are chargeable to the county  to the
 poor houses of the several counties from which the several towns
 are originally taken.

             SENECA COUNTY POOR  HOUSE
   Is located about  four miles  from the village of Waterloo, and
is a three story stone building, ninety  by  sixty feet, connected
 with which is a farm of one hundred and twenty-six acres.  The
 basements are  occupied for domestic puposes.  It is  warmed by
 furnaces and partially ventilated, but no provision exists for bath-
 ing.  Twenty-four  rooms  are appropriated to the use of paupers.
 Forty-four inmates  were  found in the house, twenty-one males
 and twenty-three females of whom nineteen  were foreign  and
twenty-five native  born,  including  six children. Four  of the
paupers are chargeable to  the Commissioners of Emigration.  The
 sexes are kept separate.   There is one  keeper who with his wife 
No. 8.J
83
aided by the paupers  take  care of the family and  farm.   The
keeper purchases needful supplies for the house under the direc-
tion of the  superintendent of the poor.  The superintendent of
the poor binds out children-of suitable age, prescribes rules regu-
lating the diet  and exercises the power to discharge lunatics.
The board of supervisors have visited the house once during  the
year.  The  average number of inmates is sixty, supported at a
weekly  cost of  $1.00  each.  The house is supplied  with Bibles,
there is  no  other provison for religious  instruction.  A  school
teacher is employed four  months in the year to teach the child-
ren.  A physician is employed by  the year.   There have been
two births  and  seven deaths during the year.  Of  the inmates
seven are lunatics,  two males and five females and all paupers,
six have been received during the year.  None have been cured or
improved.   Three are  confined in cells the whole time, these  are
looked after and cared for by pauper attendants,  but receive no
special medical  attention.  Confinement in cells is the only form
of restraint  practiced.  No application has been made either to the
State Lunatic or Idiot Asylum during the year.  Three of  the
inmates  are idiots,  all males, the youngest eighteen years old.
One half of  the inmates come to be such consequent  upon habits
of inebriation.

            STEUBEN  COUNTY POOR HOUSE,
   Is located at Bath, and consists of three buildings, two of them
brick; of these one is  forty by eighty feet, and one thirty-six by
twenty-four feet, and one of wood, thirty by  twenty-two, con-
taining thirty-one rooms for the use  of paupers.   It is without
ventilation  or any provisions for bathing.  The basement is used
for cooking  and  for storing provisions.   It is warmed by stoves.
Connected with  the house is a farm of  two hundred and fourteen
acres, yielding an annual revenue of $2000.   The number of in-
mates sixty; twenty-six males  and thirty-four  females; of these
fifty-three were  native, and seven foreign born, including eight
children.  The paupers freely commingle during the day, and
though placed in separate apartments at night,  can gain access to
each other if they choose.   They are in charge of one keeper and
his wife, who  in addition to  the care of the family and manage-
ment of  the farm, purchases supplies for the house, regulates  the
diet, and sometimes exercises the right to discharge lunatics.  The
paupers assist to labor  in the house and on the farm, and are sup-
ported at a weekly cost of $1.01 each, and seem to be well fed on
good, plain,  wholesome food, and in sufficient quantity.  The chil- 
84                      [Senate
dren are not instructed, either in or out of the house, but when
suitable places are found are bound out, irrespective of their age.
There is no religious instruction in the house, and it is but par-
tially supplied with Bibles.

  The paupers receive the attention of a physician twice a week
and oftener if necessary, who for his services receives  a salary of
$100 a year. There have been five births during the year, (three
illegitimate) and  four deaths.   The board  of supervisors visit
this house once a year.   The average number  receiving support
is seventy-five.

  Of the inmates thirty-seven  are lunatics; fifteen  males and
twenty females, all paupers.  Four  have  been received  during
the year, of these two have recovered and been discharged.   They
receive no special medical attention.  Four of the number are
kept constantly in cells which  are dark and  unpleasant, and
without any special attendants.   The only method of restraining
the insane is by locking them in cells.  The house does not ad-
mit of the classification of the insane.  There is one idiot, a male.

  Mostly all who require and receive support at this  house are
rendered dependent upon public charity, consequent upon habits
of inebriation.  The accommodations here are  more ample than
are often found, and  the cells of the insane are ventilated by an
escape passage for bad air, in each cell.  The  paupers seemed
contented and well cared for.

               SULLIVAN  COUNTY  HOUSE
  Is a wooden building fifty feet square, and two stories in height.
Attached is  a farm of  100 acres, yielding a revenue of about
$400.

  The basements of the building are not  occupied.  Seven rooms
or wards  are occupied  by the paupers, which are warmed  by
stoves, but destitute of ventilation.   The number of inmates was
thirty-five—twelve males and twenty-three females.   Of these,
nineteen are foreign, and sixteen native born, and twelve under
sixteen years of age.  The sexes are kept separate, but the separa-
tion has been enforced and preserved only recently, the  present
keeper in April last finding women and men, at night, occupying
the same rooms.  This is  now prevented.   The average number
of inmates is fifty-five, supported at an average weekly  cost of
seventy-five cents each.   The able-bodied paupers labor on the 
No. 8.]
85
farm and about the house.  Once during the year the supervisors
have inspected the house.  It is supplied with Bibles, but no pro-
vision is  made  for religious instruction.  A common school is
taught in the house during three months of the year, and in the
interval children are sent to the district school.  The superinten-
dents of the poor furnish  supplies and  prescribe rules for  the
government of the house.   The fare of the paupers  is of pork,
bread and vegetables; tea and milk are  also furnished.  A phy-
sician is employed by the year to attend the sick.   Four deaths
have occurred since last April.

   Of the inmates seven are lunatics—two males, five females.  All
are paupers.  None have been admitted during the year.  They
have only such attendance as is furnished the other paupers.   One
is confined in a cell; as a means of restraint they are so confined,
and occasionally shackles and handcuffs are used.  The construc-
tion of the house is not such as to allow of their classification.
The power of discharge is  in the superintendents.   Four of the
paupers are idiots—two males and two females ; one is a boy of
two years, and one a girl of ten.  Both could be much benefited
at a proper asylum.
   Two-thirds of the paupers, at least, are  brought here through
intemperance.
   This house is  every way bad; want of room, want of water,
want of pure air are all combined to make it unfit for its designed
purposes.  The cells for lunatics cannot  be made  comfortably
warm in  winter, and are now very offensive.  They have only
straw for beds, no bedding.   Whipping is resorted to in the house,
in the case of children,  adults and even idiots.   The son of the
former keeper was seen to use the  lash upon an idiot boy  who
failed to make a fire in a manner to suit the young man.
   The present keeper is a better man, and does all he can in such
a place and with such facilities.
              TIOGA COUNTY POOR HOUSE
   Is located near Owego, and is constructed of stone, thirty-six
by seventy-five  feet, affording fifteen rooms for the accommoda-
tion of paupers, but is without ventilation and without baths. It
is heated by stoves, in connexion  with  it is a farm of sixty-two
and a half acres, yielding a revenue of $600.

   The number of inmates was sixty-one,  thirty  males and thirty-
one females, fifteen foreign and forty-six native  born and thirteen 
86
[Senate
of these are children under  sixteen years of age.   The average
number is  about seventy-five under the care of one keeper and
his  wife, who provide for the wants of  the family and work  the
farm, assisted by the paupers so far as they are able to work.
There is no attempt to separate the sexes during the day and no
special pains taken to separate them at night.  The paupers  are
supported upon the products of the farm, and purchases made by
the keeper to whom is committed also the adoption  of rules regu-
lating their diet.  The food seemed of good quality and  sufficient
in amount.   The power of discharging lunatics is also sometimes
exercised by the keeper.   The house is supplied with Bibles, no
religious instruction  is imparted, nor  are the  children  taught
either in or out of the house.  When suitable places can be found
the children are bound out by the superintendent.   Provision is
made for calling a physician, who charges for his services by  the
visit. ^During the year there have been six  births and four
deaths.

  The supervisors have not visited  the house the past year.
  Of the inmates six are lunatics, and all females and all paupers.
None of whom have been improved  or  cured, and  receive no
special attention medically or otherwise.  The apartments devoted
to the use of the insane were found in very  bad condition.  One
poor woman was found  in her  filth and dirt  in  a dilapidated
brick cell where she  had been incarcerated for years, denied  the
pure air and light of heaven.  The  usual  mode of restraining the
insane is to confine them in cells.   The only bright side to this
picture, is to be found in the fact that new and more fitting ac-
commodations are being  erected for these poor creatures.
•
  Three-fourths of the whole number supported in this house,
come to need charity, consequent upon habits of inebriation.

            TOMPKINS COUNTY  POOR HOUSE,
  Is located six miles from Ithaca, is constructed of wood and is
76 by 30 feet, with a wing 22 by 40 feet, two  stories  high.   It
contains fifteen rooms, without any provision for ventilation or
bathing and is warmed by  stoves and fireplaces.    Connected
with the house is a farm of one hundred acres, yielding an annual
revenue of $1,500.  The basement of the building is occupied as
setting and lodging rooms  for the paupers.   The number of in-
mates was  thirty-seven, sixteen males  and  twenty-one females,
of these four were foreign and thirty-three native born,  and nine 
No. 8. |
87
under sixteen years of age.    Under the care of one  keeper and
his wife, who provide and care for the family and work the farm
writh  the  assistance of the paupers, so far  as  they are able to
work.   In this house the sexes are kept separated day and night,
and  are placed  from two  to ten in a room, except the lunatics
who are each placed in a single cell.  The supplies are purchased
by the keeper and the diet regulated by him.    The food is plain
substantial fare, provided twice a day.   The children are not ad-
mitted into the district school and receive no instruction in the
house.  Whenever suitable  places  can be procured  they are
bound out by the superintendent.   No provision is  made for
religious instruction and the house is but partially supplied with
Bibles. Medical aid is provided, which service is paid for  by
the visit.

   The  average  number of inmates is  fifty-three,  two-thirds of
whom are reduced to want by reason  of habits  of inebriation.
There have been fifteen deaths and two births, both of which were
illegitimate, during the year.

   The board of supervisors  visit  this house  regularly once  a
year.   Of the  inmates seven are  lunatics, two  males and five
females, are all paupers.  One has been  admitted during the year.
None have been cured or improved.  They are  confined in  cells,
without any speeial sttendants or  medical attention.   One is
placed in shackles to prevent his injuring  his  associates.   The
house does not admit of a classification of the insane.  The right
to discharge them is exercised by the keeper.   Two of the pau-
pers are idiots,  one male and one female.

   This house was visited  in the absence of the keeper; and
was found in bad repair, the walls crumbling and falling in most
of the apartments, but seemed to be kept in  as  good order as
could reasonably be expected in so dilapidated a structure.

                 ULSTER COUNTY HOUSE,
   Is constructed of wood, twenty-two by one hundred and twenty
 feet  two stories in height, connected with a farm of one hundred
 and forty acres, yielding an  annual revenue of $500.  The base-
ments are only  occupied for  domestic purposes.  In the house are
eight rooms or wards, warmed by stoves, but not at all ventilated.
 In the largest of these rooms forty-five  paupers are placed in the
 winter, and twenty in the summer.  This room is mostly filled 
88
[Senate
 with invalids,  is in size about twenty by thirty feet, with  low
 ceilings, the air confined and altogether most unhealthy.   The
 number of inmates was one hundred and twenty—seventy males
 and fifty females;  of these forty are foreign and eighty native
 born; forty-five are under 16 years of age.   The sexes are kept
 separate.   They are under the care of a single keeper, by whom
 is kept the usual system of registration.   The average number of
 inmates is one hundred and seventy-five, supported at an average
 weekly cost of $1.25, aside from the products of the farm.  As
 far as able  the paupers labor on the farm and about the house.
 No authorities have inspected  or visited the house during the
 year.  It is supplied with Bibles, and preaching is enjoyed on Sun-
.days.   For six months of the year a school is taught in the house.
 The superintendents of the poor furnish rules to  govern the pau-
 pers, regulate their diet, bind out the children, and  exercise the
 power of discharging lunatics.  A physician is employed by the
 year.  During  the year have occurred twenty births and fifty
 deaths.  The paupers have suffered  considerably from the small
 pox during that time.   There is no pest house provided.

   Of the  inmates  fifteen are lunatics—three males  and  twelve
 females; all  are paupers.   Five have been  admitted during the
 last year.   They receive no special medical attendance, but  a
 male attendant supplies their ordinary wants.  Ten  are  confined
 in cells, and one restrained with chains.   Beside the  main build-
 ing are several  small  old buildings  on  the premises, in one of
 which—a very poor one—were  twelve  cells for lunatics,  very
 open, and where it is barely possible to keep them from perishing.

   In the house are twelve idiots—four males and eight females;
 two of the females are under 16 years of age.

   Three-fourths of the paupers are reduced to their present con-
 dition by intemperate habits.

             WARREN COUNTY POOR  HOUSE
   Is a wooden structure, two stories high, 26x60 feet, and fifty
 years old, and is in a very dilapidated condition.   This house is
 ventilated through the  cracks  and crevices, and  cannot be kept
 warm and comfortable in severe weather.  There is no provisions
for bathing.   Connected with the  house is a farm of 200 acres
yielding an annual  revenue of $800.  Six rooms are appropriated
to the use of the paupers, in each of which from four to fourteen 
No. 8.J
89
are placed.  The number of inmates found  in  the  house was
thirty-four, seventeen male  and  seventen female, and one-half
foreign and one-half native  born, including  eight children, all
under the care of one keeper, who, assisted by his wife and aided
by the paupers, provide for the family  and manage the farm.
The average number supported  in  the house is fifty-four, at a
weekly  expense of 90 cents each.  The fare consists  of plain,
wholesome food, provided so far  as not produced on the farm by
purchase by the superintendent of the poor, who also prescribes
rules regulating the diet, binds out the children on arriving at a
suitable age, and exercises the power of discharging lunatics when
they are dismissed from the house.

   The house is annually visited by the board of  supervisors, and
is supplied with Bibles, but enjoys no other  means  of religious
instruction.   The children  either attend the district  school or
are taught in the house.  A physician is  employed, who visits the
house once a week, at a salary  of  $75 a year.

   There have been two births  and eight deaths, two are blind,
 occasioned by disease, one twelve  years old.   Of the  inmates
 three are lunatics, two males and one female, and all are paupers;
 three have been admitted during the year.  They have no special
 attendants, or special medical attention.   One has improved dur-
ing the year.  Confinement in  cells is the only form of restraint
 practised.  There is one idiot,  a  boy fourteen years old.

   Two-thirds of the inmates come to receive public charity con-
 sequent upon habits of instruction.
           WASHINGTON COUNTY POOR HOUSE
   Is located in the town of Argyle, and is constructed of brick,
 two stories, 100 x 30 feet on the ground; connected with which
 is a farm of 170 acres,  yielding  an annual  revenue of $1,500.
 The location of this house is well suited to promote its  designs,
 and the general appearance of the house, farm and fixtures, indi-
 cate system, order and thrift.  The house has no special provis-
 ion for ventilation; yet the keeper gave evidence that he under-
 stood and appreciated the difference between pure and  foul air.
 Neither  is there any  provision  for bathing.  It is  heated by
 stoves.   Thirty-one rooms  are  appropriated to the use of the
 paupers, in which from one to ten are  placed  in a room.  The
 number of inmates was 112, fifty males  and sixty-two  females.
 Of these fifty-six were foreign  and fifty-six native born, including 
90
[Senate
forty children, about twenty of whom  had been placed out on
trial with farmers and  others, preliminary to binding  them out.
The separation of the sexes in this  house is complete, day and
night, except that they meet in the dining hall while eating.

  The house and  farm is under the management of one keeper,
assisted by his wife and pauper  labor.  The  superintendent of
the poor purchases the  supplies  for the house, prescribes rules
regulating the diet, binds out the children of suitable age, and
exercises the power of discharging lunatics when they are dis-
missed.  The average  number of inmates is 124, who are fur-
nished with  good  plain food at a weekly expense of sixty-seven
and a half cents each.

  The house has been once visited by the board of supervisors
during the year.   A physician is employed by the year at a sala-
ry of $50.  A school is taught in the house eleven months in the
year.  Religious exercises are  maintained  every morning by the
keeper.   The  house is partially  supplied with Bibles.  There
have  been five births and  eleven deaths during the year.  Two
are dumb, but can hear; five are blind; one of these four years
old.   Of the inmates twenty are lunatics,  ten  males and  ten fe-
males, and all paupers.   Two have been received during  the
year and six have  escaped.

  The lunatics have no special attendants  and receive no special
medical attention. One is set down as having recovered.  Several
are confined in cells.  The methods of restraint are locking in
cells, chaining to the floor, and hand-cuffs.   The house admits of
a partial classification of the insane.   No  application has been
made to the  State Lunatic Asylum for the admission of lunatics
during the year.   Three  of the inmates are idiots, two male and
one female.  One-half of  all who come to this house are brought,
consequent upon habits of inebriation.

             WAYNE  COUNTY POOR HOUSE,
  Is located  near Lyons.   The main building is constructed of
stone, forty  by sixty feet two stories, connected with which is
a farm of one hundred and ninety acres, which yields  an annual
income  of $1400.  The basement of this house  is occupied for
domestic uses and cells.   There is no special provision for venti-
lation or bathing.   Sixteen rooms  are appropriated to the  use
of the paupers—sixty of whom we found  in  the house; forty 
No. 8.]
91
males and twenty females; of these forty wrere foreign and twenty
native born, including fifteen children.   From four to  five are
usually placed in a room but when crowded from  fifteen to six-
teen.   At night there is a complete separation of the sexes, which
is preserved but partially during the day.  The establishment is
in charge of one  keeper  and his wife, who are  assisted by the
paupers  according to their ability to labor.  The  average num-
ber supported in this house is sixty-seven, at a weekly expense of
$1.55 each.   The fare furnished is good, plain substantial food,
and in sufficient quantity.   Religious services are  maintained in
the house every Sabbath.  It is also supplied with Bibles and a
school taught in the house the whole time.   The superintendent
of the poor exercises the power to discharge lunatics.  The sup-
plies for the  house are  purchased by the keeper,  who also pre-
scribes rules  regulating the  diet of the  inmates.   The board of
supervisors visit the house once a year.   The  superintendents of
the poor visit it once a month.   A  physician is  employed, who
visits the house whenever called, charging fifty cents a visit, and
ten cents  additional for each  patient.   There have  been ten
deaths during the year.

   Of the inmates seven are lunatics;  five males and two females,
all paupers;  two have  been received during the year.  There
have been recoveries but none during the present year.  The lu-
natics have no  special attendants, or special  medical attention.
The mode of restraining them is by confinement in cells.

   Four of the paupers  are  idiots; two males and two females,
all of whom are fit subjects for the State Idiot Asylum.   There is
one blind.  No corporeal punishment is employed.

   Eight-tenths of all who  are received  into  this house are
brought here consequent upon habits of inebriation.  This house
seems to be well kept; order, cleanliness, and contentment were
every where apparent.   But  the  buildings  are  insufficient  to
properly answer the necessary  wants of  so large a  family.

             WESTCHESTER COUNTY HOUSE.
   This is a large building of stone, in size eighty by seventy feet,
with  wings seventy by  thirty feet,  and three stories in height,
connected with a farm of one hundred and seventy three acres,
yielding a revenue of $2,500.00.  The basements are uoccupied;
for the use of the paupers, there are about twenty rooms or wrards, 
92
[Senate
warmed by stoves and a furnace, but not at all ventilated.   The
number of inmates was one hundred  and ninety-one, eighty-six
males and one hundred and five females.  Of these one hundred
and twelve are foreign born  and seventy-nine native born,  and
seventy-five under sixteen  years  of  age.  The  sexes  are  kept
separate.  They are under  the care  of a single keeper assisted
by the more able paupers.   The average number of inmates is
two hundred and  twenty-five, supported at a weekly expense of
sixty-eight and a half cents each.   As far as possible the  women
are employed in and about the house  and the men  on the farm.
Once during the year  the house has  been visited  by the super-
visors of the county.   It is supplied with Bibles, and a Sabbath
school is taught the whole year.  A teacher is employed in the
house to teach the common English branches, about forty children
is the average attendance.  The superintendents of the poor re-
gulate  the  government of the house, and furnish  supplies and
bind out the children on their arrival at a suitable age.   In
many cases these children are adopted in good families.  A phy-
sician is employed by  the year and is a resident  of the house.
There are no facilities for bathing.   During the year there  have
been twenty births and  sixteen  deaths.   During  the year the
paupers have suffered both from small pox and ship fever.  They
have a " pest house."

  Of the inmates twenty-five are lunatics, eleven males and four-
teen females, all are paupers but two.   They are attended by the
resident physician and have two attendants, one woman and a
man.   None are confined, except when violent,  when they are
placed in cells; they are restrained by straight jacket and hand
cuffs, and sometimes  chained to  the floor.   During  the  year
seven have been  cured and two improved, three have escaped
and not been found.   There is an asylum  provided for these un-
fortunates, apart from all other inmates.   A good yard is attached
for each sex.  Their apartments allow of their classification.

  In the room used for the paupers as a hospital, there is a large
number of sick and sickly, it is very much crowded, the ceilings
are very low and there is no ventilation, as a consequence the air
is most impure.   A stream is running within a few rods of the
house, but there is no  bathing by the paupers.

  Eleven of the  inmates are idiots, five  males  and six females.
There are two  deaf and dumb and three blind.   Intemperance
reduces  three-fourths  of the inmates to their present conditiop. 
No. 8.]                       93

            WYOMING COUNTY POOR HOUSE
  Consists of an old wooden farmhouse, with wings 28 x 20, 60 x
24, 18 x 30 feet.  Connected with the house is a farm of ninety-
seven acres, yielding an annual revenue of $300.

  There are twenty-two rooms, with low ceilings, without venti-
lation and without any accommodations for bathing.   From two
to seven are usually placed  in a  room.  Sixty-five inmates were
found in this house,  twenty-six males and thirty-nine females; of
these fifteen were foreign and fifty native born, including eleven
children.  The sexes are separated during the night.   They are
in charge of one keeper, assisted  by his wife and the paupers, in
the management of the family and the farm.

   The superintendent of the poor purchases the supplies for the
house, prescribes rules regulating the diet, binds out the children
of suitable age, and  exercises the power of discharging lunatics
when they are  dismissed.  A physician is  employed by the year
at a salary of $100.   There have been two deaths since last De-
cember.  The  house is  not  supplied with Bibles.  Religious in-
 struction is imparted every Sabbath.  A school has been  taught
 two  months.   The  food is  plain,  good,  substantial  fare.  The
 supervisors have visited  the house once the present year.  The
 average number supported  is seventy-three, at a weekly  cost of
 75 cents per week each.  Twelve of the inmates are lunatics, five
 male and seven female, and  all paupers; two have been received
 since last December.  Of the whole number none have been cured
 or improved; nor do they have any special attendants, or special
 medical attention; they are restrained by confinement in cells and
 shackles; two were found in chains.   The house does not admit
 of the  classification of the insane.   Four lunatics have been sent
 to the  State Lunatic Asylum, and no application has been refused.
 The keeper sometimes exercises the right to dismiss lunatics. One
 lunatic had escaped,  from whom no  tidings had been obtained.
 Two of the inmates are  idiots, both females.   Two-thirds  of the
 paupers in this  house become such consequent upon habits of
 inebriation.
   Among the inmates of this house was found a revolutionary
 veteran, a  soldier under Washington, reduced by misfortune to
 the necessity'of sharing in the poor house charities of the coun-
 try he periled his life  to save.  He had but recently learned that
 he was entitled to  a pension, and it was a satisfaction to reflect
 that he would soon be placed in  widely different circumstances. 
94
[Senate
              YATES COUNTY POOR HOUSE
  Is located in the town of Jerusalem.  It is a stone structure,
and including the basement, is three stories high, fifty by 100 feet
on the ground—built some twenty years ago, with very low ceil-
ings and without ventilation, and with no provisions for bathing.
It is heated by stoves  and fire-places, or rather attempted to be.
The keeper stated that some of the rooms could not be kept warm
in some weather, and that several cases had occurred in the house
in which the paupers had been frost bitten, and that one of those
was a lunatic.   Connected with the house is a farm  of 123 acres,
yielding an annual revenue of $1,000.  Fifteen rooms are appro-
priated to  the use of the poor, and as many as  eighteen are some-
times  placed in a single room.  The basement is occupied for di-
ning halls  and cooking.  Sixty inmates were  found in the house
—thirty male and thirty female, fifteen foreign and  forty-five na-
tive born, including twelve children.  The sexes are kept separ-
ate at night, but not during the day.   The house is in charge of
one keeper and his wife, who have the management of both house
and farm, assisted by the paupers.  The  supeiintendent of the
poor purchases the  needful supplies for the house, provides and
imposes rules regulating the diet, and binds out the children Avhen
places can be procured, and  discharges  lunatics  when cured.

  The average number supported is eighty-six, at a weekly cost
of $1.40 each.  The house is supplied writh Bibles, and preaching
is enjoyed once in  four weeks.  The  children have been taught
eight  months in the house, and were at the time attending the dis-
trict school.

  The supervisors have visited the house twice during the last
year.   A physician is  employed to  visit the house twice a week.
There has  been one birth and four deaths during the year.   Five
of the inmates are lunatics—two male and three female, none of
whom have ever been sent to the State Lunatic Asylum.  They
have no special attendants, nor do they receive any special medical
attention,  and none have been cured or improved.  One is kept
constantly in a cell.

  The modes of restraining are by  the "use of irons'' and lock-
ing in cells, where  one lunatic was frozen.   It is stated as a com-
mon occurrence that water is frozen all night in the lodging rooms
in the main building.  The number of idiots is seven—three males
and four females,  and four who are  blind.  During  the winter 
No. 8.]
95
usually about twenty  emigrants are provided for here, and two-
thirds of the whole number who receive aid here are forced to
seek and receive it consequent upon habits of inebriation.

  The  poor house building U quite unsuited  and insufficient,
humanely to meet the  wants of the poor. 
 
II,  ORPHAN  ASYLUMS AND HOMES FOR THE
                  FRIENDLESS,
        ALBANY ORPHAN ASYLUM, ALBANY.

  This asylum was established and incorporated in 1830, and has
since been supported by private donations, by interest on a small
vested fund, by appropriations from the State, and sums received
for support of alms-house children.  The present number of in-
mates is  one hundred; they are received between the ages of three
and twelve  years, and disposed of by indenture at such ages as
good opportunities present.  While in the  asylum the children
are instructed in those English  branches  taught  in common
schools.  The school is not inspected by school officers,  neither
do they  share in  the Common School Fund.   The children enjoy
the privileges of a Sabbath school, and occasionally other reli-
gious  teaching.   The institution can accommodate one hundred
and fifty inmates.  The house is very well built and commodious,
and surrounded by fine gardens and yards.

AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY HOUSE FOR
             THE FRIENDLESS, NEW-YORK.
  This  institution, located in the city of New-York, was estab-
lished twenty-two years since.   Its general design is to shelter
temporarily houseless wanderers, both old and young, and furnish
them situations where they can readily support themselves, and
relieve  society of a burthen. The present number of inmates is
seventy, but the average is one hundred and ten.

