The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-01-06
BRUTAL CRUELTY.

THE SPIRIT OF THE DEVIL sUPPLANT-
ING THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.
We have received the following let
ter:
HON. IGNATIUs DONNELLY:
Dear Sir:-I am editor of a country
Populist paper, 1.-The Montanan."
Enclosed you will find clipping Of a
new invention" l would greatly
like to know what you think Of it. If
you note it in The REPRESENTATIVE,
please send me marked copy. Re-
spectfuily, Fred e. Eldredge.
Grantsdale, Mont.
This is the article referred to:
Oakland, CAL, Dec. 3.-The new in
vention that Mr.. Sanford J. Baker, of
Oakland, has placed before an aston
ished world he denominates "puni-
tive chair" though tie popular mind
will more readily grasp the idea Of the
thing il it be called the '"Tramps Ter
ror,' or Tommy Tired's Tuck-in."
The reader. from the illustration,
sees what the continuance looks like.
like. Mr.. Baker, some time ago ap-
preciated the fact that the ordinary
lookup vast doing the business for
I'LL DSs OuuS duu CO IlC
fashioned the punitive chair. 1t
doesn't look very menacing. There
are no spikes in the seat, no screws to
jam the malefactOr. But it is very
terrible affair, for all that, especially
to persons Of nervous temperament.
AS Mr.. Baker remarks, Nothing can
give any person an idea OF the terror
Of the chair, unless some one sits in it
for time"
AS soon as the criminal is cabinned
in the chair, in a sitting posture, he
Immediately wants to stand up and
stretch his legs. He yearns to throw
his arms above his head; his elbows
ache, his knees wiggle restlessly:
every nerve seems quivering. twitch-
ing and burning. II a person allows
himself to give way to the increasing
nervousness, he will soon be strug
Cling wildly, shouting and bruising
himself against the bars. Some Gull
pritS. overpowered by their nerves, 60
into frenzy. Just what the reason
for this nervous excitement is. no one
can explain. But the fact that it
seizes upon nearly every one who is
confined in the punitive chair is what
| makes the device etficacious in soaring
off tramps. A few times in the chair
always makes a dose that no tramp
wants repeated In three weeks the
chair cleared the streets of Oakland
of drunkards and tramrS and Mr..
Baker says that it will produce the
same results in every city and town
where it may be used.
| Ii some particularly StOlid customer
isn't overwhelmed by the mysterious
| nervous panic, that isn't the chief
property in the chairs terrifying in
fluence, then ting punishme Mt may be
| varied by trundling him about over
| town for the inspection OF the public.
The effect of this peripatetic dun
| geon-ccll on the inmate, especially
when the passers make comments
freely, is sufficiently narrowing to suit
even the sterneSt mOralist. The old
| fashioned stocks, even winh the ar
chaic egg and back-number fruit
trimmings, wouldn't hold candle to
| Mr.. Eakers punitive chair.
| There are great possibilities in that
| chair, too. A train Of chairs on par
a1e would present an interesting ex.
hibit Of reformatory work; provided
! bicycle wheels and treadleS they could
become the county's automatic arres-
ter and mileage-saver. COnstables in
rural towns could arrest trampS, lock
them in the chairs and tell them to
scorch away for the county Jail; in
| forming them that only the sheriff
had the key and that they wouldn't
get out or get anything to eat until
| they delivered themselves over to the
county officers.
In answer to the inquiry of our cor.
| respondent we would say that the
man who invented that device ought
| to be shut up in it for life. That fell
low would have been at home in the
Middle Ages, when he could have re-
freshed himself with the burning Of
| human beings, men and women, at
| the stake. How he would have en-
joyed their howls and screams! How
industriously lie would have carried
faggots to heap on the fire! How he
would have insulted them In their
last agony!
In 1865 we had not a "tramp" in the
United States. When the Money
lenders took charge of the govern
ment the tramps began to appear.
The election of Mckinley, by means
of a sixteen million corruption fund,
was great triumph for the tramp
makers" They have taken the lid off
hell and we can hear the howls Of the
damned. And now they have no
remedy for existing conditions but to
torture the poor wretches who are
simply the victims Of their own mis-
government, Let us re-establish the
auto de Je, and burn lot OF the poor,
unemployed at the stake. That would
be an intimation to them to get OF