The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-08-04
SHOCKING CRUELTIES
Practiced in the state Prison at
Dannemora, New York.
HUNG UP BY The WRISTS TILL Mad.
The Tortures of the InquisitionI OUT
done by Brutal Keepers and Guards
Men Driven to Insanity by Their Ter
rible Observation-Disclosures to Cell
Door and Frozen in Winter.

"NNN y - NtA'A.Nl Nf@e@eheNNe So affe~
State prisons Of New York.
This IS d plain, straightforward de-
ecription Of wanton cruelty and barbar-
GUS Treatment Of human beings thieves,
thugs, assassins and what not, but hui
tnanbeings still-menconfned in prison
for crime by the great Empire State,
whose seal bears the figure Of Justice.
Fur up in the dense Adirondack forest
is located Clinton Prison.
A newspaper correspondent, actuated
by no other motive than to tell the
truth, went there in January and re-
mained there until March, and in that
time saw enough to make decent men
turn sick with horror. The institution
il lucated at Dannemora, backwoods
settlement that depends largely upon
the favor OF prison officials for its ex-
istence. Isaiah Fuller, farlner-politi-
clan OF Saratoga county, is the warden,
and James Moon is the principal keep
er. II is with Moon that this story has
principally TO do, because Fuller is ae-
parcntlY passive spectator OF tho
a.rocious deeds that are blot on the
lair iai"" Of the State OF New York.
The deputy" or principal keeper OF
Clinton rlson is James Moon, wood
chopper from Warren county, who
came as q guard and riz OH his merits"
Mr.. Moon is tho personilication OF bru-
talIty-:he worst product OF y lumber
camp-intcmperate, profane, swagger-
ing, and ignorant OF any OF the ameni-
ties Of civilization. Barbarous atrocit.
les, which have resulted in physical
disability and insanity OF the victim,
have been charged against him. To
many OF the shocking crimes committed
within the prison walls, your CORE
spondent, during one months service
as an inside guard" has been IN eye
witness.
VARIOUS METHODS OF TORTURE.
Under Deputy" Moons administra-
ton convicts have been hung By the
wrists in shackles for periods of twelve,
twenty.four and thirty consecutive
hours; roasted against laundry heater;
frozen, almost naked, in the prison
yard; driven to work when scarcely
able TO walk; worked from daybreak
until bedtime; deprived of food and
water for four, five and six consecutive
days; beaten in the face with fists and
over the head with clubs by keepers
while hanging defenseless in the
shackels; confined in dungeons for
weeks on u daily allowance OF one
ounce of bread and a gill Of water:
shackled backward to cell doors for
long periods; placed in positions of tor
ture daily for weeks; hung by the wrists
with slender cord OF waXed thread
until their terrible agonies end in un-
consciousness, and subjected to other
brutalities and overworked until. as
Officer James McGraw remarked, Two
thirds Of the loafers are half crazy"
Sergeant of the Guards James Hart
is a kindly disposed but powerless Off
cial, whose authority is entirely abb
sorbed by Mr.. Moon.
Prison Chaplain, the Rev. Horace L.
Grant, is an intelligent but very unsym-
pathetic clergyman, who spends much
OF his time in the prison ONCE.
Prison Physician DR.. j. B. Ransom is
a backwoods man. In the PHYSICIANS
absence his place is filed by Mr.. Moon.
On these occasions Doctor" Moon pre-
scribes "brolide Of pertassia" and other
medicines with perverted names for
sick convicts. This no does with all
the nonchalance OF an old practitioner.
Moons Clearest idea OF materia medica is
that strong medicines can only be taken
by very strong, healthy men, or, in his
own words, addressed to sick convict,
"the man that's able TO take that medi-
cine is able to work." Some OF Moons
patients die.
WELL MAKE HIN CRAZY"
DR.. Ransom is the expert" in cases
OF insanity, but as he does not claim to
be an experienced alienist, he generally
Leaves such cases to MIR. Moon. Con-
victs who prefer an insane asylum to n
slaughter house sometimes feiGn insan-
ity. Examiner moon solves problems
Of supposed mental disturbance by
hanging the patient up by the wrist,
generally with the remark, "it the
loafer amt crazy We Il make him crazy"
The force OF keepers very naturally
reflect the character OF their superior
officer. 1t is composed principally Of
natives of the woods, ore diggers, wood
choppers and farm hands. These men
are denselv ignorant, and previous to
employment in the prison never at
tempted to govern any living creature
but cattle.
Under an eight-hour law these State
employees IRE obliged to work from
twelve to eighteen, or as many hours n
day as the management pleases to i'm
pose, and without extra pay. Sunday
work is included, and legal holidays, as
a rule, are not observed.
The prison contains q thriving shirt
industry, the weekly product OF which
averages 5000 dozens. This is far in
excess OF the product given in the an
nuai report, the shirt factory contains
$50 stitchers, with cutters, buttonholers,
eyeleters, trimmers and other assistants,
and force OF paper box makers, num-
bering in all about $50 The laundry
employs about $50 more, making total
OF 500 convicts employed at this indus
try. The laundry force is large conf
pared with the shirt operatives, but
thousands Of dozens of shirts which are
sent TO the prison from Glens Falls to
be Numbered accounts for the difference.
WORK DAY AND NIGHT.
The convict shirtmakers work day
and night, and many Of them on sun
DAYS. They are also compelled to work
on legal holidays, but they receive
wages" for their labor, and average
about n cent and three.quarters day,
For this sum each convict makes seven
teen complete shirts IN sixteen working
hours. Troy prices for the same labor
would yield tho operative 8 80. The
convicts, however, are subject TO fines,