Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-08
ATOUROF THE PRISON
REGISTER REPORTER VISITS THE STATE
PBNITENTIARY.
The Falsity Of the Late Enquirer Article Shown BY q
Personal Inspection Of the In
Situton.

from attendance at the Fairmont court he
invited the REGISTER to send o representa-
tive to Moundsyille to investigate the
charges against the penitentiary
management printed in the Cincinnati
Enquirer on November 80. The invitation
was accepted, day before yesterday, and
we below give the result of what could be
learned from an inspection of the buildings
and from statements of various parties in
Moundsville.
In going through the buildings the re-
porter was asked by Mr.. Peck to examine
everything carefully and was allowed to
converse freely with guards and employees
of the prison and with many of the con-
victs.
In making the rounds, Douglass, Hech-
mer and Roberts, three of the five men al
legged by the Enquirer correspondent to
have been 80 mercilessly beaten to death
by the orders of the Superintendent, were
seen at their work and were the l~iveliest
corpses We have seen for some time. Paul,
the other alleged dead man, was pardoned
by the Governor some time ago, and LETT
the prison safe and sound. Forsett is the
only one of the five that died. He was
whipped, but some time beforehe was taken
sick. DIR. Bruce CT MOundsville, who at
tended him, says that he died Of fever and
that the punishment inflicted on him had
nothing at all to do with his sickness or
death. So much for the dead men.
The instruments Of torture worthy OF
the genius of the Spanish Inquisition, as
described in the Enquirer, were seem
the Kicking Jenny" the ''shoo fly, the
lashes, bull rings" etc. The kicking
Jenny" we learned from the guards, was
invented and built by Captain WilkersOn,
and is a platform in the shape of a quarter
circle upon which unruly convicts were
tied while being chastised. The lash used
consists of q heavy piece of leather about
two feet in length and three inches III
width slightly tapering at the point.
A strap this shape is said never to draw the
blood unless accidentally it happens to
strike ON the edge instead of the side. Con-
victs say they would rather be punished
i'm any other way than this. The Board
of Directors abolished the use of the lash
last June, preferring the ''shoO fly" or
some other punishment instead. In regard
to the beating OF the prisoner until he
is almost dead" while some were chas-
tised severely as they perhaps deserved, the
reporter was informed that the blood had
been drawn on but one The maj
Roberts, who Capt. Wilkerson is reported
to have said ''the Superintendent once
beat with whips so cruelty that he bore
the scars from June until December was
not placed in the prison till last February,
rs the record shows
Captain WilkersOn's resignation was
accepted on September 18th and the
ERquirer'S article wa written in Novem-
Der. How could Captain WilkersOn or
the Enquirer correspondent know that ION
the 18th of December following, the marks
of the beating were plainly visible on his
person." 80 long beforehand? Anyway,
Roberts is alive and well and doesn't
look as if he ever had q lick amiss.
Louis Hechmer the convict alleged
to have been ''beaten cruelty and brutally
by the order of the superintendent be-
cause he was unable to perform his task,
was not chastiSed for that reason at all,
but, as the records show, because he was
caught spelling and wasting the broom
corn with which he was working.
This from q letter sent by
Hechmer TO q friend explains itself: II am
spelling broom corn, trying in my humble
way to keep down the profits of the con
tractors. | am treated fairly and perhaps
more kindly than the average"
The ''shoO fly" consists of stocks in
which the neck, hands and feet are con-
fined, keeping the convict in a sitting
posture while Il hose of cold water is turned
upon hisface, a very dangerous punishment
we would think, and we wonder that the
directors prefer red it to lashing. The
bull rings consist of two rings suspend,
ed from ropes, in which the hands are
placed and therOpes drawn up till the feet
of the convict scarcely touch the floor
Sometimes the offending convict is gagged,
or placed in n dark cell or some other
punishment more or less severe inflicted.
But of none of these have | heard any
complaint. Some OF these things look
very severe and it is bad that it is neces'
sary TO use them. But the couvicts must
be made to obey. This they will not do
unless they know there is severe punish
ment attached to q violation of the prison
laws. Moral SuasiOn will do in Sunday
school, hut il works too slowly in n prison.
Everything is clean and in good order
about the buildings. The cOnyicts now
have under-clothing for winter. This, it
is asserted, they didn't have till Mr.. Peck
took charge. Since Mr.. Peck came
it has also been arranged so that they can
wash in the hall, without having to often
stand out in the wet and cold as formerly.
The ~cOnvicts say they now have coffee
twice a day, whereas formerly they only
had it once per day; they also have rice
and more meat and vegetables than before
Mr.. Peck took charge. Since Mr.. Peck's
administration the convicts also were al
lowed to spend all day Sunday out of their
cells till forbidden by the Directors and
ordered to be locked up ut noon.
There Is no doubt whatever that the Su.
perintendent is q man who intends to be
boss i'll the institution of which he has
charge. He says he must have obedience,
and has at times punished men more Sc
verely than he otherwise would have done,
that they might know their
places and guard against greater punish
ment in the future. Some of the
convicts think he is at times entirely too
severe with them. But one who served q
sentence i'll the Baltimore P~enitentiary
said that much better discipline is main
tanned in Moundsville than in Baltimore,
and the punishments are not so frequent
and severe as there. In Baltimore the cat
o'-nine-tails plays an important part in the
life of the convict.
Mr.. Humphreys, who has charge of the
broom factory speaks in the highest terms
of Mr.. Peck's management of the prison
and the discipline among the convicts. In
a former administration he had
employed a lawyer to bring suit
against the State if it did not better fulfill
its contract of keeping discipline. Mr..
Weaver, n of the contractors in charge
of the whip factory, says he has been a
prison contractor for seventeen years in
several different prisons and never had he
seen a more efficient Superintendent than
Mr.. Peck. Mr.. Walters who has hean on