  Of the children, boys are received in the house between  the
ages of  two and  ten years, girls at all  ages,  and  infants  of both
sexes.  While inmates of the House all of  suitable age are in-
structed in the  common branches of  an English education, and
whenever a suitable home offers, they are dismissed and placed
in families, some by indenture,  but the greatest proportion by
  [Senate, No. 8.]            7 
98
[Senate
 adoption.   No difficulty  is  experienced in  finding home  for
 healthy children.   The managers generally trace the after pro-
 gress of  the  children, and in most cases witness their success.
 Nine-tenths of these are of foreign birth, and a large majority
 Catholics, committed by them to the house.  Connected with  the
 institution is a ragged school, with an average attendance of one
 hundred and fifty children, five days in the week.   Their dinners
 are  furnished them,  and they provided with places where they
 may earn their sustenance.

   Last year three hundred and seventy children were placed in
 homes through this agency.  Wandering, houseless  females  are
 sheltered and fed during a night, or longer if need be, and fur-
 nished  with  situations by the house,  they  are  also sometimes
 clothed.  When  full the young are preferred.   Four hundred
 and seventy-seven girls and women were found  places free of
 charge during the past year.

   The house publishes semi-monthly a paper having a circulation
 of 25,000 copies, devoted to  the interests of the cause in which
 they are engaged.   This sheet pays  the expense of its publication
 and yields a profit.  The institution is supported solely by pri-
 vate charity; it has received two donations from the city.  They
 also participate in  the Common School Fund.  They receive aid
 in contributions of clothing from most of the free States.  The
 property occupied by this society cost $26,000, and has been paid
 for by private donation.   It has been mortgaged for  $15,000 to
 erect a  new building, in order to extend the sphere of the society's
 operations; this will be completed on the first of May.

  Five-eighths of those relieved are brought to the house in con-
 sequence of intemperance.

        BROOKLYN ORPHAN ASYLUM  SOCIETY.
  This institution located in the city of Brooklyn and founded in
 1828, has under its care one hundred and three orphans;  These
 children are received between the ages of two and one-half and
 eleven years, and  dismissed whenever suitable  opportunities pre-
 sent.  They are disposed of on dismission by adoption into fami-
lies  or  placed under indenture, more frequently the former
method.   The asylum has found homes for fifty children during
the last  year.  The average number of children in asylum is one
hundred and twenty-eight.   They are  uniformly healthy and 
No. 8]
99
the hospital has not had an occupant for more  than two yean.
While inmates of the institution they are instructed in the com-
mon branches of an English education.
  The asylum is  supported by charity  and appropriations from
the State.  The last appropriation was $1,959.44.    Ninety per
cent of the inmates are children of foreign parents.

         BUFFALO ORPHAN ASYLUM—BUFFALO.
  This institution  is pleasantly located in the  city of  Buffalo,
and has now under its care seventy-two orphans.   They are re-
ceived at the age of two years and dismissed at twelve if possible
at that time to provide suitable homes for them.   While at  the
asylum they are instructed in a common  school education.  Three-
fourths are of foreign parentage.    They are  bound  out by  the
trustees  as apprentices and servants, the males till  twenty-one
the females till eighteen  years of age.    So far as knowledge ex-
tends, the character and success of the children after leaving the
asylum has been satisfactory.    The institution is supported by
charitable  contributions  and  appropriations  from  the  State.
They have heretofore received assistance from the Common School
Fund, but do not at present.   The institution was established in
1836, and seems admirably conducted and managed.   It  received
last year from the State appropriation, seven hundred and eleven
dollars.

         CAYUGA ORPHAN ASYLUM—AUBURN.
  This institution,  located at  Auburn  and established in  1852,
is supported by charitable contributions, by aid from the county
and by appropriations from the State.    The sum received from
the county of Cayuga during the last year was $1,000, that from
the State $200.   Thirty orphans are now inmates of the asylum.
These are received at ages ranging from  two to twelve years, and
are usually dismissed  on arriving  at the latter age, or as soon
thereafter as a suitable situation can be  obtained for them.   A
school is attached where  they receive instruction in  the  common
branches of an English education, aside from religious instruction
imparted by the matron.    The children on leaving the asvlum
are bound out as apprentices, and are received in the families of
those taking them as their own children.   As far as advised the
managers report favorable accounts of the orphans so bound out.
At  least two-thirds of these children are of American parentage.
Each year the institution is inspected by the supervisors of the
county.  The  asylum is well conducted but the accommodations 
100
[Senate
are limited, and a new structure built with  direct reference to
this object is very much needed.   The building at present occu-
pied was formerly a  dwelling-house, and is  not adapted to  its
present uses.

        COLORED  ORPHAN ASYLUM, NEW YORK.
   This asylum,  established in 1836  for  the  benefit of colored
orphans of both sexes, has under its care twro hundred and thirty-
five children, and is under the direction of a board of lady man-
agers.   It received  last year from  the  State $2,78'); from the
city of New York $5,631; from the  board of education $2,179;
and for board of half orphans $1,102.

   Children are  received at two years of age and bound out at
twelve, by indenture, being usually removed  to the country.   As
a condition of indenture $100 in yearly  instalments is  received
from the person to whom they are  bound, which sums are placed
in the savings bank at interest, which, with the principal, is paid
to them on  reaching the age of twenty-one years.

  They are well instructed in the branches  taught in common
schools.  The asylum building is  favorably located, is a healthy
residence, and furnishes ample accommodation for all the inmates.
Religious instruction is carefully imparted by Sabbath schools and
daily worship.   Some of the orphans have become teachers, and
good accounts are generally  received of most who have been
bound out by the managers.

         HUDSON  ORPHAN ASYLUM, HUDSON.
  This asylum, located at the city of Hudson,has been established
for twelve  years, and  now has  under its care forty orphans.
Heretofore the number under their care, at one time, has reached
sixty.  The institution  is supported by private donations by the
State appropriation, and  receives $1,000  from the  county.  The
last sum received from the State was $625.

   The orphans are received at all ages, and are dismissed as good
places  for  their reception may offer.   They are not bound  by
indenture, but the managers  endeavor  to place  them in good
families. They are taught at the asylum in the common English
branches.   Two-thirds of the  children are of foreign parentage.
The building is a good substantial one, of brick, capable of ac-
commodating  from sixty to seventy children.  A good school 
No. 8.]
101
room is attached, where is taught a school during most of the
year.  The whole is under the direction and  control of a board
of lady directresses.  The committee urged  upon them the pro-
priety of enlarging  the number of inmates, by taking girls from
the county poor house, at a small charge to the county, and thus
bringing them under better influence.

             NEW-YORK  JUVENILE ASYLUM.
   This institution established only four years  ago, has received
three thousand six hundred and fifty-eight children, committed to
its care under the act of the Legislature, passed June  30, 1851.
Of this number one thousand four hundred and sixty-four have
been discharged by the committing magistrates, seven hundred
and forty-nine have been indentured;  three have died during the
past year, and there are now remaining in the asylum three hun-
dred and thirty-six.  The remainder have either been discharged
by committee or transferred to more suitable institutions.

   This institution receives boys  principally but a considerable
number of girls are committed to its care.  Five-sevenths are by
careful computation found  to be children of foreign parents.   In
binding out children, great care is taken to place them far out of
the city, and agencies have been established in several Western
States to find suitable  situations, and what is of  equal  impor-
tance, to look after them when separated from  the  asylum, to re-
move them in case they are improperly treated.  The committee
saw a class of between  twenty and thirty prepared to start for
Illinois where homes had been provided.

   The managers have recently erected a  building on the highest
and most healthy part of  the island, capable  of accommodating
seven hundred children, where instruction is given in  all the
branches taught in  the common schools of the  city.

  The inmates, it is to be observed, are all committed for  impro-
per conduct,  and in this respect this  asylum differs from any
other, and  the managers are doing a work of the greatest import-
ance to  the public in reclaiming  and  instructing these unfortu-
nate and neglected children.

  It is found from  careful  observation that  five-sixths of all re-
ceived into the asylum are  children of intemperate parents.

  The managers receive from the city  Corporation at the rate of
sixty dollars a year for each child in the asylum, amounting last 
102
[Senate
year to $30,524.00, and from the board of education $3,677.00.
The balance of expense incurred is supplied by private donations.

  ONONDAGA COUNTY ORPHAN ASYLUM, SYRACUSE.
  This asylum, established in 1845, is located at Syracuse.  The
institution occupies a large brick building of four stories, formerly
used as an academy.   There are  now in the asylum seventy-nine
orphans.   These children are received at ages differing from three
to ten years, and are dismissed on arriving at the latter age.   On
dismission  many are adopted in families, and others are bound
out, but all on condition of education in habits of total abstinence.
As far as informed, the children have progressed  and succeeded
satisfactorily  since leaving the asylum. Two-thirds of these or-
phans are of foreign parentage, and a large majority, in the esti-
mation of the managers, at least seven-eighths, are reduced to their
present position through  the intemperance of parents.   A good
school is connected with the asylum, where the orphans are in-
structed in the elementary English branches.  The institution is
supported by private charity and appropriations from the State.
Last year  the  appropriation was  $1,300.  They receive  no assis-
tance from the Common School Fund.

  The whole institution is under the direction and control of the
ladies of Syracuse,  and is very judiciously managed.

  The directresses are chosen, one from each  religious denomina-
tion, and all sects unite  in supporting the institution.

ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

  This Institution  established in  1806 by a few benevolent ladies,
has now become one of the most  important asylums in the State,
having received and found homes for more than fifteen  hundred
orphans.   It has now under its care  176 childen, who are receiv-
ing an education equal to that furnished at  any school in the city.
At suitable ages they are bound  out, and care  is taken that they
are placed in such families as will bring them up  in the ways in
which they have been instructed  in the asylum.

  The annual  expense of the institution, exclusive  of what is
received from the  board of education, and what is paid to teach-
ers, is about $18,000.  The income is derived from  private sub-
scriptions, and  from  the rents of real estate.   In  consequence of
being compelled to enlarge their edifice at an expense of $41,000, 
No. 8.]
103
the trustees have incurred a  debt of about  $18,000, for  which
their property is mortgaged.

   The house is  finely located on the banks  of the Hudson, and
when visited by the committee there were no sick among the in-
mates.   Four fifths of all received into the asylum are children
of foreign parents.   Children are received at all ages under nine
years, and placed out at  fourteen with farmers and  mechanics,
who agree properly to instruct them, and to give them at twenty-
one years of age, one hundred dollars and a supply of clothing.
The managers are able to say that the children of this institution
have generally become good and  useful  citizens.   Five children
have died the past year, all infants.

THE "ORPHANS' HOME OF  THE  PROTESTANT EPISCO-
              PAL CHURCH IN NEW-YORK,"
   Has been established  five  years, and  received last year from
the State appropriation five hundred and seven dollars, and  this
with donations, supports the asylum.  There are nowr under its
care fifty-seven children  principally half orphans, and two-thirds
of these are children of foreign parents. Two deaths have oc-
curred  the past year and both by scarlet fever.  Boys and girls
are received from four to nine years of age;  taught the common
branches, and bound out at fourteen.   The building is an incon-
venient one,  quite without ventilation and the sleeping  rooms
much crowded,  though the inmates have a healthy and cleanly
appearance.

             THE OSWEGO ORPHAN ASYLUM
   Is situated in the city of Oswego, and  consists of a large  two
story house, new, built of brick, and located on an elevated piece
of ground, commanding  a fine view both of the city and lake.
This asylum, though designed for orphans, has but  three or four
of that class of children among the forty-four now providefi for in
the institution.  It is now properly an asylum for destitute and
abandoned  children,  a class, if possihle, more to be pitied and
cared for.  Children are admitted at any age from early infancy
up to eight years of age,  and placed out into respectable families
by the managers, when opportunities offer.  All of suitable age
are taught the elementary branches of a common English educa-
tion—attend church in  the city in the forenoon on the Sabbath,
and a Sabbath school at the asylum in the afternoon.  This insti-
tution was founded in 1853, and has had but limited opportunities 
104
[Senate
to ascertain the measure of success as indicated by the character
of the children after leaving the asylum.  Nine-tenths of the in-
mates are children of foreign parentage.

  The institution is supported by private charity, and by appro-
priations from the State.

  It originated with, and continues to be managed and sustained
mainly by the philanthropic and spirited efforts of the ladies of
the city, who have entitled  themselves  to the commendation of
the friends of the orphan and the destitute.

  The asylum is still $2,000  in debt on its lot and building.

 PROTESTANT MALE ORPHAN  ASYLUM,  NEW YORK.
  This institution, now established twenty-one years, has under
its care 175 children, from four to  nine  years of  age.  It is sup-
ported by charitable contributions, by interest on a small  fund in-
vested, and last year received from the board of education $1,905,
and from the  State appropriation $2,476.

  Three-fourths of the children are  of foreign parentage, but born
in. the United States.  They  are not taught in the ordinary bran-
ches of a common school education; and are bound out as suita-
ble places are found, at ages varying from nine to fourteen years.

   The average number in the asylum is 180, and only  three deaths
have occurred  in seven years.  About one-half  the children, or
their friends,  pay fifty  cents per  week  toward their  support.
The actual expenses of the institution  for the past year  were
$7,873.

   The managers are now erecting a building of larger dimensions
which will be ready for occupation  early next year.

     POUGHKEEPSIE FEMALE  GUARDIAN  SOCIETY.

   This  society was incorporated by an act of the Legislature in
April, 1852,  and a number of ladies named as managers and of
gentlemen as counsellors.   The managers  are  now engaged in
erecting a substantial brick building, in a healthy and  pleasant
part of  the city, capable of accommodating one hundred  children
and their attendants;  and though  not completed, it is supposed
will be soon  ready for  occupation.  It  is  understood that the
supervisors of the county will  place under the care of the mana- 
No. 8.]
105
gers all the children of the alms house, who are of suitable age,
to receive  the instruction which the asylum will afford, paying
the same for each that is now paid for their support at the county
poor house.  This will not only be highly beneficial to the child-
ren, but will greatly assist  the society, and increase its useful-
ness.   Though unable to occupy their building, which greatly
retards their operations,  the managers are engaged in providing
places for homeless children, seeking aid to complete  their build-
ing, and amidst many discouraging circumstances manifesting that
persevering energy that will ultimately ensure success.

   From previous appropriations by the  Legislature the society
has received six hundred dollars, and have expended  in the erec-
tion of their building, and  otherwise, over eight thousand; and
there are now more than fifty children waiting for admission, and
will be taken under their care  wdien the house is ready to receive
them.  It is represented  to  the committee that this  is  the only
organized  charitable society in the  county of Dutchess, and it is
believed it will  be snstained by the citizens, and prove a bless-
ing to the destitute.

   ROCHESTER ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM.
   This asylum established  in 1842 chartered in 1845, is located
in the city of Rochester.  It is supported by donations and  as-
sistance from the State.   The  appropriation from the  State  for
the last year was $875.00, beside their pro rata share of  the
School Fund.  Only female children are received, and  they  are
between the  ages of four and  eight years.  The inmates at this
time  number sixty-five.  They are  instructed in the common ele-
ments of an English education, in needle work and  in trades, as
millinery and tailoring, and in the truth of the Roman faith.
At proper ages the children are usually received in families by
adoption, or are placed out  at service.   Their success after leav-
ing the asylum,  so  far  as known, has been  quite  satisfactory.
The Sisters of Charity who have charge of the asylum, also teach
a free school at which about one hundred and fifty of  the children
of  the  city are  instructed.  Among the orphans is one dumb
child.  No deaths have occured among them during the past year
and only  little sickness.  The asylum is considered a healthy
one.   Two-thirds of the orphans are of foreign parentage. 
106-
[Senate
              ROCHESTER  ORPHAN ASYLUM.
   This institution was established in 1836, and is located  at the
 city of Rochester.   It  is supported by charitable  contribution
 and by appropriation from the State.  Aside from this they draw
 from the School Fund at the  rate of one dollar per  capita.  The
 number of orphans now in asylum is  ninety-four; the average
 number is one hundred.  These orphans are received between the
 ages of two and ten years, and  are disposed of on arriving at
 suitable ages by adoption in families approved by the managers.
 They are instructed  in  the elementary branches of an English
 education.  The school is occasionally visited by schools officers.
 Religious instruction is  also imparted.  In placing  them out, as
 apprentices or by adoption, the managers reserve the right  to re-
 take them if not well treated.  To a considerable extent know-
 ledge  is had of the success and  character of the children after
 leaving the  asylum,  and that has generally proved  satisfactory.
 All at present in the asylum are of foreign birth. Three deaths
 have occured during the past  year and on an average one person
 has occupied the hospital.

   Of the orphans two are blind and o^e is an idiot.  The matron
 estimates  that at least two-thirds of the children are brought  to
 the asylum from the former and  present  intemperate habits  of
 their parents.  As attendants,  including domestics,  there are
 beside the matron six.   The asylum is finely located; the rooms
 clean and well  kept, and  the children  generally bright and
 healthy in appearance.

 ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM, OF THE VILLAGE
                      OF BROOKLYN.
   This institution was established in 1829 and is supported by
 revenues from real  estate $2,637.14, from the State $3,336.75,
 and the residue from private donations.   There are now under
 its care two hundred and five girls and  ninety-five boys.    They
 are received at ages ranging from three to twelve years, and dis-
 missed from ten to fourteen  years.   They are not bound out by
 indenture but placed in families.   While inmates of the asylum
 they are taught in the elementary branches of an English educa-
 tion.  As  to the success of the children after leaving the asylum
 the matron states, that accounts from and of the girls are usually
 satisfactory, but not so favorable of the boys.   Two hundred and
ninety-seven  are of foreign, only three of American parentage.
During the last year occurred two deaths.   Connected with the 
No. 8.]                      107
asylum  is a day school, where are taught seven hundred girls
and one hundred and fifty boys.

  ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN  ASYLUM-—NEW-YORK.
  This asylum located in Prince street was opened in 1825, and
has now two hundred and seventy-five girls under its care taught
by fourteen ladies.  It is supported by private donations together
with assistance derived from the State.   Children are received at
three years of age and dismissed at twelve or thirteen, when they
are bound out or placed in the families  of their friends.    The
usual branches of common school education are taught, and the
schools  are inspected by the school officers.   Two deaths have
occurred the past year.   All the orphans are children of foreign
parents.   Connected with this institution is an asylum for boys,
located  on the Fifth Avenue, under  the charge of six ladies and
having  under its  care three  hundred  and  seventy-four boys.
This branch participates in the State appropriation of $4,500, paid
to the Prince street asylum, and both receive aid from the board
of education.   The  boys  are  indentured as  suitable places are
found, and are all of foreign parentage.

   ST.  JOSEPH'S MALE  ORPHAN ASYLUM, BUFFALO.
   This  institution, located at Buffalo; was established in 1850,
and is designed particularly for the  accommodation  of male or-
phans.  It is supported by charitable contributions, appropriations
from the State and aid from the Common School Fund.    From
the State was received last year the  sum of $1,024.   Children are
received at the age of five  years and dismissed at twelve or four-
teen.   They are instructed in a common school education, and
the school is inspected by school  officers.   On dismissal  they are
bound to trades and  farming until of age, when by condition they
receive three  hundred dollars and a supply  of clothing.    The
children are mostly  of foreign parentage.   The asylum is well
located without the city, and the children have a healthy appear-
ance.   They now number sixty-four.

      ST. JOHN'S  BOYS ORPHAN ASYLUM—ALBANY.
   This  asylum was  founded  two years  since and  has  now in
charge sixty orphans.  It is supported mainly by charity.  What
sums were received from the  State,  the managers were unable to
state.   There is no  rule regarding the age at  which children are
received,  and  they  are  discharged whenever places  may be
obtained. 
108
[Senate
            .  ST. MARY'S ASYLUM—TROY.

  One hundred and seven  children; forty-nine girls ana  fifty-
eight boys are under the care and charge of  this institution.   Es-
tablished seven years  since, it is mainly supported by  private
donations and assistance from the State.  The last appropriation
was of $1,900.  Aside from this, the city poor master last year
paid toward the support of twenty children, one dollar per week,
each.   Aid is also received from the county superintendents.

  Children are received  between the ages of three and fourteen,
and dismissed soon after arriving at the latter age.   They are not
bound by indenture, but placed in  situations to remain as  long
as the parties may agree.  Their  course is pronounced generally
satisfactory. At the asylum they are taught in the common En-
glish  branches, and in  addition to this, the boys instructed in
gardening, and the girls in housekeeping.   Nearly all are of for-
eign parentage.   Attached to the asylum is a private pay school,
where about three hundred childen attend.

ST. VINCENT'S FEMALE  ORPHAN ASYLUM—ALBANY.
   This  institution has been established for twelve  years, and is
supported by private charity and by appropriations from the  State,
which in 1855 was $1,179.  The present number of inmates  is
ninety-seven, and they are admitted at ages ranging from one to
seven or eight.   They are dismissed at the age of fourteen  or fif-
teen years, when they are usually put out  at wrages.  They  are
not bound as apprentices.   While at the asylum the orphans  are
taught in the common branches of an English education, and in
domestic duties.   Their success after dismissal from the asylum
has been usually satisfactory.  Two thirds of the children  are of
foreign  parentage.

ST. VINCENT'S FEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM—BUFFALO.
   This institution wras established in 1848, and is  designed only
as a  home for female  orphans.  It is supported by charity;  by
the proceeds of a day  school, and  by aid  from the State.   Last
year  there was received from the State $733.37.  Children are re-
ceived at the ag - of two years and dismissed at  ten or twelve.
Sometimes they are kept until  sixteen.  They are instructed  in
the common English  branches.  The children are usually  dis-
posed of by adoption  in families, under the direction of the insti-
tution, though sometimes bound out as  apprentices.  They are 
No. 8.]
109
reclaimed if ill-treated.  Most of them are of foreign parentage.
The number at present in asylum is sixty-four.

      SYRACUSE HOME ASSOCIATION, SYRACUSE.
  This institution, located at Syracuse, was established in 1851,
and chartered in 1854; it is designed mainly as a house for poor
and indigent females, and as a temporary residence for those with-
out shelter and desiring employment.  In this manner it is used
as an intelligence office for the benefit equally of those desiring
to obtain servants and those wishing situations;  children also are
received, being under the age of three years and over ten, between
which ages they are cared for at the orphan asylum.  No  rule is
adopted as to the time  of their dismission, but they are placed out
whenever suitable opportunities present, being usually adopted in
families, though sometimes bound out.  In all these cases condi-
tion is made that the child shall be  educated in habits  of  total
abstinence.  Their course after leaving  the house has  in  most
cases proved satisfactory.   Two-thirds of them are of foreign pa-
rentage.   While at the house they are instructed in the common
English branches,  and in industrial  habits.  One  hundred and
eighteen persons,  of whom seventy-eight were adults  and forty
children, were  admitted during the past year.

   Under the direction of the association, on each Saturday after-
noon, industrial or ragged schools are opened in several school
houses of the city.   At these schools boys and girls are taught in
most common English  branches, and are  instructed in different
kinds of work.   It is said that very many girls are there taught to
sew in such manner as to provide for their own  support.  About
five hundred are taught in this manner.

   The house has now  about twenty-five inmates; it is supported
by charitable contributions and appropriation from the State; no
assistance  is received  from the Common School Fund; the last
State appropriation was $700.  The  institution is  doing  a  good
work, and the ladies of Syracuse, under whose control and direc-
tion it is, deserve great  credit for  the energy and ability with
which they have carried on the work in which they are engaged.

             HOMES FOR THE FRIENDLESS.
   These institutions, of which there are three  in the State, are
designed principally to furnish homes and protection for desti-
tute females, and are under the care and management of benevo- 
110
[Senate
lent women.  These destitute women and children are received
until suitable places of employment are found.  While  in  the
homes they are employed, the elder ones in needle-work, and the
children are taught as in the asylums, and bound out at suitable
ages. The institution in Syracuse and the one in New-York have
also established ragged schools, finding employment and instruct-
ing children, who have no other instruction, in needle-work, and
furnishing them clothing.  It is believed that they are amongst
the most useful of charitable institutions, partaking of the charac-
ter of orphan asylums, and not less interesting in their benevo-
lent objects; it is believed  that  they are equally entitled to  the
fostering care of the State.

 ALBANY INDUSTRIAL  HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS.
  This institution is located in the city of Albany, and was estab-
lished eleven years since;  it is supported entirely by  private
charity.   The managers state its objects to be to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, and to serve as an intelligence office, furnish-
ing good places of employment  to the needy and  destitute.
Twenty-five aged females, from  sixty-five to  one hundred years
of age, are here supported during  the short  remainder of their
lives.  Six of these are of foreign and nineteen of native birth.

             TROY  ORPHAN ASYLUM, TROY.
  This asylum was founded twenty-two years since and has now
in charge ninety-three orphans.  It is supported by donations and
by the State appropriations.   No assistance is received from  the
Common School Fund. The last appropriation was of about $1,210.

  The children are received between the ages of three and nine
years, and  are dismissed at ten if an opportunity offers. They
are at this  latter age bound out to farmers until they reach the
age of seventeen  years.   Their course  after leaving  has been
eminently satisfactory.  Over five hundred have been dismissed
by the present matron during the past twenty-two  years, and  the
managers have never known one to  be  imprisoned, or intemper-
ate, and with few exceptions have  been all that could be desired.
While in the asylum they are instructed in all ordinary branches
taught in common schools, and the school is regularly inspected
by a committee of citizens appointed by  the trustees.

  On the fourth of July last the asylum was visited by eight
former pupils; one was about to enter the ministry;  another was 
No. 8.1
111
a physician; and all were prepared to enter life with great credit
and promise of future usefulness.

SOCIETY FOR  THE RELIEF OF DESTITUTE CHILDREN
                       OF SEAMEN.
  This institution is located on Staten Island, and was first es-
tablished in 1846, on the grounds  of the Sailor's  Snug Harbor,
and near that institution.   As its name indicates, it is designed
for the relief and support of destitute children of seamen.   Its
support is derived from charitable contributions and appropri-
ations from the State.  The last sum received was $1,875.75.
The inmates at present number one hundred and twelve, and are
received at ages varying from three to eight years.  While in the
asylum they are  well  taught in the usual  branches of a common
school education, and in various  domestic employments.   On
arriving at suitable ages  they are bound out to such pursuits as
offer, and this year several have been sent  to homes in Wiscon-
sin.   Five-sixths of the children are of foreign birth.   The loca-
tion is a  healthy one; there are none in hospitals; and but two
deaths have occurred since the establishment of the institution.
The grounds comprise five acres and the play-grounds are ample. 
I 
Ill, LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
         STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM AT UTICA.

  This institution, established by the State, was opened for  the
reception of patients in January, 1843.

  The farm, of which there are 135 acres of valuable and produc-
tive land, and buildings with the necessary stock, furniture, &c,
cost the State  to 1850, $386,100.  The building is a substantial
stone  edifice,  capable  of accommodating 450 patients, though a
larger number is often received; the average number since the last
report has been 453; the whole number of admissions during  the
same  time, 220, and  the number of deaths twenty-eight.  The
whole number received into the asylum since its opening in Janu-
ary, 1843,  to  October 31st, 1856, is 4,808, of whom 2,002 have
recovered; 740 were discharged improved; 571  have died; 1,009
discharged unimproved; not insane twenty-three; remaining  Oc-
tober  31st, 1856, 461.  During the past year 167 have been refused
admission.

