Dr. Amos Osborne Squire: physician Sing Sing Prison

              1931

Figure

Dr. Amos Osborne Squire,
Physician Sing Sing Prison
Lecturer on

I.
Crime and Criminals
II.
Why People Commit Crime and How to Meet the Problem
III.
The Commercial Crook
IV.
Famous Criminals I Have Known
V.
The Prison and the Prisoner


FOR TERMS AND DATES ADDRESS
THE POND BUREAU - 25 West 43d Street, New York City



Now comes the man who knows!
DOCTOR AMOS OSBORNE SQUIRE of Ossining, N. Y. graduated in 1899 from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and has been actively engaged in Penology ever since.

In 1900, as acting Chief Physician during the absence of the Medical Officer of Sing Sing Prison, he became interested in criminology.  Since then he has been in constant touch with the Prison as Consulting, and later, Chief Physician.  Wardens have come and gone, but DR. SQUIRE has remained to serve under eight of them.

His lectures are based on his personal experience and intimate contacts with the inmates of New York State's oldest prison, an experience which has enabled him to compile many interesting statistics and draw significant conclusions as to the underlying causes of crime.

President Hoover recently said,

More than 9000 human beings are lawlessly killed in the United States each year.  Little more than half as many arrests follow.  Less than one sixth of these slayers are convicted, and but a scandalously small percentage are adequately punished.  Twenty times as many people in proportion to population are lawlessly killed in the United States as in Great Britain. — Murder can apparently be committed with impunity. — Fifty times as many robberies — are committed in the United States as in the United Kingdom.

In view of the above statement it is interesting and edifying to hear the opinions of one so ably qualified to speak on the subject of crime.

Both in his capacity as Chief Physician and as a man of character and personality he has come to be looked upon by criminals as one in whom they may confide.  They speak to him as to no one else of their troubles, their hopes, their sins, their lives.  He knows the innermost reaches of their secret selves.  In respect to the finer intimacies he is one of them - they speak to DR. SQUIRE as man to man.  He is one of the last men the condemned criminal sees before being strapped in the electric chair.  He gets the criminal's last words, the final unburdening of his heart, before he goes to meet his maker.

And interspersed with the sad are the many entertaining accounts of the personalities that so baffle the police - their characters and their lives; told by a man who not only knows his subject but is an able speaker as well.


Chamber of Commerce, Flint, Mich.

The great number of people who came up to you after the lecture and held you for more than an hour, was evidence of the deep interest you excited.  I do not recall an address before our Chamber that was so helpful toward and understanding of the subject in hand as was yours.

FENTON R. McCREERY

Vassar Brothers Institute Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

On November 13, 1928 Dr. Amos O. Squire of Ossining, N. Y. Spoke before our Institute and was very enthusiastically received.  I have heard a great deal of favorable comment regarding the talk.

ALLEN FROST. Pres.

Pittsburg, Penna.

I should like to have said to you the things I am unable to dictate.  Your address was as intensely fascinating as anything I have ever listened to at the banquet board.  You have a great subject to discuss, and one that I am sure is worthy of the deep thought of any audience.

ALBERT KENNEDY ROWSWELL





His Lectures

Crime and Criminals
In developing this lecture Dr. Squire describes the cost of crime to the United States and the number of people involved.  He mentions the influence on crime of occupation, law, heredity, feeble-mindedness, lack of religious training, environment, war, newspapers, motion pictures, insanity, laziness, physical disability, drugs, and the professional criminal.  Dr. Squire discusses solitary confinement, capital punishment, deportation of alien criminals, the paying of wages, probation, the Baumes Law, and the influence of such organizations as the Boy and Girl Scouts.

Why People Commit Crime and How to Meet the Problem.
Of general interest to all and particular interest to those concerned with the whys and wherefores of crime is this lecture, in which Dr. Squire defines Crime and discusses the purpose of punishment.  He also treats The Responsibility of Society for Crime, Heredity and Environment as related to Crime, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, The Attitude of the Criminal, The Female and Juvenile Criminal, Sex Crimes, The Effect of Punishment on Others, The Good that Remains in the Criminal and How to Save it, The Defective and Insane, The Relation of War to Crime, Pardons and Paroles, Remedies.

