The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-25
INVESTIGATORS UNDER FIRE
Gov. Hastings Making Pennsylvania Leginla-
tors Dance . Lively Jig.

PHILADELPHIA, July 24.-Gov. Hastings is
having his inning with the members of the
House and Senate Of Pennsylvania: It is the
last Legislature that.will sit during his term. as
the next one will come in with Hastings's sue
cessor,t and I might incidentally add that tho
Legislature. just adjourned sine die, will be tho
last one that very many OF the retiring men,
bcrs will ever sit in. 1t all comes about by the
insane attempt Of investigating committees to
fitch enormous sums from the public treasury
at a time when the treasury is depleted, and
also at q time when entries for the Grand Prx
the United States Senatorship-are made.
I referred to one Of the most monstrous Of
these grabs in THE Sun Of July 4, and when the
Governor read 1t he made up his mind to look
into the matter most thoroughly. 1t seems to
me important enough to again refer to it:
During the carly part of the present year the
Hon. James Gay Gordon, sitting as a Quarter
Sessions Judge of Philadelphia, was called
upon to remove an insane prisoner from tho
Eastern Penitentiary to the Sorristown Asy-
luln for the Insane; that led to a personal inves-
tigation of affairs at the penitentiary by the
Judge, and he soon found out that there were
very many insane persons confined in the East
ern Penitentiary; that they were being treated
as criminals placed there for punishment, and
under that prison punishment and the system
of solitary confinement he found that mild
cases OF dementia rapidly developed into
acute and incurable insanity, and even when
that stage was reached the same harsh discip.
line was continued which was applied in the
treatment of the most hardened criminals.
.r The dsy5m nPSsnit1 s Of Ssds i,s. Go saS tbS ~s fsS
was made to throw its protecting care around
those helpless and demented men and women.
Gordon appointed Q commission consisting OF
four OF the most eminent physicians in nervous
tho Superior Court as the fifth member. The
Investigation, was made In open court In tho
presence Of the Grand Jury, tho press, and tho
public, and 1t disclosed u most atTocious sys-
bcatings,. ciubbings, and mutilations OF poor
In tho face OF that evidence tho prison in.
spectors maintained that the most humane
,bosn ssslu Tss * siv jads ss S tRs dRalS'ee eon ana shas
cialiy called upon the Governor TO have q
gate the matter. Such a committee was APP
pointed, and it held eight short sessions, seven
from the moment OF its appointment 1t seemed
to smash Judge Gordon. 1t called Abe Buzzard
one of tho most daring and desperate crimi-
mails In Pennsylvania-from his prison cell TO
provo how humane and tender was the treat
with Buzzard. the members proceeded 70 do
up Judge Gordon by stating in their report
tass ta' as astISf t&o the Interests Ss%s' OF Ti ths q c SSassaaS:
wealth, In that " melted insubordination
hlltT I'LL " oIBht tAO NOM
hers of tho investigating committee concluded
that they should DO paid and we'll paid for their
services. That required an act OF the Legisla.
ture making an appropriation, and the act
became a law only when Il received the sigma
ture of the Governor. That act proposed TO
pay to each member about $31 d day for hotel
expenses -although boarding at a hotel where
the rates are VA a day-and 800 a day to each
member for personal expenses. 1t provided
O like sum for a clerk to the committee, and
also for a doorkeeper, and S2,44S.l0 for n
stenographer. AS the report of the
embraced just fourteen pages OF typewritten
matter, 1t seems to have averaged about
As those personal expenses were for car
fare, sleeping berths, and telephone and tele-
graphic service, and as the committee came
from Harrisburg 10 philadelphia distance
of 100 miles-during the day on free passes; al
the telephone service in the penitentiary, where
the Investigation was held, was free, and as
each member had a telegraph frank, Gov.
Hastings, knowing all that, has demanded an
tented statement under oath from each mem
Der of tho committee. the clerk, and theNdoor-
keeper; II y my opinion that tho papers
handed in setting forth In detail those expendi;
lures will be among the most interesting and
documents at Harrisburg.
The worst Of 1t all Is the object for which the
ommitt was really appointed was lost sight
OF, and under tho solitary confinement system
at the Eastern Penitentiary the work of making
~conyicts insane during their incarceration goes
merrily forward. There is q probability, how
ever. OF Its receiving q sudden roundup in a
manner as unexpected as 1t will be surprising
to the inspectors,