The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-04-07
Sounds Like 4 Fairv rais

A d ght or two ago several prison
officials were congregated about warm
stove id one of the uptown stations
discussing the question of prison disci.
pline. and the tough criminals with
whom they had to deal. One Of them,
a rough looking man who had recently
arrived from tho west after listening
for time. said:
you have told some interesting
yarns, but Ihave known eases in which
prison officials were guilty of worse III
humanity than the most hardened
wretehes under Their charge. There
are two scenes VIII ch / witnessed In
the west that always made me shud-
der
''What were theyp" inquired several
s'There was time. and it was not
YER, long ago. either. when the NJ s.
souri, penitentiary was in charge of a
worse gang of men than the convicts
over whom thev ruled. refer to the
years in which the prison was run I'M
Ter the contract g, stem, almost out
side of the jur sdiction OF the state
These men not only treated the prison.
ers most inhnmanely by starving, over
work ng and whipping them. but they
deprived them of the clothing and
blankets necessary to keep them warm
during the winter months In fact
when the state resumed possession the
penitentiary was a wreck. 1t had
neither provisions clothing nor ma
chinery. Even the guards had not been
paid for months. and, to the disgrace
of the state be it said. they have never
been pad to this day. But those are
not the things I want to talk about
They only lead up to the subject, a sort
of an introduction. as it were. to show
he conditl ons under which it was posi-
BILE for The scenes l am about to speak
of TO occur.
"The convicts at this time were not
worked inside the prison walls, but
were farmed out over the state to con-
tractors. At Montserrat. about sixty
miles west of Jefferson City, there were
exlens We coal mines, and the miners
having gone on strike. the owners
made contract for gang of conVicts
to supply their places. A stockade was
built in the open fields and gang Of
prisoners, among whom were large
numbers of negroes, were set up to
work the mines. As bad as they
had been treated inside the prison
walls, it was paradise compared to the
new hell into VIII; oh they were brought
The negroes were almost daily tied up
and whipped for the amusement of the
proprctors and overeers and then SEM
bleeding and supperless to pass the
night in the depths of the M no."
That was terrible" broke in one OF
the listeners.
Yes. but we got used to that sort Of
thing-kind of hardened, as it were
and didn't mind it much. but it was
moth NC to what came afterward."
What was that?" inquired the
other.
''The winters in that part of Missouri
are something terrible. with the mer-
curry frequently down in the twenties.
Moniserrat is located on one of The
bleakest plains in the state. One cold
December night the propr etors, CON
tractors and overseers were making 4;
night of it, drinking and carousing
when they decided to warm the mig
gers up by whipping them. and an or
der was issued to bring two or three oil
them out and sling them up the post
The men refused to obey the order to
come out of the stockade. and mu-
tiny among the conyicts occurred. The
officials and the guards began firing
upon the poor. helpless devils, and
they sought shelter the shanties ant
defended themselves rs best they could
In their drunken fury the officials or
dered the buildings to be fired. and a:
the men ran out several of them were
shot down. the others being driven un
der ground. By this time the officer
began to real re what had occurred
and sought to escape responsib lily by
additional cruelty. The dead. the dy
ing and the helplesslv wounded were
thrown into the flames. while some o
them yelled and shreked for mercy
The next morning it was wired owe
the country that the quarters hat
caught fire and several Of the convic t
had persisted in the flames. 1t ended
the convict camp at Montserrat ant
the convicts were soon after returned
to the penitentiary."
"And the other casep"
1T was, if possible, more terribl
still. A German convict emp 10 ed il
the shoe shop. to whom one OF tn
overseers had taken a dislike, was re
ported for punishment. When he wa
ordered out instead of obeying the
command he seized o large. keen
bladed knife and ran into his cell
which he refused to leave, and int
which. as he was armed with knife,
none dared to enter. For three day
lie was starved, and besieged, but re
fused to yield to either threats o
promises At last great hook wa
turned at the end of long iron bar
brought into the corridor of the prison
where the hook was inserted into lib
blazing iron furnace in fornt of til
convict's cell and heated red hot. HI
still refused to come to the door whel
the hot iron was run into the cell t
clutch him around the waist and brin
him out.
II shall never forget the terrible
look in the mans eyes as h
watched the proceedings. nor how b
. glared as the iron was inserted int