The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-31 00:00:00

ALLEGED OVER-WORK AND INSUPPRIEST
DIET IN A PRISON.

IMPORTANT INVESTIGATION.—(THIS DAY.)
This morning Mr. John Humphreys, Middlesex
Coroner, held as inquiry at the Leigh Hoy Tavern, Slue.
end Newtown, Mails. Se the death, furs alleged gee,
lap in prison, of Rdward Barrett, aged 18 years.
The first witness called was
Miry Ass Barrett, who said that she was the :gnu of
the dammed, and lived at 23, Devonshire-street, Cow.
aereial-read. The deceased was • carpenter; he did not
live with witness. At Christine" last he was strong and
well. On the 26th February she learned that he had
been sent to prison for two months, and that hie term
was up. She had heard nothing of the affair before.
She believed he was imprisoned for the theft of
seine scams. She went to the prison to
meet
him coming out. She found him no to
nger
healthy sad shwas. He was so weak that be had o I
on her arm—he is on her arm heavily. He told her that
he had bees very ill in prison. He said that he was so
ill
that he was enable to work, and he was sentenced to two
days or three days (she could not tell which) on bread
and water because he could not work. It was the prison
system that caused his death. He was found dead in bed
on Thursday last.
Charlotte Maxwell deposed that she kept a lodging.
house at No. 1, George-street, Spitalfields. The deceasedlodged with her before and after he was imprisoned. Be
was in good health before he went to prison. lie was
very ill indeed when he cams out. He said that h. was
stoned in prison and that he could nt dtoto the work
oa the wheel. He had to come down off it, and he .
plained to the doctor, who " accordingly " put him ea
bread and water. He said he had been five days out of
seven ese bread and water. Witness found him lying on
his back dead, last Thursday, and she sent for the pollee
who brought the police surgeon.
Coroner— How did he live since he CMG out of prism!
Witness—Well, all those that knew of his cam were
very kind to him and gave him every kind of nourishment,
such as meat, wine, ke., that they could get. lie could
not work since he came out.
Coroner—Perhaps you may have iome other lodger. that
were unfortunate. Do you know what WU their state
upon coming out of prison ?
Witness rafter a little hesitation)—There is one. He
CMG out last week in • very bad state. He was in for two
months, and be was well before he went in. I know of
some four or five in the neighbourhood who have also been
made ill by the treatment. There was a man named
Collins, who died from it last week. They say that Mimi.
sonment now is simply killing them.
The coroner directed a sergeant of police to go and find
the discharged prisoner spoken of by Dila. Maxwell, arid
av others that might be about.
kr. G. Baxter.j'hillips, police surgeon, said that helwas
'called in to the deceased after death. The post-mortem
examination showed that death resulted from an effusion
of blood into the lungs from a cavity the edges of which
were adherent to the pleura. There were tubercles in the
lungs. The body was anom.eic and emaciated. lie should
consider that the deceased had consumption for two years,
sad that his state must have been apparent months put.
He was unfit, witness should arty, to work en the tread.
mill.
James Thomas Weston sworn, and he gave the follow-
ing evidence with apparent truthfulness. He said I live
at Maxwell', lodging-house. I was imprisoned at Cold-
bath-fieldsfor two months. I wan well and hearty when
I went in. I became very ill on the wheel twice. The first
time I rot two days bread and water, and the wooed
time two days bread and water. I could hardly stand when I
came out, and I am now attending Devonshire.square
Hospital for weakness and shortness of breath. (He handed
in the hospital letter.) It was the prison, and nothing
else, made ore iIL I knew deceased and Collins before they
went in, and they were both in good health. Culling is
dead now. He died before I came out last Tuesday. It
was the treatment that did fur
Coroner—How long are you on the wheel ?
Witness—From half-past six in the morning, sir, till
five at night, half an hour off and quarter on. When
I complained of Hines", and sawthe doctor, he ordered me
bread and water. At least he does it this way—he says,
"Go on, there is • nothing the matter with you, and the
warder puts that In a book, and you go up before the
gtowAveerojtorroryl who
—Hut
andst
o, o
doubt hg
enti
natho the wheel e l withoutyou
would
glad to get off the wheel on any kind of excuse!
Witness—Yes, they would, and so would you as any-
body if you were half starved, and could not stand
the work. They have to work without anything
till 8 o'clock. Then they get 1 pint of gruel end 6 or. of
bread. The same, 1 pint of gruel and 6 or. of breed
is given for dinner on Mondays' Thursdays, and Friday'.
Oa Tuesdays and Saturdays the dinner is Nola. of potatoes,
4ou. of meat, and tam of bread. On Sunday the dinner
is 1 pint of soup and 6oza. of bread. For supper at 5 o'clock
they get half a pint of gruel and Lion. of bread.
me Coroner said that the food deposed to could not be
said to be enough to enable a man to get through bard
labour.
A Juror—Does not the doctor in the prison examine
you when you complain ?
Withers—He only examines you by looking at you.
You have to tell the warder what is the matter with you,
and lie is supposed to put it in a book and show it to the
doctor, who ails in a chair and looks at you. I com-
plained of shortness of breath and pains aorom the
back.

