Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
STEPHEN H. BRANCH’S
ALLIGATOR.
| Volume I.—No. 20 | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1858. | Price 2 Cents. |
And they Stoned Stephen.
We are told by the Holy Scriptures that oneof the Apostles, who, preaching integrity andtruth to the Pharisees of old, offended thosewho belonged to the Tabernacle of libertines,was brought before the council, which, by arousingpublic sentiment in a seditious manner,caused Stephen to be stoned. And in ourmodern day they have likewise stoned Stephenby placing him, unaccustomed to toil, andguiltless of all crime, save the free exercise ofopinion, to labor in a quarry along with felons,thieves, and other obnoxious convicts; and inthis wise have our modern Pharisees stonedStephen.
The Warden of the Penitentiary, sufferingfrom din of public opinion, has seen proper toextenuate his conduct by stating that he wascompelled, by rigidity of duty, thus to placeMr. Branch in a position of labor. Thus hashe communicated his thoughts for publicationto the editor of the Sunday Mercury, andwhen he uttered them he was well aware thatthey were a mere subterfuge to avoid personalindignity. And now we challenge the Wardento show one single word in his instructionsrendering it compulsory upon him to employany one soul in the quarrying of stone. Onthe contrary, his instructions particularly enjoinupon him the exercise of moderation andforbearance as a taskmaster, and most explicitlydirect that no prisoner, incapable of physicallabor, shall be employed at manual servitude.The law of the State, despite the tendencies ofMr. Fitch, recognizes every being, created inhuman form, to be possessed of a soul, as wellas being of value to the commonwealth; for aman incarcerated in the penitentiary, is notdevoid of civil life as is the case with a convictto the State prison, and wherefore thendid he stone Stephen?
Mr. Fitch, the Warden, may remember thata woman, convicted of the most brutal ofcrimes, which the law unfortunately has leftunvisited by proper punishment, that of themurder of the innocents, as yet unborn, was,during her residence at the Island, favored notonly with the comforts, but the luxuries ofan easy existence. And still they stoned Stephen.
The Warden, in addition to this instance ofthe famous Madame Restell, may rememberthat a French gentleman, convicted of a mostgross and obscene libel upon the Rev. Mr.Verien, was not only suffered to remain inidleness, and without the prison clothes, butwas absolutely lodged in the Warden’s house,remunerating him for his comfortable existenceby instructing his daughters in a knowledgeof the French tongue. And still theystoned Stephen!
The Warden may remember, moreover, thatMr. Judson, convicted of a misdemeanor inexciting the Astor Place riot, was allowedtwo days of weekly absence to attend the publicationof a journal by him published—a factnotorious to every reader of Ned Buntline’sOwn. And still they stoned Stephen!
We are sorry tha