William A. Coffey to Thomas Jefferson, 19 August 1823
From William A. Coffey
New York Aug. 19. 1823.
sir,
I herewith send you a copy of “Inside Out,” a work just published in this city for the benefit of its author, which you will please to accept from him. Divested of his profession, and with a dependant family, without the means of acquiring a livelihood but by the labours of his pen, he has made a trifling attempt at authorship in the compiling of this work, with the hope in some degree of advancing his pecuniary views.
Approaching you as the uniformly active friend of the unfortunate, and as one of the most distinguished Philanthropists in America, he is confident that you will not discountenance his efforts, but readily believe of him, in the expressive words of Byron,
| That there are hues not always faded, |
| Which shew a mind not all degraded, |
| Even by the crimes thro’ which it waded. |
Be pleased to acknowledge the receipt of “Inside1 Out”; and believe me to be sir,
| Wm A. Coffey |
| 80 Maiden Lane |
| care of Jos. Molyneux |
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 26 Aug. 1823 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: “One Who Knows” [Coffey], Inside Out; or, An Interior View of the New-York State Prison; together with biographical sketches of the lives of several of the convicts (New York, 1823; Poor, Jefferson’s Library, 11 [no. 632]).
William A. Coffey (ca. 1797–1840) was a lifelong resident of New York City who served for a time as secretary of the local Hamilton Society. Although “bred a lawyer,” he soon fell into “the habit of putting into circulation bank checks, drawn in the name of fictitious persons.” Convicted in 1819 of forgery and passing a check he knew to be forged, Coffey was deemed “a proper subject for example” and sentenced to seven years hard labor in the state penitentiary. After Governor DeWitt Clinton pardoned him in 1822, Coffey published a monograph about his experiences the following year. Thereafter he taught languages and reopened his legal practice in the city (New York Evening Post, 13 Dec. 1815; New York Commercial Advertiser, 20 May 1819; [Coffey], Inside Out, 20, 102–3, 124, 189; Longworth’s New York Directory [1817]: 152; [1826]: 132; [1834]: 199; [1838]: 162; 6 Feb. 1840 funeral record, Episcopal Diocese of New York).
The expressive words penned by George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron, were taken from lines 863–5 of his poem The Giaour, A Fragment of a Turkish Tale (7th ed., London, 1813), 42.
On 19 and 29 Aug. 1823, respectively, Coffey wrote James Madison and John Adams similar letters covering copies of the work enclosed here (, 3:107–8; MHi: Adams Papers).
1. Omitted opening quotation mark editorially supplied.
Index Entries
- Adams, John; works sent to search
- books; of poetry search
- books; on jails and prisons search
- Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron; quoted search
- Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron; The Giaour, A Fragment of a Turkish Tale search
- Coffey, William A.; identified search
- Coffey, William A.; Inside Out; or, An Interior View of the New-York State Prison (written as “One Who Knows”) search
- Coffey, William A.; letter from search
- Inside Out; or, An Interior View of the New-York State Prison (”One Who Knows” [W. A. Coffey]) search
- jails and prisons; books on search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
- Madison, James (1751–1836); works sent to search
- Molyneux, Joseph search
- New York (state); prisons in search
- New-York State Prison (New York City) search
- The Giaour, A Fragment of a Turkish Tale (Byron) search