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Sing Sing Prison

1899 And The Making Of New York City

April 26, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 5 Comments

original St James Hotel on Broadway & 26th StreetOn August 31st, 1901, Polish-American anarchist Leon Czolgosz booked a room in Nowak’s Hotel at 1078 Broadway.

Six days later he made a trip to Buffalo, site of the Pan-American Exposition where President William McKinley was due to speak. He shot him from close range. [Read more…] about 1899 And The Making Of New York City

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Architecture, Auburn Prison, Crime and Justice, Fires, Irish Immigrants, Jewish History, Manhattan, New York City, Oscar Hammerstein, Performing Arts, Sing Sing Prison, Theatre, Theodore Roosevelt, Transportation History

Sing Sing’s Mysterious Inmate Author Number 1500 Revealed

March 4, 2019 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Life in Sing Sing by Number 1500In 1904, one year after his release from prison, a felon who used only the pen name Number 1500 wrote the book Life in Sing Sing, a rare look at what it was like to serve time inside the legendary penitentiary. The author also presents his thoughts on effective methods of rehabilitation. He comments, “The attitude…toward convicts that belong to the recidivist class is to punish them severely and, having failed with hard measures, to try harder ones.”

[Read more…] about Sing Sing’s Mysterious Inmate Author Number 1500 Revealed

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, Crime and Justice, Ossining, Sing Sing Prison

The Mysterious Death of the Angel of Sing Sing

April 4, 2017 by Miguel Hernandez 8 Comments

Warden & Mrs. LawesPerhaps you have never heard of Katherine Lawes. Katherine was the wife of Lewis Lawes, warden at Sing Sing Prison from 1920-1941.

Sing Sing had the reputation of destroying wardens. The average warden’s tenure before Lewis Lawes was two years. “The easiest way to get out of Sing Sing,” he once quipped, “is to go in as warden.” In his 21 years he instituted numerous reforms – and an important part of his success was due to his wife Katherine. [Read more…] about The Mysterious Death of the Angel of Sing Sing

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Ossining, prisons, Sing Sing Prison

Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account

December 28, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

50 Years in Sing Sing PrisonWritten more than eighty years ago, Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account, 1879-1929 (SUNY Press, February, 2015) is the personal account of Alfred Conyes (1852–1931), who worked as a prison guard and then keeper at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, from 1879 to 1929.

This unpublished memoir, dated 1930, was found among his granddaughter’s estate by his great-granddaughter Penelope Kay Jarrett. [Read more…] about Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Ossining, Sing Sing Prison

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