  It was unfortunate for the State that in a building where it  was
so much required, so little attention was paid in its construction
to warming and ventilation.  The importance of this is  now too
well understood  to require  any argument from the committee.
The managers  more than three  years  ago  found it necessary to
commence a plan which has been described in detail in reports to
the Legislature for warming and ventilating the buildings; and the
committee are satisfied the plan was judicious, and that it was re-
quired by a due regard to the health and comfort of the patients;
and a reference to the recent reports of the superintendent it is
believed will  fully justify the course of  the managers in  the
improvements they have undertaken.

  The committee visited every part of the asylum, and saw all the
inmates, their employments, amusements, &c, and witnessed the
general treatment of the patients, and were pleased to find that
    [Senate, No. 8.]          8 
114
[Senate
 with more than 450 lunatics, and among them were twenty from
 the different State Prisons, and several of them had been convicted
 of murder, yet all were managed with kindness; irons, chains,
 hand-cuffs  and shackles, so frequent in county poor houses,  are
 here not known; some gentle restraint is sometimes used to pre-
 vent patients tearing  their clothes, &c, but there were but two
 cases even of that kind among the whole number; and the man-
 agement of the asylum and its inmates was highly satifactory to
 the committee.

  As connected with these visits to the county houses  and to this
 asylum, a case is here  mentioned  to showr the importance of  the
 gentle  treatment of lunatics as  contrasted with the  practice in
 those houses where mildness and kindness do not prevail.

  In the month of April last, a young  man of about twenty-one
 years of age, suddenly became insane, wras sent to a county poor
 house, and immediately chained  to the floor, where he remained
 a violent maniac to all appearance, and his malady increasing as
 his confinement continued.   At last he became so violent from
 this treatment, that they could manage  him no longer, even with
 chains  and handcuffs,  and in September he was taken  to the asy-
 lum at Utica, with all his shackles upon him—his legs fastened
 together with the same rings and chains which he wore in his last
 abode, and these had become  so tight and so rusted that they were
 cut off by filing, and the committee examined the irons soon after
 they wrere taken off in this way.   When relieved from these, and
 the regulations of the asylum explained, and told that he would
 be kindly treated, he became perfectly calm, went to work on the
 farm the next morning,  and  he was seen by the  committee after
 he had been there more than four weeks, in which time he has
 shown no symptom of violence, nor even required any care from
 the attendants; and there is every reason to suppose he will soon
 recover from his recent attack, and be restored to his friends; and
 it is quite certain he would have become a confirmed lunatic, had
 his harsh treatment been continued.

  An examination of the improvements in progress and accounts
 of expenditures connected with them, satisfied the committee that
 the managers are entitled to credit for great faithfulness in the dis-
 charge of all their duties; that the money of the State  has been
judiciously expended, and that full confidence may be placed  in
 their guardianship of the asylum, and in their protection of the 
No. 8.J                      115
interests of the State as connected with an institution which, un-
der their care, has become one of the first in the country, and has
proved a blessing to many who have  sought alleviation from the
appaling and increasing disease which  is desolating so many
homes, and calling  so loudly for sympathy and relief.

  It is true that large sums have been expended in the purchase
of the site and erection of the buildings for this asylum, but a com-
parison of the cost of similar institutions in other States, in refer-
ence to  the number  which  each will accommodate, will show that
there has been no improper expenditure in the erection of this.

  From the books of the treasurer, and from estimates of the mana-
gers,  the committee have obtained the following statement:

                UTICA LUNATIC  ASYLUM.
   The total expenditures in the purchase of the site, construction
of buildings, stocking, furnishing, heating, &c, from 1836 to 1850
is $386,100; from October 1st, 1842 to 1st October, 1847, the an-
nual  appropriation  for  payment  of  salaries was $5,500 and for
five years $27,500 dollars: of  this sum was drawn  $20,219.22,
leaving a balance  not  drawn of $7,280.78.  From  1847 to 1st
October, 1856,  $47,750 was appropriated for salaries, of which
$46,499.70 was drawn, leaving a balance undrawn of $1,250.30;
excess of appropriations  above the  amount actually drawn for
salaries $8,531.08.

   The receipts of the institution for  the support of paupers from
the counties, and for the support of private patients have been
sufficient for all the ordinary expenses,  and have enabled the
managers in the last ten years, ending 1st October, 1856, to pay
for furniture (exclusive of $5,000  appropriated by  the  State)
$40,537.23, and they  have also paid for repairs, additions and
alterations, the  sum of $48,187.68  making together the sum of
$88,724.91.

   The receipts from December 31 to 1st October, 1856, exclusive
of receipts  for salaries, and including a balance of $3,268.78, of
the previous years,  have been  $86,623; and the  amount paid out
during  the same period for ordinary expenses and  for all the
objects  mentioned above is $75,783.87, leaving a balance on hand
of $10,839.86, which it is  supposed will be required for the  pay-
ments of October and  November. 
116
[Senate
  There is  due from the counties (up to the 1st August, 1856)
$19,584.44.  The institution is free from debt, except for money
advanced by the bank to enable it to proceed with  the work for
heating and ventilating, and the repairs  connected  with these
improvements.  A sum  not yet  ascertained is also due for pipes
and boilers.  It being deemed quite necessary to complete a por-
tion of the  work of ventilating,  warming, &c, before the winter
of '56  and '57, the sum of $15,137 has been expended for that
purpose, up to 1st October, 1856, in anticipation of  the appro-
priation recommended   by the committees of both houses of the
Legislature of $57,000,  and was  provided for in the general ap-
propriation bill, which the Legislature adjourned without passing.

  The weekly average  cost of the maintenance of the patients
for the year 1855 was three dollars  and ninety cents  for each,
charging  the whole expenses of the  institution, (except'officers
salary received from the State,)  including expenditures for fur-
niture, ordinary repairs  and clothing, and it is supposed the ex-
penses for the  current year will  not vary much from the last.

          BLOOMINGDALE LUNATIC ASYLUM.
  A branch of the New-York Hospital was erected in 1821, and is
located about five miles  from the city of New-York.  Accommo-
dations are afforded for  about two hundred patients.   The pre-
sent number is one hundred  and forty; the average number for
the year is one hundred  and forty-two.

  The asylum is situated in one of the most healthful and beau-
tiful spots  on the  island and has annexed about forty acres of
land, a portion of which  is laid out in  walks and gardens.  The
main building is particularly adapted to the residence and reco-
very of convalescent patients  and those of a quiet disposition and
orderly habits, being entirely devoted to these classes.   Separate
buildings  are provided  for  the more  violent.  Since the 1st of
January last thirty-nine  have been discharged as cured; twrenty-
four improved; eleven  not  improved  and fourteen  have died:
total discharged ninety.   One hundred and thirty-eight are pay-
ing patients, and  four  pay nothing.  The average monthly ex-
pense of the institution is  $3,152.41.  But one physician is at-
tached to  the asylum;  there  are nine  males  and eleven females
attendants.  Religious  services conducted  by the chaplain are
attended in the chapel each Sabbath. 
No. 8.J
117
  The amount received from patients since the first of January
last is $33,720, and $10,000 is annually appropriated by the State
for its support.  A library  of several hundred volumes and a
large  list of magazines and newspapers afford opportunities  for
reading, and many other means of amusement and employment
are provided.

  A committee of the governors of the hospital visit and examine
into  the condition of  the inmates  with  great regularity every
week.  Nothing appears to be neglected by the governors or the
resident physician, which can add to the comfort of the patients,
and the whole establishment  was found by the committee in the
most satisfactory condition.

  It is found that  fifty  per cent of all received into the asylum
are cured.  Harsh treatment is avoided and  even confinement
in rooms is  seldom resorted to.  Only two were under restraint
when the house wras visited by the committee. 
 
IV, THE  INSTITUTION FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF
               THE DEAF AND DUMB.
INSTITUTION FOR THE  INSTRUCTION OF THE  DEAF
                       AND DUMB,

  Is prominent among  those public  charities which derive an
annual support from the treasury of the State, and have been re-
garded with favor by the people.  The committee deemed it to be
within the proper scope of their duties to visit, and examine into
the condition  of this establishment.   The period was an inoppor-
tune one for a  full examination of  the classes, as the school was
in the midst of preparations for removal to the new buildings at
Fanwood.

   Public examinations  and exhibitions of this school have  been
so frequently  held before the Legislature that it will scarcely be
necessary to enter into any detailed report of the mode of teach-
ing or the result attained.   It is sufficiently well known that no
similar school  has ever reached so high a place in the public esti-
mation as for years past has been enjoyed by the  one under notice.
Pupils of destitute parents are received, under a selection by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, at the age of twelve years
or upwards, and are educated and supported for the term of five
years at the cost to the  State of $150 annually.

   At the close of the first term of  five years, on the recommend-
ation of the directors for good conduct and capacity, the Superin-
tendent is at liberty to continue pupils for  two  years longer.  A
high class wTas established some years since, into which pupils of
superior acquisitions and  great promise of usefulness,  can be
retained for instruction in the higher branches of knowledge for
an additional term of two years.   This class has, in its operation
been found very  successful, and some of the graduates  have
evinced capacity and accomplishments that would compare favor-
ably with scholars endowed with all their faculties. 
120                     [Senatb
   The committee, with the President and Professors, attended an
examination of a portion of the classes, in the course of which
the most satisfactory evidence was given of a thorough acquaint-
ance on the part of the pupils, with the construction and meaning
of language, the elements and principles of the several branches
of knowledge usually taught in  schools, and perfect readiness and
capacity to converse by signs, and by the aid of written language.
The progress made by classes of one and two years  continuance
was quite remarkable and full of interest, while the perfection of
the system was  fully established in the cases  of those who had
been benefited by a longer course of instruction.

  In making the last annual report to the  Legislature, a particu-
lar account was given of the sale of the property heretofore occu-
pied by this Institution, showing that a net profit was realized of
$185,000.  It was also shown that thirty-seven and a  half acres
of land had been purchased at  Fanwood, about nine miles from
the City Hall, for $115,000, upon  which the directors had paid
$35,000, and  that  it was mortgaged  for  the  balance, $80,000.
The balance of the $185,000 has been expended in the erection
of buildings and improving the property at Fanwood.   These
buildings, now in an  unfinished   state, are substantial  structures,
capable of accommodating four  hundred and fifty pupils  when
completed, besides affording sufficient room for teachers and their
families.

  Having expended  all their funds in the erection of buildings,
and incurred  a considerable debt, the directors have not  the
means of completing them, and  now propose to convey the prop-
erty in fee to the State, should the Legislature see fit to appropriate
the sum required for that purpose.  In making this proposition,
the directors submit  the following  statement:

The amount required to complete the buildings is....   $60,000
There is now due on account of buildings..........  118,850
Due on mortgage,................................    80,000
Am't required to complete buildings and pay mortgage,  $258,850

Value of real estate when buildings are completed :
Cost of thirty-seven and a  half acres of land,.......   $115,000
Amount expended to the 1st of January, 1857,.....    364,000
Required to complete buildings as above,..........      60,000
$539,000 
No. 8.]                      121
  By this statement it will be seen that, to complete the buildings
according to the original  plan, and pay the' mortgages upon the
property and the amount of indebtedness incurred in erecting the
buildings, two hundred and fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred
and fifty dollars will be required; and that the whole cost of the
property, when the buildings are completed will  be five hundred
and thirty-nine thousand dollars.  It is also to be mentioned
that towards the cost  of  the property first purchased at 50th
street, and now  sold, the State appropriated twenty-five thousand
dollars, and in  1855, towards the erection of buildings at Fan-
wood,  twenty-six thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars.

  The committee do not feel called upon to recommend that the
State should assume the debts of  this Institution, complete the
buildings, and thus make it an institution of the State, or  to ex-
press any opinion respecting  such proposal, but consider it their
duty to communicate it to the Legislature that the subject  may
receive such consideration as it may be thought to require.

  The whole number of pupils now on the rolls of the institution
is three hundred and fourteen ; the largest numbar ever under in-
struction since its foundation.  The committee found here a devo-
ted and efficient body of professors and teachers,  many of them of
great skill and experience  in the instruction of this interesting but
unfortunate class; and they are  not advised that in this  partic-
ular case any injury has  resulted from  the organization of the
board  of  directors,  by which the  officer at  the head  of the
instructors is placed at the board as the presiding officer of the
directors; but as a  general rule, it is believed by the committee
that the teachers who are  always supposed to be employed by the
directors, should in no case have a voice in their deliberations, or
be in any degree accountable for the acts  of those upon whom is
supposed  to  rest the responsibility of conducting the financial
affairs  and business of a large institution, but that on the contrary
they should be allowed to  devote their undivided attention to the
instruction of those  over  whom they are placed, and for  whose
improvement they are hcli accountable. 
 
V. INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.
      NEW-YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE  BLIND.
  This institution,  established  about twenty-five years ago, has
now large and convenient buildings,  in  a  healthy part of the
city and has under its care one hundred and seventy blind child-
ren.   One hundred and forty of these are State  pupils.   The
average number for the year has been one  hundred and seventy,
and but a single death has occurred.   Sixteen teachers are em-
ployed, ten  of whom are blind.    The annual expense  of the
establishment is represented to be $30,000.   One attending and
three consulting physicians are attached to the institution.  One-
half of the  inmates are  children of  foreigners.   The  boys are
taught such trades as the blind are  able to pursue and the girls
instructed in needle-work.  The system of teaching in the school
appears well adapted to blind children and to be wrell conducted.
The State pays $180.00 for each child and the same is charged
all paying pupils. 
 
VI. HOSPITALS,
                ALBANY CITY HOSPITAL.

   This hospital is pleasantly and healthfully located on the corner
 of Howard and Eagle streets.

   It is supported by donations from individuals, by appropriations
 from the State, by interest from a vested fund of about $20,000,
 and from pay patients.  It has  received from the  State in all, to
 1855, $10,817.

   The institution has been established for five years, and in that
 time has treated 705 patients.  Of these 412  were paupers.  To
 pay patients there is a charge, in general ward, of $3.50; in pri-
 vate room $5.   Of patients treated 545 were foreigners, and 160
 Americans.   Of the foreigners 425 were from Ireland.

   Of the whole number 474 were males, and 231 females.  Sixty-
 four deaths have occurred.  No  persons  laboring under conta-
 gious diseases are admitted.  In  1855 were 222 patients.  The
 average weekly expense for patients is $5.14.   Average time pa-
 tients remained  in hospital during the year 1855 was five weeks
 and nineteen hours.

   The present number of patients is twelve, of which number ten
 are foreigners.

   The average number in the hospital is twenty-five.

   In connection or attached to the hospital is the Albany dispen-
 sary, to support which the Ftate has  appropriated  $500 per year
for the past three years.  Here medicines and advice are adminis-
tered gratuitous  to the poor on application. The dispensary fronts
on Howard street.

   The  hospital  building is well and substantially built  with
modern improvements.  It is well warmed and ventilated,  and 
126
[Senate
appears  to be well provided with all the usual appliances and
conveniences calculated to secure the  ends  contemplated by the
founders of the institution.  It has a board of governors, four at-
tending  physicians and four attending surgeons, a resident physi-
cian and surgeon.

  The labor of the attending physicians and surgeons is gratuitous,
and would amount annually, if performed in private practice, at
the usual rate of charges in Albany, to at least $8,000.

  It owes its existence to the untiring energy, active benevolence
and labors of a few  prominent citizens of Albany, among whom
are several  who are an honor  to the medical profession, and to
the human  race.

  It is a noble charity, well deserving the confidence and liberal
contributions of the public, and the bounty of the State.

              BROOKLYN CITY HOSPITAL.
  The building for this hospital was erected in 1851, and was
occupied early  in 1853, and cost with the  grounds  eighty-four
thousand dollars.  There are  ten physicians and surgeons at-
tached to the hospital, and all serve without compensation.   The
number of  patients is now  seventy; the whole number received
from the first of January to the first of October was four hundred
and fourty-one.   1 he average expense  of  the  support of  each
patient  is $3.50.   There are now  sixty-two paying  patients,
twelve of whom are paid for  by the  United States;  fifty others
paying three dollars per week.  The appropriation by the city of
Brooklyn in 1855 was $4,000,  and the amount received from the
State was  $9,249.96.  The  institution owes nothing on  account
of buildings, and has a credit at one of the Brooklyn banks for
$7,000.00,  secured by notes of the corporation on demand, which
enables it to meet the current monthly expenses, which are only
incurred upon the principle of cash payments.  The building is
two hundred feet long and is placed about one hundred feet  from
the street,  from which it is raised twenty feet, and is located in
one of the most healthful and pleasant spots in  the city.  Its in-
terior arrangements  are good, well lighted and well ventilated,
and does credit to all concerned in establishing and conducting it.

  BUFFALO HOSPITAL OF THE  SISTERS OF CHARITY.
  This hospital was incorporated February 3d, 1849.  It is locat-
ed in a high, healthy part of the city, with very good arrangements 
No. 8.]                      127
for ventilation.  The corporation own three lots of ground which
gives them the control of the surrounding space, and which will
insure the  hospital against encroachment from other buildings.
This building is  of  brick, 170 feet front, 49i feet deep, three
stories high, with a basement which is occupied as a kitchen, work-
room, bakery, cellar and for other domestic purposes.  The num-
ber of patients at the time of our visit was seventy.

  They have four attending surgeons and four attending physi-
cians, who attend alternately during the year, all of whose ser-
vices are rendered gratuitously.    The amount of such services
thus annually rendered  by the medical profession of Buffalo, at
the ordinary charges for such labor in private practice, would
not be less than $6,000.  A very liberal and noble offering from
the medical gentlemen of Buffalo  for the relief of  the poor and
needy.

  Of the patients received in this hospital during the year 1855,
there were of foreign birth 986, American 205.

  The number of patients with the current receipts for the year
ending January  1, 1856,  are as follows :

Received from  Commissioners of  Emigration for attendance on
  emigrant patients,  ...................246,      $5,796 98
Do     do  for marine patients,..........116,       1,482 21
Deposits made by  patients,..............281,       1,498 78
    do      Erie  county,.................106,         76107
   do      City of Buffalo,...............  82,         798 78
   do      Charity patients,..............330,       ........
   do      Private patients,..............  30,         719 88
   do      from the State,...............           10,648 98
                                       1,191      $21,706 68
Deduct from this the sum received from Commis-
  sioners of Emigration due in 1854,.........        997 25
Total income,.........................     $20,709 43
  A large number of out-door patients have been supplied gratui-
tously from  the dispensary attached  to the hospital, not only 
                             128                     [Senate

with medicine but with food, of none of which any account has
been kept.

  The disbursements since the foundation of the hospital may be
seen "by the annexed appendix.    No report has ever been made
to the Legislature.   Your committee are of opinion  that every
hospital, as well as every other institution receiving aid from the
State, should render a strict account annually of the monies re-
ceived and  disbursed.

  Attached to this hospital is an asylum for lying-in-women  and
foundlings, under the same government, established in June, 1854.
The number assisted in this institution to January, 1856 were
seven widows, sixty-four lying-in-women  and forty-nine found-
lings.  They have commenced  and partially  erected a  suitable
building for their accommodation; at present having  to occupy
several small buildings adjoining each other.

  The expense  thus far incurred for the support of the inmates,
has mostly been met by donations and remunerations for various
services.

  The expense thus far  incurred in the erection of the  building
has been by loans.

  This is a charity well deserving the fostering care of the State,
as well as the liberal contributions of a  benevolent public.

Receipts and expenditures of Buffalo Hospital of Sisters of Charity,
 from its commencement, August,  1848, to September 1, 1856.
Am't cash collected in Buffalo for hospital,........     $980 00
          donations from sundry persons,........      300 00
          proceeds of fair,......................    1,006 00
          collected by  Rt. Rev. Dr. Timon,  ......    3,100 00
          State appropriation,..................    9,000 00
          donation from Rt. Rev. Dr. Timon,  ....    2,600 00
          from  patients,......................    2,666 00
$19,652 00 
No. 8.]
129
               (In 1848 and 1849.)
By first purchase of lots,.......................  $3,700 00
   Other lots,................................   3,375 00
   First repairs,...............................   1,300 00
   First addition,..............................   1,700 00
   Second  addition,............................   5,400 00
   Building dead house,........................     200 00
   Provisions, beds, furniture and medicines,......   9,192 00
   Window blinds,............................     350 00
   Servants' wages for two years,................     600 00

                                                 $25,817 00
                                                  19,652 00

      Balance,................................  $6,165 00

              (1849 to Dec. 1, 1850.)
Am't cash  proceeds of fair,......................  $1,400 00
           Commissioners of Emigration, N.Y.,  ....   1,491 00
           Patients,............................   1,944 72
           Medical students,.....................     365 31
           Board of house student,...............     134 00
           Donations from sundry persons,.........     175 00
           Jenny Lind's concert,.................     200 00
           County supervisors,...................     500 44
           Commissioners of Emigration, N.Y......     340 00

                                                  $6,550 52

By balance from last year,......................  $6,165 00
   Medicines,  ................................     655 23
   Provisions,................................   3,675 13
   Wood and coal,............................     400 00
   Clothing of nine sisters,.....................     450 00
   Furniture and beds,.........................     595 70
   Repairs of building,.........................     380 72
   Servants' wages,............................     302 00
   Insurance,  ................................      50 00
   Additional lots,.............................   1,132 74
$13,828 02
  6,550 52
    Balance,................................   $7,277 50

[Senate No. 8.J              9 
                            130                     [Senatk

                     (1852.)
Am't cash State appropriation,..................$14,480 11
          Commissioners of Emigration,..........    3,646 75
          Patients,............................    1,700 34
          County supervisors,..................     805 34
          Custom house for marines,.............     307 95
          Medical students,....................     445 93
          Donation from Rt. Rev. Dr. Timon,.....    1,823 00
          Donations from sundry persons,........    2,488 50
$25,697 92
By balance from last year,......................   $7,277 50
   Provisions and flour,........................    3,539 84
   Beds, bedding and dry goods,  ................     534 28
   Medicines, articles for the use of apothecary,....    1,728 28
   Repairs and painting,........................ 321 62
   Clothing of twelve sisters and some poor,.......     766 57
   Servants' wages,............................     750 21
   Wood and coal,.............................     695 82
   Funeral expenses,...........................     148 75
   Local taxes,...............................       53 64
   Additional lots,............................    8,995 00
   Different items,.............................     300 00
   Building,..................................    1,941 00
   Small expenses, repairing fences, &c,..........     374 00
$34,757 01
 25,697 92
Balance,................................  $9,059 09
                (1853 and 1854.)
Am't cash State appropriation,..................$11,711  18
          Commissioners of Emigration,..........    2,671  29
          Patients,............................    1,977  93
          Custom house for marines,.............      534  50
          Medical students,....................      261  40
          Donations from sundry persons,........    2,179 10
$19,335 43 
No. 8.j
131
By balance from last year,........„.............  $9,059  09
   Provisions and flour,.......................    3,96(3  27
   Beds, bedding and dry goods, ................      913  31
   Repairs and improvements,...................      613  72
   Local and lamp taxes,.......................     238  45
   Wood and coal,............................     639  00
   Horse, wagon, &c,.........................      506  00
   Furnace and fixings,........................      841  52
   Medicines, &c,  ............................     646  40
   Clothing of thirteen sisters,..................      650  00
   Insurance, $50; bedsteads,  &c, $300,.........      350  00
   Cottage lots,...............................    2,000  00
   Additional lots,............................    1,657  00
   Water-wrorks,..............................      44  45
   Four cows and sundry expenses,..............     623  00
   Servants' wages,............................     391  30
   Funeral expenses,..........................     256  38
   Furniture, delf and glasswares,...............    1,393  00
$27,568 89
 19,335 40
Balance,................................  $8,233 49
          (From Jan. 1 to Sept. 1. 1855.)
To   cash  State appropriation,..............  .. $10,648  98
          Commissioners of Emigration, N.Y.,___    3,446  33
          Patients,............................    1,752  20
          County supervisors,...................     473  04
          Custom  house for marines,.............    1,317  17
          Medical students,.....................      82  00
          Donations from sundry persons, ........    2,424  85
$20,144 57
By balance from last year,......................  $8,233  49
   Provisions and flour,........................    6,716  88
   Repairs, painting, &c.,.......................    1,172  01
   Furniture, dry goods, &c,...................    1,213  84
   Clothing of thirteen sisters,...................     650  00
   Servants' wages,............................     525  25
Carried forward,.........................  $18,521  47 
                            132                     [Senate.

      Brought forward,........................  $18,521  47
By coal, partly from last  year,..................    1,290  29
   Wood,....................................     359  06
   Taxes and insurance,........................     14-9  65
   Lots,.......................................    2,332  44
   Large cooking stoves, &c.,....................     331  00
   Funeral expenses,..........................     200  0^
   Medicines, &c,.............................     500  00
   Carpenter-work,  whitewashing,, &c,...........     300  58
$23,974 49
 20,144 57
Balance,................................   $3,829 92
         (Sept. 1, 1855, to Sept. 1, 1856.)
To am't cash State appropriation,................ $10,069 00
          Commissioners of Emigration,..........    3,706 62
          Patients,......................'......    1,400 00
          Custom house for marines,.............    1,250 99
          County supervisors, ..................    2,106 41
          Donations from sundry persons,........      694 00
$18,622 02
By amount for lots to enlarge the grounds for conva-
     lescent patients,........................;.   $2,535  85
   Building,..................................    2,600  00
   Taxes,'....................................       58  63
   Hydrant water,............................       63  61
   Coal bill last year, paid in Sept.,.............     638  29
   Do of this year,.............................     705  00
   Insurance,.................................       77  50
   Fencing, repairs, painting, &c,...............     531  11
   Advertisements,............................       20  50
   Wood,....................................     506  13
   Medicines and articles for apothecary,........     745  38
   Beds, bedding and dry goods,................     980  07
   Clothing for the sisters,.....................     650  00
   Repairing furnaces, hardware, &c,............     687 18
   Servants' wages,............................     643 96
Carried forward,.........................  $11,443  21 
No. 8.]
133
   Brought forward,........................  $11,443 21
Delfware, .................................      53 04
Soap bill,..................................     108*34
Feed (hay, &c),............................     278 95
Ice, during the summer,.....................      36 74
Flour,....................................   2,405 41
Meat,____.................................   1,565 0 5
Vegetables and fruit,........................     251 88
Groceries, &c, .............................   1,806 03

                                             $17,948 65
                                               18,622 02
      Balance on hand Sept. 1,1856,............    $673 37

                                 Sister Camilla ^3'Keefe.

