FULL TEXT: New York, July 6. -- The plight of a prisoner in the custody of Sheriff David H. Knott and who is one of his guests in the old Ludlow street jail is a problem that is perplexing both the sheriff and his counsel. It has resolved itself into the, question “Can a civil prisoner serve a life sentence?”
It
seems to be the consensus of opinion of both the sheriff and his counsel it
must be answered in the affirmative until such time as the law is amended. The
man is David Goldhaber. He has been in Ludlow street jail since March 3, last,
as a member of the alimony club, for alleged failure to pay his wife, Anna,
$500 arrears of alimony
for support. Goldhaber was first arrested on August 14, 1917. His wife feared
he would leave the State. He gave bond on March 5, last. He was surrendered by
his bondsman and sent to jail.
If
Goldhaber was in jail on a contempt of court order he could serve six months
and automatically be set free, but the order of arrest gives the sheriff no
alternative but to hold him in his custody indefinitely.
The
prisoner declared he finds himself in jail without funds and unable to par his
wife alimony.
The
Sheriff, on consultation with his attorneys, George Olvany and George I. Engle,
was informed there was no provision in law whereby an alimony prisoner can
effect his release until the wife has been paid her alimony, and that unless
the law is amended or the courts order complied with, Goldhaber must remain a
life member of the alimony club in the old bastile.
Sheriff
Knott, discussing the plight of Goldhaber, referred to it as one of the horrors
of imprisonment for debt, and quoted an opinion of Justice Vans, of the court
of appeals, as applying to the situation, in which the Justice said:
“Imprisonment
for debt dies hard. It is barbarous, cruel and senseless. It puts its victim
in jail in order to make him do something which in most instances the
imprisonment itself prevents him from doing.”
[“Can’t Pay Alimony, Faces Jail For Life,” The Washington
Times (D.C.), Jul. 6, 1919, p. 9]
For more revelations of this suppressed history, see The Alimony Racket: Checklist of Posts
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[456-8/14/21]
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