The evening times., 1899-08-03
GIRLS IN Vile DUNGEONS
Testimony Concerning Cruelties
i'm an Industrial School.
Pitifu1 Stories of Ii-treatmenf
Melted out to Inmates of a New Jer-
sey Instftution-An Ohicfal Inves-
tigation Begun by the Governor
of the State-startlinE Evidence.

NrunS from UNWILLING MitnesoSs yeSiSiuas
a pitiful story of cruelty practiced upon
the unfortunate inmates of the State In
dustrial School for Girls, situated two
miles from this city. Foster M. Voorhees,,
the Governor of New Jersey, who began
his official investigation yesterday, listened
to the testimony of teachers, who told of
the whipping, starvation, neglect. and
abuse which the girls had suffered. and
then affirmed that he would have done the
same thing.
Trustees and women managers defended
the cause of the principal, Mrs. Myrtle b.
Eyler, now under charges, with adroitness
and persistence. for they considered mat
they too were arraigned. They listened
to the teachers and instructors relate the
course of punishments, and betrayed not
the slightest shade of emotion They even
permitted the newspaper men to inspect
the dungeons in the cellar and the sitting
dens under the roof, where the refractory
girls were Gagged, shackled, and strait-iack-
eted and asked for yindication OF their
conduct in permitting such state OF af-
fairs to exist.
The appearance of John H. Backus,
lawyer, as a proxy for Patrick ]. Fitzgib-
bon an absent trustee brought about re-
markable situation. Mr.. Backus became a
prosecuting attorney, and the governor
soothed and reassured the witnesses smart
ing under the relentless examination OF the
quasi prosecutor. Mr.. Backus, in the
course of the proceedings, deliberately
questioned the motives of the governor.
Ebenezer ReZeau Cook. the managing
trustee. is the head and front of defence.
Mrs. Eugene Emley, well known in the So
cial circles of Paterson, and Miss Mary 5.
Atterbury, members Of the board OF lady
| managers, appeared yesterday TO throw
down the gage of battle as champions Tor
the administration. They We're placed IN
position which subjected them to much
annoyance, yet they fought with determi-
nation and energy on the side OF Mrs. Ey-
| ler whose cause they espoused.
They maintained that there are no dun
| geons in the institution, and the indescrib-
able dens are described by them as pun
ishment rooms"
Under the guidance of Ebenezer Rezeau
Cook and one of the matrons, the newspa-
per men yesterday were permitted to visit
| the places where il is alleged girls nave
been imprisoned for days and subjected to
all manner of inhuman treatment. In the
| basement of the building are six cells in
a row. 1t is structure built within the
cellar, with roof of solid masonry
The cells are about five by six feet and
eight feet in length. Their doors open out
upon a blank wall. Each apartment was
provided with an inner door of iron bars
and an outer door OF pine wood which when
| closed hermetically sealed the entrance
| The only means of ventilation when the
/ doors were swung to was slit two inches
wide and six inches long A reporter en-
! tered one of these cells and closed both
! doors. The place was as black as night.
! Only feeble glimmer shone from the mar
| row aperture near the top. The hole served
2 SEZSan OH lyaoF ha nn-
cupant of the dark cell from suffocating.
There was no bench in the cell. and an
iron barred lodging place in the New York
! police stations is an abode OF luxury COM
pared TO the den where the schools re-
| fraCtory pupils are confined. Imagine,
then. child thrown into such a place and
kept there for seven days and nights on
| bread and water.
Every witness examined hastened to say,
before any question was asked. that the
outer doors were never closed. Children
| who have been imprisoned there say that
the wooden doors were closed The hinges
OF these miniature Tophets seem we'll OIL
ed Some OF the wooden doors are pro-
Yided with substantial locks. When they
are ajar it is impossible for anyone to pass
along the narrow corridor.
Guides took reporters TO the top of the
house. In the attic, under an angle of
| the roof, are several apartments. These
| apartments, called punishment rooms,
| were absolutely without light. A little air
| filtered in through the iron bars of the
door. The temperature of the place was
sitting. The height of the den was two
feet at one end, gradually rising to eight
! feet at the side where the victim was SHOW
ed through the door. One of the party
who emerged choking and suffocating
from this den. said: The time will come
when these things will be abolished
Ebenezer Rezeau Cook, managing trus-
| tee. heard the remark. He was standing
near a diminutiye attic window.
His eyes flashed and his face whitened
with anger. They will be used" he said.
they will always be-
Miss Elizabeth B. Resell, an old empioye
OF the institution, reluctantly told what
she knew Of the Imprisonment which the
girls had undergone. Shortly before Miss
Resell was introduced Mrs. Eugene Emley
had made the statement that an examina-
tion Of the punishment book showed that
the longest term of imprisonment in the
dark cells was three days. Miss RoseII
testified that Florence Truax was in a dark
cell for six days. The doomsday book of
the institution was hastily consulted, and
there il was found recorded that the girl
had not only been in the prison for the six
days following September %, 1S98 but had
spent most OF that autumn month in the
dark cells.
The Truax girl had been impudent Miss
Resell said that she reported the alleged
impudence to Mrs. Eyler, who ordered the
youngster taken to a cell. II visited her
twice daily" said Miss Rosell ito take
her bread and water. / always waited
until she drank the water"
Then you permitted her to have the
bread to finish at her leisure. Why did
you not leave cup of water?"
"It was the rule not to let them have
cups" said Miss Rosell; they might un-
screw the hinges of the door,
The only hinges which could have been
unscrewed were those of the wooden door,
Yes" interposed the governor, "Gott-
lieb, the engineer, bears to this day scar
resulting from a wound inflicted by one of
those cups"
How much bread did you give the
child?'' asked Mr.. Backus.
Two Slices" was the reply.
In previous testimony it had been said
that the girls were released as soon as they
expressed contrition. Miss Rosell said
that Florence Truax had been kept in the
cell several days after she had expressed
sorrow for her "impudence.'
Would you, had you the option have
kept the girl in dark cell for six days?"
Il would not" replied the witness
do you not regard such treatment as
inhuman and brutal?"
Il decline to answer"
DR.. Laura NJ. Satterthwaite, the attend