CHILDREN'S  HOSPITAL  IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
  Under the act for the incorporation of charitable and religious
societies, a number of benevolent  ladies associated about three
years ago for the purpose of taking charge of the children of poor
women, who were compelled to leave their homes during the day
to seek employment to enable them to  support  themselves and
those dependant upon  them.  Children, whose mothers had died
In giving them birth, were also received and provided for by
nurses in the institution, and thus saved from the alms house.
A greater number than  the society were  able to  accommodate
asked for admission; and last year two hundred and sixty-seven
children and one hundred and  twenty-two women were benefited
by this charity, nearly all of whom, during their residence there,
required medical  treatment.   Mothers with infants, without a
home, of good character, were received and places provided for
most of them, and their children  kept here  at a  small charge
while the mother was  enabled to obtain high wages in other parts
of the city.  Destitute, neglected and  deformed children, far gone
for want of proper care,  were never refused admission, and  often
raised from an almost hopeless condition to a healthy state.  It
was  soon found desirable to establish a hospital for the treatment
of the sick children apart from those in health, and a small one
was  provided for the purpose, the benefits  of which have been
apparent the last summer, when  a large number were  attacked
with scarlet  fever; everyone  of  whom recovered, and by this
separation the others escaped the disease.  The hospital is found 
134
[Senate
quite too limited in its accommodations, and it is in contempla-
tion to build one of suitable  dimensions, where the society may
be 'enabled to receive all destitute children who need hospital
treatment, and which it is not to be supposed this class can find
elsewhere.
  The mortality in this institution  is found  to be about twenty
per cent., which is less than  in the foundling hospitals of Paris
and other cities  in France.   The managers of this  charity are
assisted in their work by a board of eight distinguished  physi-
cians, some of whom are in daily attendance at the hospital, and
all are serving without compensation.

  It is  understood the  corporation of the city will give the
grounds required as soon as the means are provided for the erec-
tion of the hospital;  and they have already shown their estima-
tion of the institution, by appropriating two hundred and fifty
dollars towards its  support.  The Howard  Association, of New
Orleans, upon being acquainted with its objects, also sent a liberal
donation for  its encouragement and assistance.  Large donations
have been made by the citizens for the support of the institu-
tion, and  upon these it must depend for current expenses here-
after; and it  is supposed for this purpose they will be continued;
but for carrying out the objects of the association, and providing
a suitable Children's Hospital, larger means are  required than
the managers can at present command.

             MARSHALL INFIRMARY, TROY.
  This institution was incorporated in 1851, and the hospital
building was  finished in 1854.  A large proportion of the whole
expense of its erection was defrayed by Mr. Benjamin Marshal^
to whom it owes its origin.

  The entire  cost of grounds and building was $35,000.00.  There
was received  from the State  last year  $1,322.94  and  from pay
patients  $1,200.  It has now  twenty-three inmates,  twenty of
whom are paying and three non-paying patients.  The average
number of patients for the year is  thirty, and there are accom-
modations  for seventy-five.   This hospital has  four  attending
physicians and surgeons, with a resident physician and surgeon.
The whole number treated during the past year not ascertained.
The value  of gratuitous  services rendered annually by the at-
tending physicians and surgeons, at the usual rate of charges in
private practice cannot be less than $2,000.00. 
No. 8.]
135
  Private patients pay from two  to five dollars per week.  The
expenses of the hospital last year  were $7,195.00, and it is now
in debt  $1,500.00.  For its  support  Mr.  Marshall  contributes
$1,500.00 annually,  and the balance is made up by private sub-
scription.

  The building is one hundred and twenty feet long, three stories
and basement, and built of brick, with high ceilings.   It is well
ventilated; warmed  by stoves, and the  whole kept  in.  the best
order.

  Four attending and one house physician are employed.  A
most  valuable addition is  making to this institution  in the erec-
tion of a building of two hundred feet long by forty wide, and
capable of accommodating seventy-five insane  patients, who will
be placed under the  charge of the able medical staff now  attached
to the hospital.

                  NEW YORK  HOSPITAL.
  This institution is located on  Broadway, between Duane and
Worth streets.   It was chartered by the Provincial Legislature in
June, 1771.  The charter committed the government of the  in-
stitution to twenty-six  governors, who held their first meeting
in July,  1771.

  In  1772 the Provincial  Legislature granted in aid of the hospi-
tal, the annual allowance of $2,000 for twenty years.

  In  1773 the foundation of the hospital  buildings was laid,
27th  July.   In  February, 1775,  when the building was  nearly
completed, it was accidentally nearly consumed by fire. In March
the same  year, the Legislature  granted  the sum  of $10,000
to enable them to rebuild their  house.  During the revolution,
the unfinished buildings were used for barracks by the British and
Hessian  soldiers.

  It  was not completed and fitted for the reception of patients
until  1791.  It struggled on, occasionally receiving aid  from  the
State, until  1806, when an act was passed  directing the sum of
$12,500 to be paid to the hospital for fifty years, which term will
expire in May, 1857.

  The buildings are  of stone, and with the recent additions, made
by the governors at  an expense of $140,000,  contributed  by  the 
136
[Senate
benevolent citizens of New York, provide ample room for the ac-
commodation of as many patients as can safely be congregated in
one establishment.

  The arrangements  for heating and ventilation are constructed
on the most approved modern plans, and render  the buildings
and wards at once comfortable and healthy.  They were all visi-
ted by the committee, who found the [establishment located on the
highest grounds in the city, overlooking all the surrounding buil-
dings, purified by a broad expanse of water, well laid out grounds,
with  walks and trees, large wards with high ceilings, and  plain
walls, well  ventilated and heated; iron bed-steads, clean bed
clothes, and perfect cleanliness throughout the whole of the buil-
dings. Pure air, pure water, good and suitable food, good nursing,
with appropriate  medical  attendance, rendering, in our opinion,
this institution equal if not superior to any in  this or any  other
country.   The labors in overseeing this establishment on the part
of the governors, is entirely gratuitous.   They are  required to
meet  monthly, and a committee of that body to visit the hospital
twice  each week, and oftener when necessary.  Many of  these
worthy men have thus served the public  from ten to forty years,
with  no other remuneration, than the satisfaction of having minis-
tered  to  the wants of the sick,  and like the  good Samaritan,
" poured oil and wine into the wounds'' of the poor and diseased.

  Since the opening of this institution in 1791, to January, 1856,
106,111 patients  have  been admitted to  this hospital.  Of this
number, 77,390 have been discharged cured, and 4,768, as much
relieved.  Out of the whole  number,  10,893  have died, very
many of whom were brought into the hospital in a  dying condi-
tion, from casualties in the city.   Deducting these, and the ratio
of deaths will not much exceed five and a half per cent., a larger
ratio of cures than is recorded of any hospital in Europe.

  More than two-thirds of all the admissions are poor, and receive
every necessary attendance, board, &c, gratuitously.  There  are
four physicians and six surgeons who attend the hospital.   They
are selected from  the most eminent of the profession, and are  ap-
pointed annually, by the governors. One physician is required
to visit every medical patient afflicted with acute disease at least
once a day, and oftener if necessary; and every medical patient
of every  description must be visited twice  every week.  Two
surgeons must visit the hospital, at least, three times every week,
and every surgical patient once a  week. 
No. 8.1                       137
   The physicians and surgeons perform these services gratis; the
amount of which services, if performed in private practice, at the
usual ratqe of charges in the city, would be not less than $30,000
annually.  And the amount of gratuitous services rendered by
the medical profession, in the public hospitals alone, in the city
of New York, would exceed $100,000 annually.   The whole num-
ber of medical and surgical gentlemen attending the hospital  is
twenty-one.  The list of these officers,  for seventy years past,
abundantly proves that there has never  been any  necessity  of
pecuniary inducements, in addition  to higher and distinguished
motives, to obtain the services of learned and  skillful men; a
fact highly honorable to the medical profession of the city.

   Situated as that institution is. in  the  heart of this great city,
on its greatest thoroughfare, where thousands pass its doors every
hour, yet how few are aware  of the sickness and suffering re-
lieved  within its walls every day, through the silent, unostenta-
tious labors of a few men.  Men, too, of the highest character,
learning, and ability, the country can boast of.   All this done,
too, without fee or reward, except the heart-felt  gratification  of
having relieved human suffering from pain and disease, and  ena-
bling them to go  forth and  enjoy the blessings of health and
cheerfulness.

   Since the last annual report, 2203 patients have been admitted
to the hospital, which, added to the number then on hand, (226)
making in all 2429 received since the 1st of January, 1856.  The
largest number treated at one time is 308.   Of the 2203  admitted
since January,  733 were cases of  casualties, received yi and about
the city.  Of the  whole number  (2429)  under treatment since
January, 226 have died; on 72 of which the coroner held  inquests.
The cost of support for each  patient is  $4.32 per week.  The
charge to those able to pay is $3.00 per week.  The only resources
possessed by the  governors, other  than  pay from patients,  is
$472.36 annually.

  The indebtedness of the governors for the construction of the
new building is $60,000.   When we reflect upon the  fact  that
over 83,000 human beings have been cured or materially relieved,
through the gratuitous labors of the  officers and governors of thia
institution, since its establishment, it should call forth our grate-
ful thanks. 
138                     [Senate
          NEW YORK OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.
   This instituition was incorporated by an act of the Legislature
April 21, 1852, and commenced the reception of patients May
25, 1852.  The buildings  occupied  for  hospital  purposes  are
located on Stuyvesant street, near 3d Avenue.  Since its opening
in 1852,  the attending physicians and surgeons have assiduously
pursued  the best system of treatment for the great variety of
cases that have presented themselves for their counsel.  The re-
sult has been very satisfactory, not  only to the patients  them-
selves, but also to the patrons and officers of the institution, and
the public.  The officers  are  deserving  much credit  for their
faithfulness and untiring industry in attending all who present
themselves, most of whom have been attended without any charge,
thus adding another to the free institutions of the city for the
relief of  the sick poor.
   In addition to the regular daily attendance on those calling for
aid, the surgeons of this hospital give annually a course of  lec-
tures on diseases of the eye, which was attended  by more than
fifty students the  last term.  The whole fees arising from  this
source are devoted to the interests of the institution, in hopes
thus, with donations, to  be able to erect a suitable building for
their better accommodation.

   The institution is in a flourishing condition, and its usefulness
encourages its patrons in the belief of its necessity, and its ulti-
mate  success.   The number of admissions since January 1,1856,
987; remaining in hospital at that date, 80; whole number treat-
ed, 1067, a%very large  per cent, of whom have been discharged
cured.   Whole number treated  since the opening of the institu-
tion in May, 1852,  4,619.  The amount of labor gratuitously
performed by the surgeons of this hospital annually, in attendance
on the above number of cases, would, at a fair value, amount to
at least $8,000.

          MARINE HOSPITAL, STATEN ISLAND.
   The marine hospital at Quarantine, Staten  Island, was  visited
by your  committee in October last.   This institution,  as  is well
known, constitutes a  most essential department of the quaran-
tine establishment of the port of New-York;  and  it is one of the
largest hospitals in the State.   It comprises eleven distinct build-
ings devoted to  wards for the sick and for persons in quarantine;
and besides the hospital edifices, there is a large number of other 
No. 8.J
139
buildings devoted to the various purposes of the quarantine esta-
blishment.

  All  officers  and employees of the Marine hospital,  together
with the health  officer and  his  subordinates, reside within the
quarantine inclosure, as required by law.

  Of the thirty  acres of land originally purchased by the  State
for quarantine  purposes,  five acres are  occupied by the United
States  government, agreeably to the cession made by the State of
New-York,  in  the year  1800.   Complete jurisdiction of the
grounds, however, is accorded to the State officers, so far as relates
to any rights or questions  affecting quarantine and the public
health.

  The visit of your committee to ttiis institution  was made im-
mediately  after  the prevalence of yellow fever, and before the
wards  devoted  to the sick with that  disease were closed for the
season.

  At the time  of our visit, cases of Asiatic cholera were being re-
ceived from German emigrant vessels, and we observed  that the
physician-in-chief required that these, as well as other classes of
patients affected with pestilential maladies should be kept isolated
from each other, as well as from  the  convalescent and those sick
with milder diseases.

  This, he  informed us, seemed to be essential to the  safety of
the several classes of patients.

  We  observed that in  the wards devoted to yellow fever, typhus
and small pox, ample provision was  made for perfect ventilation
and scrupulous attention  paid to cleanliness.   And for these im-
portant conditions, the temporary and cheaper edifices  are pre-
ferred  to the  larger and more  costly  structures, which  were
erected many years  ago, and are deficient in every requisite  for
sanitary purposes.

  Happily  adapted  to sanitary purposes as are the grounds of
the Marine hospital, we observed that the only supply  of water
for the establishment is  by  wells  and  cisterns, and that  there
could  be,  of course, no  sewerage.   This must certainly be  re-
garded as a great disadvantage to the institution, and  one which
should be remedied if the present quarantine station is  retained. 
140
[Senate
  At  the date of our visit, there were about one  hundred and
fifty patients in  the  hospital.   The institution is kept in readi-
ness for the reception of  one thousand persons at any time, and a
much larger number can be temporarily accommodated.   During
the months of May and June of the past year there were at times
upwards of fifteen hundred persons at  once under care and
observation in the  hospital.  This is the  largest  number which
can be provided for at one time in the various hospital buildings.

  The total number of patients admitted to the Marine  hospital
is not so large as the  number of persons placed there for observa-
tion, from vessels presumed to be infected.

  The whole number of sick persons admitted to the institution
during  the first nine months preceding our visit, was one thou-
sand two hundred and  twenty-three;  and the whole number  of
persons temporarily  detained on the quarantine grounds, under
medical observation, had been for the same period two thousand
four hundred and twenty-one.

  The medical staff of the marine  hospital consists  of the physi-
cian-in-chief, Elisha Harris,  M.  D.,  and one assistant, Theo.
Walser, M. D.

  The number of nurses varies from ten to twenty, and the whole
number of  persons employed in  all departments, including the
chaplains, sexton, patrol, &c, amounts to about forty.

  The physician-in-chief, who is appointed by the Governor and
Senate,  is ex-officio superintendent of the hospital and grounds,
and is seldom absent  from the establishment.

  The legal care and trusteeship of the Marine hospital devolves
upon  the Commissioners of Emigration; but the chief physician is
responsible for all that concerns the sanitary interests and ma-
nagement of  the institution, and for this purpose  the State has
endowed this officer with sufficient power to control the  internal
affairs of the establishment.

  The laws  regulating  the various offices  and duties at  quaran-
tine seem to be well arranged, and so far as we learned, the exist-
ing system  and the present officers work very harmoniously and
very successfully. 
No. 8.]
141
                     TROY HOSPITAL.
  This institution is  under the control of  a board of trustees,
Rev. Peter Havermans, president.   This hospital has been built
six years, has a front  of seventy feet by about  forty deep, and is
constructed of brick.  Accommodations are afforded for fifty four
patients.   The average number in charge is  about thirty ; at the
present time  (September  18,) there are thirty-six.   The charge
per week is $1.50 and $2.00 from emigrants.    There are now
three private patients who pay three dollars, and four or five who
pay nothing.    The whole number treated  the last year is 350.
The value of medical and  surgical services  in the  treatment of
the 350 cases, and rendered by them gratuitously, which if done
in private practice at the usual  rate of charges  in  Troy, wTould
not be less than $2,000.  No report made to the Legislature from
this hospital.

   The yearly expense of the hospital exclusive of repairs, is not
more than $5,000.   $4,150, was received  from the  State last
year, and the institution has no other  income  except  as  derived
from  pay patients and private  donations.    It has now a debt of
about $3,000.   The  building  is  warmed by  furnaces and well
ventilated.    Two  physicians are employed.    A pest house is
much needed.   The  committee learned that a family of five per-
sons  wrere just recovering from  the small-pox, who  during their
sickness were placed in a building near and on  the same  lot
with the hospital, and within a short distance of which were
many dwelling-houses, and  two  orphan  asylums with  a large
number of children in each.  The safety of the immediate neigh-
borhood and the inmates of the hospital at least,  require that
there  should be provision made  against similar danger.  The
attendants here  are sisters of charity who devote themselves to
the care of the inmates.

                   WOMAN'S HOSPITAL.
   This institution  has not  as  yet received the patronage of the
State, but as  an application has been made for  aid from the funds
of the State for  its support, the committee visited this with other
charities of the  city of New York. This  institution is of recent
origin.  Its first official acts go no further back than February,
1855.  The interest felt by your committee  in the  permanent
establishment of this charity will justify a brief  notice  of its
origin and objects. 
142
[Senate
  The buildings now occupied for hospital purposes are located
on Madison avenue.  This  charity was started by a few benevo-
lent women of the city, for the express purpose of benefiting their
unfortunate, suffering sisters.  To the humane, devoted and in-
telligent labors of these ladies it owes its  existence, and was got
up for the benefit of a class of women who are wives and mothers,
who are in one of the most deplorable conditions possible to con-
ceive of.   They  have  the sole  management, government  and
responsibility of its support.  This is as it should be.   Who but
woman can sympathize with a sister suffering under the  loath-
someness of injuries incurred during the most  trying  scenes of
her life, and which this  hospital has so  successfully relieved 1
This, too, is one of the missions  of mercy suitable  for woman
growing out of the benevolence of our holy religion.  Who ever
heard of a woman hospital, or even a hospital  of any kind, where
the Bible is unknown ?

  " No heathen nation ever had a hospital."  No ! provisions for
the poor, the  blind, the insane, the deaf and  dumb, the orphan,
or any other ill  that  "flesh is heir to," exist; only where the
benign influence of Christianity is known.   We rejoice  that the
christian women of New York have taken  this matter into their
hands.

  Another inducement for  starting  this charity at this time was
that a discovery had  recently been  made for  the radical cure of
a disease hitherto deemed by the best medical authorities as almost
or nearly incurable.   Prior to this  discovery surgery  could do
but little or nothing  for this formidable difficulty.   All the best
surgeons of Europe, numerous, learned and skillful as they cer-
tainly are, and  much as they have  done for suffering humanity,
have accomplished very little in  this disease.  It was reserved
for an American surgeon to make the discovery that marks an
era in our medical science.  To Dr. J. Marion Sims, a native of
South Carolina, but now a resident of New  York, belongs the
honor of this discovery.

  Doctor S., like, many other discoverers  who have blessed our
world with their  labors, incurred many discouragements  before
he firmly established  his mode of operation on a sure foundation.
After repeated  disappointments  and failures—after more than
twenty operations on one individual, and repeatedly on others,
though discouraged,yet not disheartened—with an untiring ener- 
No. 8.J
143
gy and zeal, his genius, his persevering  industry and unconquer-
able enthusiasm finally  surmounted all difficulties, and  he now
stands the honored discoverer of one of the most noble and useful
operations that has blessed our race.

  These severe trials and often  failures, the anxiety attendant
on  his  arduous  labors, mental as well as physical, so impaired
his health that he was obliged to seek a more northern latitude,
as a field for his  future  labors.   On taking up his abode in the
city of New-York, he was cordially welcomed by the leading med-
ical gentlemen of that city, many of whom have given their in-
fluence  and  pecuniary assistance in  aid  of his great project.
Thus with the benevolence and zeal of Dr. Sims, and th?. arduous
and benevolent labors of a few ladies, was laid the  foundation  of
the woman's hospital of the city of New-York.  The result of the
first  year's   labors  has  been  such as to  greatly  encourage  its
patrons and friends, assuring them that  still greater good may be
accomplished with enlarged means and better accommodations.

  All the resources for the support of the  establishment since its
opening, have been derived from  private donations, with.the ex-
ception of the sum of $2,500 donated by the city authorities, and
$288.18 from pay patients; a very large majority of the patients
are too poor to pay anything.  The  whole  amount of  expense
incurred  during  the year was  $5,989.23.  Income from  all
sources $4,512.33, leaving a deficiency  of $1,476.90.   Sixty-one
patients have been admitted to treatment.    Of these twenty-one
have been  discharged  perfectly cured, and  all that remain on
hand with one exception are curable, and in that  one case, her
sufferings have been greatly alleviated.  In addition to this many
out-door  patients have been cured, or  greatly relieved.  When
we reflect that all these  were  wholly incurable until  the forma-
tion of  the woman's hospital, we may begin to realize how great
a boon it confers on suffering  humanity.

  Patients have entered  this hospital  from all parts of the State
and even from  remote  parts of the  Union to seek relief, and
through the smiles of a kind Providence they have been restored
to health and to  all the enjoyments  of domestic  life, and gone
their way home gratefully rejoicing.    One  case has entered its
walls which had previously been  under  treatment, without bene-
fit, in Gray's, and St. Batholomew's and  St. Thomas' hospitals,
London, also from various hospitals in our own  country.   This 
144
[Senate
sad case has been  cured in  the'New-York  Woman's hospital.
Surely this gives its patrons hope  for future  success, and  ample
grounds for renewed encouragement.

  The number of patients in the hospital at the time of our visit
was  thirty-five, mostly  poor  foreigners.   The  amount  of pay
received weekly from them all was only $9.00.   All other ex-
penses for attendance, board, &c,  gratuitous. 
VII. DISPENSARIES,
   The committee have visited all  the dispensaries which have
 been assisted by the State, except one in the city of Buffalo, which
 was closed during the summer to be opened again when its aid is
 required as the winter approaches.  A particular description of
 each is attached to this report, and will be found in the  appendix
 of all, except that in Buffalo and one in Albany,  which is men-
 tioned in connection with the Albany hospital, to which it is
 attached.

   These institutions  are  principally established in large towns
 and cities, where they are needed, to afford that  gratuitous aid
 which the poor always require.   There are nine in the State, all
 formed upon the same general plan,  and having for their object
 the same benevolent work.   They render  important  service to
 those whose health is their only capital, and by affording timely
 assistance to those whose poverty prevents  them from obtaining
 that immediate medical aid which their condition might require;
 and which, by neglect, would render  them permanently unable
 to support those who are  dependent  upon them.   Accessible at
 all times to the poor man, quiet and unpretending in their work,
 they attract little attention from the  public.  So administering
 their charities as to deprive poverty of the sting of humiliation,
 they are hardly known, except to those who partake of their bene-
 fits, and to those who participate in their management.

   It will be seen that each institution is provided  with a numer-
ous board of physicians and surgeons, many of whom serve with-
 out compensation, and  that not  only medicine is dispensed when
required, but that medical advice is also given; physicians being
always in attendance to  prescribe  for those who  apply, and to
visit at their  houses those who are unable to come  to the dispen-
sary; and also that physicians are sent  to  the public schools to
offer vaccination to all who will  receive it.   It will also be seen
   [Senate, No. 8.]             10 
146
[Senate
that these institutions annually prescribe for and assist more than
one hundred and twenty-five thousand  persons, and  of these
twenty thousand six hundred and twenty-nine  were visited  at
their dwellings; and that the appropriations of the State towards
their  support  has never, in any one year, exceeded  seven thou-
sand seven hundred dollars.   Inconsiderable as these appropria-
tions have been, when compared with the beneficial results of this
wide spread charity, they are most important in sustaining these
institutions, and large individual donations in addition are annu-
ally required to enable  them, with all their economy,  to afford
that relief to the destitute which is not provided elsewhere.

  The  committee obtained from  five dispensaries accurate state-
ments of their operations for one year, which show that out of
one hundred and two thousand  nine  hundred  and eighty-four
patients assisted in 1855, thirty-two thousand four hundred and
ninety-three were of American birth, and  seventy thousand four
hundred and ninety-one of foreign origin; and  that the average
cost of medicine and attendance for each patient was sixteen and
a half cents, and no more;  and when the amount of means at  the
disposal of these institutions is  considered in  reference  to  the
benefits conferred, it is believed that  the charity of the  State,  or
the donations of individuals, could not have been better bestowed.

                BROOKLYN DISPENSARY.
  This dispensary last year assisted five thousand four  hundred
and five persons, (including four hundred and thirty vaccinations)
of whom three thousand seven hundred and sixty-one were for-
eigners; and for the month of August this year  five hundred and
thirty-four, of which number three hundred and fifty-nine were
foreigners.

  Its  annual expenses are $1,687.02, of which sum $1,000 was
received from the State, and the balance  from private  subscrip-
tion.  The institution owed nothing on the first of January last.
There  are  six physicians  attached to the dispensary who serve
without compensation.

            WILLIAMSBURGH DISPENSARY
  Was established in 1851.   Since its  last report, first of Febru-
ary last it has assisted three thousand and ninety-eight patients, two-
thirds of whom were natives of foreign countries.  Seven physi-
cians  are attached to the dispensary, and all serving without 
No. 8.]
147
compensation.   An apothecary is the only officer receiving a
salary. . The expenses last year were $1,099.84.   Some assistance
has been received from the corporation, and the last appropriation
by the State was $700.  On  the first  of February the cash on
hand was  $1,134.56—$1,099.84 of which was on interest  in the
savings bank.  The building  does not afford the room required
for receiving and treating the applicants for medical advice and
assistance.  The private subscriptions for the support of the dis-
pensary in 1855 were eighty-seven dollars.

NEW-YORK DISPENSARY, WHITE, CORNER OF  CENTRE
                         STREET.
  This dispensary, established in the  year  1790, was the first
institution of the kind in the city.  It is now annually relieving
and assisting about forty thousand patients, and has vaccinated
since its last report three thousand,—expenses for medicines alone
$1,500 every year,  and  is now assisting  four  thousand  every
month; employs six visiting physicians, who are  paid a small sala-
ry; two house and ten consulting physicians, who serve without
compensation.

  The institution has  generally received $1,000 yearly from the
State,  and the  balance required  for its support is derived from
private donations.  Its location renders it accessible to the poor
of all  classes—to emigrants and others  requiring dispensary aid.
Its expenses are larger,, and its operations more extended, than
those of any other similar institution in the city.  Out of thirty-
nine thousand five hundred and fifty-four patients last  year, only
ten thousand and ninety, were born in the United States.

     DEMILT  DISPENSARY—CITY OF NEW-YORK.
  This institution, established about five years ago, is now assisting
2,000  persons monthly, two-thirds of whom  are foreigners, and
has vaccinated from the first of March last 2,100  cases.    It is
conducted at an annual expense of $5,500 ;  has an income from
real estate of $1,875, receives from  the State  $1,000, from the
corporation of  the city $1,000  and the balance is  supplied by
private subscriptions.    Two visiting  physicians are employed
and fourteen attending  physicians.  The report of last year shows
the number of  patients attended to be  20,004,  of whom  11,870
were natives of Ireland and 829 of other foreign countries, 7,305
were born in the United States. 
148
[Senate
          EASTERN DISPENSARY, NEW-YORK.
  This dispensary was established in 1832, and last year prescribed
for 25,612 patients, 3,525 of these  wrere visited and treated at
their dwellings.  The number of vaccinations since last report in
February 1856, is 3,908.   Four consulting physicians and  sur-
geons,  five  attending and district  physicians,  one house  and
vaccine, and five assistant  attending and district physicians are
attached to the dispensary.  About  $600 is annually expended
for medicine ;  six  attending physicians  and an apothecary and
an assistant  receive small  salaries; this is all done at an expense
of $2,900.   Except what is received from the legislative appro-
priation and from  the common council  of the  city, the  funds
for its support are derived from individual donations.

NORTHERN DISPENSARY OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.
   Since the last report on the first of January last, 8,550 patients
have been assisted, of whom  5,085 were foreigners, 3,256  were
under fifteen years of age, and more  than one-half of these were
children of foreign parents.  Three visiting and one vaccine physi-
cian,  an  apothecary and assistant  apothecary  are  employed,
whose united salaries amount to $2,200 per annum ;  and four-
teen attending physicians without  compensation, one of whom
has given his services for  more than  twenty-eight years.  This
dispensary is supported by private donations and by interest ($42! >)
on an investment, $1,000 from the State  and the same sum from
the corporation of the city, but was last  year compelled to  bor-
row $800.   The annual expenses are $3,844, $570 of which  is
paid for medicine.

