The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-01-15
Torture-Pen in N. 7. City.

TOrture-Pen in N. 7. City.
Horrible Treatment Of Human
D Beings.-.The PrOvOst-M q r.
shal's PrisOn.cage at the Park
Baracks..A Modern Sweating
1BOx.-Men Heaped together i'm
fFiltI..ssA Disgrace to HUI
manity and the Age."-
A. CE- ~IAl-----AO - ------
| 1t may surprise some Of cur old staid and
generous-hearted citizens to1kHew that for
some weeks past torture pen, " orse that
the Black Hole of Calcutta, aud equalled
/ only by the most abhorrent cells and dun
geons OF the ancient inquisitions of Spain,
has been in full operation in the very "eye
of the city" of New York, Immediately in
front of City Hall and within few rods OF
the statue of Washington. In this place
| ffty-eight soldiers were confined and suffer:
| ing last night, and the absolute misery OF
their condition can hardly be imagined,
even by the few who have seen them That
part of the Prrk barracks built on Park
row, has been used by the proyost-marshal
for some time past for the confinement of
deserters and other prisoners under militia
ry rule. Near the Broadway end of it a
portion has been boarded and partitioned
up SO as to make a perfect cage,
twenty feet and two inches long, and
Is feet wide. Three sides are boarded up
tight air tight and the innermost side is
fitted with Stats about three inches wide,
I with intervals of two inches between them.
In this pen, more like the cage of some wild
animal and not half so clean, are thrown
the prisoners that are caught BY the pro-
vost marshaPs detectives and force, and
there they are compelled to stay, gasping
with the intolerabls stencil that arises from
the unclean prison, and actually, lying upon
each other in heaps, for want OF sufficient
room upon tb,' Il or There are no beds OF
any kind, excerpt that the undermost of the
crowd are Obliged to sustain the weight of
those who lie upon them in this pile of hu-
manity. Some have blankets, but they
are almost unnecessary, as the vaporous
heat arises, sitting and suffocating to any
one who comes in from the fresh outer air.
The pen is also reeking inthe filth and YER
min, and the intolerabe stencil must in a
very short time destroy the physical con-
stitution, as the situation must all self res
pcct and morale Of every one who enters as
a prisoner that accursed hole Just inside
the Stats is stove that heats the confined
atmosphere to double temperature. Our
reporter visited this place last night to see
whether the rumorS that had circula Led
about it were true, and found that the half
had not been told. Capt. Sieber who is in
command Of the prisoners, was not present
but the officers who were in charge united
in this method of treatment as a shame t.
humanity. Their attention was called to
an item in the Post which reads thus
part of the old Park Barracks is now
used as a prison for the detention Of soldiers
who are under arrest for various infractions
Of military discipline, and thousands pass by
that whitened sepulchre, little dreaming of
the suffering within
In cage twenty feet two inches long and
fifteen feet wide boarded up on three sides,
with the other arranged with bars, like the
cage Of the hyena in the menagerie, tiity
FIVE men are now confined, without hunks,
or beds, or any accommodation whatever
but the floor. At night, as the officer in
charge forcibly expressed it, they have to
lie spoon fashion on the floor with heads on
each Others breasts. This, with the most
economical spoon arrangement, accommo-
dates forty five. The rest are brought out
and chained around a tree.
These men have been in this pest hole,
some as long as two months, for the red tape
to be spun by the inertness, ncapaclty and
fraud which is somewhere
1t is a disgrace 10 humanity and TO tae
age.
On asking if 1t was exaggerated, they re-
piled that ii was not only true, bot the state
of things had been even worse Said one OF
the detectives, ave have sometimes had 70
men in that cage When it was first made
months ago, it was nesrly large enough for
the small number placed in it, but lately
they have got to sending US prisoners from
the Invalid Corps and from the hospitals
| Sometimes the men beg Us to take them
out and chain them to tree, that they may
End room to lie upon ground" 1t rs also
stated that Captain Steber has again and
again reported this state of affairs to the
Provost Marshall Gen. Hays, but nothing
has vet been done to make the condition
of the men one 10 which there is chance
for them to maintain life and a comparative
degree of health. 1t was a most sickening
spectacle to see prisoners crouehing and ly
ing one upon another in the FL tn and wrech
edness, and sickening indeed to catch
breath of the fetid air that pervaded the
whole vinciuity of the prison cage in the
interior Of the barracks This cage, it was
stated, has hardly been cleaned for months
as the "dampness would not dry so that
the prisoners could be put in it again at
night"