St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-21
Representatives Wind Up the
Business With a Rasp-
ing Report,
IN Which the State Prison Is
Again Ripped Up Fore
and Aft.
Convicts Suspended for Days,
With Little Food, in Loath-
some DenS.
FareWells Which Character
lied the Closing Hours Of
the Session.

JIG S0oSlOU,
Whatever may be its sins of omission
and commission, the record of the
Twenty-seventh legislature is now be-
fore the people. Some weeks must
eiapse before the work accomplished
can be properly gagged. There was
strong feeling among members of the
house yesterday that the increased ap-
preparations would not be relished by
the people; otherwise the representa-
tiveS were quite satisfied with their
winters work. AS is usual on the last
day Of the session, there were reSolu-
lions sent up by the score calling for in
creased pay of officials. Yesterdays
proceedings were out of the ordinary
from the fact that a most important re-
port was made by the committee ap-
pointed toinvestigate charges of cruelty
against the management of the state
prison. The charges appeared in the
newspapers last week, and late OH Fri
day Mr.. Mcguire had resolution
adopted authorizing an investigation.
The findings of this committee disclose
most horrible condition of affairs at
the state prison. The report of the
committee may be allowed to speak for
itself:
Brutality at State Prison.
To Hon. E. T. Champlin. Speaker of the
House of Representatives:
Your committee. acting under the directions
of the resolution adopted April Il, 1891, direct
ing ar investigation of the reported assaults
on convicts i'll the state prison at saltwater,
iUa inc no o. hnr nt1gln oC
our limited time would permit, beg leave to
submit the following report:
We examined Fred Douglas, Frank Ander-
son ana j. G. Davis, the three persons who
attempted to escape, and numerous other
witnesses, both at Minneapolis and st. Paul.
All witnesses were examined alone, and the
fullest opportunity for statement given to
all sides. as this was the only way we could
arrive at any just conclusions.
The escape was made from the main ma
chine shop, known as the safety shop for
the reason that to reach it one has TO pass
into one shop by guard, up a flight of stairs;
thence along the entire length of another
shop, where there is another guard, so that,
to effect an escape, Il convict would have to
elude his own guard, traverse all this dis
lance and pass the two other guards before
he could get outside the buildings.
In this shop there are employed thirty-three
convicts and twenty-five men and boys. The
convicts are the most desperate OF any in the
prison. From all the statements as to how
the escape was made no blame can be at
tached to r. G. Rhodes, the guard in charge
of this shop but the fault is almost entirely
due TO the system of working
Citizens and Convicts
together in the same shop and the large num-
Der employed: and from this and very large
amount of machinery no one man can
promptly and safely oversee it.
II does seem that the guard in the shop ad-
Joining should and could have stopped these
men.
Altar tho mon loft tho b,,i1di,o tl,o, ro,,
through yard aud to the gate, where Doug
las and Davis passed through behind the
shaylngs cart Anderson turned back and
was stopped IN the wagon shop. Davis was
stopped when a few feet outside the gates
and Douglas ran toward the river and hid
under building, where he was discovered a
few minutes afterwards. There is no claim
that Davis was assaulted by any one. Doug
las was ordered TO come out from under the
building, and on refusing to do SO f. ii.
Lemon, the deputy warden, fired a shot to in
timidate him. Lemon claims he fired it into
the ground, and by other witnesses that it
was fired at Douglas; anyway. no one was
hit. 1t is admitted by Lemon that he struck
Douglas a severe blow over the head with the
Butt of His Revolver
as he claims, in selfdefense but other wit
nesses claim that it was done after they
started for the prison and when he was held
by one of the guard. The blow was a very
severe one, and the wound had never been
dressed wnen your committee saw him.
There is no evidence to support any other
assault or blows. though others claim he was
again struck by Lemon with a cane.
In the case OF Anderson it is clearly estab-
lished that Lemon struck him with a heavy
cane good many blows, and when Ander-
son tried to escape from these blows and ran
Lemon followed him up, striking him again
and again. Lemon heavy cane was broken,
in some way unexplained, during this time
of putting Anderson i'll the solitary.
All these men were treated to ball and
TlDcpO z m
| on Wednesday, April 10. They were fast
| ened to
The Iron Doors,
| their hands passed through the grating and
| handcuffed on the outside a perfectly help
| less condition. In this suspended condition
| they were continued until o'clock the fol-
| lowing morning, an interval of sixteen hours.
| Thursday they were let down twice for half
| an hour. but were suspended until midnight,
| when they were allowed to sleep till O'Clock
| Friday morning. From o'clock Friday
| morning until midnight they were again sus-
| pended, excepting half an hour at noon.
| They slept on the stone floor from midnight
! TO about Z Saturday morning, when they
| were again hung up in which condition your
committee found them on visiting the prison.
| During the time intervening between Wednes-
| day at p. N. and Saturday at 10 a. m, about
| siXty-Seven hours, they had been suspended
| tifty-One hours. and during this time they
| had received but two slices OF bread each to
| eat. In this solitary are some six or seven
cells Two men had been taken out Satur-
day morning after q confinement in this suS-
pended condition for two or three days. One
| of these tw, George Tressler, was punished
For Swearing
at the thresher company's foreman, and the
| other. convict named Karmes for passing
| a newspaper to another convict.
The solitary was i'll very filthy and i'll
smelling condition, the waste from the in
mates falling to the floor and remaining
there Ii was not fit to put cattle in, much
| less human beings.
Warden Garvin was asked how long men
could be confined III this way and Ietain their
| life and reason, and he SAID he did not know,
| but knew of one case where a man had been
| so suspended and confined for thirty-two
! days i'll the state prison at Joliet, ILL.,, and
many instances of briefer periods. He
claimed that he could show instances of pun
| 1shment in the Saltwater prison. under pre-
ceding wardens. extending over week, but
| on written statement. compiled by himself
he found one case under Warden Reed of
solitary confinement, without SUSPENSION
however Of five days, and two other cases of
| two days each.
1t is now common to punish men by soli-
! tary confinement with the suspension for
periods of
Two or Five Days,
and maybe longer: One case of Lynch, re
ferred to in previous report by this com
| mittee extended over FIVE days.
| All the Oldest and best guards have been
anu lueiT pIdceS are DelnS rap
| idly filed with a class of men more obedient
and subservient to the present arrangement
This method of punishment is cruel, brutal
| and inhuman, and should be discontinued at
once, and more human and modern methods
| introduced. 1t is relic OF barbarism, and
should not be tolerated in a progressive
state.
The discipline at Saltwater and the direct
care and supervision of convicts and guards
is under the deputy warden and MS assist
ant. The duputy warden is F. II. Lemon, a
son-in-Iaw of George Nj. Seymour This man
| is wholly unfit for the place. He punished
for trivial offenses in the harshest manner.
| He is cruel