The New York herald., 1875-09-15
PENITENTIARY PUNISHMENT.

BILE TO THE BLACK CELL AND SHORT RA-
TIoNs-How PLOT TO ESCAPE WAS FRUs-
TRATED.
Yesterday afternoon the Committee OF the Board OF
Supervisors Of Kings county in the parors Of the
Penentary at Flabush, for the purpose Of taking
mony On relation to the allegations OF abuse made by
certain exconycts against the managers Of that prison
There were present Of the committee Messrs. Clancy,
HnI O'Connel, McKenna, French and Brown Dis
trct Attorney Winchester Britton was also
in attendance and closely watched the
proceedings. The chairman of the committee stated
the object Of its meeting and its readiness hear
plants from any source either by letter or otherwise
As nobody forward the chairman said that the
committee would hear any statement that Mr. shevlin
the Warden Of the Penitentiary might have TO make
Warden shevlin then took the witness chair and
stated that there had been four five cases cowhd
ing the Penitentary they on tho black
book He was always ready and willing TO account for
his action before any Of the who were punished
He mentioned the case Of Timothy Mccarthy, who, he
said, was in the shoe shop getting Instructions when
his instructor urged him to finish certain
work which he should have done the day previous He
turned upon the instructor and him with knife
the right cheek, in1icting a terrible scar Mccarthy
WAS put into the black CELL That said the Warden, is the
basis Of one Of the charges of cruelty After days
Incarceration in the cell Mccarthy taken out and
cowhided by Mr. Donnely; he is burglar and is un-
der sentence by the Court OF Sessions for four and a.
half years. He confined in the black cell for
attempting TO throw Keeper Meehan of tier. Either
Deputy Warden +. B. Crummy he, said
the witness, was always in attendance in the
institution to listen to complaints from prisoners
or others In other prisons refractory criminals are
put into the black cell and given daily half gill of
water with two ounces of bread punishment If
the choice left to the prisoners they would rather
have the cowhide The strokes of the cowhide did
exceed four or FIVE about the legs and body.
ABOUT CLUBBING.
He said two men quarrelled, and the keeper went up
to separate them. They turned him and struck him,
and he resented the blows. Then there is Briefly
Burns who killed JeIery in Sing Sing. He has been in
Trenton Sing Sing Blackwell and Auburn. He is
forty three years Of age, and has been twenty
two years in prison. He is burglar. He
charged that he had been cowhided cruelty
The Prison Committee investigated that case in 1878
and said that the Warden was justified When he came
to the Penltentary he said he was not able to work.
The Doctor sent him to the hospital There missed
two blankets and accused him Of stealing them, but he
pleaded innocence When he sent back to his cell
the stolen blankets were found cut up IN strips, and he
was found one morning trying to hang himself He
sent TO the shoe shop. For all this no cowhde
used till Burns, without any provocaon cut fell
low prisoner down the right side OF the face with
knife. Burns was then taken out and for
that the Warden cowhided him He then
set TO work again in the shoe shop
where he did but from twenty-five thrty-two pairs
of shoes per day. whereas the others did from 400 to
1,20O pairs. For that he was again put in the black
cell When he again returned TO the shop the
fellow would not labor. Warden Shevin asked him if
there anything he could do and the prisoner said
''No that his constitution was broken up The Doc
tor SAID he able 10 work, and the Warden believed
it to be his duty to make him do so. He was cow
hlded again. ana increased the number OF shoes dong
120 pairs per day. That was not enough,
and he was again punished by putting
the shackles him. Burns received about
eight or nine ashes. The Warden thought if he could
his discretion he could make Burns work.
Breen Morgan, prisoner took up an awl in the shop
and stabbed his instructor in the side for
whatever That
cowinDED AND WORKED WELL AFTER
that He was burglar, and his time having expired
out the sanction Of the Warden The keepers have
used their clubs in self protection only. If any convict
has been abused at the Penentary and has not stated
the fact before leaving it has been his own fault
Several letters which had been received a certain
newspaper Office from compainants against the
agement OF the Penitentay were here handed in TO the
chairman of the committee, who stated that they
would be duly examined and the writers thereof re-
quested TO attend the examination before the commit
tee
Warden shevn said he had never held any cor
respondence with Or. Whitehead, who has been prom
nent among the complanants. The Warden said that
in extreme cases. last resort of discipline, he be-
Heved cOwhiding TO be a good method of punishment
he knew it to fail He had found in conversa-
ton with all keepers of prisons that cowhding the
only means OF preserving order and promoting discp
is the degradation o: the punishment No bodily harm
has ever been done by IL
Rev Job G. Bass testified that be had been in the
Penitentary as often as three times week on
rage for the past ten years he had never known of any
of cruelty there; knew Of the Briefly Burns
hiding and he believed that the act justihabe he
told Shevin that either he or Burns must wn either
Burns should work be punished the German stabbed
by Burns was harmless man; he had spoken TO DR..
Whitehead about the charges he had made and had
urged the Doctor to draw up charges and specifications
against Warden Shevln and he Nir Bass) would pre-
tlpFu IN CHI hoyy
ever, made by the Doctor
WHITEHEAD WHILE CONVICT
for year and eight months, under sentence for send
ing obscene literature through the mails employed
the hail. as he said be was not able to work in the
shop
The Chairman in reply TO a question said that Dr.
Whitehead had no official notification 10 be present to-
day
Mr. Bass said the Pententiary is to-day in better
condition than before; the cowhde
used and mancles were imposed when he first came to
the institution; he remembered when in the history
orange by his mother, and 1t was refused him. now
such is not the case, the greatest kindness
the witness whenever they come
the institution, and he listens to their complaints
he knew Of instance three years ago when keeper
was dismissed upon complaint Of prisoner, which
verified upon examination of the Warden Father
Hickey attends to the wants Of the Catholics Of the
prison on Sunday mornings and the witness 10 the
Protestants in the afternoons.
DR.. j. s. Zabrisk physician OF the Penitentary tes
titled that he had been attending there for hf
teen years. - not remember ever having been called
70 examine OF cowhidng; any prisoner reported
sick is brought to him for examination; prior War
den CunDinghams time at the Penitentiary II was al
lowaBle fox the keepers 70 punish the prisoners; the
health OF the prison is at present very good; when
Briefly Burns first brought 10 the prison he was
suffering from bronchitis but is now In pretty good
health never heard Whitehead complain after he got
the position Of doorkeeper
Mr.. Fred. Hoyt, Chairman Of the Kings county Com
mittee of the State Prison Association testified that
he had examined the complaint Of DR. Whitehead and
found that the accusations almost worthless;
there ground for complaint that he could lind.
Mr.. G. T. BglOw, contractor for the Bay State Shoe
Company said that the punishment the Pcnitentary
here less severe than at the Connecticut Penien-
ary where the lash used he considered the lash less
injurious than the black cell or showering in Auburn
Prison the cowhde was found the most caicacious
punishment and least injurious
REVOLT FRUSTRATED
At this juncture Deputy Warden Crummy with the
consent OF the committee, read a remarkable paper,
written by convict setting forth OF length and ia de-
tail a conspiracy set on foot by William Titus, long.
term convict who has been undergoing sentence