   The vaccine physician is required  to visit all the schools in the
dispensary district, and to vaccinate all who desire it ;  and also
every house  where it is supposed the inmates will  receive gratui-
tous vaccination, and vaccine virus  is furnished without charge
to every physician in the State who  will apply  for it.

   This dispensary has now been established twenty-nine years,
and shows by its register that it has prescribed for 119,746 native
citizens and 168,020 foreigners, making  together 287,744.

NORTHWESTERN DISPENSARY, IN  THE CITY  OF  NEW-
                          YORK.
   For the year ending the 1st day of October, 1856, this dispen-
sary has prescribed for and assisted 11,269 patients. Out of 8,780 
No. 8.]
149
prescribed for at the dispensary, 4,799 were foreigners; 358 have
been vaccinated.   Three district physicians are employed at sal-
aries of $400, an apothecary at $500 and an assistant  apothecary
at $240, four consulting surgeons and physicians and ten attend-
ing physicians serve  without compensation.   The whole expense
of conducting the institution last year was $2,628.49.  It received
from the State $1,000, from the corporation of the city the same
sum, and the balance was supplied by private donations. 
 
VIII. NEW-YORK  EYE  INFIRMARY.
  This institution established  in  1820,  has been supported by
private subscription, with a small donation from the corporation,
and an appropriation from the  State of one thousand dollars gene-
rally every year since 1823, but has been several times withheld,
greatly to the embarrassment of the infirmary.

  In 1854 the Legislature made a grant of $10,000, on condition
that 20,000 should be raised from other sources and expended in
erecting a suitable building.   One-half of this sum was at once
subscribed by five individuals, and this was soon after increased
to over $24,000, and a commodious building has been erected and
completed more than a year ago, at a cost of $41,257.29, leaving
an indebtedness of over $6,000.  Two consulting and four attend-
ing surgeons give their  time and services to  the  institution
without compensation, and one of the founders now on his thirty
seventh year of gratuitous service, is still giving the infirmary the
benefit of his  great experience.   Three thousand and  fifty-two
patients were prescribed for during the past year  and  forty-eight
thousand five hundred and twenty-eight previously making fifty-
one thousand five hundred and eighty,  who have been treated
since the foundation of the institution,  and yet the whole ex-
penses have  never  exceeded, exclusive  of rent, $1,500   per
annum.   Of the three thousand and fifty-two prescribed for last
year one thousand one  hundred and thirty-nine were born in the
United States and one thousand nine hundred  and thirteen in
foreign countries.  The doors  of the infirmary  are open to all,
and patients from nearly  every  county  in  the State  have been
treated  here, and attendance is  never  refused  at  their  own
quarters in the city when their condition requires it.  The com-
mittee examined and highly approved the arrangements of the
building,  and  witnessed  the  reception  and treatment of  the
patients, and the attention  paid the diseases of  the eye and ear,
by the surgeons  to all who came seeking relief; and  became 
152
[Senate
acquainted with numerous cases of acute diseases of the eye,
which if neglected or unskilfully treated would inevitably have
destroyed that organ, and which  had been here arrested in their
progress, and either perfectly or partially cured, and the patient
made to enjoy the blessing of sight, of which but for timely atten-
tion he must have been deprived. 
IX.  HOUSE OF REFUGE, RANDALL'S ISLAND,
 Under the care of the Managers  of the Society for the  reforma-
                 tion of Juvenile Delinquents.

  The buildings of this society on Randall's Island, several miles
from the city, are advantageously  located, and  of most  conve-
nient arrangement and substantial, plain construction. There are
now in the buildings, 462 children, (401 boys and 61 girls.)  Out
of 329 white boys, only 61 are of American parentage.  The so-
ciety commenced its work in 1824, and has received and disposed
of 7,000 children, and are enabled to say after thirty-two years'
experience, that seventy per cent, of those who have been under
their care became good and useful citizens; and the committee
examined many interesting  testimonials going to show the cor-
rectness of this estimate.  The schools are subject to the inspec-
tion of the school officers, and the advancement of the  children
in knowledge is found to be very rapid.  There has been but two
deaths in the house since January last.

                    Financial Condition.
  The income for the support of the institution for the past nine
months to the 1st of October, has been as follows:

From the city treasury,.........................  $8,000 00
         State,...............................    6,000 00
     license fees paid by theatres and circus co's.,..    3,670 00
     the board of education,....................    1,936 44
     labor of boys under contract,..............    9,475 02
                                                 $29,081 46
The expenditure during the same period for the sup-
  port of the  institution, viz. :  provisions, clothing,
  education, &c, of inmates, and salaries of officers
  have been,..................................$28,998 00
Carried forward,
$83 46 
                             154                    [Senate

     Brought  forward,..........................    $83  46
Probable receipts for Oct., Nov., and Dec,..........  8,775  00
                                                  $8,858  46
Probable expenditures for the same months,.........  9,600  00
                                                    $741  54
Supply of coal for season to be paid for, already pur-
  chased, about,................................  3,000  00
New lead pipe recently laid across the Harlem  river,
  about,.......................................  4,500  00
Estimated deficit for 1856,........................$8,241  54
By the report of the managers  to  the  Legislature, in
  January, 1856, it will be seen that the deficit in the
  income  of the year 1855, to  meet the expenses of
  the same year, was,...........................$11,000  00
There was also due on the new buildings, not other-
  wise provided for, about,....................... 9,000  00
                                                 $20,000  00
Deficit, 1st January, 1857, as above,...............   8,241  54
Debt of the Institution to above date,..............$28,241  54
                   Condition of buildings.
  The main building, with its  two wings, workshops, &c, com-
plete for the boys, divided into two classes, is now finished  and
occupied; the north wing being used for the boys exclusively, and
the south wing for the girls, excepting the two upper  dormitories
occupied by the boys  at  night.   The foundations of the girls'
house are laid and finished, ready for the superstructure.   The
rear building for the girls is finished, ready for the furniture, but
cannot be occupied until the main building is completed.   The
much-desired  classification of the boys, as also that of the girls,
must be deferred until the house for the latter be built and fin-
ished.   The managers only await the requisite appropriation from
the State to complete the unfinished buildings, and thus to carry
out the plans heretofore submitted to the  Legislature,  and ap-
proved by them.   For this purpose, $75,000 will be required. 
No. 8.]
155
                 Future support of the House.
  For the support of the institution, the managers urge an appro-
priation annually, by the Legislature, instead of the $8,000 here-
tofore granted, a per capita allowance of $40, calculated upon the
number reported each  year as inmates  of the house.   With this
addition to their regular income, the managers feel confident  of
sustaining the institution without further aid from the State  to
the annual support.

       Internal management of the  House and Inmates.
  The officers of the house are a superintendent, assistant super-
intendent, principal of the boys' school  with four assistants, ma-
tron,  first and  second  assistant matrons, principal of the girls'
school, with several sub-officers as overseers of the shops, hallmen,
gardener, boatman,  &c, &c.  All persons regularly employed are
obliged  to live on the premises.

  By the by-laws, copies of which were given to  the committee,
it will be seen that the inmates  are allowed nine and one-half  to
ten and one half hours for sleep, three and one-half to four hours
for school, seven to eight hours for work, and two  and one-half
to three hours for meals, recreation, &c, according to  the season
of the year.

  Immediately after rising in the morning and dressing, they are
sent to the school rooms for half an hour, thence to breakfast, and
after  breakfast  to the workshops.  They remain at work until
twelve,  when they  dine, and after dinner return to the shops.
The hour of  closing work during four  months is four  p. m.,  and
the other eight  months four and  one-half p. m.  As, however, the
boys have certain tasks to perform, which are so graduated as  to
be within the power of all easily to accomplish, many boys, by
diligence  and a moderate degree of  expertness, frequently get
through with their tasks before the appointed hour, and are allowed
the rest of the time for play in the yards.  After supper they are
gathered in school,  which lasts until  eight, when they are sent  to
their dormitories.

  During the Sabbath  they are called  to arise about  the usual
hour, and are gathered in the school rooms to learn the  Sabbath
lessons, both before and after the morning service in the chapel.
There are two meetings for divine service on Sunday, lasting one
hour and a half each. 
156
[Senate
  In enforcing the discipline of the house, all punishment is re-
gulated by the superintendent or assistant superintendent, and ex-
cept in slight cases, the nature and occasion of the punishment
must be entered in a book provided for the purpose, which is
weekly submitted to the inspection of the executive committee.

  The board of managers consists of thirty members  and meets
monthly.  At these  meetings the daily journal, kept by the
superintendent, of all matters occurring at the house, is read, as
also the minutes of the several standing comaiittees  entrusted
with the supervision of the house  and the affairs of the institu-
tion during the intervals between the meetings of the board.

  The executive committee consisting of three  members, meet
weekly at the house and act upon all matters requiring attention.
The condition of the house and shops, the discipline of the inmates
and the general interests  of the  institution are all carefully
supervised by  this committee, the members of which are fre-
quently changed as occasion may require, it being the rule  that
a member serves but three months and if negligent in  his attend-
ance, one more careful is put in his place.

  The indenturing committee meet once a fortnight and as their
name indicates, attend to the placing of the boys  and girls with
such families as from the best information they can obtain will be
inclined to treat them kindly and carry on the reform here com-
menced.

  The school  committee  have  charge  of the schools and visit
them at least once a week, regulating the studies, examining the
classes and  endeavoring to aid the teachers and encourage the
pupils.

  The finance committee and the law committee act respectively
upon the matters indicated by their titles.

  From the  commencement of this society the principle  was
adopted of each manager taking an active interest in its business
and it has never been departed from.   The  economy  which has
always characterised the expenditures of the house, the faithful-
ness with which the public monies  have  been  disbursed,  the
jealous watchfulness ever  exhibited for the  society's interests
and the success which has  attended its efforts in  the cause  of
reform are so many evidences  that the public  confidence has 
No. 8.]
157
never been  betrayed, and pledges that the successors  of those
worthy  men who  founded the  institution will ever strive to
follow in their noble path.

      WESTERN  HOUSE OF REFUGE, ROCHESTER.
  This institution established and supported by the State, (visit-
ed 24th May) had  then under its care  320 boys, whose average
ages  are thirteen  years, eleven  months and  eighteen days, and
two-thirds are children of foreign parents.   They were found in
a healthy condition and there had been no patient in the hospital
for more than  seven months.    Two were under  mechanical^
restraint for an attempt to escape,  such punishment is  not com-
mon, however, and has only been resorted to  in two  previous
cases since the House of Kefuge was established.  The board of
managers are guardians of the boys till they arrive at the age of
twenty-one years, and estimate after eight  years' experience that
 two-thirds are reclaimed and become useful members of society.
 All are required to attend morning and evening worship, and on
 Sundays in the chapel.  Six teachers are employed to  instruct the
 inmates during the week.  Bible classes are taught by the princi-
 pal teachers, and a library of 1,200 volumes is provided.

   A farm of forty-two acres is attached to the House of Refuge,
 upon which a number of boys are  occasionally employed.   The
 committee visited the work-shops where the boys are instructed
 in various trades, and found them progressing satisfactorily. The
 amount received last year for their labor, contracted for at fifteen
 cents per day of seven and one-half hours, was $10,000, and the
 product of the farm was $1,164.21, and the disbursements for the
 support of the institution was $32,028.32.   Fifty-one boys were
 indentured to mechanics and farmers during the year.   The boys
 labor about seven hours and are in school about three and one-
 half hours each day.   The whole  property is owned  by the State
 and cost about $110,000.  The books  and vouchers were submit-
 ted to the committee, and it appeared that the accounts had been
 correctly kept from the foundation of  the institution.  The house
 is well  provided  with conveniences for bathing, but the yard
 and play grounds are quite too limited to enable the inmates  to
 take the out-door exercise which a due regard for health requires.
 Three or four acres more of yard room is wanted, to enable the
 managers to remove their temporary buildings farther from the
 principal edifice, and to erect others  required for  the employ-
 ment of the present number  of boys.   This can  be done  by 
158
[Senate
extending the north and south walls 200  feet  and taking down
and rebuilding the west wall to correspond with  them.   It  wras
represented that this improvement would cost $11,000, and the
safety of the main buildings seems to require it, for by the present
crowded state of the several  structures the principal buildings
are greatly exposed to fire from the temporary  ones, consisting of
carpenters', coopers' and other shops where great numbers of boys
are employed,  and wdiere great quantities  of dangerous and com-
bustible materials are necessarily accumulated.  The president and
managers devote much time to the care of the institution, and the
discipline and the whole appearance of the house and its inmates
furnish evidence of the high qualifications of the superintendent
for the important duties pertaining to his  office.

   The general regulations of the house are similar to  those of the
House of  Refuge in New7-York, and it is believed that its opera-
tions and success will be found equally beneficial  in  the reform-
ation of those committed to its care. 
I ALMS  HOUSES.
  NEWBURGH ALMS HOUSE,  NEWBURGH,  ORANGE
                      COUNTY, N. Y.

  This house, built about three years since by the town of New-
burgh , is of brick, two stories high, is in a healthy location and sur-
rounded by seventy acres of good land.  It is under the care of
a board of trustees.  The house is well constructed; wrarmed by
furnaces and stoves, and partially ventilated.  It has eight wards,
and though occasionally eight persons are placed in one room, four
is usually  the number for each.  Religious services  are had every
Sunday, and a  school is kept for the children half of the year.

  A suitable pest house is provided, and two physicians are em-
ployed by the year, but there are no  arrangements for bathing.
The cells for lunatics are well arranged and kept in excellent or-
der.

  There are here  two  lunatics; one male  and one female, both
confined in cells.   The whole number of inmates is thirty-eight;
fourteen male and twenty-four female.  This house receives crim-
inals of a certain class from other  towns in the county, though
at present all except two, were Newburgh paupers.   The inmates
are but partially employed, and there  should be a work  house
attached.  The supply of food was abundant, and of a good qual-
ity.   Of the inmates twenty-eight are foreign born, and ten native.
Sixteen were children under sixteen years of age.  The weekly
cost of the  support of each is one dollar.  Of idiots, there are
here three males  and one female.  But  one blind person.  Du-
ring the past year there have been  three births, ten deaths.

   It is  estimated  that  ninety per  cent, of all who are received
into this house are brought here in consequence of intemperance. 
160
[Senate
     ALMS HOUSE DEPARTMENT IN THE  CITY  OF
                       NEW-YORK.
   The institutions embraced in this department, are the

                     PENITENTIARY.
   The present number of inmates (exclusive of 321 in the hospi-
tal,) in the penitentiary, is 488. . The  whole number  received
last year was 5,197, of whom seventy-two per cent, were foreigners.

   In erecting several buildings, quarrying stone and making many
improvements upon the Island,  employment is given to all who
are able to labor, and the  health of the  prisoners appears to be
good, except among those whose previous habits of intemperance
and lives of debauchery have brought upon them diseases which
still affect them;  and  this  is found to be the case with a large
portion of all who are sent to the penitentiary.  The amount paid
for the support of this  institution last year was $61,293.86.

           BLACKWELL'S ISLAND HOSPITAL.

   The total number treated in this hospital last year, was 2,657.
The present inmates number 321; the proportion of natives ad-
mitted last year was twenty-nine per cent.; of foreigners, seventy-
one per cent., and of the whole number admitted, seventy-three
per cent,  were under  thirty years of age, eighty-five per cent.
were almost entirely uneducated, and eighty-eight and one-tenth
per cent, were intemperate.  The expense of supporting  this hos-
pital last year was $42,556.69.

THE NEW-YORK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM, BLACKWELL'S
                         ISLAND.
  This institution had  on the first of October, 597 patients, of
whom  258 were males, and 329 females; the number  received
since the first of January last, is 286, discharged 214, of which
137 were  cured, sixty-one  improved, and sixteen unimproved;
the average of recoveries for the last three years amounts to about
fifty  per cent.  The number of patients chargeable to the Com-
missioners of Emigration, is seventy-one; the  number who were
previously chargeable to the Commissioners and remain by reason
of the lapse of five years, a charge solely on the  alms house de-
partment, is seventy-eight,  and many of these will probably re-
main so for life.   There are three lunatics from, and supported
by, the county of Queens. 
No. 8.]                      161
  This asylum is well arranged for the accommodation and safe
keeping of the inmates; receiving patients of the most  violent
character it is able to control them all without resorting to chains
and shackles, indeed they find noplace here.  At the time of the
committee's visit only three were under restraint or confined, and
these were merely placed in their own rooms and the doors closed
upon them.   The asylum is under the charge of a resident physi-
cian and two assistant physicians, who employ also as attendants,
&c, (including females,) fifty-one persons, the united salaries of
wdiom  amount to $12,756  annually.  The asylum has also the
benefit of the gratuitous services  of two experienced visiting phy-
sicians.

  The whole expenses  last year were $63,894.77.   Eighty per
cent, of the whole number of inmates on the first day of October,
were foreigners.

                      WORK HOUSE.
  There are now five hundred and thirty-seven persons employed
in  this house  of w'hom  seventy-five  per cent are  foreigners.
Thirty males and one hundred  and sixty-eight females are em-
ployed in the  " work shop;"  the wages for  the males are 25 to
35 cents and  the females 12-| cents per  day.  The building is
clean and healthy and appears to be under good regulations.

                       ALMS HOUSE.
  On the  first day of October last there were one thousand two
hundred and twenty persons in  this division of the alms house
department, seventy-five per cent of whom were foreigners.   The
whole number received last year was three thousand and ninety-
six of whom only seven hundred and seventy-three were native
citizens; and there were during the  year two hundred and fifty-
seven deaths.   The expenses of the house last year were $68,-
089.43.

                     COLORED HOME.
  This institution (quite disconnected from the other buildings
of the alms-house department being in the city of New-York,)
supported by the governors of the alms house, receives destitute
persons of color of all ages.   The present number of inmates is
two hundred and eighty-three.  The whole number received last
year was eight hundred and sixty-eight, viz : in the male  hospital
[Senate, No. 8.]            11 
162                     [Senate
 one hundred and  eleven;  female hospital  two  hundred  and
 ninety-nine; lying-in and nursery hospital  one  hundred  and
 thirty one; in  the department  of the aged and  infirm three
 hundred and twenty-seven.   There were one hundred and eight
 deaths and seventy-one  births during the year.  For  the  care
 here taken of this most friendless  class, who  would look in  vain
 for relief elsewhere, the city is indebted to an  association  of
 benevolent ladies, moved to this peculiar  work  by the very
 hopeless condition of these worn out and neglected people.   The
 governors of the alms house  last year paid for  their support
 $9,888.80.  This institution  also finds the best medical advice
 readily furnished without compensation from physicians, second
 to none in the profession.

                  SMALL POX HOSPITAL.
  This  hospital  has been recently erected,  and  completed  in
 October last.  It is intended  by the governors of the alms house
 to afford accommodation to all those suffering from  small pox,
 both to those who are cast upon the charity of the city and others
 able to  pay for proper attention  but unwilling to expose their
 families  to its influences.  The building stands  on the southern
 point of Blackwell's Island, and about two hundred yards from
 any other, and is surrounded  on three sides by water,  containing
 every accommodation  that experience could suggest for the com-
 fort of the  sick, presenting a fair  architectural appearance, of a
 simple and massive character, built of stone quarried on the island,
 one hundred and four feet in  length and forty-five in depth,  and
 will accommodate from sixty to seventy patients.   The grounds
 afford agreeable  walks for convalescent  patients and command
 extensive  views of the shores  of Long Island and New-York, and
 also of the bay and harbor.  This is believed  to be the first hos-
 pital properly built and organized  in this country  for the exclu-
 sive use of small pox  patients, who have heretofore been placed
 in sheds  and out houses for  want of this provision.   Here not
 only will the poor be received, but the wealthy citizen  and the
 traveler who visits  the city can find a refuge  if attacked by  this
 disease, where otherwise he would find none, however able  and
 willing he might be to pay for proper accommodation and care.
 A more suitable  location  could hardly be found, and the govern-
 ors have done the city and the country a great service in provid-
ing such a hospital. 
No. 8.]
163
                 BELLEVUE HOSPITAL.
  There are now in this hospital six  hundred and nineteen pa-
tients ; admitted the past year, five thousand seven hundred and
forty-three; births, three hundred and six; died, six hundred and
twenty-nine;  of three hundred and three lying-in women received
two  hundred and seven were married, eighty-eight single, and
eight widows.   Of the whole number of deaths one hundred and
sixty-seven have died within five days after their admission, and
one hundred and ninety two from consumption; there have been
fifty coroner's cases.  It is well-known to all who visit this hos-
pital, that a large class of the population of New York drag them-
selves here to die, or are sent by others when  their condition af-
fords no  hope for recovery; and that a majority of its inmates
are recruited from the worst fed and wrorst nurtured class in the
community, unfitted by constitution and habits to resist the in-
roads of disease.

  A new wing one hundred and fifty feet long, and fifty feet wide
and four stories high, recently completed appears to contain all
the conveniences necessary for a  hospital.  It is thoroughly ven-
tilated and heated on the  most  approved system, and wTill ac-
commodate about three hundred  patients.

   There are twenty-six surgeons and physicians attached to this
hospital, and among these are gentlemen of the highest profes-
sional reputation whose services are  rendered without compen-
sation.
   Ninety-seven persons, including  nurses, are employed whose
salaries annually amount to $12,122.66, and the whole expenses
of the hospital the past year, (exclusive of building the new wing)
were $80,773.86.

           NURSERY  ON RANDALL'S  ISLAND,
 Under the supervision  of the  Governors of the New-York Alms
                      House Department.

   The governors of the alms house have here all the children
between the ages of two and sixteen committed to their care, av-
eraging between nine hundred and one thousand, and last year
indentured four hundred and fifty-nine.  Seventy-five per cent
of  the children are those of foreign parents.   Competent teach-
ers  are  employed, and  tne  schools  are not inferior to the best
common schools of the  city.   The average  number attending 
164                      [Senate
 school  daily, from first of January last, to first of October, five
 hundred and eighty four.   Separate rooms and buildings are pro-
 vided for the girls, and they are taught by females well qualified
 as instructors.  Ample play grounds are provided and great at-
 tention paid to out-door exercise.

   A hospital for children is established and under the charge of
 a physician, whose whole  time is given to its care, and two hun-
 dred and twenty are under treatment.  The number treated last
 year was two thousand three hundred.  The  deaths were  two
 hundred and two; and the average number in the hospital  for
 the year was two  hundred and fifty-eight.  Forty-five per cent.
 of all the children received on the  Island during  the year were
 sick and became inmates  of the hospital.  Scrofula, in its vari-
 ous manifestations, determines  or complicates nine-tenths of all
 the diseases treated in  this hospital, and causes a like proportion
 of the deaths.  Seventy-four per cent, of all who die here  are
 children, between  two  and five years of age, chiefly the diseased
 offspring of depraved  parentage.  In a comfortable building  set
 apart for their use are  twenty-eight idiots, of whom seventeen  are
 over  twelve years of  age.  Nine are subject to epilepsy; seven
 are mutes  and one is blind.   Four or five only of this number
 are considered  proper  subjects for admission to the State Asylum
 for the  instruction  of idiots. • The committee were gratified to
 find that this unfortunate  and generally neglected  class  here re-
 ceived that  particular  care and attention which their  helpless
 condition requires, and that it is intended to secure for them  all
 the benefit that they can receive from such special efforts for their
 improvements as are  deemed practicable.

  All the  buildings provided for  those on  this Island are well
 adapted to the  wants of  the occupants -, the sleeping rooms  are
 well ventilated; the  grounds affording room for all classes;  the
 situation well  chosen, and the whole extensive  establishment
 furnishes evidence of  the ability and  efficiency of those  under
 whose charge it is  placed.  The expense of supporting the nurse-
 ry and hospital for the children last year was $73,240.91.

                CITY PRISON, NEW-YORK.
  This prison is under the charge of the  governors of the alms
house.   It contains one hundred and forty-four cells for males,
and fifty for females;  beside which there are several larger  rooms
of various sizes, where witnesses are detained, and which  are 
No. 8.]
165
occasionally occupied by others.   The cells are ventilated from
the roof, and the whole house well warmed by stoves and steam
pipes.   There are three hundred and sixty-five prisoners now in
confinement; two hundred and sixty-five of whom are males and
one hundred females.   They are committed  mostly  for  petty
crimes and misdemeanors:  some awaiting trial for higher offences.
Two hundred and ninety-two are foreign  born and seventy-three
native.   Two-thirds, at least, are  intemperate.  All are confined
in cells at night.  Six  deaths have occurred the past year, prin-
cipally among those brought in a dying state.   Religious services
are attended here every Sabbath, and the whole prison indicates
health, care and cleanliness.

  While the committee were pursuing their examination, a visitor
was detected (by an examination to which visitors are now not
unfrequently subjected) in the act of introducing into the prison
spirituous  liquors, and four bottles were  found upon his person,
which clearly showed the character of the prisoners, as well as
the visitor—the great  care of the warden and the advantage of
his strict regulations.

   Nearly one hundred women wTere seen by the committee com-
mitted  for intoxication.   Seven men and three women are em-
ployed as assistant keepers or attendants, and a physician is always
in attendance.   He represents that there is here less sickness than
among  the same number elsewhere.   In this prison many im-
provements have recently been made, and much work done, and
all by the prisoners.  The committee arrived at the conclusion
that  the management of the prison  could hardly be improved
 upon.  The expense of this prison last year was $22,723.22.

   These institutions are under the care and government  of the
governors of the alms-house department, of whom there are ten
who serve without compensation, and are elected by the people at
 the general elections.  They have also established a department
for the out-door poor, which is placed in charge of a superintend-
ent appointed by the governors.  This department, last year,
assisted eighty-five thousand, one hundred and thirty-six persons,
at an expense  of $121,861.14—$40,000 of which was for  the
purchase of coal for distribution.  Five hundred and two families,
who, with their children  number one thousand, six hundred and
fifty, are now receiving assistance from this out-door poor depart-
ment, and it is  supposed the approaching winter will increase the 
166                     [Senate
number to that of last year.  Of the thirty-one thousand, seven
hundred and fourteen adults assisted among the out-door poor,
twenty-six thousand and ninety were foreigners.

   One thousand, one hundred and thirty-two destitute children
were picked up by the officers of this charity last year, and sent
to the children's nursery; and four  hundred and  seventy-three
infants are reported by them as having  been placed  in the care
of respectable nurses.  Of these, forty-six Avere adopted; seventy-
eight were returned to their parents; one hundred and seventy-one
died ; one hundred and seventy-eight remain with the nurses till
they arrive at suitable age to be sent  to the nursery.

   The alms-house department has under its care one thousand,
five hundred children under sixteen  years of age—one hundred
under six months, of which one-fifth are illegitimate.   The num-
ber of idiots in the various buildings is one hundred and thirty-
five, (thirteen boys, seventeen girls; thirty-eight male and sixty-
seven female adults.) The whole number of deaths for the year end-
ing 1st October, is one thousand, one hundred and twenty-two and
the number of births, three hundred and twenty-eight.  The gov-
ernors also provide for one hundred  and eighty colored children,
at the colored orphan asylum, paying sixty  cents  for each child
per week, where they receive such moral and religious instruc-
tion as could not be  obtained in their institutions.

