National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-12-08
The Shower hath,

South Carolina paper tells of thu
punishment of criminal by the shower
bath. II says "The prisoner, Brown,
for two years, worked nj his trade, within
the walls OF the penitentiary quietly,
performing the work that was gwen
him. hoping by good conduct 10 shorten
his term Of imprisonment. One day he
vontured 10 demonstrate with the Warden
for furnishing him with mouldy bread,
and meat so putrid that II could not be
eaten. The Warden replied, with nm
oath, THAT it was too good for such II
hound, aud ordered two OF the keepers
TO place Brown in 1.-The black hole, "
n cell twenty feet under ground, and
shut off from either light or mir, remark
ing that he Brown would he hungry
enough before he got an, more food 10
complain about. After remaining in the
dungeon for nearly ten days, without
food on water, he was taken ont aud or
dercd 10 his work, He had been so
weakened, however, by hunger aud the
! foul air of the loathsomc cell that he
found himself unable TO perform his
usual task. The warden accused him Of
laziness and threatened To have him
punished again. Brown replied that he
was doing rs much Ms he could, and sad
he believed the warden wanted 10 muir
der him. For this offence warden
ordered the Captain Of the prla guard
TO place Brown in the showcr-hnth, and
give him rs much ms he could stand "
The showerbnth is one Of the most
terrible devices that cruelty ever invent
ed. Its construction is very simple. A
square box, little higher than mans
head, and jnst broad and deep enough
Tor him To stand in, surmounted by Il
reservoir containing water, form the
principal features of this instrument of
torture. The upper lid Of the box is
perforated with anger holes, which may
be opened or closed at will by means of
II string which hangs upon the outside
OF the box The prisoner is gagged be-
fore being placed in the shower-bath,
and his hands and feet are strapped to
the sides If the box, and his chin is then
placed upon bar of wood, which is
put at such height as TO Just permit
the toes to touch the ground, thus the
weight resting mainly on the bar the
head is thrown back, and the face turns
up to receive the descending torrent of
ice-cold water There is NO opportunity
strapped fast and gagged,
the victim can neither struggle or cry
ont against the terrible torture, Itch is
metcd ont at the discretion of the
brutal keeper.
Into an instrument of this sort Brown
was placed, in spite of his entreaties to
be allowed to wait until he had recovered
from the effects of his previous punish
ment. Notwithstanding his frantic
struggles, he was finally gagged and Sc
cured by the straps in the manner above
described. The keeper thea drew the
string, permitting the water, which was
almost as cold as ice, to fall upon the
up-tuned face Of the dying prisoner. TO
heiGhten the torture and prolong the vic
tins sufferings, the water was allowed to
trickle slowly down, but with gradually
increasing force, until it poured over
him in perfect torrtI t. In this manner
eight or ten buckets of water wer, pour
ed into the prisoners face when the bar
under his chin, which had been placed
at such height as to raise him com
pletely off his feet, broke, and he fell as
far rs the straps, with which his hands
We're fastened would permit him. The
scene which ensued is so revolving, that
TIE description Of it would be i'll .redible,
if the testimony on which the story is
based were not incontestible. Taking
the limp and lifeless body in their arms,
they endeavored to stand it up in the
box again. But all their efforts proved
fruitless. The Captain of the Guard
then placed a rope around the mans
neck, and passed it through one of the
auger-holes; drew the body up while the
others fastened it IN IN upright posi-
ton. The same performance WAS then
gone through with again, fullya dozen
buckets of water being allowed to flow
into the box. When this had been COM
pleted it was found that Brown was
dead For more than quarter of an
hour they had been torturing corpse