The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-22

county, this state
How long have you lived in this
state?" Il was born here
You are a representative in the
state legislature?' Yes, sir.
What is your occupation"' 81 am
farmer"
! You were at the state prison in
/ Saltwater this state, some time during
! the latter part of March or early IN
/ April of this year?" Il was there
/ twice during the session of the leglSla-
ture; at one time on the occasion OF
! general excursion of the Legislature
paying visit to the penitentiary, and
the other in relation to the investiga-
ton of alleged brutality to convicts.
! Were you there soon after the time
of the escape of Anderson, Douglass
and Davis?" Yes, sir"
You heard the testimony of Mr..
/ Keyes this morning. Yes, sir.
And the same visit on the Saturday
morning you and he spoke of was the
one you refer TOP Yes, SIR
State what you saw there that
morning at the penitentiary cell-at
the punishment cells" when we
came to the prison we told the warden
the object of our visit. He made no
delay. He took us out to the prisoners
about as quick as anybody could; right
away. We went out to the solitary,
and it was the first time in my life
! ever saw that part of the state pris-
! on. L saw the dungeon. We went in
there where these three convicts. An
derson Douglass and Davis, We're con-
fined and handcuffed to the doors. |
was going to say suspended; [ will use
that term. They were suspended. [
noticed when we came in, of course,
there was some light coming in
through a window, but L came pretty
near running into what appeared to be
a pool of water This appar-
entity had run out of the cells on the
doors, to the outside. We had to be
careful not to step in it. AS to the
way we found these men suspended,
will describe that to the committee.
The hands of the men were in that
shape Gndicating). [ don't hesitate
in saying that it is not so. 1t makes
a great deal of difference whether a
man is five feet six inches tall or six
feet. If | was put in there-and
watched this and observed it careful
ly-I would have to hold my hands in
about that way Gndicating). If Mr..
keyeS, or some other gentleman that
is probably shorter than [ am. he
would have to hold his hands CORE
/ spondingly higher Two of these con-
victs were rather below the average
size, Douglass and Anderson. Davis
is man of fair size. probably five
feet ten inches, should say, while the
others were 1 should say, five feet
seven or eight. Well, the convict
/ Davis was holding his hands about
that way Gndicating). The others were
holding their hands about that way,
and one of them, [ noticed was ap-
parently hanging there on his arms
and lying over them and not capable
of supporting himself on his feet. That
( is the condition we found this man in.
! At the same time [ noticed there ap-
| peared to be in every cell a bucket
which seemed to stand in the further
! corner of the cell. How this water or
urine, or what it was, got on the floor,
[ don't know, but the presumption is,
at least my presumption is, that it
was owing to the fact that they We're
not permitted and let down at the
proper time to answer the call of ma
ture.''
Did you open the cell doors?" mo,
sir
You did not go into any of the
Did you speak to any of these con-
yicts?'' Yes. SIR
We'll, were they chained up?" Yes,
sir"
What did they say?" 81 said to one
of them, think it was this man Davis.
When 1 came up to the cell, says he:
That is the way they use people here.
Says he: L would like to see the war
den Says L: Do you want to see the
Warden?' He says: Yes [ think [
told the warden at the time the pris-
oner wanted to see him. [ think he
stepped back and talked to him. That
is all the conversation [ had at the
time with the convicts in the cell
And Davis was the tallest MANI"
Yes, sir
Was he the one who appeared so
exhausted that he was not supporting
himself properly on his feet?" No,
sir
Which one was that?" 1T was this
man Anderson"
why didn't you speak to Ander-
SOM Il had no occasion to speak TO
him.
You were sent there to investigate
Els condition.? Yes, and we did in
vestigate it."
you saw them in this painful situa-
tion?" For the very simple reason
that we were going to call them out.
and that was hardly the place for even
farmers to go and stand and talk.
where we were in danger of stepping
into other peoples filth"
L am simply asking you whether
you spoke to these men in distress
did you look at the handouts that We're
used there to see that the size was. how
long the chain was, anything of that
sort?' Just casually
Did you measure the height of these
apertures in which the hands We're
chained?" mo. sir"
you are not able to state the dis
lance in feet and inches?" No. sir
[ am not"
There were three cells located-the
punishment cells-they are located on
the west end of the cell rooms. are
they not?" Il am not familiar as to
what is north and south in Stillwater
and consequently could not say what
portion of the penitentiary they were
in. We went first to the office, then
went out through the kitchen. passed
through corridors Where the regular
cells are. and then went into one end
of the building, then turned to the
left"
THAT would be the west end?" Yes.
sir"
How many of these punishment
! cells were there?' Il didn't count. but
if my recollection serves me right about
eight"
How many were occupied p"
Three"
Nov, you didn't ask Mr.. Garvin to
open the doors and let you on the in
side of the cells?" mo. sir"
Nor did you ask him to have the
buckets examined to see if they had
been used during the night ?" NO.
sir
Did you ask Mr.. Garvin what that
water was on the fioor?" mo, sir
why didn't you?' Simply because
[ used my judgment as to that"
WAS Mr.. Lemon there?" NO. I
don't think he was"
WAS there any one there except Mr..
| CARVING" II think not hasida tho y,