Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-01
TO DROWN PRISONERS
The Saloon Men Must Put UP or
Shut Up.
SHALL MAhAwA BE IMPROVED.
District Court Ncws-Our Plucky
Mayor Intcrferes to Save Boy Pris-
oners From Torture-Person-
als-General News.


Two well known and highly respectable
residents of this city were transacting bust
ness at the city building yesterday afternoon,
when they were startled by a number of
screams coming from the police station.
They Immediately rushed over there and
found the TAILOR amusing himself by turning
the hose on "a couple of little boys who were
confined in the "steel cell" They were half
drowned, and begged piteously for mercy.
The kind hearted gentlemen fairly over
flowed with Indignation, and ordered the
burly brute to desist Immediately.
He promptly told them to go to h, as
he knew what his business was.
They insisted, however, and he stopped the
cruel treatment. The boys were dripping
wet, and removed their clothes to wiring
them and try to get dry. Although the outer
atmosphere was very warm, it was decidedly
chilly in the dungeon like hole where the
lads were confined, as no sunbeams pene-
trated the place. The stone floor was run
ming with water, and the cold iron shelves
that serve for beds were fairly afloat. The
boys stood in one corner of the the miserable
place stark naked, shivering and trembling
with cold.
Finding that they could get no satisfaction
from the ia,lor, the gentlemen started out to
NUM- UP blNO hlu0ol. NAV ohllllul 40 lpuhNt
on Broadway in conversation with THE BEE
reporter, and the case was laid before him.
He Immediately started for police head
quarters to investigate the case. The jallor
said that the boys were unruly, and were
Understandings every on who passed the
jail. The marshal demonstrated with them
at noon, and finally took them from the cor
ridor and locked them up in a cell. They
then pounded and kicked the door,
and continued TO make q terrible
rnnlyat until hn hoI tuaf thnr, lntpt 70 1yonrN
them quiet. The boys said that they were
not making any trouble after being locked
up, but merely wanted n drink of water, but
were told that it was against the courts or
ders for them to have any water for twenty
four hours. The jailcr says ne was busy,
and told them that he could not give them
any then. The youngsters were undoubt-
edly too boisterous, but the jailer had no au-
thority to turn the hose on them. His ex-
cuse that he didn't have time" to get them
a drink when he went to the door to tell
them to keep still is altogether too thin.
If the iailor had overcome his remarkable
laziness for a few moments it would not have
injured him seriously. The hose is used or
the prisoners altogether too freely. 'duck
ing'' is not the same thing to a man outside
IN the sun that it is to one in the cage, where
he is compelled to SILVER for hours before hi
gets dry.
If the conduct of the prisoner meets with
the disapproval of the TAILOR, q stream o.
cold water is turned on him for five minutes
This is obviously wrong, and measure!
should be adopted to prevent its repetition.
The mayor ordered the two boys taken on
Of the cell and allowed to dry their clothes i,
the sun. The jailOr was also censured TO
his brutality and advised not to repeat thu
experiment. The city Jail is always in charg,
of the marshal or his deputies, and he is re
sponsible for all such actions. Although tn
Jail is outside of the direct authority of tn,
mayor, that official Is to be commended 70
his promptness in investigating the matte
and making himself felt as the city's chic
executive.