   The number of persons employed in the alms house department,
including physicians, assistants, keepers, and nurses, is three
hundred and eighty-one, and their salaries for the year amount to
$113,544.40.  The whole  expenses of the department were, the
last year, $797,142.61. The number  of physicians, surgeons, aad
assistant physicians employed, who receive salaries is twenty-four.
A much greater number of professional gentlemen of great expe-
rience and high reputation, have for many years given these char-
itable institutions the benefit of their assistance and  advice, and
have regularly attended every important consultation.

   In one of the largest of the institutions it was ascertained with
great  accuracy that eighty-eight and one-tenth per cent, of the in-
mates were intemperate; in the others sixty-five per cent, was be-
lieved to be the proportion.

  The whole number of persons supported  and assisted by the
department  on the first day of October was 7,478, provided for as
will be seen by reference to the foregoing list of institutions. 
No. 8.]                      167
  Every facility was given to the committee to view the several
buildings, hospitals, &c, under the governors, and to inquire into
the treatment of the sick, the decrepit and the helpless, and they
were found to present a cleanly, healthful abode for the unfortu-
nate ; a careful supervision of  the orphan and  deserted children,
employment for the vagrant, continuous labor and strict dicipline
for criminals of both sexes, while all are provided with such sur-
gical and  medical treatment as may be required.

   The hospitals are under the  care of competent physicians, and
great improvements have been made  recently  in their condition,
by improved ventilation, the benefits of which are already ap-
parent. 
 
XL JAILS.
  ALBANY COUNTY JAIL IN THE CITY OF ALBANY.
  This though a comparatively  new  structure does no credit to
the capital city of the State, and by a grand jury of the county
has been more then once indicted.  Surrounded by other build-
ings,  there is  little chance for  the  circulation of fresh air, and
that within  the jail was found  to be offensive and unhealthy;
without ventilation,  and crowded with prisoners, it is rendered
dangerous to the health of  the  inmates, and should attract the
attention  of the  courts and grand juries.  It is impossible to
classify the prisoners as the law requires, and yet there are found
in the jail thirty-seven men and eight women; and it was repre-
sented to the committee that prisoners waiting trial are frequently
allowed to  remain in this  place for  months.  The character of
the prisoners and the effect  of such an association can be judged
by the commitments;  which are: one for murder, two for rape,
six for grand larceny, four for burglary, one for robbery of post
office, six for petit larceny,  four for misdemeanor, three for assault
and battery, two for vagrancy, one for damages, one for rescuing
prisoners, seven for drunkenness, five for disorderly conduct and
two witnesses, and all these it was admitted had free intercourse
during most of the day.  It would seem that those long resident
in such a  place and in such company, if  not lost to all  hope of
reformation upon  going in, must be ruined  in  morals and in
health on coming out.  in  the female department were eight, all
confined in one room, and in which the air was found to be more
offensive than in the male department.

   There was said to be preaching in the jail every week,  and the
house was supplied with Bibles as required by statute.

                ALLEGANY  COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is located at Angelica, and does not in the measure
of its accommodations meet the requirements of the law.   It is a 
170
[Senate
wooden structure without ventilation, heated by  stoves.   Four
prisoners were found in confinement, one foreign and three native
born, and  committed, one for  petit larceny second offence, one
forgery, one  petit larceny, one (a female)  assault and battery.
The prisoners have no employment and are supported at a weekly
cost  of $2.75  each.   The average number in confinment is six,
four-fifths of whom are  committed consequent upon habits of ine-
briation.  The prisoners are confined in  cells at night only, and
are then placed two together.

                 BROOME COUNTY  JAIL.
   The jail in  this county  is located in the village of Bingham-
ton, has been  built for many years, and at the present time is very
much out of repair, but the citizens of Broome are by no means
satisfied with their present jail accommodations, and are now en-
gaged in the construction of a more suitable  edifice in which they
design to  secure some  of the more important modern  improve-
ments.  In the present jail  the cells arc all in the basement, and
warmed by stoves, but  entirely destitute of any means of venti-
lation.  The  present number of inmates is  two.  The average
number of prisoners in confinement is ten, at an average weekly
cost to the county of $2.50 each.   The largest proportion of the
inmates are foreign born,  and almost the whole  number of com-
mitments are  consequent  upon habits of  inebriation.  From two
to three are confined in a cell.  The prisoners  are occasionally
employed at labor.  One has died during the past year.  No con-
tagious or pestilential disease has prevailed during the year.

   This jail is sometimes  used to  confine lunatics, though  none
were there at the time it was visited by the  committee.

             CATTARAUGUS COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is  located at  Ellicottville, and is constructed of stone,
two stories  high, and furnishes  ample accommodations for classi-
fication of the prisoners.   It is warmefl by  stoves, but  has no
adequate rneans for ventilation.    Two  persons were  found in
confinement;  both  for  larceny,  one native, and one  an In.
dian.   Four is  about the average  number  in confinement, one
half of whom are committed consequent upon habits of inebria-
tion.  The  prisoners have no employment, and are supported at
a weekly cost of $2.50 each.

   They occupy the halls during the day, and are locked in cells at
night.   The jail is considered healthy and is supplied with Bibles. 
No. 8.J
171
                CAYUGA  COUNTY  JAIL.
  This jail is located in the city of Auburn, and although with-
out special  provision  for ventilation, the air  was sweet and
healthy and  the whole establishment cleanly and in good order.
It is heated by stoves.  Eighteen persons were found in confine-
ment, of whom two-thirds were foreign and one-third native born,
and .the most of them committed for intoxication.   The average
number in confinement is eleven, three-fourths of whom are com-
mitted consequent upon habits of inebriation.  The prisoners are
unemployed and supported at a weekly expense of $2.50 each.
None are confined in cells constantly but each in a separate cell
at night.  There has been one death during the year, by the hands
of the public executioner.

              CHAUTAUQUE COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located at Maysville, constructed of  brick with
stone   cells  ;  lacks  accommodations  for  classifying prisoners
according to law and is not ventilated.  It is warmed by stoves.
Ten prisoners were  found in confinement  which is the  average
number.  Of those  confined three were foreign and seven native
born,  of whom three lads,  under twelve,  freely mingle with old
offenders.  Two were confined on the charge of grand larcency,
three  petit larcency, four assault and battery.  The prisoners are
unemployed and are supported at a cost of $3.50 per week each.
Of those in jail two wrere  committed consequent upon habits of
inebriation.    None of the prisoners are  confined constantly in
cells.    There has been one death  during the year, he was sick
six to eight months.  The keeper considered the jail unhealthy.
It is supplied with Bibles.

                CHEMUNG COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located at Elmira, and is entirely inadequate in its
accommodations  to  answrer the demands  made  upon it, and is
entirely wanting of all appropriate means of ventilation.   It is
heated by stoves.   Ten persons were found in confinement, em-
bracing one wToman  for grand larcency, three males for a similar
offence, two for arson, one riot, one  burglary, one  embezzlement
and one petit larcency.  The average number in confinement is
twelve, at a cost to the county of two dollars and fifty cents  per
week each.   No employment is provided for them and they
spend much of their time in card playing  and the like.   Of those
in prison nine were  native and one foreign born, and of the whole
number, at least one-half are committed consequent upon  habits 
172
[Senate
of inebriation.   During  the  day the prisoners mingle freely in
the halls, corrupting and being  corrupted by each  other.  At
night each  one is locked up  separately, unless  the  number of
prisoners exceed the number of cells, and then two and three are
locked up together.   There are no especial accommodations for
females, and no separation of the  sexes except as they are  kept
locked up, and as the number  of males  usually predominates
they are allowed the use of the halls during the day, while females
are kept in constant close confinement.

               CHENANGO COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located in  the village of Norwich, and appeared
cleanly and well kept.  It  is warmed by stoves, and, as usual,
is without any means of ventilation.  There were four prisoners
found confined, which is one more than an average.   No employ-
ment-is provided.  The weekly  cost of their support is  $2.50
each.  Of those in confinement two are native  and two foreign
born—two committed for petit larceny and two for vagrancy.

   Of the whole number of commitments  at  least three-fourths
are consequent upon  habits of inebriation.  At night each one
of the prisoners is confined in a  cell by himself, but  during the
day mingle together without restraint.  There has been one death
during the  year by suicide.  The  only mode of punishment prac-
ticed is solitary confinement.

                CLINTON COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail does not  afford  accommodations so as to admit the
classification of prisoners according to the requirements of the
law.   It is destitute of means for ventilation, and is  warmed by
stoves.  Eleven prisoners were found in confinement. The aver-
age number in confinement  is six, three-fourths of whom are for-
eign and one-fourth  native born.  The prisoners are in no wise
employed, and are supported at a  weekly expense of  $2.75  each.
Of those in confinement, two were committed for grand larceny,
two for debt, and the balance for  intoxication and disorderly con-
duct.  Of the whole  number of commitments  nine-tenths are
consequent upon habits of inebriation.   None are constantly con-
fined in cells, and only one in a single cell at night.

               COLUMBIA COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is located at Hudson, and is so restrained in its accom-
modations  as not to allow of a classification of prisoners as the
law directs;  and it is, withal, an unhealthy and  an insecure jail, 
No. 8.]
173
 and has been indicted by a grand jury of the county.  It has no
 ventilation, and is heated by stoves.  Seven prisoners wrere found
 in confinement, including two females, without employment, and
 charged with the following crimes, viz: one rape; one larceny,
 second offence*; one breach of the peace, and four intemperance.
 The average number in confinement is ten, supported at a week-
 ly cost of $2.25 each, two-thirds of whom are committed conse-
 quent upon habits of inebriation.  The prisoners are not confined
 in cells during the day, and never more than two  in a single cell
 at night.  The jail is not supplied writh Bibles.

                 CORTLAND  COUNTY JAIL.
    This jail is located  in the village of Cortlandville.  The jail
 department embraces  the basement of the court house  building,
 and consists of a suite of seven cells.  The  floors of these  cells
 are some four or five feet below the surface of the adjacent grounds,
 and  are  usually damp, and sometimes wet, by water leaking
 through the outer  walls, rendering the apartments both uncom-
 fortable and unhealthy.   Nor do they possess any  means for ven-
 tilation, and are very  dimly lighted.  The privy is on a level with
m the floor of the cells, and without sewerage, requiring the constant
 use of correctives, and yet the air remains constantly impure and
 unhealthy.

    Only one prisoner was found in jail.   The average number in
 confinement is two, supported at a weekly expense of $2.00 each,
 two-thirds of whom become residents consequent upon habits of
 inebriation.  The present occupant is a native, committed for an
 assault and battery upon his mother, and is permitted to range
 the halls.

                DELAWARE COUNTY JAIL.
    This jail is located in the village of Delhi; is  built of wood,
 and warmed by furnaces.  Its jail accommodations consist of four
 rooms, about twelve by fifteen feet each, and is usually sufficient
 to meet the requirements of law in the classification of  prisoners,
 but not always.  It has no means for ventilation.

    One person, in his loneliness, was found occupying one of the
 above described rooms,  supported at a cost of $2.50 per wreek.
 He was a foreigner,  and committed for threatening life.   The
 average number of prisoners is two, and half of these are com-
 mitted consequent upon  habits of inebriation. 
174
[Senate
       DUTCHESS  COUNTY JAIL,  POUGHKEEPSIE.
  This jail, in which sixteen men and four women wrere confined
wThen visited by the committee, in June, is totally unfit to be the
habitation of human beings; where the health of the prisoners
must be injured by a short residence, and  inevitably ruined by a
long one.  The foul air from the privy and the sewer which re-
ceives all the impurities of the prison, is drawn into the building
and the offensive  effluvia is spread through the whole structure.
It has been represented to the  committee  that the jail  has been
more than once presented as a nuisance by the grand jury, and
that the neighbors were even much annoyed, and complained that
their own houses were rendered unhealthy  by the offensive atmos-
phere arising from the prison.  Two deaths have occurred during
the year, and there was frequent cases of sickness among the
prisoners.  The jailer is also unable, for want of suitable rooms
to class the prisoners as required by law, and witnesses have been
confined in the  same rooms with criminals.  Nor  is that part of
the law which requires that the jail should be supplied with Bibles
regarded, and the house was without them.

  Two prisoners were found chained in cells, and one was found
chained to the floor, where  he had been for a week without  bed
or covering;  (committed by a justice  of the peace, and unable to
find bail for $200,) evidently deranged, and the committee  took
the opinion of an experienced physician,  who pronounced him
insane.  The committee before  leaving him obtained a promise
from the jailor that he should be sent to the county poor house,
and also commended him to the especial'  care of the physician
there, who, they are  satisfied will give him the necessary atten-
tion.

  Sixteen men and four women confined.  For felony six; mur-
der two; petit larceny and drunkenness twelve.  Fourteen is the
average number of inmates, two-thirds of  whom are here conse-
quent upon intemperance, and are  here idle, supported at a cost
of $2.25 per  week each; two-third foreign and one-third native
born-

                   ERIE COUNTY  JAIL.
  This jail is located in the city of Buffalo, and is  so constructed
as to enable the sheriff to classify the  prisoners, according to the
requirements of law.  It is  well heated by the use of stoves, but
wanting in ventilation.  The basements  are  occupied,  but are 
No. 8.J
175
above ground.  There were  thirty prisoners  in confinement;
twenty-seven of them confined, each in a single cell, without em-
ployment, and supported at a weekly cost of $2.00 each.  The
average number in  confinement is twenty; two-thirds  of whom
find  themselves in  jail consequent upon habits of inebriation.
Of those in prison eight were committed for grand larceny, three
for burglary, three on a peace warrant, five petit larceny, one false
pretences, five assault and battery, two for debt, and the balance
undergoing sentence of the court.   Two have died in jail during
last year.   The jail is supplied with Bibles.

                 ESSEX COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village of Elizabethtown, is not con-
sidered healthy, nor will its accommodations allow  of a classifi-
cation  of  prisoners  according to the requirements of law.   It is
heated by stoves.  Three prisoners wrere found  in confinement,
all native born; one charged with petit larceny, and  two  with
breaking jail.  The  average number in confinement is three, who
spend their time in  idleness, being  supported by the county at a
weekly expense of  $2.50 each.  Two-thirds of the whole num-
ber committed consequent upon  habits of  inebriation.   Two
prisoners are constantly kept  in one cell or room and  one in an-
other.

                FRANKLIN COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is so improperly constructed that the sheriff cannot
classify the prisoners as the law requires.

  During the  past year one prisoner escaped,  but was retaken.
The jail is warmed by stoves, and  is without ventilation.  Two
prisoners were found in confinement, both foreign born; one was
committed for  drunkenness and one for assault and battery.  The
average; number in confinement is five, and seven-eighths of these
are brought to prison consequent upon habits of inebriation. The
weekly cost of their support is $2.25 each.   The prisoners are
not furnished employment.

                 FULTON  COUNTY JAIL.

  This jail is located in the village of Johnstown, and has such
accommodations that the prisoners can usually be classified accor-
ding to law. 
176
[Senate
  It has no ventilation.  Three persons were  found in confine-
ment, one foreign and two native born, one committed for murder
and two for petit larceny.  The average number in confinement is
six, one-half of whom are brought there by habits of inebriation,
and supported at a weekly cost of $2.75 each.   One is constant-
ly confined and the other two at night, each in a separate cell or
room.

  There has been a lunatic confined in this  jail for months, occa-
sioned by the fact that the county had no county poor house, and
because he wras denied admission in the asylum, as  was alleged.

                GENESEE COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village of Batavia, and has not suffi-
cient accommodations to admit of a classification of the prisoners
according to law.  It lias  no ventilation,  is warmed by stoves.
Five persons were found confined, which is the average number
in confinement, three of whom were foreign and two native born.
They have no  employment, and are supported at a weekly cost of
$2.00 each.

  They are confined in cells during the night  only.  Four-fifths
of the whole number committed  to this  jail are here  in conse-
quence of habits of inebriation.  The jail is  supplied with Bibles.

                 GREENE COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located at  Catskill,  and does not admit of the clas-
sification of prisoners  according  to  law.   It is supplied with
Bibles, and warmed by stoves.  It has no ventilation and the air
in the cells is  bad.   Fifteen prisoners wrere found in confinement,
of whom one  was  foreign and  fourteen native born, committed
for the following offences,  viz: one riot, one barn  burning, twTo
burglary, two  petit larceny,  five assault  and battery, two intem-
perate, one vagrant and one. for debt, who  are supported at  a
weekly cost of $2.50 each.   The average number in confinement
is ten, two-thirds of whom are committed consequent upon habits
of inebriation.  The prisoners all confined in cells, except four
who  are allowed  to go out.  Boys  committed to  this jail are
allowed to freely commingle with adult criminals.

                HERKIMER  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village of Herkimer, and in its construc-
tion the idea of strength and security seems to have governed the 
No. 8.]
177
architect in devising a plan at the expense almost of both light
and air.   It is  very badly  lighted and  worse ventilated, and is
not constructed, so as to classify the prisoners according to law.
It is heated by furnaces  which warms the upper portion of the
jail but  not the lower  portion.   Five prisoners were found in
confinement, one on a charge of murder, one arson, one grand lar-
ceny, one disorderly and one debtor.  Of these, two are foreign
born, and three native born.   The average number  in  con-
finement  is six, and seven-tenths of the whole number com-
mitted are consequent  upon habits of inebriation.   The cost of
their weekly support is $2.75  each.  The prisoner charged  with
murder is kept constantly in his cell.   The  remainder are  only
locked up at night, and  then some times four in one cell, though
usually but one.  The jail is supplied with Bibles.

                JEFFERSON COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located in  the village of Watertown, and is a re-
cently constructed, substantial edifice, but does not embrace, but
to a  very limited  extent,  the modern  improvements in prison
architecture.   There  is  a  slight attempt at  ventilation.   The
building is constructed so as to admit of the classification of the
prisoners.

   Five, which is the average number, were found in confinement,
three males and two females.  Of these, two were foreign, and
three, native born;  and  committed, one  for  rape, one burglary,
one petit larceny, one disorderly, and one drunkenness.   Of the
commitments,  one hundred  and sixty in all, since first of January
last  one  hundred and  twenty were committed for drunkenness.
Two are constantly confined in cells, but only one in a single cell.
The cost of their weekly support is $2.00 each.  No employment
is provided for the prisoners.   The jail is considered healthy, and
is heated by furnace and  stoves.

                   KINGS COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is  located  in the city of Brooklyn; has  been built
about twenty years, and is very much shut in by adjoining build-
ings, preventing a free circulation of  air.  It was built before the
importance of fresh air, even to criminals, was well understood,
and  the  consequence  is, there is no ventilation.  rihe  keeper
thinks he can classify  the  prisoners  according  to law, and
yet your committee found a lad some eight years old, detained in
prison as  a witness, locked  up in a cell with an adult convict un-
   [Senate, No. 8.J            12 
178
[Senate
dergoing  sentence.  The impropriety of such  treatment, not to
call it by any harsher name, must be apparent to all.

  One hundred, of all ages and both sexes, were found in confine-
ment, (although  eighty is  the average,) three-fourths of whom
were foreign, and one fourth native born; committed, the great-
est portion of them, for drunkenness.   It is estimated that three-
fourths  of  all the commitments are  consequent upon habits of
inebriation.   Four-tenths of the whole number are constantly con-
fined in cells, and, on an average, two in a cell.   The cells, es-
pecially in  the  basement, which are damp, added to a vitiated
atmosphere, must render it very unwholesome.  From January
to October  of the present year, there  have been five deaths in
jail, and all have died of the drunkard's fever, delirium tremens.
The prisoners are not employed, and are supported at  a weekly
cost of $2.10.  The  building is  heated by steam and hot water,
and is supplied with Bibles.  This jail  is, in no proper sense, the
just exponent of the intelligence, wealth, and enterprise of the
city of Brooklyn.
                  LEWIS COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located in Martinsburg, has been built thirty-five
 years.   The jail  accommodations consist of two rooms  about
 twelve by fourteen feet each, and of necessity comes short of the
 accommodations required  by law, and  is. withal considered  un-
 healthy.  It has no  ventilation and is heated by stoves.    Three
 prisoners were found confined, which is the average number, and
 they were  all occupying  one room,  and were  all  native  born,
 Two were charged with arson and  one  with threatening to  kill
 his  wife ;   one-fifth of the commitments  are consequent  upon
 habits of inebriation.  There is one  Testament in the jail for the
 use of the  inmates.   The prisoners  are in nowise employed, and
 supported at a weekly cost of $2.75  each.

                LIVINGSTON COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is an old structure located in the village of Geneseo,
 arid was built thirty-two  years ago,  and is considered  unhealthy.
 It has no ventilation and the air in  the jail is very impure and
 offensive,  and is so constructed  that the prisoners  cannot be
 classified according to law.   Two prisoners were found in  con-
 finement.    The average  number is  six.   Of those confined one
 was a negro and-one foreign  born, one was confined for whipping
 his wife.   Of the whole number of commitments nine-tenths are
 consequent upon habits of inebriation.    Sometimes two are con- 
No. 8.]
179
fined in a single cell, but at the present, none  are confined.
The weekly cost of their support is two dollars and fifty cents
each.  No employment is provided for the prisoners.   The com-
mittee was informed that in times past a very lax  discipline had
been practiced in this jail, but as nothing was  charged against
the  present  discipline  the  committee did not enter into an
investigation of the matter.

                MADISON COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is situated in the village of Morrisville, and has been
built thirty-five years.    Its accommodations consist of six rooms
or apartments.   Without ventilation.   It is heated by stoves.
Three prisoners were found in confinement, one  foreign and two
native born.   Of these one was on his trial for murder, one for
burglary and larceny, one  receiving stolen goods.  Five is con-
sidered an average number in confinement, two-thirds of whom
are  committed consequent  upon habits of inebriation.   The
prisoner charged with murder occupied a suite of rooms and had
busied himself manufacturing cigars.    The remaining two occu-
pied another room  and were  supported at a weekly cost of $2.50
each.  There has bee» one death in the jail during the year, dis-
ease, delirium tremens or jail fever.

                 MONROE COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the city of Rochester, and is an old build-
ing, constructed of stone and without any means for ventilation.
It is heated by stoves, but in very severe weather it is found im-
possible to keep it comfortably warm.   Twenty-four prisoners
were found confined.  The average number is twenty-one, and are
supported  at a w-eekly  expense of $1.25 each.   They have no
employment.  Of those  confined eighteen were foreign and six
native born.  Eight were  charged with  burglary, two rape, one
murder, two petit larceny, one threatening life,  one debtor and
nine for drunkenness and  disorderly conduct.  Three-fourths of
all the commitments are consequent upon habits of inebriation.
The prisoners meet in the halls during the day, except those un-
dergoing sentence of the court.   At night eaeh one is locked in
a separate cell.   The jail is supplied with Bibles.
              MONTGOMERY  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village of Fonda, and its accommo-
dations consist of four  rooms, each about eighteen feet  square;
also two dark and two light cells, which do not furnish accom-
modations  sufficient to meet the requirements of  the law in the 
180
[Senate
classification of prisoners.   It has  no ventilation, and is heated
by  stoves.   Five  prisoners were  found in  confinement, one
charged with rape, one grand larceny, two assault and  battery,
and one disorderly conduct. Of these, all wrere native born.  The
average number in this jail is ten—much the largest  number of
commitments occurring  during  the winter months,  and is ex-
plained by the keeper in this wise.   He remarked  there were
many in and about Albany who, at the close of canal and river
navigation, found themselves without a home or employment,
and not cherishing a very  kind  feeling for  Capt. Pilsbury's do-
mestic arrangements, would wend their way beyond his jurisdic-
tion, commit some  petty offence, and  thus secure a shelter and
board at the expense of Montgomery, or some other adjacent
oounties, during the inclement  season, spending much time  in
card playing and other light labor.  Of those in confinement two
occupied one room and three another.  The jail is supplied wdtfa
Bibles.  The weekly cost of prisoners is $2.75 each.

   NEW-YORK COUNTY JAIL IN  ELDRIDGE STREET.
  This prison  is used for debtors and there also are confined
prisoners, committed for trial by  the officers of the United States
government.

  At the time the prison was visited by the  committee (October
9th,) there  were in confinement twelve of the former class and
sixteen of the latter, seven were  brought in irons while the com-
mittees were at the jail charged  with  being engaged in the slave
trade.  The average number in confinement is represented to  be
eighteen.  Two-thirds of the present inmates were foreigners.
There are only three  rooms for prisoners and these are much
crowded, it being  necessary to  place seventeen  in  one of the
largest; and the air in all and throughout the building is offen-
sive and must be injurious to  the health of  the inmates.  There
is no ventilation, but little chance for air, and all, guilty or inno-
centare much worse treated than convicts at the penitentiary.

                NIAGARA  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail  is located in the village of Lockport, is  heated  by
stoves and is without any special means for ventilation.  Twenty-
nine prisoners  were  found in confinement,  one  on a charge of
murder, one rape, larceny and other crimes.  The average number
confined is  twenty-seven; of those in confinement three-fourths
were foreign and one-fourth native  born.  They are in  no  wise 
No. 8.j
181
employed and  are supported at a weekly cost  of (amount not
furnished,) and have all  been brought into  their present  con-
dition consequent upon habits of inebriation.
   The keeper informed the committee, he considered the jail an
unerring barometer indicating the flow and suppression of intoxi-
cating drinks.  He stated that in the year 1854  from the 4th of
July to the 21st, there were  committed to jail from three to six
daily.   During a  similar period in the year  1855,  when the
Maine  Law  was in force there was but one commitment, and
subsequently as the law came  to be disregarded the number of
commitments fluctuated as the law was leniently or  rigorously
enforced.  In  answer to  the  question, whether any pestilential
or contagious disease had prevailed, he replied :  there has not, if
you except  delirium tremens, that  is very  common,  said he,
We have  had six cases  at once.   At night each prisoner  is
locked in a cell by himself, unless the jail is crowded.

                   ONEIDA COUNTY JAIL.
   This county has two jails, one at Utiea arid one at Rome.
   The  Utica jail is comparatively a new structure of brick and
 stone, located  in a pleasant, sparsely settled part of the city, but
 in its  design and construction comes  short of what a modernly
 constructed  jail should be, and especially in so enterprising a city
 as Utica.  The basement of the building is  carried several feet
 below  the surface of the surrounding  grounds, and is considera-
 bly damp, and in  consequence of imperfect sewerage the  lower
 floors are liable to be, as they have been, overflowed by stagnant
 putrid water,  which is exceedingly  offensive and unhealthy; to
 this is  to be  added a want of ventilation.   In this part of the jail
 eight prisoners were found, all males.   In the upper portion eight
 more,  females, with no particular improvement in their conditio©
 except a partial abatement of the dampness, all of whom except
 two were committed consequent upon habits of inebriation.  Your
 committee was informed  that the water on the premises designed
 for drinking and culinary purposes, was unsuitable for such uses.
 In  view of  the  above statement, your committee  consider, those
 having the  matter in charge  as having  overlooked obvious and
 acknowledged requirements of law.

