The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-12
Devany VIII be sent to America or Aus
II alia as soon as friends can provide the

az ltMpleQ 10 Qe1lVer any pnDllc speech itk
character might cause his re-arTest ane
destroy all chance of liberation. : White.
heads imbecile# condition was described
& in my. cable dispatch to the World last
Saturday. His tragic disappearance from
his home at Skibbersen on the night O1
his arrival fully corroborates the World (
description of his mental state. An ,ex.
haustive search fails to discover him, and
the belief is that he is dead or dying in
some cave along the Bantry coast, de
mented by a fear that he would be taken
back to prison.
The present convict system, which has
been followed by great increase in in.
sanity among criminals, went into opera.
tion in 1887. The World correspondent
8 asked the secretary OF the prisons de-
partment of the home Office today for a
copy Of the rules governing conyicts, but
was informed that these rules are conf
dential-have never even been presented
to parliament. This Official added: VI
But reference to the rules of convict
prisons would give you an accurate idea
OF the treatment accorded 40 any particu-
lar5conyict. Such treatment is regulated
by his physical condition and behavior
The rules make a voluminous book and
are applied in each individual case in the
Of the prison.
Authoritative information on the gen
elal system of treatment Of convicts is
given in book published by Sir Edmund
du Cane. for many years chairman of the
English prisons board
The sentence Of penal se1.vitude, such
as was Imposed on the dynamiters, is. di-
y1ded into three principal stages
In the first stage, which lasts nine
months, the prisoner passes the whole
time, except brief period allotted. to
prayers and one hour a day to exercise,
in a cell apart from all the other prison.
ers, working at some kind OF labor.
In the second stage he sleeps and takes
s his meals in separate cell, but works in
association, under strict supervision. :.
In the third stage he is conditionally re-
leased from prison on ticket OF leave.
The prisoners mind is thrown upon it.
self. He is condemned to perpetual
silence except when asked a question by
a warder. He works necessarily under
constant supervision, any slackening be-
ing visited with close confinement on
bread and water for spell not exceeding
three days in succession .,@
Throughout the whole period: of con-
finement male prisoners are not allowed
to speak to each other under severe pen
aitles. But the Irish dynamiters have
increasingly complained that, while these
punitive restrictions were only carried out
in spirit against ordinary conYicts, they
were inflicted to the letter upon the dyna-
miters alone.
Their complaint, to a large extent, was
proved before special inquiry Instituted
in 1890 by direction of the Tory Secretary
Matthews into their allegations Of unfair
treatment while confined in Chatham
prison. This inquiry was granted be-
cause it leaked out that on two separate
occasions Daily was all but fatally poison
ed by drugs administered to him while
i'll. The poisoning was declared by the
committee to be accidental, but Daily and
the other dynamiters always believed it
Was deliberate, because he had made him
self highly obnoxious to all the prison
officials, from governor down..
The dynamiers gave evidence in great
detail before the committee, furnishing
Numerous specific instances Of ill treat
ment by the lower officials who, they as
serted, were prejudiced against them be-
cause of their nationality and the polit-
ical nature of their offense.
1t is remarkable coincidence that
every warder against whom any aEega-
ton was made had been removed to some
other prison prior to the inquiry. Some
were even sent abroad
James Egan, who was liberated in 1892,
and Is now in the United States, testified:
There has been a well-organized sys-
tenn OF ill-treatment from the very mo-
ment of my reception to the present mo-
ment, but organized in such a manner
that it would not be perceived by any
body but by the person SO ill-treated.,,'
a. toI +1O% 41o-
were segregated from the other prison.
ers, were located in separate part of the
prison in cells known as penal cells, and
We're called special prisoners. The gov
ernor of the Jail admitted that this was
done to keep them under a more rigor-
GUS supervision than the other criminals,
This supervision is the most dreaded as
pect OF convict life, as it enables a harsh
or 1ll-d:sposed warder to keep prisoner
IN perpetual ferment of fear and agita-
ton, and to visit upon him nunberless
petty punishmens and degradations.
In the penal cells, the dynamiters al
lege. they suffered all the horrors of an
extra detachment, the warders being told
Off to wach them and keep them unflag-
gingiy at a 1nonotonous work-mat or
sack magink. The prison chaplain as
serted, from his observation, that I'M
questionably a large part of the prison
= officials were prejudiced against the
dynamiters, because of their nationality,
and IT.: was proved that in many cases
where the dynamiters had made COIN
plant in writing to the prison depart
nent OF specific acts Of cruelty and
tyranny, the offending officials had been
warned or removed by the authorities.
i It was shown to the satisfaction of the
committee that, instead Of having ham
mocks, as all other prisoners had, the
dynamiters had to sleep ON plank beds
covered with mattresses as hard as
/, boards; that instead Of the ordinary
movable stools, they had only rough
, logs, fastened to the floor by iron stanch-
ions; that their cells were colder than
those Of the other prisoners, and that in
the evening the gaslight was thrown into
their cells by means of a reflector, which
injurtously affected their sight; that they
were prevented Systematically. from
sleeping the full allowable period by the
practice adopted by the waIders of slam
ming the trap doors through which they
were inspected every half hour through.
out the night, and by turning the full
glare Of their lanterns upon the prison.
e1s' eyes until they were thoroughly
awake; that meals were not served to
them as to. other prisoners, that they got
refuse instead of bread, and that in a