The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-20


and turnkey at Saltwater prison, was
called to testify in the prison investiga-
ton yesterday the deputy warden first
| shifted nervously in his chair, and
| then pulled 1t foot or eighteen inches
| from his customary position and placed
himself where he could look the witness
| straight in the eye.
The witness looked right back. The
| movement was so obvious that few in
| the court room failed to observe the
apparent effort to influence the witness.
Robert L. Penny, the counsel enlist
ed by the G ! o b e to present the state
Of affairs at Saltwater to the comn9is
sion which represents the people Of the
state, noticed it, and he promptly call
| ed the attention Of the commission to 1t.
But Mr.. Lemon kept his newly dis
covered place and apparently liked 1t
very well until late in Mr.. Meehan's s
testimony, when on croSS-eXamination
the counsel for Mr.. Lemon endeavored
to bring out that witness had been
discharged instead of resigning, as he
had himself testified in his testimony
in-chief
A rollicking Celtic good humor had
kept the witness from any display of
irritability under a more or less ex-
asperatingly personal cross fire, until
finally he rose partially from his chair
and reached his hand out toward
Lemon, with the forefinger extended,
he exclaimed excitedly:
That man over there is the man who
sent out to the shop to have Tim
O'Meara come in and report me-"
1t had been shown In the testimony
that O'Meara and witness had some
trouble, and Meehan thought the war
den was inclined to side with the Min
neapolis guard.
The incident caused some excitement.
The only other witness examined yes
terday was a st. Paul man, an ex-
convict, a man Of education and now
holding a position in this city, whose
name, at his request to the commission,
is withheld
This mans testimony was less the
atrical, perhaps, than that Of the ex-
guard, but it was not a whit less dra-
matte. For nearly an hour his quiet
answers to the questions of counsel
and Chairman Flandrau, revealing as
they did phases of prison life unex-
plored by the commission, held the
rapt attention of the three inquisitors,
Mr.. Harrison, of Minneapolis, being in
attendance for the first time.
This witness was editor Of the Pris-
on Mirror for five months Of the fif-
teen that he spent within the confines
of the prison. The editor Of this paper
is allowed the run of the prison during
certain hours, and when the men are
olIc hoe fTxyn hours
in the evening to course up and down
the corridors. Thus trusted by the Of
f1cers of the institution, their confidence
is still less than that of the prisoners
themselves, who pour into his recep-
tive ear their troubles.
This mans story did not pin any
physical abuse on Lemon, except a
single incident of the deputy warden
hitting convict in the face or neck,
while the fellows arms were pinioned
by another man from behind. He did
testify to a f1eeting observation through
a Jail window of an assault with a
cane made as a convict, followed by
an officer, ran within his range of Wis
ion.
The most interesting part of his testi-
mony, so pathetic that 1t held the most
attentive consideration of the commits
IL.
convicts, through fear of unjust report
ing for petty offenses, such as irregul-
arities in dress, and the like, that it,
in the witness opinion, precluded any
hope of reformation under the present
system.
The witness said, and he seemed to
have devoted some thought as we'll as
observation to the subject, that it was
not the fear of physical abuse that
or, h11t Ia n
nagging Of guards and foremen who
would report them for the most trivial
things He himself had been reported
more times for trivial offenses than he
had been months in the prison, fifteen,
but he said in only one of these cases
had Deputy Warden Lemon held him
guilty. This was when he was report
ed for talking, and he admitted the
Justice of the accusation. The fear or
these petty reports, during the long
hours of solitary confinement, he said,
was the worst influence existing in
the prison. He had told Mr.. Wolfer
what he thought about this, and the
warden and the witness had an extend
ed colloquy yesterday to clear up any
misapprehension as to what each might
have assumed that the other meant by
the conversation. Judge Flandrau also
took a hand in the questioning, and
taken all in all, the testimony of this
man. free as it was from apparent ma
lice toward any individual connected
with the prison, was one of the most
profitable hours the commission has
yet spent so far as enabling it to get
at an intelligent idea of the situation
of things in the cell house.
Some incidents, which If corroborat-
ed, may be considered sensational, were
testified to by this witness.
He said that on Labor day, 1898, the
convicts were raced up and down the
Jail yard very fast, and one convict
fell out of the line and died few
hours later.
He was told by Lawton, before that
prisoner committed suicide, that he
could not endure his life.
He had asked Baker, who tried to
kill himself with a file in the black
smith shop, why he did it, and Baker
said that he was so nagged by Guard
Parker that he had either to kill him
self or Parker.
A man named Hill had confided to
him that he was going to complain to
the warden. Witness advised him not
to, and Hill agreed not to. But ten
days later he told witness he had re-
ported certain grievances to the war