                ONEIDA COUNTY  JAIL, ROME.
    This jail is located  in the village of Rome. It is heated by
 stoves, and  is moderately ventilated by a small flue leading from 
182
[Senate
 each cell.  There were eleven prisoners in confinement, on charges
 for assault and battery, and petit larceny.   The average  is about
 fifteen, supported  at an  expense of $1.75  per  week, each.   Of
 those in prison, two-thirds were foreign, and one-third native born,
 and three-quarters of the whole  number are committed conse-
 quent upon habits of inebriation.  The jail contains four large
 rooms and twelve small cells.  The prisoners  mingle  together
 during the day, but are locked up singly at night.   It is supplied
 with Bibles, and is esteemed healthy.

    ONONDAGA COUNTY JAIL AND PENITENTIARY.
  This institution is located in the city of Syracuse, and  answers
 the double purpose of a jail  and penitentiary.   It is  a large and
 commodious edifice, pleasantly located upon a rise of ground in a
 healthy part of the city, with a number of acres of open  grounds
 about the building, thus affording a fine circulation  of air.   It
 is warmed by stoves, and the male department very well ventila-
 ted.  In  the female department  ventilation is entirely wanting.
 The contrast between a pure air on one side, and a close poison-
 ous air on the other, was very marked and observable by the
 most careless observer, and your committee were assured  that
 immediate measures would be taken to obviate the wrong. Sixty-
 seven were found  confined in the penitentiary department and
 twenty-three in the jail. The average number has been about sixty.

  Those in the jail have no employment, while those in the peni-
 tentiary  are engaged in improving and  cultivating  the  sur-
 rounding grounds, and in mechanical labor.  The cost  of their
 weekly support could not be ascertained.  Of those confined three-
 fourths were foreign born, and one-fourth native.   The  offences
 for which they are committed are mostly vagrancy and intoxica-
 tion ; at least five-sixths are dependent upon these causes.  Those
 committed to jail are kept constantly in their cells, day and night,
 while those sentenced to the penitentiary work during  the day
 and at night are secured each in a separate cell.   There were
 eleven females in confinement.  There is a chapel  finished off in
 the building, but is not occupied at present for religious worship.
 The institution is  supplied with Bibles.  The  form  of  punish-
 ment is the yoke and shower bath.

                ONTARIO COUNTY  JAIL.

  This jail is  situated in the  village of Canandaigua, and is so
constructed as not to admit of a proper classification of prisoners. 
No. 8.J                      183
It has no ventilation, and is warmed by stoves.  Twenty persons
is an average number confined.   There were, however, twenty-
four in confinement at this time, thirteen foreign and eleven na-
tive born; one was  committed for lunacy, one mail robbery, one
grand larceny, petit larceny one, intoxication, vagrancy and as-
sault and battery, twenty.  Two-thirds of all the commitments are
consequent upon habits of inebriation.  The prisoners  have no
employment, and are supported at a weekly cost of $2.25 each. •
During  the day the prisoners are let out into the halls, but are
confined in  separate  cells at night, except  when the  jail is
crowded. It is supplied with Bibles.

  There is one lunatic confined in this jail by order oj the super-
intendents of the poor.  The committee are of the opinion that
very strong reasons should exist to justify  the superintendents in
such a course.

                 ORANGE COUNTY  JAIL.
  This jail is located in Goshen, and contains ten cells for men,
and four for women, so that under ordinary circumstances, the
prisoners can be classified according to law.  It is heated by stoves,
and is without ventilation.  Eleven prisoners were found con-
fined; two native, and nine foreign born.

  One charged with rape, two burglary, one  grand larceny,  two
fighting, two drunkenness, one petit larceny, one disorderly con-
duct, and one witness, a boy of fourteen years of age—all freely
commingling in the halls during the day.  This putting an inno-
cent person, and he too a youth, unlearned, it is  to be  hoped,
in the ways of vice, on  a  legal level, and  into the  society of the
highest grade of offenders known to our laws, is, in the opinion
of your  committee, inexcusable.  Of all  those confined, except
the witness, every one had come to prison consequent upon habits
of  intemperance, and yet this boy is  obliged to become the com-
panion of vile and besotted men.  At night, two are placed  in a
single cell.  No Bibles in this jail.

              NEWBURGH JAIL, NEWBURGH.
  This jail, located at Newburgh, is designed only for the confine-
ment of  prisoners committed from that  town.   The jail is under
the court house, the floor of which is  within two feet of the
ground,  in consequence of which the prisoners are almost entirely
beloAV the surface.   There are four  cells, eight feet  square, and
one ten  by eighteen feet; all eight feet high.  These are lighted 
184
[Senate
by windows, between the ground and court house floor, about two
feet square, and  giving very little light or air, and the whole is
so damp that a fire is  kept during the whole year.

  It has been necessary to confine fifteen prisoners in one cell, and
all, women  and  men, are placed in these damp rooms, without
other light or ventilation than from the small windows  near the
ground, in rear  of the building.   The keeper considered it an
unhealthy residence, and found it impossible, either to make  it
comfortable, or to class the prisoners as required by  the statute.
There were twelve convicts found in this jail;  one of these a
woman.  The committee were informed that divine services were
performed here regularly on Sundays.

                 ORLEANS COUNTY JAIL.
  The jail in this county is located in the  village of Albion, and
is so  limited in  its capacity and so imperfectly arranged inter-
nally, that prisoners cannot  be  classified  according  to  the
requirements of  law.  It is warmed  by stoves but  destitute of
ventilation. Five persons were found  confined,  although eight
is estimated the average number of those in confinement; four were
foreign and one native born, and of these four were committed
for drunkenness.  Four-fifths of the commitments are consequent
upon  habits of inebriation.  The prisoners are in no wise em-
ployed.   There have been no deaths during the year.  At night
each prisoner is confined alone in a single cell, when not crowded,
but during the day the prisoners, as usual in most of the jails of
the State, have free access  to, and intercourse with each other
during the day in the halls; there the old  and the  young, the
novice and the adept in crime, meet and mingle and as a  neces-
sary consequence the " last state" of  many juvenile  offenders  is
made worse than the first.

         OSWEGO  COUNTY JAIL, AT OSWEGO.
  This jail is a stone structure, located  on the bank of the lake
in an airy position, but in its construction ventilation  was neg-
lected.  It contains twelve single and six double  cells, formed of
plank bolted together.   In the single  cells from one to two are
placed, in the large ones from four to  six.   The prisoners lodge
on wooden bunks.  It is warmed by stoves.   The basements are
occupied for domestic purposes.   Twenty-five  prisoners were
found in confinement which is the average number.  Of these
eleven  were committed for  grand larceny,  two vagrancy  one 
No. 8.]
185
bastardy, all awaiting trial.  Undergoing sentence one for break-
ing jail, two petit h.irceny, two assault and battery, three drunk-
enness, one awaiting examination, one witness, one lunatic.  The
prisoners are locked  in  their cells at night but mingle together
in the halls during the  clay.    The air in the cells and halls is
bad.   The turnkey remarked, that  in " turning the prisoners
out" in the morning, the air  was so offensive he was liable to
loose his breakfast.   The vaults are outside the building with-
out a sewer and exceedingly offensive and unhealthy.   They are
enclosed by a fence insufficient to prevent escape of the prisoners,
except by the constant watch of the keeper.  The cost of the sup-
port of the prisoners is $2.25 each per week.   Those undergoing
sentence are sometimes employed at labor  on the  streets, on the
public docks and in sawing wood  for citizens.   The jail is con-
sidered  unhealthy and  does not admit of the classification of
prisoners as the law requires.    Three-fourths at least of the in-
mates come to this jail  consequent  upon habits of inebriation.
Twenty foreign,  five native born ;  three females, one  with a
nursing child.

          OSWEGO  COUNTY JAIL, AT PULASKI.
   The jail at Pulaski is kept in the first  story of  a  two story
brick building, the second story of which is used for a court house.
Its accommodations  are inadequate to meet the requirements of
law  in the classification of prisoners.  It is heated by stoves, has
no ventilation.   Two prisoners wrere found in confinement, both
native born, one confined on a charge of burglary and  the other
for debt.   They are  in nowise employed  and are supported at a
weekly cost of two dollars each.  Of these one is confined to his
cell, the other has the liberty of the yard.   Two is the average
number confined in this jail, and seven-eights of all the commit-
ments to this prison  are consequent  upon habits of inebriation.
The jail is considered healthy.

           OSWEGO COUNTY JAIL, AT FULTON.
   This  jail is authorised by provisions  of law contained in the
village  charter,  and  is not under the jurisdiction  and control of
the  sheriff of the county, but under the  management and control
of the trustees of the village.  The jail  department  consists of
five  cells and a hall in the basement cf a block of buildings, and
is somewhat damp.  It  is heated by a stove, but has no ventila-
tion, and in the  cells the air is offensive and unhealthy.  No pris- 
186
[Senate
oners were found in confinement.  The usual or average number
is three; seventeen have been confined atone time.  Prisoners
are mostly idle, occasionally they are set to work on the high-
ways.  Of those confined in this jail three-quarters are  foreign
and one-quarter native born, and three-quarters at  least  come to
prison consequent upon habits of inebriation.   The prisoners are
locked in cells at night, and mingle  together in the hall  by day.
The only most prevalent form of disease in this jail is delirium
tremens, or fevers  produced by drunkenness.   The weekly  cost
of the support of the prisoners is $2.25 each.  Lunatics are oc-
casionally locked up and kept here a few days at  a time.

                 OTSEGO COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is  located in the village of Cooperstown.  It is warmed
by stoves but  is not ventilated, and presented a dirty and slovenly
appearance.  There were six prisoners in confinement; the aver-
age number is eight, costing the county $3.00 each per week, and
without any  employment.   Those six were all native born, and
five of them  committed for a breach of the peace.  One-third of
the  whole number imprisoned  in  this jail are brought  here by
habits of inebriation.  None are confined in cells duiing  the day
but  at  night all  are  locked  up and placed from one to three
in a single cell.

                 PUTNAM COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is  located at Carmel, and is a building  of very modest
pretensions,  being  twenty-four by twelve feet, having  but  two
cells fit to be occupied.  It is heated by a small stove and devoid
of ventilation, and wras some two or three years since indicted by
a grand jury, after an examination  of the premises.

   The vault, in this as in some other jails, is on a level with the
cells, and  is,  as it must ever be, under such circumstances, offen-
sive and unhealthy.

   No inmates were found in this jail; from one to two occupants
is considered a fair  average; though instances have existed where
five or six have been  confined  at once, and in all such  cases  of
course the requirements of law cannot bs complied with.  Females
are sometimes so unfortunate as to make this jail a home.

                 QUEENS COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail possesses the requisite accommodations  to meet the
requirements of law  in the classification of prisoners.   It  is 
No. 8. |                      187
heated by stoves and is healthy.   Fifteen prisoners were found
in confinement,  without employment  and supported at a cost of
$2.37| per week each, of these five were foreign and ten native
born, and all committed consequent upon habits of inebriation
and  charged with the  following offences, viz: larceny  nine,
vagrant one, assault and battery three, misdemeanors two.   The
average number in confinement is twenty-five, three-fourths of
whom at least are  brought to prison consequent upon  habits of
inebriation.   None  are confined  constantly in cells.  Four  are
sometimes placed in a  single  cell.  The jail  is supplied  with
Bibles.

               RENSSELAER COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located at Troy, and possesses accommodations  ad-
mitting of  the classification  of  prisoners, and  is  considered
perfectly healthy.   It is heated by furnaces and  stoves.   Twenty-
four prisoners were found in confinement, including four females.
Of these, three-fourths were foreign, and one-fourth native  born.
All are employed and  supported at a weekly expense of $2.25
each; three-fifths of whom are committed consequent upon habits
of inebriation, and charged with the following crimes:   One mur-
der, one robbery, two counterfeiting, two burglary, one seduction,
seventeen disorderly conduct,   The average number confined is
twenty-five.  None are confined in cells during the day.  There
is one lunatic confined in jail.  It is supplied with Bibles.

                RICHMOND  COUNTY JAIL,

   Is located at the village of Richmond.  It is heated by stoves,
and is without ventilation, and as a consequence, the air becomes
vitiated and offensive.  Five prisoners were found in confinement;
all committed for misdemeanors.  Twelve is the average number
in confinement, ninety  per cent, of whom  are  committed conse-
quent upon habits of inebriation; or, in the language  of the keeper,
" we hardly have any others.''  The jail is considered unhealthy
and damp, especially the lower floor.  The prisoners are unem-
ployed ; two are usually confined in a single cell, sometimes three.
No bedsteads are furnished, even for female prisoners.   They are
supported at a weekly cost of $3.00 each per week.  The inmates
were all foreign born, two males and three females.  The prison-
ers cannot be  classified according to  the  requirements of  law.
The  jail is not supplied with Bibles, as required  by the statute. 
188
[Senate
  This jail is said to have been indicted, and there is no doubt
that it should be.   It is a reproach to any county to confine men
and women in a place so injurious to health, and should arrest
the attention of the people of the county, as well as  the courts
and grand juries, and all who are accountable for the safe keeping
and proper treatment of those in confinement,  whether under
sentence, or committed for trial.

               ROCKLAND COUNTY  JAIL.
  This jail is located  at Clarkstown, and will not admit of the
classification of prisoners according to the requirements of law.
It has but four cells or rooms, of which two are esteemed unheal-
thy.

  Seven prisoners were found in  confinement, committed four on
the charge of  larceny, two assault  and battery, and  one misde-
meanor.   The prisoners are  unemployed, and supported  at  a
weekly cost  of $2.25  each.  Two were  foreign and five native
born.   The average number in  confinement is from five to six,
and are confined in cells, two in  a single cell.

  The jail is supplied with Bibles.   Of those in confinement two
were consequent upon habits of intoxication.

             ST. LAWRENCE  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is constructed of stone,  two stories, and without ven-
tilation.   The sheriff considers  the jail healthy, but admits he
cannot for the want of proper room classify his prisoners according
to  the requirements of law.   Fourteen prisoners were found in
confinement, one  for burglary  and larceny, one  assaulting an
officer, two assault and  battery, two petit larceny, and five for
drunkenness and disorderly conduct; of these thirteen were for-
eign born, and one native.  The average number in confinement
is  twelve, supported  at a wTeckly  cost  of $3.00 each.   These
prisoners have no employment provided  for them, nine-tenths of
whom are brought to prison consequent upon habits of inebriation.
The prisoners meet in the halls during the day, and at night are
locked in  cells, usually two, and sometimes three together.

                SARATOGA COUNTY JAIL.

  This jail is located at  Ballston, and  has accommodations that
admit of the  classification of the prisoners.  The cells are of good
size, but not  ventilated.  It  is warmed by  stoves.  Fourteen 
No. 8.J
189
prisoners were found in confinement, of whom two were foreign
born and twelve native; they are unemployed, and were committed
two for grand larceny, one false pretences,  two  vagrancy, three
drunkenness, one abusing his wife, two assault and battery,  and
three petit larceny. Theweekly cost of their support is $2.25 each.
The average number  in confinement is twelve, and at least three-
fourths of the commitments are consequent upon habits of inebria-
tion.

   Eleven were found confined in  cells, three and sometimes six
are placed in a single cell.  The jail is  considered healthy and is
supplied with Bibles.

   It is the custom of the superintendents of the poor to visit this
jail three  or four times a year.

              SCHENECTADY COUNTY  JAIL.
   This jail is located in the city of Schenectady, and  admits of
 the classification of prisoners.  It is not ventilated and is warmed
 by stoves.  This jail was found without an  occupant.  The aver-
 age number in confinement is three, supported at an expense of
 $2,25  per week, each.   Prisoners have no employment and two-
 thirds of the whole number committed is consequent upon habits
 of inebriation.  One death  occurred during the year by suicide.
 The jail is considered healthy.  Is not supplied  with Bibles.

                SCHOHARIE COUNTY JAIL.
   The jail in this county is located in the village of Schoharie,
 and is a  sort  of an out-building, small,  close and uninviting as
 a residence, and for this or some other equally good reason  it
 was tenantless, at the time  of the visitation of  your committee
 It presented a tolerably tidy appearance inside, and is warmed
 by stoves, and receives what ventilation it obtains through the
 doors and windows. The  average number of occupants is ten,
 and supported at a cost of $2.50 a week, each.   No employment
 provided.  Prisoners spend much of their time  in reading.   Du-
 ring the  day the prisoners mingle together, but at night are locked
 up, from one to four in a single cell.  Full two-thirds of the com-
 mitments are consequent upon habits of  inebriation.

                  SCHUYLER COUNTY JAIL.
    The jail in this county, located at Havana, has been recently
 constructed and is not yet  occupied.  In the erection of this jail 
190
[Senate
great care and pains have been taken, not only to give it a pleas-
ant exterior, but to introduce into the whole arrangement of the
several  departments within, the various modern improvements
combining the safety, comfort and healthfulness of its occupants.

                  SENECA COUNTY JAIL.
  The jail of Seneca county is located in the village of Waterloo.
It is eighteen by forty feet in size, on the ground; is warmed  by
stoves, but entirely destitute of any means of ventilation.  There
were four persons in confinement.   The average number is ten;
supported at a weekly cost of $2.37 1-2 cents each.  Of those
in confinement, two were native, and two foreign born.  About
ninety-five per cent, of the commitments are foreigners, and about
nineteen-twentieths of the whole number are brought to this jail
as a consequence of habits of inebriation.   Of the whole number
(one hundred and nine,) committed between the 1st of January
last, and the time of visitation by the committee in June follow-
ing, one hundred and five were intemperate, and four temperate.
Of  those then in jail, one was constantly confined in  his cell, the
others, during the day, had the privilege of the hall.

  The prisoners are not employed.  There has been  no prevail-
ing contagious or pestilential disease during the year,  if delirium
tremens, the  drunkard's fever, be  excepted.  This  disease, the
keeper assured your committee, had been very  common, though
no deaths had occurred.   The jail is otherwise esteemed healthy,
and the  prisoners  are supplied with Bibles to read if they choose.
This jail is so improperly constructed that prisoners cannot be
classified according to the  requirements of law.

  Three of the inmates from this jail have been sent  to the Mon-
roe county penitentiary,  to work out  the period to which they were
sentenced, on terms advantageous to both counties.

                 STEUBEN  COUNTY  JAIL.
   This  jail is  located in the village of Bath, and is  closely sur-
rounded by adjoining buildings.  This, together with an entire
want of ventilation from within, renders it, of necessity, an  un-
healthy habitation.  The keeper seemed sensitively alive, to the
facts and difficulties connected with his establishment, and had
evidently done all in his power to abate nuisances and make the
jail comfortable ;  all of  which can avail but  little until  the pa-
triotism and humanity of the citizens of the county shall be sue- 
No. 8.]
191
cessfully invoked, and  a newr building erected, worthy of  so
intelligent and wealthy a county as Steuben.

  The basement  of this  building is  occupied by cells, in which
were  confined six  prisoners ; and  which, on  an average, are
occupied by eight.   Of those confined, one was foreign born, and
five native.  One committed for grand larceny, one counterfeiting,
one incest, one  assault  with intent to  kill,  two petit larceny.
These are confined in cells at night; one in small cells, and two
or more in large ones.   They have no employment provided for
them.  Two-thirds of all the commitments to this jail are conse-
quent, directly or indirectly, upon habits of inebriation.

       SUFFOLK COUNTY JAIL  AT RIVER HEAD.
  This jail wras built two years ago,  and is a fine edifice contain-
ing twelve rooms, the ceilings ten feet high, well ventilated, in a
healthy location and  is  kept by  the sheriff of the county.  It is
in all respects what a county jail should be, and is creditable to
those who establish and support it.   Four were found in confine-
ment, all native born, and supported at a weekly cost of $1.50.
Of the whole number received into  this jail, nineteen-twentieths
are intemperate.  The prisoners  are  here classified as  the law re-
quires, and the house supplied with Bibles.
                 SULLIVAN COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located at Monticello.  Its accommodations will
not admit of the classification of prisoners,  as the law requires
at all times.   The basement is occupied by five cells, five by seven
feet, and seven feet high, which are occupied by those committed
for crime.  They are not damp, nor  are  they well ventilated.
The jail is warmed by stoves.  Three prisoners were found in con-
finement, which is the average number, all of whom  were native
born, and committed, one for debt,  and two for burglary.   Two-
 thirds of the commitments are consequent upon habits of inebri-
 ation.  The cost of their support per week, is $2.50 each.  There
 are none confined in cells constantly.  Only one is  placed in a
 single cell.   There is a room seven by eight  feet appropriated to
 the use of the women,  and  another fourteen feet  square which is
 used by all the  prisoners.   It is considered healthy.  Is not sup-
 plied with Bibles.
                   TIOGA COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located  in the village of Owego, and seems to be
 very well kept.  The  air on entering and passing  through  the 
192
[Senate
several  apartments seemed fresh and  pure, and  suited to the
purposes of animal life, unlike the  murky noisome  atmosphere
too often found in prisons and which is destructive to health and
life.  This was all soon explained by finding in each of the cells
ample flues provided for carrying off rapidly the  vitiated atmos-
phere.  It is heated  by stoves.  There were  four  prisoners in
confinement,  two males and  two females, of  these three  were
foreign and one native born, one committed for  petit larceny and
three for  drunkenness.  The average number in  confinement is
six, full one-half of whom are committed  in consequence of
habits of inebriation.   The weekly cost of support is $2.27 each.
None are confined in  cells during the day, and no labor provided
for them.  At night each one is locked separatly in a cell, unless
the jail is crowded and then the number confined in a single cell
varies with the circumstances of the  case.

                TOMPKINS COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village  of Ithaca, and  is well kept.
The building is warmed  by stoves, and the cells,  which are five
feet wide and eight feet deep, are high, clean and well ventilated.
There is no basement.  The average number  in  confinement is
fourteen,  the  present number eight.  No employment provided
for them, yet two of  the prisoners were, at the time of visiting
the jail, setting type.   Of those confined three were foreign born
and five native, two committed for murder, three for drunkenness,
two petit  larceny and one for debt.  Nine-tenths at least of the
commitments are consequent  upon habits  of inebriation.  None
are confined in the cells during the day.   At night each one is
locked in a separate cell, except when the jail is  crowded, as
sometimes happens, in which  case two or more are locked up
together.

  This jail has  been used to confine lunatics, none confined at
present.

                 ULSTER  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located at Kingston, and is one of  the best in the
State.  It contains twenty good rooms or cells, twelve by fourteen
feet, furnished with iron bedsteads and is kept clean and sweet,
notwithstanding  no special  provision is  made for ventilation.
The prisoners can be classified according to law.  Nine prisoners
were  found in confinement, four foreign  and five  native born,
and were  confined on the  following charges, viz: one burglary, 
No. 8.]
193
one perjury, one abuse of his wife, one petit larceny, one assault
and battery, one vagrancy, one disorderly conduct, one drunken-
ness, one grand larceny.  A portion of the prisoners are employed
in the  manufacture of harness.  The weekly  cost of their sup-
port is $2.50.

  The average number in  confinement is  twenty-one, one-half of
whom  are committed consequent upon habits  of  inebriation.
Prisoners  are not confined in cells during the day, but are locked
up separately at night.  The jail is considered healthy.   Is sup-
plied with Bibles, and religious services are held every  Sabbath,
conducted by a clergyman.

                 WARREN  COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail occupies the basement of the building, and consists of
three cells, and obviously falls  far short, in extent of its accom-
modations, of the requirements of law.   These cells, though in
the basement and without ventilation,  were considered by the
keeper a  healthy place to live in.   Two persons were found in
confinement, which is the average number, and both for petit lar-
ceny, and both native born.   One-half of all the commitments are
consequent upon habits  of inebriation.  Prisoners  spend their
time in idleness, and are supported at a weekly cost  of $2.50
each.

  For want of more extended accommodations the prisoners are
kept constantly in their cells, two and sometimes four in a single
cell.

               WASHINGTON COUNTY JAIL.
   This jail is located at Salem,  and constitutes a part of the buil-
ding used  for a court house, and which is said to have been erec-
ted about sixty  years.  Its construction does  not  admit of  the
classification of prisoners as the law requires.   Is not ventilated,
and though warmed by stoves,  in the severe part of winter it is
represented by the keeper as  being  quite uncomfortable.  Four
prisoners  were  found in  confinement.   The average number is
seven.  There is no employment provided for them.   Of those in
confinement, two were foreign born,  one  native and one negro.
One was committed for rape, and three for  assault and  battery.
The weekly cost of their support is $2.50 each;  they are all con-
fined in cells constantly, as .there are no  other jail  accommoda-
tions.  From one to six are placed in a single cell; three-fourths
  [Senate, No. 8.J             13 
194
[Senatk
 of the  commitments are consequent upon habits of inebriation.
 All prisoners sentenced for two months  and over, are sent to the
 Albany penitentiary.  Two have been sent since the first of Janu-
 ary last.

                  WAYNE COUNTY JAIL.
  This  jail  is located in the village  of Lyons,  and was  found
 clean and in good order.  It is warmed by furnaces,  and  ventila-
 ted by fines in the walls.

  Eleven persons were  found confined,  seven foreign, and four
 native born, and committed on charge of assault  and battery six,
 highway robbery two, burglary and larceny two, fraud one; nine-
 elevenths of these commitments were consequent upon habits of in-
 toxication; these prisoners mingle promiscuously in the halls du-
 ring the day, but at night  are each locked in  a separate  cell.
 They have no employment, and are supported at  a weekly cost of
 $2.00 each.

              WESTCHESTER COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located at  White Plains.  The jail  proper  consists
 of eight cells, six by ten feet, seven and a half feet in height, in
 the basement of the building  under the court house—has no
 means of ventilation, and though  heated with furnaces, cannot
 be made comfortable in  cold weather;  nor can the prisoners be
 classified according to the requirements of law.

  Seventeen prisoners were found in confinement, two-thirds of
 whom are foreign born  and one-third  native, unemployed, and
 committed, one for murder,  four grand larceny, four petit  larceny
 and eight for misdemeanors, and supported  at a weekly cost of
 $2.75 each.   Of those in confinement about one-third are con-
 sequent  upon habits of inebriation.  The average number in con-
 finement is fifteen, and the proportion of the whole number com-
 mitted consequent upon habits of intoxication, is  more than one-
 third.

  The prisoners are constantly confined in  the cells, sometimes
three  in a cell, and sometimes more.   Five women have been
confined in a cell six by ten feet, seven and a half  feet  ceiling
 and without the slightest ventilation.

  This county has a new jail in  course of construction, designed
to be brought into use next  spring. 
No. 8.]
195
                WYOMING COUNTY JAIL.
  The jail in this county is located in the village of Warsaw, and
is so commodious and well arranged as  to enable  the keeper to
classify  the  prisoners according  to law.  It contains eight cells,
four with iron slat doors and four others of wood, perforated by a
six inch square hole.   The  jail is not ventilated.    The average
number confined  is four ; at the present time there are but twy
in confinement, both of whom are native born.    The prisoners
have  no employment and are supported at a weekly expense to
the county  of three dollars each.   Those nowr in prison are
committed for larceny, and  of  the  whole  number committed
eight-tenths  are so ronsequent upon habits of inebriation.  At night
each prisoner is locked in a separate cell, during the day two or
more are permitted together.  The jail is considered healthy and
is supplied with Bibles.

