The daily gazette., 1879-05-30
FIRST EDITION.g
Fro m the Philadslphia Press. F A
THE LArEsr ROaRoR.
r ~ N-4F ~ ~
How william Christmam's Sight
WAS LOst Through Cruelty.

HOW William CnrhstmomN sight
WAS Lost Through Cruelty.
BEATEN UNTIL INsENsI BLE-MoDEL
MODE OF REFORMATION FOR sCHII.-
DREN-A CASE IN PoINT-wHAT
A SUFFERER sAYS-THE BLOOD
FLOWS AT EVERY STROKE.
Away up in the third story of one of
the wards Of the Pennsy yIvania Hospital
a Press reporter yesterday found an
other victim ofthe inhuman cruelty prac-
ticed on some of the unfortunate inmates
OF the House Of Refuge. A pale fire,
emaciated form, and generally helplsss
and hopeless appearance were the dis
tinguishing marks of the hospital inmate
to whom the Press representative was
directed in response to. his inquiry for
William Christman. - u - "a Z
A VICTIM OF INHUMANITY.
After his committal, young Christman
then stout, healthy lad, gained the
goodwill OF the officers in his new home
until change Of administration took
place, and Mr. Buckley assumed charge
as the head of the establishment. From
that time forth, to use Christman's own
words, 'his life was burden" He was
for some reason, he himself cannot ex-
plain what, marked as a black sheep, and
when an attempt was made to set fire to
the House, he was accused of being one
of tho would-be incendiaries. lie strong
ly denied his guilt, or any direct or in
direct completely in the attempted crime
but was ordered, in spite of his of his
protestations, into solitary confinement.
This was in the exceptionally hot sum
mer of 1873, and in the month ofJuly of
that year.
TORTUE TO EXTORT CONFESSION
superintendent Bulkley said, as soon
as he saw me, well, viii you confess
now?"
81 have nothing to confess Il said I
didn't
"sWill you confess al once ?"said Mr..
Bulkley, interrupting.
ALMOST sUFFoCATEnINAD DARK CELL.
The cell in which young Christman
| was placed was one similar in all re-
spects to that in which the poor boy
Ackley put an end to his life. 1t was
entirely destitute of furniture of any
kind-nothing but bare walls, bare cell
ing, bare floor. The window was closed
up with an iron plate, effect,ialy shut
ting out the light; the ventilation was
defective, and the stencil in the room,
caused, the boy says, by the carelessness
or neglect Of the attendant, perfectly
| sickening. To obtain the slightest air
he was obliged to lie down and breathe
at the bottom of his cell door, and even
then, as that shut closely, he could
scarcely breathe. When it is remcm-
bered that the thermometer during
some of the days when the boy was here
confined stood at 100 degrees in the
shade, that he was in darkness and in
silent and solitary confinement, and
that, to use his own words, he was only
of the first, but plenty of the last," some
idea of the inhunian punishment which
he was subjected may be imagined.
| After weeks confinement in this ter
rible den, young Christman was one
morning ordered to get out and accom-
pany one of the officials to the lower
floor, his cell being situated on the top
tier of the building. He complied. Ar
rived with his conductor at the bottom
of the stairs, he found Superintendent
,Bulkley. What followed he tells best in
his own words: li5'tt
81 have nothing'-to say, was about
to add" said Christman, swhen signal
was given. I was. .theu seized by an at
tendant named Wiley and laid naked
over the steam generator, when Mr..
Bulkley beat me with cane over the
back, bringing the blood at almost every
stroke. l cried aloud, when he took, a
bundle of rattans and beat me until be-
came insensible from suffering and loss
of blood! After that l came to myself
lying in my cell, so weak and sore and
bruised that could scarcely move."
Christman continued to stare that he
was then kept In the same solitary con-
finement for two weeks longer, and that
at the expiration of that time he as,one
night late, moi flied that he was to be sent
to farmer in the country. He was at
tired in the uniform Of The institution ex
cept the jacket, which was a cast-off-gar.
ment furnished him.
Taken outside the walls of the institu.
tion-to Twenty-third street and Fair
mount aveDue-the boy was told to wal
there while his guide went to notify s'tht
farmer" And there in the chill nigh
air, thinly clad, and just released from
, the close cell In which the temperature
was so high as to be almost suffocatin&
the orphan boy stood and waited for thu
farmer, to whom he was to be consigned
Even as the steps Of the Refuge Off
cial died away, however, another actOl
appeared on the scene. This policeman
whom, Christman alleges, Superintend
! ent Buckley had engaged to perform
another act in this dark drama.
want you," said the officer, and forth
. with the boy was hurried off, and tn
I day following he was committed by Al
s accommodating and intelligent mlagis
trate to the House of Correction for 81,
months at the instance of the officer an
on charge of vagrancy!
Y LOSING HIS EYEsIGHT.
i The chill caught In the cold night al
soon had its effect. The boys eyes bega
to fail; the hearing was lost In one ca
entirely, and the once healthy boy re
20 duced from stout and hearty lad to a
n attenuated invalid. After serving hi
v six months in the House of Correction
the boy, now a young man, but phys
cal wreck, walked back from Holmes
! burg to Philadelphia, helpless, homs
y less wanderer. Some friends intereste
10 themselves inhis case and gave him sue
home as they could afford; work wa
found for him, but his strength was III
n euual to the task, while his failing eye
sight and defective hearing, caused b
N the chill on the night he was turne
ID adrift from the House of Refuge, rende
ed him incapable of supporting himsel
The sight of one eye IS entirely gon'
And an operation will be performed to
day to 'stake out one eye in order to tr
- and save what Is left of the sight of th