The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-16
LIGHT now SHINES
Continued from First Page.

employed. I'VE have about forty" re-
piled Warden Wolfer. Mine Of these
are on the wall, and the rest inside
or on night duty. At night there are
two guards in the cell room, one de-
tailed as captain of the night watch,
who is to see that the other employees
properly perform their duties, a fire
watch, who patrols the buildings to
prevent risk from fire especially, a
guard in charge of the engines, boilers
and steam heating plant. who also
acts in measure as a fire watch, and a
guard who looks after the solitary and
hospital and the place where we con-
fine those who are not considered quite
right in their minds, or as ii is known
in prison slang, the 'bughouse.'
You keep record of paroled pris-
Oners do you, and receive reports from
them?"
Yes, sir"
How often do they report?"
Once a MONTH
Then you can give US information as
to the whereabouts of any parole pris-
Oner, within a month";
Yes, sir"
"Who employees the guards"
Il do. 1 discharge and hire them,
without consulting with the deputy
warden, except in so far as my action
may be due to his report of an infrac-
ton of the rules by the officer"
President O'Brien was recalled a mo-
nent to corrobOrate Mr.. VOTERS
statement as to the nearly self-Sup-
porting financial condition Of the in
stitution, and Bookkeeper Bixby was
also asked concerning the same mat
ter. He testifies that he had been con-
nected with the prison since Sept %,
1896, and had not heard any charges
of brutality to prisoners. His duties
did not require his residence in the
4,1
ly went in.
Dr.. B. j. Merrill, the prison physI-
clan, was then called and testified that
he had held that position for about
twelve years He made a daily visit
10 the prison. as required by law,
whenever possible, and his assistant
was there all the time. His visitation
was made between 9 and 10 o'clock in
the morning, when he went direct to
the hospital and acted upon the daily
sick call" Prisoners desiring medical
treatment notified the officers in the
morning and they were permitted to
see him then. If he considered them
i'll enough for care in the hospital he
sent them there, and If they were too
ill to work and not badly off enough
to be taken to the hospital they were
sent to what is known as the Sick
asylum" a number of cells reserved
LOI SltCI CCSES
He described the hospital accommO-
dations and accessories. The prison
had a triple row of cells in the hos
pital, a room for surgical operations,
laboratory, private room for eX-
animation of patients. chemical or
meteorological analyses, etc, and
dispensary where prescriptions were
made up.
The average of inmates in the hos
nit a1 five CT fHhnra n /
ways empty beds there.
Judge Flandrau read the law requir-
ing the physician to make weekly visits
to the cell house in company with the
deputy warden.
Dr. Merrill said he thought the law
required daily visits. He did not al
ways make them with the deputy war
den, but if he did not and found any
thing wrong, he reported it.
Have you found these cells in sant-
tary condition."
Not always"
How are they as to ventilation
properly equipped?"
Yes. sir The ventilation Of the gen
eral room is good. There are ventila-
tors, too. for the night buckets, and
these themselves are fitted with rea-
sOnably tight covers. They are all
washed and aired during the day in
the open air This is really more Of
sanitarium than prison as far as
building up the cOnvicts is concerned"
said the physician.
"HaVe you ever known of the IN
Fiction of any punishment here in the
prison detrimental to the health Of the
cOnViCt?"
Il have seen two or three cases in
the solitary where | thought the men
were weakening and l have recon-
mended that the men be relieved,
which was done. but ] have not OBJ
served any permanent ill effect
DR.. Merrill said that he had not seen
any signs of brutality of officers to
cOnvicts. He thought that he would
have if any had occurred, as the con-
victs came TO the hospital to have very
light wounds dressed, even the cutting
of a finger with a sharp knife.
Dr. Merrill explained that the assist
ant prison physician was selected from
the honor men of the state uniVer-
sity graduating class. He also describ-
ed the physical examination made of
convicts at their entrance.
Is the food given the prisoners, and
the clothing sufficient for their health
and comfort? asked Judge Flandrau
1t is. AS a rule they go away weigh
ing more than when they came The
commission then adjourned to this
morning. Judge Flandrau in reply to
the question of Attorney Penny said
he thought the commission would re-
ceive dispositions Of witnesses found
to be out of the state. with due notice
to the other attorney
GLENN HEARD FROM
Some of the former residents of the
prison who have been expected to ap-
pear before the commission and give
testimony ahout certain occurrences
which they claim 10 have seen within
the prison walls may, as Warden VOL
fer gives it out, be out of the state
but some Of the people whom it was
expected might be absent will prob
ably turn up all right at some of the
sessions of the commission in st. Paul
or Minneapolis. Harry A. Glenn, for
instance, is one of them In the local
columns of the Minneapolis Times Of
last Friday. in which the local depart
ment of that paper went on record as
being out of line with the editorial de-
partment, was a picture of Glenn in
prison garb. Glenn had written a let
ter to the G o b e cOrrObOrating GER
tain statements that others have made,
and the Times, for some reason or
other. in this write-up said that Glenn
was at present in jail at Aberdeen,
but it seems that the Minneapolis pa
per was misled by somebody. Glenn
is not in Jail at Aberdeen and will
probably be on hand to tell the COM
mission what he has already written
in the letter previously printed in this
paper. The G. | O b e received the fol-
lowing from Glenn yesterday, his pres
ent address being omitted, as it is not
material farther than to state that he
is not in South Dakota nor anywhere
near it:
TD.r,T DToI,o