The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-10-26
The Torture Of the Shower Bath.

Gazette, understood to be from the pen of
MIR. Matsell, chief Of police for many years
in that city, makes the startling statement
that The tortures of Sing Sing exceeded far
the punishment of the prisons of Naples, or
of any other country in the world - In H.
lustration and proof of this he describes the
punishment of the shower bath
1--WE were present while the shower bath
was inflicted on four of the prisoners. The
first stripped and fastened in the box, was
pale, consumptive looking creature. After
being fixed on the stool, the water was al
lowed to drop on his naked person for few
minutes which chilled him all over, and the
knees trembled and shook the teeth chatter
ed together, and the eye-balls protruded from
their sockets with painful, despairing & lare.
| Down came the water in volumes upon the
head over the face and the body, filling the
box till it reached the nostrils, and in vain
was the head shaken from side to side, to get
air without water, for no sooner was the
mouth opened than the throat filled, and
when the victim was evidently sutfocating,
the bath was stopped Three or four min
utes were given him to spit up the water i'm
bibed, and recover, when down came the wa
ter again and the same scene was re-enact-
ed for quarter of an hour, which to him
must have been an eternity, in which he bore
the sutferngs of hundred strangulations.-
The others were similarly punished. and
when lifted out of the bath were partly in
sensible, unable to stand and as soon as full
recollection returned. food of tears relieved
them. And what were they punished for !?
Aye, that is the question and II was hard
work to find out, everlbody'S tongue was
tied the answer was insolence, further than
that none would speak. But the man under
the shower bath let the secret out they
were sick-they were poor-whicb is an Of
fence all the world over ; they applied to the
physician for relief for pain in the chest
they were denied ticket Of sickness, they
could not complete their work, and dying
men were shower-bathed because they could
not accomplish impossiblities.
Then came Tom Kelly. His was no Or
dinary case. Half dozen keepers surroun-
ded his eel! when he came out Of it and fol
lowed him to the shower bath. Half doz-
EN- men, armed to the teeth, co?ducted him
to the scene of his sutferngs, where werc
waiting half dozen more to conquer him,
of resistance. Kelly came into the room
pale and livd. The lips were compressed,
the eyes sunken ard half closed, and the
cheek bones projected more prominently than
in ordinary cases, from the compression OF
the jaws. Take oil your clothes. sir. salu
the keeper The mandate Was cbeIcd with
out q rep Ply and he stripped himself make!
and entered the bath. \ convict who stood
bv. fixed his zee; in the stocks, his ha; dis i:
he almlets. and his head under TIE Hoth.-
AS SON as Lr was placed under it. wE.!e Ev
one vas looking. he shook his head sS i'.Ac:i
as to >ay, I've got to suffer The water was
allowed 20 trickle down his face and warm
body for few moments before the bath ftl!
upon his head. \. length It fell. Tom bore
ii We'll, rot a >hiver Of the legs. E,t nu,
cular movement of the hand OF fingers. not /;
single cry Of distress, although he was ;.ciu-
ally being drowned for about ave minutes
You bear i; well. Tom said one Of the
keepers, after the first five minutes had elaps-
ed a:.d tine had been given him 20 rccuprr
ale. IT. 2wtul,' was Toms reply. but can
2 ask for mercy Down came tie sa.cr again
and for five minutes longer the gurghn4
sounds Of a strangulated man were audible
II and when he was exhausted, the cord was lei
r up, and the water stopped. \ few minutes
j. release was granted, and down came the Wa
o ter again, aid the scene was more terrible
than the wors, execution We ever witnessed
y At length congestion the brain was threat
e ened, and hiss from the physician brousE
4 the third seen, to a close. Several minute:
were allowed the unfortunate man to recover
but the punishment was too terrible to Wit
u ness tc the end, and We left He had beer
d fifteen minutes under the shower, but ha,
e twenty five minutes Of the same suffering t
.. endure when We left, and for the next fort,
DAYS the came punishment will be meted ou
Vt to him, unless he dies under the hands of tn
n keeper 1t was an awful spectacle to witneS
Y this man under the bath. Every muscle con
II tracted, and became corded sometimes th
hands would become convulsed and ever,
nerve strained, when there would follow a re
at taxation. Then the water would cease t
in pour, and then would appear the suffering
sr of the culprit the retcEings, the vomiting
&C. Hanging is nothing to the torture OF
;" the shower bath. The man subjected to tn
g torture of the bath for halt an hour suffer
IN ten times the amo.nt of pain caused b
h. s;rangulatlon, Tor the simple reason that JUS
as consciousness is about leaving, and whe
* he would be happy to die, he is brought bac
m to full realization Of his slHerings."
10 STARVATION IN KANSAS. MIR. Hyatt Gale
III upon the President to-day, OH behalf O! tn
tv people of Kansas, who. he alleges, are IN
70 state of starvation, owing to the protractc
or drouth that has visited that territory for tt
o. last year, asking the President to postpor
or the Indian land sales, which are shortly
.e- take place in that territory. He made
90 strong appeal to the President in behalf 0
NJ the famishing people of Kansas, and urge
70 him to call the attention of Congress to II
., matter in his forthcoming message. II
Il President listened to him attentively, and a