The Pickens Sentinel

A Free Country

It has always been thought, by readers of the daily papers, that New York had a fair share of crime; but it appears that the place has never been permitted to show its real criminal strength, on account of a law which makes it a crime to be a witness. It appears that when a witness, or a probable witness, is discovered, who has any knowledge of a criminal transaction, he is at once arrested and placed in the 'house of detention,' which is nothing less than a prison and from which he can only be released upon bail. In this place witnesses are sometimes kept for months, and even years, while the criminal himself is out on bail! It will be seen, therefore, that the penalty against any one for making a complaint, or giving information that a crime has been committed, is very severe, and by this means much of the crime committed in New York is kept out of the courts and not made a burden of expense upon the people. Strangers in New York, who have had their pockets picked or been robbed, can secure justice only by going to prison themselves for a few months, while their assailant is out on bail, busily and industriously engaged in picking pockets enough to fee a lawyer to clear him; and to such a complexion does it come at last that the poor victim is ready to fall on his knees before the man who has robbed him, and implore him to be merciful and release him from prison. But pick-pockets, as a class, are a hard-hearted lot, and usually spurn the supplicant unless his offer is accompanied by a tender of money. Our Western people, when in New York on business or pleasure, should take care not to place themselves in the power of these merciless wretches by being robbed by them. In case, however, such a misfortune cannot be prevented, and a person finds his pocket-book stolen, he should make a break to get out of the city, and die rather than be taken.