                  YATES  COUNTY JAIL.
  This jail is located in the village of Penn Yan, is constructed
of stone, forty by fifty feet,  and  is considered by the  sheriff an
unhealthy building for the confinement of prisoners   The con-
struction of the jail is such also,  that he cannot comply with the
requirements of the law in the classification of prisoners.    It is
warmed by  stoves and is without ventilation.   There  were six
prisoners in confinement,  one for arson, one for  receiving and
secreting stolen property, three for assault and battery and one
for  petit larceny.   They  were all native born.    The average
number in confinement is  four.   No employment is provided for
them.   The  weekly cost for their support is three dollars per
week each.   They enjoy the range of the halls during the day,
and are locked up at night,  one or two in a cell according  to the
necessities of the case.   Of those in confinement all were conse-
quent upon habits of inebriation. 
 
XII, PENITENTIARIES,
           ALBANY PENITENTIARY, ALBANY.
  This institution was opened in 1846.  The building furnishes
cells for two hundred males and  one hundred females.   The
average number of inmates is two hundred; the present number
is two hundred and fifty, seventy females and one hundred and
eighty males.  Three-fourths of these are of foreign birth.   The
convicts work at different trades under contract, and the average
earning per day of each is thirty cents.

  The great class of commitments is for misdemeanors incident
to and caused by intemperate habits.  In eight hundred and one
commitments for the year 1855, seven hundred and seventy-one
admitted themselves to be  intemperate.  The same proportion
will hold good for  the present year.  During the day the con-
victs are in the work shops and at night confined  in separate
cells   The  prison is a very healthy  one, there being but one
death during the past year and that from delirium tremens.  The
patient came to the prison intoxicated. There was but one in hospi-
ial and the average number so confined was one half of one pr cent.
There is chapel  service every Sunday morning and religious con-
versation by the chaplain with the  prisoners  the residue  of the
day   A library is being established by private donations of indi-
viduals through the agency of the keeper, and already numbers
some five hundred  volumes.  The hospital and chapel are not
sufficiently  ventilated;  otherwise  the institution appears well
 constructed, and its arrangements quite faultless.

   The income of the prison for the  year 1855 was $18,174.25,
 and the expenses $15,587.72,  leaving a  profit for the year of
 $2 586 there is no indebtness of any kind; and this is believed to
 be'the best  additional comment the committee can make upon its
 management. 
198
[Senate
  The keeper is the son of the former  superintendent Amos
Pilsbury, who after bringing the penitentiary to its present perfect
condition, has taken charge of a more extensive establishment at
Wards Island at the solicitation of the Commissioners of Emigra-
tion, who are now profiting by his superior qualifications, and
where the State and  all interested in  that important commission
are receiving the benefit of his skill and experience. 
XIII. WORK HOUSES,
        ERIE COUNTY WORK HOUSE, BUFFALO.
  This penitentiary is located in the city of Buffalo.  The insti-
tution was established and buildings erected  some years since.
These latter are of stone and though at present not sufficiently
large and commodious for the number of inmates; still are well
designed and constructed.  The grounds attached comprise five
acres; four acres being inclosed by a high stone wall and wooden
fence.   The cells  are constructed in ranges or galleries rising one
above the other, and are kept cleanly and in good order.  Their
size is about four by seven feet.   In each cell is provided an iron
cot,  two feet in width; and in twenty-two of the  cells are placed
two  of these cots.   The whole  number of cells  is  seventy.
Owing to the present large number of convicts two are placed in
each cell, and in  those  containing  two cots three are confined.
Accommodations  for lodging  are thus, of course, entirely insuffi-
cient.   An appropriation of $8,000.00 was made last year by the
county for building a separate structure for the sole  accommoda-
tion  and  confinement of the female  convicts.   This is now  in
process of  construction, and will on  its completion in a great
measure relieve the crowded  state of the present buildings.

   The average number  of prisoners in confinement is one hundred
and  thirty; the present number one hundred  and seventy-seven,
of these seventy-one are females.  Four-fifths of all in confine-
ment are  of foreign birth.  The convicts are  furnished with
plain substantial  food,  at an average weekly expense  of sixty-
five cents.  They are employed mostly on contract in the manu-
facture of  " harness findings," at per diem wages for males, of
twenty  cents;  females  fifteen  cents.   The supervisors of the
county impose rules for the government of the  penitentiary and
visit it in a body once each year.  They employ a  physician to
attend the sick, who visits the house twice each week and oftener
if called ; he is  paid per visit.  Only two deaths have occurred 
200
[Senate
during the past year.  The hospital wards are entirely inadequate
for the proper accommodation of the sick.  In one room of the size
fifteen by twenty feet, with low ceiling and  no means of ventila-
tion, twenty-eight persons are placed.   The air, as a  legitimate
and necessary  consequence, is foul and impure.   The prison is
supplied with Bibles and the convicts are  assembled, for chapel
exercises each  Sabbath.  There are employed five keepers, beside
the superintendent and deputy and a guard  of two persons.

  Nine-tenths  of the  commitments are directly  consequent on
habits  of intemperance, and one-third are  commitments of old
offenders.  The general discipline of the prison,  and the clean-
liness and good order of the wards may well be commended.

            MONROE COUNTY WORKHOUSE.
  This  is an  institution located at 1'ochester, partaking in its
main features  much of the  character  of a penitentiary.    The
courts of Monroe county, and of several others adjoining, are by
special statute permitted to send here those committed for petty
offences, or less than felonies, where they are sentenced to  hard
labor instead of lying idle in the various  county jails.   Here
they nearly by their labor pay the  cost of  their  support, where
they were before a complete charge  upon  the county in which
they chanced to be imprisoned.   Here too they are instructed in
some useful trade, while before they only learned  vicious habits.

  The building is a new one, constructed of brick, four stories in
height, attached is one workshop of two stories  and  another of
one.  A roomy yard  is enclosed by  a high and  secure wall.
Connected with the house  is a farm of sixteen  acres.   In the
main structure are ninety-six cells for males and forty for females,
beside two hospitals, male and female.  There are also two work-
shops, two for the  use of male  convicts and one  for  females.
The rooms are mainly warmed by furnaces.  The house is toler-
ably ventilated by flues  in the walls.   There are now  144
prisoners in the house.   This is also about the average number
in confinement.   Of the whole number 102 are males and forty-
two females.   Seven-eighths are foreign born.  Two prisoners are
under  sixteen years of age, these are kept separate  and apart
from others.    The convicts are provided with plain substantial
food of meat,  bread and vegetables, which  is furnished by the
superintendent of the workhouse at a county charge.   The con-
victs are all compelled to  labor  during the whole time of  their 
No. 8.]
201
sentence.    Their labor is farmed out to contractors at the rate
of twenty-five cents per  day for males, and sixteen cents for
females.   The males are employed in shoemaking  and coopering
and the females  in bottoming chairs.    Each, on  his  or her en-
trance, is  placed  at a trade and works at it during the term of
sentence.

  A chapel is furnished in the building where religious services
are held on  each Sabbath.  Corporal punishment is not adminis-
tered, convicts are  punished  by solitary confinement in a dark
cell.  There is a library of three hundred volumes.   From  one-
third to ofie-half  of  the convicts are brought here by intemper-
ance, and of the sick there are  more cases  of delirium tremens
than all others   combined.   The officers employed   are eight,
superintendent and deputy, four overseers  and two  watchmen.
A physician is employed by the year, who visits  the house twice
each week.

   This institution appears to be judiciously managed, and to be
successfully working out the  end designed  in its  establishment.
The whole  expense the past year of the  workhouse over  its
receipts, was but $2,971.05,  and it  is believed  its revenue will
soon be equal to the whole expenses.

            KINGS COUNTY PENITENTIARY.
   The buildings now nearly completed for this penitentiary, are
on a farm of thirty-eight acres, about two a,id a half  miles from
the city of Brooklyn.  The main building is  490  feet long by 86
feet wide; with two wings of 50 feet each, and  built of stone.
The present number of inmates is  one hundred and  fifty-three;
seventy-four of whom are males, and  seventy-nine females.  At
present the  men are  employed grading the grounds and breaking
stone, and the females as domestics.  The weekly cost of the sup-
port of each convict is eighty and one-half  cents.   Three deaths
have occurred during the past year.  Seven-eighths of all com-
mitments are consequent upon habits of intemperance.  The cells
are of good  size and well arranged, and it is intended to place but
one prisoner in each.  The whole building is well ventilated and
warmed by stoves.   It is supposed that the  labor of the convicts,
when the buildings are completed, will be nearly equal to the
expenses of the  penitentiary.   It is now under the care of the
supervisors  of the county. 
202
[Senate
SYRACUSE  CITY  POOR AND WORKHOUSE, SYRACUSE.

   This is located about two miles from the city of Syracuse, wes-
terly.  It is designed mainly for the accommodation of the city
poor.   The building is  new; built  of brick; three stories in
height besides basements, and  148 1-2 feet long by 66 feet in
width.  The basements are occupied for domestic purposes.  In
the building are  forty-eight rooms or wards, for the occupation
of inmates, besides those  used as dining, washingjand other sim-
ilar apartments.   The whole are warmed by stoves and a furnace
and ventilated by flues opening  into chimneys.  There are two
flues in each room eight by fourteen inches in size.

  There is a farm attached of forty-seven  acres, the  labor  on
which with the exception of one man, is performed by the pau-
pers.   The revenue of this farm is estimated at  $600.00.  The
keeper of  the house is employed at a salary of $800.00.

  The inmates at this time number forty, though the average is
about fifty.  In the smaller rooms of the house two persons are
placed  in  a room;  in one of the larger ones, nine.  A detailed
register is kept.  Of the inmates two-thirds  are males, and eight
are under sixteen years of age.   About one half are foreign born.
Six deaths have occurred  during the past year.  At night there
is a complete separation of the  sexes; during the day they min-
gle together.

  For medical attendance a physician is appointed by the com-
mon council, at a salary of $300.  He visits  the house as often as
circumstances require. There  is only  one  keeper in charge of
the institution.  Good facilities  are  afforded  the inmates for
bathing.   The common council impose rules of government, and
the superintendent  regulates the system  of diet.  The average
weekly cost of the support of paupers is about $2.   At sixteen
years the children are placed out for employment  in the families
of neighboring farmers. No provision is made for  the instruction
of children, though there is  a  common school  near the house,
even this the children are not made to attend.

  Three of the inmates are lunatics, all  males, and all paupers.
They have no special attendants aside from  the superintendent
and none have been improved or cured  since entering the house.

  They are confined in cells which appear quite comfortable, and
are at times chained.  Four have been admitted within the year. 
No. 8.]
203
They receive no other medical care and attendance than the house
physician  affords.   The construction of the house is not such as
to allow classification of the insane.   In the case of one pauper,
a lunatic, and partly idiotic, it was considered necessary by the
keeper, about a year since, to administer severe floggings; the of-
fence was indecent exposure of his person.  He stated, however,
that flogging is no part of the discipline of the house.  There are
now in the house three idiots, all males.   There are also  three
blind.  One birth has occurred during the last year.  #In the es-
timate of the superintendent, all, except the insane, are brought
to their present condition either directly or indirectly through
intemperance, and as a consequence of inebriation.

   The house, as a  whole,  appears  wTell  fitted in its, construction
for the designed purpose, and in its management able. 
                                                  TABLE A,
Showing the number of inmates in each county poorhouse, the number of lunatics, the number confined or under restraint,
  the number of foreigners, children under 16 years of  age, idiots, births and deaths the past year, extent of poorhouse
  farm, average num.ber of paupers and weekly cost of the support of each, condition caused by hit em pe ranee, fyc.
JAILS.	to < a aS a 319 70 37 30 70 56 52 80 48 187 52 58 240 225 65 38 30 75 88 76 125 50 75 108	a u o -a <D .t 0j !z 79 23 34 23 • 17 46 17 73 12 125 50 49 160 19 45 10 25 50 48 38 62 12 37 27	a u o a bD o	to Ih a 3 a • CD M ** !3 .3 V 3 **> O	Average number of inmates.	Months school taught.	ft 40 -a s	u =3 o	ft CO 0) ft	C3 0)	Extent in acres of poorhouse farm.	CB s 8 .2 s s s -	Number of in-mates in sleep-ing room.	House inspected by supervisors the past year.	Weekly cost of inmates' sup-port.
			240 47 3 7 53 10 35 7 36 62 2 19 80 206 20 28 5 25 40 38 63 38 38 71	80 8 5 4 15 7 13 25 11 34 9 11 61 75 10 9 4 15 19 11 15 12 25 30	350 57 45 35 100 130 70 90 .65 208 51 65 220 300 67 48 50 90 130 130 150 93 107 130	12 4 7 0 6 0 12	32 5 1 3 1 6 9 9 3 12 3			71 8 1 2 6 17 8 10 15 15 7 7 49 83 6 2 6 17 13 7 13 9 17 5	216 180 130 200 90 160 180 170 90 204 118 175 107 153 100 110 94 133 130 65 107 59 108 135	$6,000 1,000 800 1,000	40 4 6 7 10 32 10 20 21 50 6 12 40 30 12 8 10 10 20 14 10 12 6 35	1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 12 6 2 1 1 1	$0 90
															1 03
															1 08
															1 40
															70
												2,000 1,000 800 800 1,400 600 250 1,631 2,700 1,200 1,500 200 1,300 800 739 1,500 600 2,000 1,500			44
															80
															56
															1 00
															1 00
															65'
															1 00
						12 12 8 3 7 10 6 12 4 10 12									95
								34 3 1 3 2 4 4 10 1 4 1							1 00
															62 31
															1 25
															72
															75
															1 10
															
															75
															97
															741
															56
 
No. 8.]
205
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 house.
Number of blind
 in house.
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No. 8.]
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                                                 TABLE B,
Showing the number in each county jail, native born, foreign born, weekly cost of support of each, average number in con-
  finement, jails supplied and not stipplied with bibles, jails in which prisoners can and in which they cannot be classifieo
  as required by law, committed in consequence of habits of intemperance, the number confined in all, tSfc.
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 Allegany, ..
 Broome,
 Cattaraugus,
 Cayuga,---
 Chautauque,
 Chemung,  .
 Chenango,  .
 Clinton,....
 Columbia,  .
 Cortland,. ..
 Delaware, ..
 Dutchess,  ..
Erie,......
Essex,......
45
 4
 2
 2
18
10
10
 4
11
 7
 1
 1
20
30
 3
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50
50
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2 50
2 50
2 50
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2 00
2 50
2 25
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90
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80
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50
75
90
68
67
50
70
68
68
50
 6
10
 4
11
10
12
 3
 6
10
 2
 2
14
20
 3
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Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
 No,
Yes,
 No,
Yes,
No,
No,
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 (J
 1
 2
27
 3
No,
 No,
Yes,

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 No,
 No,
 No,
 No,
 No,
 No,
 No,
Yes,
 No,
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14 
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to 
                                                      TABLE C,

Showing the number of inmates in county  and alms houses in  the  State, the native and foreign born, children under 16

  years of age, births and deaths the past year, lunatics, idiots, inmates in workhouses, in penitentiaries, in jails and city

  prisons, in houses of refuge, and the whole number in jails and other places of confinement;  also, the whole  number of

  lunatics in county houses and asylums
	Number inmates in county alms-house.	Native born.	d o .1 o u o Ph	CO 8 "3 r-t to	u c3 <S> r-> u S	u c >> +3 W "3 o (=1	"§ a 3 hi	O r-l	Inmates in work-houses.	In penitentiaries.	In jails and city prisons.	In houses of re-fuge.	Total in jails, workhouses, penitentiaries and house of refuge.
	4,956 1,220 1,365 40 38	2,286 305 495 20 10	2,670 915 870 20 28	1,307 1,500 424 8 16	292 328 142 1 3	770 257 342 6 10	837 597 205 3 2 142 461 74 1 9 1	273 135 9 3 4			678 333		
									357	809 153			
													
Syracuse city almshouse and workhouses,...													
													
													
										........I...... ...			
										.....1			
										, .1			
										I			
													
	1							104	144 177				
													
													
										250			
												462 320	
								i					
										|			
	7,619 1 3 iir a . sns			3 255 >fRR		1,385	2 332					,	
											i,i'i i		
Note.—These tables do not inolude the number of lunatics in private asylums, or those placed or kept in private families.
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( 17, )
                    NOTE  A.—(Page 3.)
  It is well ascertained that the average amount exhaled from the
lungs and skin of a  healthy adult in twenty-four hours is 40 oz.,
and  of this quantity about 10  dwt. consists of animal  matter.
With these data it is easy  to  calculate the amount of effete
matter eliminated from the pulmonary and cutaneous surfaces of
the number of inmates usually crowded  together in one of the
sleeping apartments in county poor houses; and supposing this
to be but forty, and it is frequently above that number, it will be
found  that it amounts  to 133 lbs in a single day; by these esti-
mates a judgment may be formed of the degree of liability to
disease, originating  in crowded habitations; the effect of it upon
the healthy and its  certain effect upon the invalid.
                    NOTE B.—(Page 3.)
  There is no classification in  our poor houses.

  "The poor of all classes and  colors, all ages and habits, partake
of a common lare, a common table, and a common dormitory.
The poor widow who has occupied a respectable position in so-
ciety,' and who has been accustomed to the decencies and ameni-
ties of polished, intelligent and christian society, but in conse-
quence of pecuniary misfortune in her declining years, is  com-
pelled to resort to the poor house, finds herself seated at the table
with a negro  wench on one side of her and a filthy prostitute on
the other.  She sleeps  in the  same room  with  the degraded and
the outcast, and is compelled the whole day to associate on equal
terms, and to listen to the obscene and disgusting language of
creatures who are utterly revolting to  her feelings.   Such a
woman  undergoes a daily martyrdom.  To call such  relief a
public charity, is a misnomer and a satire."  (Senate documents
1855, No. 72.) 
214
[Senate
                   NOTE C—(Page  5.)
  "In the year 1831, the total number of persons relieved and
supported at the public cost in the State of New York, was
15,564;  in the year 1841, the number was 61,2)3; in  1851, the
number  was 125,473; and, in 1852, it amounted to 151,399.

  The numerical increase of paupers during the ten years between
1831 and 1841, was 45,639;  or in other words, pauperism had in-
creased 293 per  cent., or in still other words, there were nearly
four paupers in 1841, where there was  only one  in 1831.  The
numerical increase of paupers from 18-11 to 1851,  was 64,270,  or
105 per cent.   There was two paupers  in  1851  where  there was
only one in 1841.  If we compare the number of persons relieved
and supported in 1851, directly with those relieved and support-
ed in 1831, we shall see that during that period of twenty years,
the numerical increase was 109,909.  The  increase per cent was
706; or, rather,  more than eight paupers in 1851 for one in 1831."
(Senate  documents 1855, No. 72.)
                   NOTE D.—(Page 7.)
  "In many cases the teacher is a pauper,  whose temper is soured
and whose intellect is debased, and who spends the school hours
in tormenting, rather than teaching his pupils."  (Senate docu-
ments 1855, No. 72.)
                   NQTE E.—(Page  8.)
  "I have found many children bound out by the superintendents
who never received one hour's education during their apprentice-
ship, and who, at  the  age of twenty-one, were  cast loose on the
world no better than the heathen.  How can children, brought up
in this way, be expected to become anything else than criminals or
paupers, and fathers and mothers of criminals and paupers? They
have no ambition to acquire property, and if they had, they have
no means to acquire it.  They cannot enter into trade, because
in order to do this  with any success they  must be able to read
write and cypher, and this they cannot do.

  Efficient rules  should be  adopted to guard against abuses in
the  apprenticeship of pauper children.  Full  enquiries should
be made as to the character of the  proposed  master and  the
answer  should  be made a  matter  of record.   The parents or 
No. 8.]
215
friends of the apprentice should be cited to attend, and their ob-
jections, if any, should be recorded and carefully weighed.  The
master  should not be allowed to  remove the apprentice from
the town where he was originally bound without the consent in
writing of the superintendents.  The indentures should fully de-
clare the duties of the master and provide  for a proper amount
of schooling and the provision of the necessary school books."
(Senate documents, 1855, No. 72.)
                    NOTE F.—(Page 19.)
  "The custody of the prisoners in the county jail should be taken
from the sheriff and transferred, together with the appointment of
the jailor and the police of the jail, to the county superintendents
of the poor."  (Senate documents, 1855, No. 72.)
                   NOTE G.—(Page  19.)
  "We  shall  understand by the word county prison, a building
in which are kept persons of every age and of each sex and color,
of every rank, fortune, education  and character, some of whom
are charged with no offence but are held to secure their appear-
ance as  witnesses, others of whom are charged with offences of
various  grades, but some of these are innocent and will so appear
on trial, some  are guilty and will  be punished ;  others of whom
are already convicted of trivial  offences and are subjected to
only  a  few weeks or  months of detention.  In this  diversity
of classes some will be found whose habits are orderly and in-
dustrious, others who are idle and vagrant; some whose education
has been moral and whose  tastes are refined, others who are rude,
coarse, filthy and ignorant;  some whose language and deportment
are chaste and decorous, others whose utterance and gesture are
profane and obscene ; some whose commitment, although legal
and  upon  a  true  charge,  implies only a  momentary  excess of
anger or perhaps a too zealous defence of a friend, others  who
are old  residents of prisons, and have led only a criminal life ;
some  who are young  and have been unexpectedly  pressed by a
temptation against which  their very arrest may be a sufficient
security for the future, others who arc practiced corruptors of
youth and seek every  advantage of the inexperienced ; some who
are willing to  be taught the mysteries of robber-craft, others who 
216
[Senate
are expert and anxious to communicate the vicious devices of
of roguery."   (Remarks on Penal System of Pennsylvania  by
William Parker Foulke.)
                    NOTE H.—(Page 23.)
   "Whereas it has long been the policy of this government to com-
bine the separation of convicts one from another with instruction
and suitable manual labor as the best means of discipline  and
reformation: and whereas, it is necessary to the equality of penal
justice, that the administration  of the  county prisons  shall be
uniform, as has been heretofore declared ;  therefore be it enacted,
&c, That every county prison which shall be hereafter erected
within  this commonwealth, shall be so constructed that every
person committed thereto, whether upon conviction or otherwise,
may be confined separate and apart from every other person com-
mitted thereto, due regard being had  in the plan of construction
to the health of the persons to be so confined ; and that before any
county prison  shall be erected in this  commonwealth, the plan of
construction of such prison, drawn - sufficiently in  detail for the
clear comprehension thereof, shall be submitted by the commis-
sioners of the  county in  which the same is to be built  to  the
Secretary of the commonwealth, and shall be inspected and  ap-
proved by him and so certified by him upon the plan, a copy of
which shall be furnished by the  commissioners aforesaid at  the
time of their submitting  the original  as aforesaid, and  shall be
signed by the said secretary and be filed and remain in his office."
(Act of April 8, 1851, Pamphlet  laws  of Pennsylvania, p. 353.)
                    NOTE I.—(Page 23.)
   "We have seen that the most of the evils complained of have
arisen either from a want of the proper powers conferred on poor
law officers, from mal-administratiou of those powers, from igno-
rance of the true principles on which their powers should be ex-
ercised, and which ignorance arises, not from negligence on their
part, but from neglect of the  State  to investigate and ascertain
the facts necessary to be known, from the want of an intelligent
central supervision, from the want of a uniform and reliable sys-
tem of accounts, by frequent  changes of officers,  by which the
whole body of poor  law officers are  continually learning their
business, and as soon as it is learned, they are  discharged and 
No. 8.]                      217

others taken as apprentices.  What we want  then  is, to frame a
body of poor law, which shall obviate these and all other diffi-
culties, and introduce such  other positive improvements as shall
provide for the comfortable maintenance of the virtuous and un-
fortunate  poor—for  the employment of the idle, and lazy, and
shiftless  poor—for the rapid and efficient cure of the  sick and
disabled poor—for the education and industrious training of poor
children,  and  for aiding and encouraging industry among the
poor who are not as yet the subjects  of public charity   In other
words, we wish the government to imitate  the dealings of Divine
Providence, and act as its agent in relation to the poor of  the land.
To accomplish  this purpose a uniform, coherent and intelligible
system must be devised.   It must  be a whole—complete  in all
its parts—each member working in entire harmony with all the
others, to produce a definite and foreseen result.  No patching of
our present poor laws will answer this purpose.  We must begin
at the beginning,  and with  a comprehensive and intelligent grasp
of all the details of the question, enact a complete code which
shall accomplish the desired result." (Senate  document No 72,
1855.) 
 
(18.)
                        EXTRACT
From Revised Statutes, part 4,  chap. 3, title  1, Article 1, 4th
                           edition.

  Sec. 2.  Each county prison shall contain,
  1. A sufficient number of rooms for the confinement of persons
committed on criminal process and detained for trial, separately
and distinct from prisoners under sentence.
  2. A sufficient number of rooms for the confinement  of pris-
oners under sentence.
  3. A sufficient number of rooms for the  separate confinement
of persons committed on civil process, for  contempt, or as wit-
nesses.

  Sec. 4. Prisoners committed on criminal process, and detained
for trial, and persons committed for contempt, or upon civil pro-
cess, shall be kept in rooms  separate  and distinct  from  those in
which persons convicted and under  sentence shall be confined;
and on no pretence whatever shall prisoners detained for trial,
or persons committed for contempt, or upon civil process, be kept
or put in the same room with convicts under sentence.

   Sec 5. Male and female prisoners (except  husband and wife,)
shall not be kept or put in the same room.

   Sec 13.  It shall be the  duty of the keeper of each county
prison to provide  a Bible for each room in  the prison, to be kept
therein and he shall if practicable cause divine service to be per-
formed for  the benefit of the prisoners at least once each Sunday,
provided there shall be a room  in the prison that can be safely
used for that purpose. 
V 
CONTENTS TO APPENDIX.
 1. County Poor Houses, (Alphabetically arranged by Counties,)     ...    27
 2. Orphan Asylums and Homes for the Friendless......-  97
 3. Lunatic Asylums.    _-...------   113
 4. Institution for the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb,   -   -    -    -   - 119
 5. Institution for the Blind,   ----------   122
 6. Hospitals,.......-.....125
 7. Dispensaries,    ------------   147
 8. Eye Infirmary     __----------  151
 9. Houses of Refuge    .._-.-----    5   153
10. Alms Houses, (including the New-York Alms House Department and its several
     Institutions.     ....-.------ 159
11. Jails, (Alphabetically arranged by Counties,)    -.....169
12. Penitentiaries,.....-......*97
13. Work Houses,    ----.......-199
14. Table A. showing the number in  each County Poor House,     -    -    -    - 204
15. Table B. showing the number in  each County Jail,    -    -   -    -   -  208
16. Table C. showing the whole number in confinement in Houses of  Refuge, Jails,
     Penitentiaries, Work Houses, and  also the number  of Lunatics in County
     Houses and in Asylums,.....-    -             -212
17. Notes A. to I,............213
18. Extract from Revised Statutes,     .---        --        - *