The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-10-31
Terrible TOrture---Ths Shower Bath.

The prisons of Naples, as far as exquisite
torture is concerned, do not exceed in horror
the New York State prison at Sing Sing. A
New York paper gives an account Of the ap-
plication of the shower bath to Tom Kelly,
desperate villain, who recently led an attempt
to escape from the institution. 1t says:
His was no ordinary case. Half a dozen
keepers surrounded his cell when he came
out of it, and followed him to the shower bath.
Half a dozen men armed to the teeth. con-
Quoted him to the scene Of his sufferings.
where were waiting half dozen more to con-
quer him, should he make the slightest DEM
onstration Of resistance.
Kelly came into the room, pale and liyid.-
The lips were compressed, the eyes sunken
and half closed, and the cheek bones project
ed more prominently than in ordinary cases,
from the compression of his jaws.
"Take off your clothes, sir
The mandate was obeyed without reply;
and he stripped himself naked, and entered
the bath. A convict who stood by fixed his
feet in the stocks, his hands in the armlets,
and his head under the bath. As soon as be
was placed under it, he shook his head, q
much as to say, "I've got to suffer-" The wa
ter was allowed TO trlckle down his face and
warm his body for a few minutes before the
bath fell upon his head. At length it fell
Tom bore it well, not . shiver of the lsgs, not
a muscular movement OF the hands or fingers.
not single cry Of distress, although he was
actually being drowned for about five minutes.
+You bear it vel, Tom," said one Of the
fizst AKA minutes bad elansed.
and time had been given him 70 recuperate.
rc,lS rnu,s Sc v.nrAlxy tb,,k 4
ask for mercy"
minutes longer the gurgling sounds ofa stran-
guated man were audible, and, whenNhe wsa
e exhausted, the cord was let up and the water
stopped. A few minutes Of release was
granted, and down came the water again, and
the scene was more terrible than the worst
execution we had ever witnessed. At length,
congestion Of the brain was threatened, and
a hiss" from the physician brought the third
scene to close. Several minutes were allowed
the unfortunate man to recover, but the pun
ishment was too terrible too witness to the
end, and we left. He had been fifteen min
utes under the shower; but had twenty-five
of the same to endure when we left i;
and for the next forty days the same sort Of
punishment will be meted out to him, unless
he dies under the hands of the keeper.
1t was an awful spectacle TO witness this
man under the bath. Every muscle contract.
ed and became corded sometimes the hands
would become convulsed, and every nerve
strained, when there would follow a relaxa-
ton. Then the water would cease to pour,
and then would appear the sufferings Of the
culprit; the retching, and vomiting Of water,
which had swelled the body up like drOpsi-
cal invalid. Hanging is nothing to the tor
ture of the shower bath. The man subjected
to the bath for an hour suffers ten times the
amount of pain caused by strangulation, for
the simple reason that just as CONSEQUENCES
is about leaving, and when he would be hap
py to die, he is brought back to full realiza-
lion of his sufEsrings and unhappy position.
After Kelly had been showerel, and taken
to his cell, the keeper turned round, and with
a malignant smile exclaimed, "We'll subdue
him." Outsiders, from that single expressed
may guess at the rule in Sing Sing.