Wichita eagle., 1889-02-02
GOVERNING CRIMINALS.
Stories Told by q Popular Indiana
Prison Warden.
Starvation In Dark Cell Usually the
Only Punishment Necessary omstimes,
However, tho Whip Must Be APP
piled to Obstinate Ru6dans.

However, tho Whip Must Be APP
piled to Obstinate Rufaans.
Warden Patton, of the State prison
South, at Jeffersonville, sat in the State
Treasurer's Office at the Indiana Capitol
few days ago talking over prison matters.
He is broad-shouldered old man With a
white head, and his slight stocp Indicates
that his years are beginning to tell on him,
but the grip of his hand indicates that
he has plenty OF physical vitality left, and
there is an expression in his resolute gray
eyes which gives warning that he would be
bad man to fool with under some circum-
stances.
He was speaking to an Indianapolis Jour-
I nal reporter of his methods of managing re-
fractOry conyicts, and some of his expe-
riences as he told them were very interest
/ ing. "Of course ne said, ''in prison that
contains nearly SIX hundred inmates there
/ is bound to be considerable variety Of char
/ acter. II is not always the worst criminal
that is the worst convict, although the IN
mates confined for crimes that show pre-
ponderance of the animal nature in man
can be relied upon to furnish the most
troublesome customers in a peniten tlary.
Most men, after they get TO understand the
rules of the prison, settle down to their OBJ
servance. 1 do not allow any punishment
by guards, and if convict breaks rule
Ia such way as to need their interference,
all they are allowed to do is to cage the
convict-that is. to lock him in an empty
celi-and then report the case to me for
action l always allow the prisoner TO tell
his own story, and, after full investiga-
ton. if l find he is in the wrong, l try to
nicbr IN he cffap in
such a way as to keep him from further
repetition of it. Ordinary simple punish
ments answer. If a convict says he
will not work, generally say to him: If
you won't work you can't eat and lock him
up by himself. Four ounces of bread a day
and nothing but cold water to drink will
soon bring most refractory convicts to their
senses"
How long do stubborn cOnvicts hold out
under this treatments' the reporter asked
"SOme of them stick it out for a day and
a half but most of them wilt within twen-
ty-four hours, and send me word that they
are ready to take hold. Where something
worse is needed have walking track and
bag of sand weighing forty pounds, and
when man is put On the track and made
to carry the bag round the required num-
Der of laps to make fifteen miles, with rest
of only ten minutes at the end of each three
hours walking, he is generally sore and
tired enough to keep him from repeating an
olTense which merits such punishment"
"How about the cases that require heroic
treatmenti'
"Well, they grow to some extent out of
the fact that there is classification of
criminals in prison as well as out of it, and
you can not keep convicts who have been Ia
the same line of crlue from finding each
other out and sticking together to some ex-
tent; the burglars have their pals in the
penitentiary as well as out of it, and so on
through the whole catalogue. When one
OF these men gets into trouble his friends
rally round him, and there is sometimes
danger of a riot when the guard comes to
take out the original offender. Still, even
in these cases. we usually get along without
having to resort to extreme measures.
| remember but one case where it
looked as though we would have to go
the limit, which in this case means the
killing CT the offender, and | Will
teu you about that so yoa may see
what means are necessary to preserve au-
thority, without which we could do nothing.
1t was the case of a man convicted of brutal
murder, and when he came to us it was ap-
with him. Most convicts have some good
ness left in them, of which we can take hold
in our management of them. The man
seemed to be simply an ungovernable ami
nal. We put him TO work IN the foundry,
and the first week he was there he quar-
relied with the convict who worked next to
him and nearly killed him with a poker. 1
put him in dun geon that was absolutely
without ray of light, and kept him there
rs long as the physician thought he could
stay and live. When he came out he
blinked like an owl from his long confine-
ment in darkness but was still unSubdued,
and when he went back to work he struck
a second convict with ladle full
Of hot iron, in turing the man SO badly that
his life was for some time despaired of.
Then the offender ran out of the shop, de-
fed the guards, and when the case was re-
ported to me he had got into the supper
room where most of the convicts had gone,
and was seated in the midst of a hard crowd
of his own kidney. 1t looked squally, but it
was evident that the time had come to see
who was master. / took tough hickory
cane in one hand, went to where he was
sitting, touched HIM on the shoulder and
told him to come with me. He raised up
and drew off to strike me, but l used the !
cane vigorously on his head and face, |
backed him down the aisle into the ante |
room and locked him up. AS l backed /
him out a second convict threw a
tea-cup at me, and others stood up and |
seemed inclined to interfere, but / told (
them TO sit down, and there was no further /
disturbance. When l had my first man
Gagged / went back to the man who had /
thrown the cup. knocked him down twice |
:. Al Il !
of it after he was down. There was no (
further demonstration of violence, although /
it had been the boast of many convicts that
no warden could take man out OF that
room Now they say: when the old man
wants you, you've got to GO As to the
first offender, I had him stripped. took a
whalebone buggy-whIp and gave him forty
or fifty as sound lashes as could be laid
on without breaking the skin. Every blow
raised welt and was prepared to give
him as many more as he had got when he
gave up and said he had enough. Since
that time / have had no trouble with him -
- Do you believe il. corporeal punishment
as the best means Of enforcing disciplined"
L do in some cases. There are some
offenders whose deviish impulse can not
be checked IN any other way. | thin
there is something in the humiliation as W..
as in the pain inflicted that does the work
needed That is the experience of D..
Brockway, OF the Elmira reforrnstory, who
I think knows more than any of US con-
corning the treatment of criminals, and
am believer in his doctrines"
Chestnut from Germany.
The President of the United States gave
l feast. Among the guests, as frequently