The Commercial Crook
This lecture is of particular interest to such organizations as Credit Men's Associations, Better Business groups, bankers, industrialists and commercial men, who are concerned with crimes against property and those who commit them.  It deals with such matters as the passing of worthless checks, forgery, fraudulent credit, swindling, etc., by which the business men of this country lose several billions of dollars each year.  The problem is acute.  What sort of men commit these crimes?  How can the crimes be stopped, the criminals apprehended and punished?  How can the potential commercial crook be deterred from crime?  Treated from the economic viewpoint, this lecture purposes the lessening of financial losses to business due to criminal activities.

Famous Criminals I Have Known
In this lecture Dr. Squire tells his listeners interesting personal observations concerning a number of well known criminals, most of them condemned to death and electrocuted.  The talk, given in an intimate, personal manner, treats with the personalities, human side-lights and amusing anecdotes of Roland B. Molineaux; Albert T. Patrick; Charles Becker, the New York Police Lieutenant; Dr. Arthur Warren Waite; Gordan Faucet Hamby, the bank murderer; Father Hans Schmidt; Charles F. Stielow; Joseph Cohen; John Shillitoni; the Diamond brothers, Morris and Joseph; and scores of equally interesting criminals.

The Prison and The Prisoner
In this lecture Dr. Squire speaks of the criminal after his conviction, as a prisoner and his relation to the prison.  Dr. Squire discusses such subjects as the Prisoner Himself, the Court and the Prisoner, Control over the Prisoner, Self-Government by the Prisoner, the Prison Officer, Industrial Training for the Prisoner, the Prisoner in the Road Camp, the Union Man and the Prisoner, the Man Who Comes Out of Prison, the Community Center, and the Delinquent.  This talk is of special import to those interested in prison reform and welfare.





Did they like him?

ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCES
A Partial List of Places Where Dr. Squire Has Lectured.


Harvard Club, New York City
Yale Club, New York City
Knife and Fork Club, South Bend, Ind.
Rockaway Hunt Club, Cedarhurst, L. I., N. Y.
National Arts Club, New York City
National Ass'n of Credit Men, (twice) Rochester, N. Y.
National Ass'n of Credit Men, Syracuse, N. Y.
National Ass'n of Credit Men, New Jersey
Century Club, Passaic, N. J.
Vassar Brothers Institute, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Men's Club, White Plains, N. Y.
Chamber of Commerce, Fint, Mich.
Youngstown Forum (twice) Youngstown, Ohio.
Optimist Club, Syracuse, N. Y.
Passaic Collegiate School, Passaic, N. J.
United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y.
Ossining School for Girls (twice) Ossining, N. Y.
Peekskill Military Academy (twice) Peekskill, N. Y.
Briarcliff High School, Briarcliff, N. Y.
Stevens School, Hoboken, N. J.
Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Museum of Natural History, New York, N. Y.
Normal School, Trenton, N. J.
St. John's Military School, Ossining, N. Y.
University Club, Milwaukee
Executives Club, Chicago
Cranbrook School, Detroit, Mich.
Women's Club, Wheeling, W. Va.
Mens' Club, Great Neck, L. I.
Roxbury School, Cheshire, Conn.
Rotary Club, New York City
Rotary Club, Toledo, Ohio.
Morningside Presbyterian Church, New York, N. Y.
Congregational Church, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
National City Bank Club of New York, N. Y.
United States Trust Company Club of New York, N. Y.



Read these letters from past listeners
Youngstown, Ohio. April 1, 1929.

I want you to know that your lecture on Why People Commit Crime was so well received here in Youngstown that we want you to lecture again before our forum on Sunday, February 16th, 1930.  You will have an audience in the auditorium of about 3,000 persons and a radio audience of over a hundred thousand.

LEONARD SKEGG

The Inn, Buck Hills, Pa.

