The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1881-02-02
INVESTIGATION.
Mrs. Nancy e. Glenn on the
Witness Stand.


investigate the Reformatory and Female
Prison met Wednesday at the law office Of
Duncan, Smith & Duncan DIR. Edwins
conducted the examination on behalf of the
Committee.
NANCY e CLKN.
Reside at the Reformatory; am an inmate
OF the Reformatorys have been in the Re-
formatOry about one year; was sent up for per
/ jury; there were rules posted up in my room
the rulessaid We should keepour rooms clean;
/ am now in punishment; Mrs. Smith wanted
me to approach Mrs. Talbot as to what She
would swear 10 in thisinvestigation; would
not do il, and for thatI am now being pun
ishedi have been made to wash and work
very hard, most different from those who
are not punished; our food is not good: IL is
the cheapest kind of food some of it very poor;
l have known Others TO be punished; Sarah
Peters was often punished..very badly; have
known Mrs. Smith to pull her out OF bed by
the hair and throw her generally about the
room; Miss Peters was sick at the time;
have seen Sara Shrum and Mary Ellen Nc
Intyre both whipped; Martha Hord was
often whipped; our bread was sometimes
good and sometimes bad; the day the Com
mittee was there we had better food than
usual; often heard some of the inmates
scream when they were getting whipped;
could hear them scream very plain
ly and could also hear the licks
as they were applied TO the inmate:
Mrs. Smith wanted me to see Mrs. Talbert
about what she would swear to when the
Committee came to investigate the Institu-
/ ton. | would not do ii, and for that was
punished. ! can not tell how many licks /
heard, but am sure l heard at least two or
three, when one of the inmates was catch
ing II. They always hurry us when they
expect company. Mrs. Johnson is very
rough; she kicks and knocks them about
very cruelty; Agnes Brown was often beaten
! by Mrs. johnson; have seen prints of Mrs
Johnson's fingers on the faces of those that
she had whipped.
Cross Examined by Mr. ]. S. Duncan:
Mrs Talbert is one of the officers of the In
stitution. Mrs. Talbert frequently came on
our side of the Reformatory. was pun.
ished simply because would not find out
what the inmates would swear to- They
also wanted me 10 see the officers of the In
stitution. Mrs. Smith thought that Mrs
Talbert would try to iniure her before the
Committee. | was ordered to see Mrs.
Talbert on Sunday night. about
what she would say about having turnc a the
crank when some of the girls were ducked
Mrs. Smith had ordered Mrs Talbert TO do
so, and was then afraid that Mrs. Talbert
would tell on her before the Committee
The day before the Board comes they always
make us clean up. The Board comes the
first Tuesday OF every month. / am not
allowed to talk with any one in reference to
my private business, unless i'm the presence
of some of the officers. either Mrs. Smith or
Mrs. Johnson.
JOHN 4. FINCH,
sworn and examined by DIR. Edwins-I was
in 1873 and until 1877 member of the
Board of Managers of the Institution. Ac
cording to the law, suppose the Board was
allowed to make rules for the Institution
- L.
prescribed by the Board. Ii was left to the
Superintendent as to what should be the
punishment. The previous Board, before
was made member, had adopted
rules of punishment that was
still the method used when | was
member of the Board. While / was a
member of the Board punishment by duck
ing in water was never recommended, only
in extreme cases, and then not recon-
mended. never knew OF premature births
having taken place with any of the inmates
of the Institution. We did not purchase
the best nor the worst grades of flour or
meat; il was generally good. L never knew of
there ever having been any profane language
used by any of the officers of the Institution
The Edwins Committee met again Thurs.
day at the law office OF Duncan, Smith d
Duncan. The attendance was larger than on
previous meetings.
General Streight was sworn and examined
by DIR. Edwins. Chairman of the Committee.
Live just east of the city on the National
Road; have known Mrs. Smith, the Super
intendent, for over ten years; my oppor-
tunities for knowing Mrs. Smith have been
limited; know nothing whatever of her
qualifications for the position she holds; !
was never in the Institution; Mrs. Smith
has been in my office.
An attempt upon the part of the Com
mittee to get from General Streight the past
I 1 - ~ 4, IL
| Duncan on the part of the Institution. The
Committee then retired for consultation,
taking the witness with them, the consulta-
ton lasting considerable time. When the
Committee returned they were without the
witness, they having concluded that the
! testimony OF General Streight was not adj
Missile.
The object of the consultation was
/ mysterious. Mr.. Duncan, on behalf of the
Institution, questioned the propriety of the
consultation had in the absence of the
accused. Mr. Duncan claimed that the Com
mittee were not prosecutors but were Judges
in the investigation only
/ The Committee was aided with the legal
services of Hon. d. ID. Moody, for Dr. Ed
wins, and the honorable Speaker for Mr..
Meredith of the Committee. Mr.. Smith. of
the law firm of Duncan, Smith & Duncan,
spoke at considerable length on the question
raised the night before in proving
Mrs. Clem's past history. DIR. Edwins
claimed that the Committee had the same
right to prove the fitness of the officers of
the Institution that the Institution had TO
prove that of Mrs. Glenn.
Governor Hendricks asked DIR. Edwins
whether he would consider anything Gen
eral Streight had said during the private
consultation. He said he would not
I CYNTHIA 4. BEALL.
| Live at Mr.. Cadwallader's, in this city;
! have no relatives living in this city: l was
connected with the Reformatory; was in
the hospital, was a nurse while there; it has
been four years since ] was there; | was
there only two weeks as a nurse; | was en-
! ployed by Mrs. Smith; there were several in
| the hospital when was there; there was a
disease among those i'm the hospitals the dis
ease was said to have been syphilitic in its
nature.
Those in the Hospital were all children
none were over fourteen years old; saw some
of the children punished; saw Mrs. Smith
whip some of them; DIR. Parvin left medi-
cine for the patients; Mrs Smith said she
did not believe that they were sick; they
had dried apples and rice; sometimes they
had soup; on account of the disease they
were not allowed To have any meat; |
thought all that were in my Ward were
sick; some of them had sores on their
bodies; the bed-clothes were more or less
damaged from the corruption OF the soresi
there were no acute diseases, all chronic; |
was discharged; guess the reason was dis
charged was because spoke about the con-