The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-09-01
HORRORS OF A TEXAS PRISON.

HORRORS OF A TEXAS PRISON.
] Capt. Emory's Report---The Punishmenfs
OF the Middle Ages Imitated---The Soil
tary Cell and the " Herse."
About year ago, says Washington
dispatch, peremptory order was issued
by Chief Clerk Crosby, acting secretary
of war, for the immediate removal of one
hundred and sixteen military prisoners
from the State penitentiary at Hunts
vile, Texas, to Fort Leavenworth. Ex-
posures of the management of the Texas
penitentiary gave rise to report that
this removal was caused by cruel and
barbarous treatment of convicts at that
place. Inquiry at the war department
has confirmed that report. Last year,
in April. an inspection of the peni-
tentiary was made by Capt. O. d.
Emory, acting Judge advocate on Gen.
Augur's staff. He found the ventilation
of the cells very bad, and the food in
sufficient in quantity and deficient in
variety.
The most striking part of his report
relates to the punishments resorted to
for enforcing obedience. Three of them
are described at length-the dark cell,
the "stocks," and the "horse." The
dark cell is a low, dark, oven-like in~
closure, barely high enough to allow the
convict to sit erect on the floor, and with
no opening for light or air except the
grated floor. The "stocks" are made
| by cutting three holes in board, stand
ing on its edge, and fastened between
two stakes. The central hole receives
the neck of the convict, and those on
each side his wrists. After the man has
| been placed in the stocks, it is customary
to raise the board 80 as to brine. the con-
wet upon his toes, leaving it so. In
raising it it would often be jerked up
with such force as to endanger the
| prisoners neck. Convicts were often
left in the stock until they became in
sensible. The "horse" surpassed the
others, and was comparatively new in
yention. 1t was introduced about nine
months before Capt. Emory's visit. 1t
consists of q post six or eight feet high.
About four feet from the ground there
was driven into it peg of iron or wood
an inch In diameter and foot or two
long. Refractory convicts were placed
astrlde of this peg with their backs to-
ward the post. Their hands were tied
| behind them to the post and their feet
the same, SO that they could not change
their position or obtain any relief what
ever. The effects of this punishment
were horrible. Capt. Emory examined
one man who had been permanently
ruptured while "riding the horse" and
| others who were suffering acute disease
Produced by the same cause.
More than six hundred of the convicts
were employed by railroad contractors
and on plantations belonging to the les
sees OF the penitentiary and others at
the time of Capt. Emory's visit. Their
treatment was generally cruel. They
were overworked, and if they either
died within few months or broke down
their places had to be filled by fresh
gangs. They were insuficiently clad,
and were obliged to work ut shoveling in
the winter, sometimes with only one
shoe, sometimes with no shoes at all.
Their food Yves cooked in Houston and
transported to them in open cars, and
much of it was spoiled before it reached
them. Finally they were punished by
means of the "horse" and by whip
ping.
| Convicts who had returned from two
or three months of service on the rail-
road were examined by Capt. Emory,
and their condition found to be horrible.
1t Is not fit to be described. But any
doubt as to the inhumanity of their
treatment would be dispelled by an ex.
animation of the mortality records.
These show that twenty eight deaths oc-
CURED in tho institution within nine
months prior to Capt. Emory's visit. In
twenty-three cases the disease of which
they died was contracted while they were
at work on the railroads. No record of
those who died in the railroad camps
were accessible.
The lessees of the institution were
Ward, Dewey & Co., and they were re-
sponsible for this horrible cruelty. The
penitentiary was leased before the pres
ent State administration came into
power, and one of the leesses was the
collector of customs of the port of Gal
weston. When the order for the removal
| of the military prisoners was issued,
efforts were made TO induce the war de-
partment to countermand it's orders. The
United States military prisoners were,
however, at once removed to a place
where they are treated with some degree
of humanity. In spite of the rebuke
thus given to the lessees, there is reason
to believe that the management of the
penitentiary has not yet been reformed,
and at least o thousand convicts there
are still habitually subjected to the
cruelties described.