The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1858-10-28

For the Guardian.
Ma. EDIroR "A communication un-
der the signature Of :. HuMANIrY." APP
pears in the last number of the Eagle,
charging upon person not named, a
demoniacal act Of cruelty to the late UNI
I fortunate insane man confined in the
county Jail. As the article can be inter
preied to apply to me only, | ask, through
your columns, to be permitted to make a
plain statement Of facts about the mat
ter complained Of.
The Sheriff, Mr.. MARTIN, employed
me to do some carpenter work on
the jail. and as he expected to be occa-
sionally from home, requested me to
board with him, and take care Of the
prisoner, during his absence. And so,
on Wednesday morning last, while Civ
ing the prisoner his breakfast, he trcach-
crously dealt me severe blow in the
face, and attempted otherwise to hurt me-
This, considering his state, in no man
ner resented but l was advised by
many persons to whip him ia case he
again attacked me and was told by per-
sons who have had care of him, that
could control him only by opposing force
to force, but | continued to treat him
uniformly with the same Kindness as be-
fore, and to allow him every indulgence
could consistently. On Saturday morn
ing last on entering the door, l saw
Henry's face smeared in most disgust
ing way. what at first supposed to be
with blood l stepped up and asked
him what was the matter, when he sprang
at me furiously, struck at me with his
irons, threw his pail Of water OF me. ;,
threw key slaves at me, and missiles
made of his own excremen:, and order
ed me in violent language to. leave
Now, in such state of affairs, l was
compelled to eitherresign my authority
over him. and consequently my ability
to serve him, or make an attempt to sub
due him-I decided upon the latter, I'M
pleasant alternative as it was, and pro-
cured piece of sawed stuff, about two
feet long. two inches wide at one end, ;,
and three quarters of an inch thick, and
hit him several smart strokes with the
fiat of the same, on the shoulder-he
swearing furiously and fighting l saw
that my object could not be attained in
that way, and desisted l then saw sew
eral women standing at distance from
the door. not inside, who appeared to be
much excited, and from whom the charge
in question came, as suppose. Now,
in all this. acted only with the object of
enforcing respect and good behavior
knowing, as and many others do, that
only conviction on his part, of superior
force in his keeper, could answer that
end. The persons standing outside and
seeing nothing but the chastisement,
may be naturally supposed to have SYM
pathised with the prisoner, but were too
incorporate in their report of the matter,
and moreover, contounded the prisoners
language with words used by me. That
! did not cruelty beat him, has been es-
tablished since his death by suicide, by
the person who washed and dressed him,
and others present with him, as there
were no marks Of violence on him but
such as were clearly self -inflicted.
/ trust that this community will not
lightly believe me capable of the base
conduct ascribed to me. | would fur
ther say that am justified by those ac-
quainted with the character of the crazy
man, and that. ] am not blamed by the
father of the unfortunate man himself.
who was shown the stick with which the
strokes were given, as the Sheriff will
testify. Further, it is well known, that
while in his fathers charge, he repeated
ly attempted to hang himself that about
week since, he made hay rope, which
he showed to Mr.. Briggs, and signifed
what he intended to do with it, and that
frequent theme with him Of late had
been self-destruction, and the means
with which to accomplish it.
l repeat. that did only what the oc-
cason seemed to call for, and that trust
the public viii be SO persuaded, and re-
gard the scandalous article alluded to as
it merits. j. DEGREES.
Gone mp under the Hoop. ~
The West Point Ga. Citizen tells the !
following of a married man at the COM
mencement exercises of q certain college
IN GeOrUla this Snrnn1ar n !