78 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



street, where they put them on a boat 

 and they are sent up to the "summer re- 

 sort" on Blackwell's Island. 



Now we have left the foot of East 

 Twenty-sixth street, and going up the 

 East river we come to the first building on 

 Blackwell's Island, which is now known 

 as the City Hospital. It used to be called 

 the Charity Hospital. It is about on the 

 same footing as Bellevue Hospital, doing 

 about the same work, and the care is 

 about the same in every way as given in 

 Bellevue. 



We will now take one or two squints 

 into the interior of this hospital and I 

 will first show you a ward for convale- 

 scents — that is the convalescent ward. 

 These men have been there some time. 

 They are nearly all well of the ailment 

 which they had on entering, and are 

 about ready to go home. They are able 

 to sit up and play games, and they wait 

 the time to come when the physicians 

 tell them they can go home. 



Now I will show you another kind of 

 a room. This is a ward not for conva- 

 lescents, but a ward for incurables. These 

 old women you have seen here have been 

 pronounced incurable, and when that 

 time comes they are sent into this ward. 

 They are just waiting for the time to 

 come, when they will be released from 

 their sufferings by death. 



We will hasten on to another building. 

 You see here a building and a number of 

 tents up. Now it has been proven that 

 many diseases are better treated in the 

 summer time in tents. Typhus fever, ty- 

 phoid fever and many other diseases are 

 better treated in the summer time in tents. 

 So that a large number of these tents are 

 put upon Blackwell's Island, in order 

 that patients may get outdoor treatment. 



Now we will take a look into the in- 

 terior of another ward for incurables in 

 one of these buildings. The doctors are 



making a diagnosis of a case on the other 

 side of the room. 



I think there are one or two other pic- 

 tures quite similar to the one you see 

 here. This is also a ward for incurables. 

 It is a part of the little pavilion over on 

 the Island. I noticed when I went 

 through there, for these are photographs 

 that were taken, most of them by myself 

 and a friend who went with me- 1 noticed 

 when I went into one of the wards for 

 incurables for men — it was just a little 

 before election time, and I spoke to the 

 doctor, whom I happened to know, and 

 who went through with me. I said, 

 "These men don't quite look to me as 

 though they were incurable." He said, 

 "No," but they will be incurable until 

 just before election, and then they will 

 be sent down to the city to vote the 

 proper ticket. 



Now here is a building that does not 

 look like any of the buildings here. You 

 notice the windows are very small, with 

 strong iron bars going across from above 

 downwards and crossways, so that a hu- 

 man being cannot squeeze through the 

 windows. This is a picture of the Peniten- 

 tiary on Blackwell's Island, the home for 

 thieves and thugs, and murderers and ward 

 heelers, and ex-aldermen (laughter), and 

 sometimes political bosses. There is a 

 room up there which they will point out 

 where one famous political boss spent 

 the last days of his life. Now that 

 Penitentiary accommodates 2,100 prison- 

 ers and it is generally full. 2,100 prison- 

 ers spend their time there; and what is 

 very peculiar about a prisoner is that if 

 he is a prisoner once, he is generally a 

 prisoner the greater part of his life. Now 

 I never could see any great enjoyment in 

 a life of crime. I have never tried it, 

 and do not think I shall ever try it, be- 

 cause a prisoner generally spends the 

 most part of his life in prison and at hard 

 labor. I just happen to know of a per- 



