New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-21
MADE MAD BY IDLENESS.
SEVEN coNvIcrs AT CROW HILL DE-
CLARED INSANE.
Two MORE CASES TO BE DECIDED UPoN-rHE
EFFECT OF THE ABOLITION OF CON-

As q result OF the closer confinement and the
idleness which have been necessary with the
convicts in the Kings County Penitentiary be-
cause OF the law against contract convict labor,
seven convcts have been officially declared In
sane and two more are said to be mentally un-
balanced The seven follow:
CARROLL, James. wes,chester County: assault
CLARKE. Patrick Brooklyn year FOR robbery
EAST John w. United States prisoner from Virginia:
four years.
HALL John United states prisoner from Florida three
years for roobing postofice.
LOOMS George Brooklyn: year and $500 hne for
manufacturing burglars tools.
TAYLOR Harry. BROOKLYN: ninety days for vagrancy
ZELCF Henry. Staten Island.
All Of these prisoners have been declared In
sane by DR.. w. II. Bates and Dr. ]. j. OCon-
nell. the commission appointed by the County
Court to examine into the sanity Of prisoners.
Two more convicts, 1t is said. will be declared
insane within few days
The five Federal. State and county prisoners
whose names are given above will be sent to-day
to the State Asylum for insane convicts at Mat
teawan. The authorities in Washington have
been informed Of the condition Of the Federal
prisoners, and an order for their removal is ex-
pected daily.
The prison law which went into effect on jan
uary last abolished the system by which the
labor OF prisoners was let out by contract. IN
der the system the Kings County Penitentiary
was sef-supporting and the prisoners received
regular daily employment Their days being
wholesomely occupied with working eating and
sleeping. their minds and bodies were kept In a
fairly wholesome condition. Since the introduc-
ton Of the new law there has a great
change for the worse. The Tribune has from
time to time told Of the efforts of the Brooklyn
Commissioners OF Charities and Corrections to
provide employment for their charges in the
Crow Hill institution. They were urged to this
not only by their fears that enforced ideness
IN stone cells would shatter the mental and ply
sical health Of the prisoners. but by the pitiful
pleading Of the prisoners themselves, who begged
that they might have some sort of employment
10 aid them in Fastening the passage Of the at
best slow hours
Many obstacles have prevented the introduc-
ton Of a penitentiary school. and at the best
Warden Hayes has succeeded in keeping only
an average OF three hundred a day. out Of the
seven hundred inmates at anything worthy Of
the name of employment. The rest of the pris-
o. ers have had trotting and arm-swinging exer-
oises which last for an hour or so each day. and
do. to certain extent. supply the need of the
human body for exercise. But the remaining
hours of the twenty-four are passed in the cells.
Of prisoners to lose their minds, even under
system of daily labor, but two of the Charities
Commissioners yesterday declared to a Tribune
reporter that this record Of nine within a few
months is unprecedented and could be account
ed for only by the fact of the greater confine-
ment and their inability to develop by whole
some work an appetite for the prison fare and
the kind OF WEAKNESS that brings natures re-
storer, sleep.
MANY MORE CASES EXPECTED.
It ,s feared that this is only the beginning Of
something worse. Many other prisoners than
those that have passed the limit Of sanity begin
TO have the dulness Of eye and the inability to
eat or sleep that portends mental dissolution.
Many Of the details of the conduct and mental
vagaries of the insane prisoners are too horrible
and repulsve to print. The strangest case Is
that Of Loomis who is altogether strange sort
Of Individual Looms is about twenty-five years
old and will be remembered as the man who was
arrested by the police something more than a
year ago while walking along the street with
bag filed with burglars tools. 1t was finally
proved that he was a manufacturer Of cracks
mems outfits, and he was sent up for year
and ordered 10 pay fine Of 5000. This fine he
Is now working out
He was a man OF great ingenuity, as was
shown by the clever manner in which he opened
the safe in the Distrct-Attorney's office. and
that his operations were the result OF keen
brains as well as deft fingers is shown by a
remark he made While in prison to Commissioner
John II Burts Mr. Burtts expressed surprise
at his ability in opening safes when Loomis said
dryly
Any safe that was ever put together can De
taken apart"
nd I haS N
in the electric chair and that the deadly current
is about to be turned on. Every time he sees
Commissioner Burtis he pleads with him for
reprieve Of six days
"An you've got to do is TO turn on the cur
rent" he said the other day. Put l will be
ready in six days. Can't you give me six days.
"Ill give you thirty" replied the Commissioner
10 humor him. .
bad and bloody fellow, and want to write my
history | can DO that in six days. and then 1
am ready for the current -.
The mans wife visits hlm occasiohahy; W,
this does not help him. He looks wild-eyed and
does not eat. . 90, -, -
Taylor attempted to take his life week ago
by breaking a bottle and saving MS throat
with the broken glass. lie taiks al idiiuoi' "'
refuses &c eat. ,,,. o,.
body is trying to get into his Gel! 10 XII MN.
Zeuf has a queer hallucinatlon. lie ti'nhs
that all tha other prisoners of his wing or the
building have fastened looking glasses III ,nen M u
cells so that the light Is reflected on hlIn' ms
focusing 81 rnanv streams of light on him ne
believes Is burning him up, and his poor levefeo
body and brain will not rest or lose conscious
ness night or day. ,.,,..a 90
Commissioner. Burtis yesterday Declined 10
talk with a reporter. He did say this however
"The same condition exists in the other priSoiis
OF the state as here. l think Sing Sing Will be
a luna,ic asylum within few months.
INTERPRETING THE NEW LAW.
The Anti-Convict Labor law PROVIDES Una
the State. or the .oliticai DIVISIONS thcre'i'
must buy goods manufactured in 'he "'"'e "'N
county pena. institutions whenever u IL ceI,i'
fed ;o the proper officers of the STATE or us
political divisions that such goods arc heihG
manufactured About fifty men have been en-.
gaced in the shops manufacturing goods thai