Corcner—What were you imprisoned for?
Witness— I was sent in for knocking a man down.
After a pause the witness added, as if resolved to make
a clean breast of everything, " And taking 12s. rid. away
from him."
George Adams, 33, Flower-and-Dean•street, mid that
be was a weaver. He had been imp lamed for
three months in Coldbath-fields prison and he came
eat on Friday morning last. (He detailed the kind of
food given in precisely the same terms as Thomas.) He
was suffering from illness when he went in. lie came of
the wheel through illness. For seven weeks he had only
re pint of gruel and 6 ounces of bread for sapper. He
had no meat at all given him for those seven weeks. He
was under medical treatment during that time. He was
excused the wheel through weakness after that. The
weakness was from the diet, end nothing more.
Coroner—Was the bread end gruel gives to you as
punishment?
Witness—l do not know sir, but it was punishment to
ma I was so weak when I came out that I had to be Id
oat, and could not work since. When under the doctor I
was examined every Monday. He only sounded we when
I came out. I had pains in my lungs and heart when I
erne out I had nothing of that kind when I went in. I
was imprisoned for loitering, not for robbery. I was in
ones before for a common assault, committed when I was
drank.
Thos. Smith, 19, TLrawl-street, that he
had no trade, for his parents died when he was you i.e. He
same out of Coldbath-fields a month ago. (He rearmed
the evidence of Thomas as to the diet given.) He was
well when be went in ; now he was going to the hospital.
• fortnight before he mane out he complained of his side.
The doctor said, "It is nothing," and be was obliged to
work on the wheel until he came out. When lir.
rated he could hardly walk home, he had to era wL
He went to the hospital at MOIL He and all the prisoner'
had to pick oakum after doing the ten hour a day on the
wheel. If the oakum was not properly picked, ).read and
water was given for one or for two days. Witness got
bread and water two or three times for coining of the
wheel through weakness. He bad been blistered all over
the left side at the hospital, when the doctor said that he
was very bed. (The hospital letter was banded in.)
By the Cormier—Witness had been in for twelve months
before. He was not *mad in health b that, for he got
Snit-chum diet. It was not the lea of term, but the
starvation that did the mischief. All fen three months
get second-class diet. Those in for fourteen days got
third-deem diet—gruel and bread alone. He was en for
piaking Blake,Hoary36 Flowerand•Deen-street, deposed that
he wee a tailor. He came out of Coldbathdields, on
Friday bet, after Um months' imprisonment. He got
the roond.elass diet. He got pains in the loins stand chest,
" Prime Napoleon," lark the Libert4, " Gees and saw the doctor eight ea. Four times he excused
not intend leaving Perim at present. His imperial high• the work, and put him on 6%d and gruel. On one ors.
new win, it Is said, remain at the Fatale Hoye tillabaci sioa the dater dad net believe him, and he was put on
bead end water • en another erasion his meat was
the 20th April, wises be will start for Turin to be premed atopprd .ad ha ra'a and was .. admathabed..
at the marriage of his brother Prince Humbert." U aurae goes 'before the doctor end the doctor does
The littletheetwed the Conservatoirede Musique, nothing the prisoner is seat on bread and water for
skulking at work," that frightens rode from getting
Paris, presented on Saturday night a bdhlisat appearmale, of the wheel even wh
oen they are ffi.
very Wit
em the reasien el die Duke de Maas having porker dwe weer' want priam.....aaw his it& wa., had :ad
his opera of Dante performed, Mdlle. Ntilson was ton be cold not week.
white with blue rah, peril resod the nook, and white These last four prisoners all looked quite ill and broken*
rem in her hair, and bolding a bouquet of lilacs and &wt.
Mr. Baxter Phillips, recalled, said the diet as described
whits
nsaLagarch The ctira of Dnntd is divided into time by the edema quite insufficient to enable the men to
porter•— in a was Reg •• perform hard I:l7oser. It was quite inadequate foe the de.
by U. fade Berea& esaleirice that it wee emend with ceased, having regard to the condition of his lunge. Hard
peat seet,lsemasen. Faure wee also seven) times applauded labour was dangerous for him under eny6reumatuces,but
pad parse duly in a duo with Hempard (bus). without nutritious diet it was most improper. The diet
, given would tend to develop incipient disease, where such
A letter • from Monteean-lee-Mines, in the Pier* Md.
of the Odra ot-1••••• rya Os, night at the bedsit* I The Coroner, in summing up, said that whoever heard
of the mesh some peers hitherto undiscovered raised the leaking sough of some of the witnesses and saw ties
oe of all must agree with the medical evidence
411 a a kiimiti U. PIM.
rad, dy bearing f MP= diet described .not adapted to sustain the
egingidaditulowell --;ltzilth and strength of th who were imprisoned. The
. • lose le Gee& Amos The Pone* at 004, uiry wee one of °onside/7 emporium', sad no doubt
Nesr, wed am endeavouring toilsome: the the facts elicited would lead to an alteration of a system
WV' " 'that was shown to have such destructive consequences to
. Th. Yu*ti timid& has qualified oount Ms: I health "Kt life'
The foreman said that noes of the dirks:Bed prisoners
marMki>r Ihillifide Phis Wee he the Obeid* Of LOOK bar in a rate that would permit them to do hall a &el
in that einseshigie the sepremetes iwuKk even if they could get it to do,
4.11mk deo 4 headed propriemes in his movies, Teo Lucy returned a verdie•, " That deraged was found
00.1•..11110001, mown bei seer* Uwe 'ILIHnt-Eraim as affaaSaa oI blood en the 'hest and eon.
on ; that the eonswnptive condition olthe decreed
senile eassiemialie 4 the end 4 the eeisielleaue "Mel =7 tire his death wee accelerated
its derived his title. His **sip hoe detethillesti blahs **deer dielltint& be was kept be the Culdbath-
FlOll-kt, -iteriedite=r - hem Sem et Oeaseenes ; and time (my are of
.opinion
sio; fax* 41141. tr.serlziturairs. ffi
sAlsstbn of theieept for
rrisaFtma= 4groilteti per
siege 01711 lo le draw* to the fasts diselostd:
said %et he wt u. 14 writs I. the &mho.
AS ~lt at esesiPise "PlegegaZ sehket, as the luny requested.