The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-21
CLUBS FOR INSANE
MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL, CONVINCED
BY THE INVESTIGATION, CON-
DENNIS SALTWATER PLAN
OF SUBDUINGi PRISONERS.
SUGGESTED THAT IAN INSANE
WARD SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED
FOR "CRANHS."
GUARDS wRATHYs ATE TESTIMONY
OF the Warden and His Deputy
FIannery and Meehan Write
Letters.
OF sUBDUING PRISONERS.
GUARDS wRATHYa ATE TESTIMONY


luctance, practically comedies that the
charges made through the Globe
publications were we'll, If not entirely.
founded in fact in an editorial which it
published in it's issue Of last night.
While not all the premises made by
the Journal editor can be subscribed
to by those who heard all the testi-
mony, the Journals deductions from
some of the cases which were brought
to light in the investigation demand
at least the consideration Of which
their deliberate preparation entities
them to-
The editorial is as follows:
1t is matter Of more than usual signif-
canoe that nearly all Of the specific charges
or cruelty preferred against the state prison
management have had to do with prisoners
Of doubtful sanity. Prisoners of sound mind
and this includes more than 50 per cent
OF the whole-have in the main been dis
posed and able to conform to the rules. About
two-thirds of the total population of Still
water prison belongs to the first grade and
three-fourths Of the remaining one-third be-
long to the second grade. The third grade
seldom number more than dozen. The
average prisoner, no matter what his instincts
and inclinations, finds it to his interest to
get into the first grade and stay there. It Is
behavior means larger liberty in the prison
and numerous privileges that make conine-
ment less wearisome. 1t means, too-and this
is of more Importance to him than mere bodily
comfoTts-t means a definite shortening of
sentence. If his record Is good he knows he
will be eligible to parole after serving one
half Of his term. The parole system is in
itself the strongest possible incentive to good
behavior The management knows this as
wei as the prisoner This, indeed, is its
purpose. and under its influence prisons all
over the world are becoming more than mere
places Of detention and punishment for those
who have transgressed the law, and be-
ginning to do an important work in the
formation of criminals. Naturally, therefore,
the average prisoner rapidly comes into
sympathy with the management and does his
best to make the prison discipline affective.
Now, as shown by the recent investiga-
ton. there is small percentage of prfs-
oners at Saltwater that cannot be reached
by these reform methods. Some of these
men belong to the class of vicious. desperate
criminals who cannot be controlled save
through fear Of bodily harm. No sympathy
need be wasted here. fer obvious reasons;
some of them, however, either admittedly
insane, or near the dividing line be-
the prison as "cranks.'' AS previously stated.
nearly all Of the specific charges Of cruelty
had to do with men of this class.
1t is not the intention of the Journal. in
advance of the commissions report, to say
what part of these charges, if any, is true
but 1t does feel justified in calling attention
to the fact that the average prisoner of I'M
doubted sanity not belonging to the vicious
class, rarely gets into trouble through breach
of discipline. 1t is easy tc see, however, how
convict with incipient insanity might VIC
late the prison rules, and go into punishment
time after tinne-might even be struck with
clubs in the hands of the guards and Sc.
verely wounded perhaps crippled. as was
the case with Reed. one of whose fingers
was broken-amd yet not be proper sub
ject for prison discipline. This was the
case with Charles Hahn, who was looked
11rtg hofrsr hn mat In
a woman's face In the chapel: At the time
of this outbreak 1t is clear that Hahn was
not regarded as being sane; In fact, the
prison authorities testified that this act
Still, he was hurried away to the solitary,
and in the melee has his head cut. He
was treated on that day if he were men
tally responsible. Other charges of cruelty
had to do with aged convcts, imbeciles, who
were at tines as helpless as small children
in the matter of personal cleanliness and
attention to the wants of the body.
1t does seem, in view of the testimony
brought out at the investigation-and this
the Journal says without attempting to de-
eide what part Of that testimony is true and
what false-that the report OF the investigat-
ing commission might, with propriety, con-
tain a recommendation to the governor in
favor Of ward at one of the insane hos
pitfalls for the care of Insane and crank
criminals. Such a provision would meet
the majority of the charges recently under
investigation and make it forever unnecessary
for officers and guards, whoo in the very ma
ture of the case are not fit for such work,
to pass upon the question of a prisoners
sanity or insanity. Such q change would
mean a Legislative appropriation. for the in
sane hospitals are not at present equipped
for the care Of the criminal insane; but it
does seem the reasonable and necessary
thing. An appropriation for this purpose
is a logical conclusion of the late investiga-
ton
MIR. FLANNERY PROTESTS.
When Deputy Warden Lemon and
some of the other witnesses for the
defense, by implication, at least, &C
cused the prosecuting witnesses Of tes-
tifying falsely, they aroused some
Celtic blood, which returns to the at
tack in the following communication,
received yesterday by the G o e:
Hastings. Mimi, Dec 20. 1897.
To the st. Paul Globe:
In Warden VOTERS testimony, as printed In
the Pioneer Press of Dec II, he stated be-
fore the prison investigating commission that
all of the ex-guards who testified for the pros
ecution myself included), with the exception
of Mr.. Austin, were liars and toughs l would
like to ask the gentleman from Michigan on
behalf Of the guards referred to and myself,
If 1t is customary for the warden to furnish
excellent letters Of recommendation to en-
ployes upon their leaving, knowing them to
be as above stated. He also stated in his
and that he afterward discharged him. / will
also ask Mr.. Wolfer IL 1t Is not fact that he
discharged Mr.. Benner for drunkenness, and
If it was not so stated upon the bulletin board
in the guards wash room at the prison and
that he then left the prison and did not re-
turn until re:nstated. In this the writer does
not wish to cast any reflections upon Mr.. Ben
ner, as he has always held him in the highest
esteem, but simply to show Mr. Wolfer and
the people that there are others. Will also
call his attention to another fact tod to the
writer by Jack Glennon, then assistant deputy
warden to the effect that he, Wolfer had
been to st. Paul with a discharged prisoner
and that he returned very much under the In
fuence of liquor and that he and others went
into Ed OBrien's saloon, where something
was said in regard to- Guard Meehan, when
Wolfer struck his hat upon the bar and said
that MeeEan was IT son of -, and
that he not Meehan, was running the prison.
There is an Old and true saying that where
there is smoke you will always find fire, and
whatever the verdict of thebcommlSsion may
be, the people are fairs and just and will not
believe that all men are liars. Mr.. VOTER
may awake to the fact at no distant day that
our state, which furnished the brain and ma
terials to build our prison, may be able to
pick from among her own one that is compe-
tent to manage the same. and retire him,
Wolfer. to his native haunts, the backw0ods
Of Michigan, whence he was imported
Patrick Flannery.
MEEHAN ALSO IRATE.
The other letter is Tas follows:
Austin, ri Minis Dec. Is, 1897.
Editor Of the st. Paul Globe:
After perusing the testimony rendered b.
the warden and Lemon. / will say that al
most every word they Yswore to in their tes-
timony was false. Also the men Stikey and