It was not only the most entertaining lecture we have ever had, but one of the most constructive.

CHARLES M. THOMPSON

Rochester Association of Credit Men

I want to thank you in the name of the Association and also personally for the wonderful address you gave at our meeting in this city Wednesday evening, November 14th.  The Secretary and myself and other active members of our Association have heard many comments from the general membership of a most flattering nature to yourself.  The fact that you talked to the meeting for more than an hour without the least sign of restlessness on the part of your audience is sufficient testimony of your ability and your method.

H. H. CASE, Pres. Nov. 16, 1928

The Century Club, Passaic, N. J.

It is sometimes difficult to express approval of an address in terms which do justice to the speaker and yet do not seem exaggerated.  It is only fair to Dr. Squire, however, to say that his address before the Century Club last evening, gave complete satisfaction to every member of the audience.

BAYARD M. GREEN, Nov. 22, 1928

Syracuse Association of Credit Men 511 Clark Music Building

May 15, 1929

Dr. Amos O. Squire, Ossining, N. Y.

Dear Dr. Squire:

On behalf of the officers and Executive Committee of the Syracuse Association of Credit Men, I wish to again thank you for the inspiring address which you gave before the Association on Crime and Criminals.

Many, many thanks for your splendid contribution towards the success of the evening.

ROBERT B. PORTER, President

March 28, 1930

As you know, the members of the University Club of Milwaukee recently had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Amos Osborne Squire.  I, personally, have received so many complimentary allusions to the Doctor, and so many members have expressed themselves as being extremely interested in his talk and the manner in which he delivered it, that I cannot refrain from writing to you and so stating.  I have never seen one of our audiences so attentive and interested.

Yours very truly,
B. L. WORDEN, President University Club of Milwaukee

South Bend Knife and Fork Club South Bend, Indiana

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that our membership was very well pleased with your lecture which you gave before our Club on Tuesday evening, March 19th.

G. M. JOHNSON, President

State Charities, Albany, N. Y.

Your lectures on Crime and Criminals have always been of great interest to me because of the knowledge that your statements were based on actual facts and on an unusually extensive knowledge of prisons and prisoners.  Your ability to express your thoughts lucidly, and the additional ability of always keeping your feet on the ground, would seem to me to make your lectures extremely valuable and instructive to your hearers.

CHARLES H. JOHNSON, Director

Syracuse, May 16, 1929

I was so pleased with your lecture before the National Credit Men's Association I had to go and hear your lecture at the Optimist Club of this City the very next day.

FREDERICK W. BETTS, Minister First Universalist Church

ROTARY CLUB OF TOLEDO Toledo, Ohio

August 11, 1930

Dear Mr. Pond:

Just wanted to let you know how much our members enjoyed the talk which Dr. Amos Squire gave to our Club this noon.  It was one of the finest talks we have had in a long time, and on a subject in which our members were deeply interested.

Rotarily yours,
(signed) RAY LOFTUS

THE ROXBURY SCHOOL CHESHIRE, CONNECTICUT

May 12, 1930

Dear Sir:

Let me say that we enjoyed this lecture extremely.  Dr. Squire had exactly the manner of delivery which is best suited to engage the attention of our boys.  They were so much interested that they were unwilling to let Dr. Squire get away, and kept asking him questions continually after the formal lecture was over.  I imagine Dr. Squire must have had the same success at other schools.

Very sincerely yours,
(signed) A. N. SHERIFF

The WOMEN'S CLUB of WHEELING WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA

March 30th

My dear Mr. Pond:-

Dr. Squire was a greater success than I anticipated.  After an hour and a half on the platform they were loathe to let him make his train.  The men were intensely interested and said they would come every Friday from now on when possible, so you see Wheeling is appreciative for such men as Dr. Squire and his talk has sown seeds which will bring excellent results.

Very sincerely yours,
(signed) VIRGINIA E. BRENNAN (Mrs. J. B. Jr.)

A Great Speaker for all Occasions. — A Man Whose Subject Always Appeals.
A Man Who Entertains While He Informs.