Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-09-01
BETTER THAN FLOGGlNG.
Water Cure Proves More Effective in
Controlling Prisoners in Ore
gon P~enitentiary.

oSSAs SSSA
adopted at the Oregon state penitentiary
with apparently satisfactory results.
Fol all practical purposes f1ogging has
been abandoned. No rule has been es-
tablished prohibiting fiogging, and if
a case should be presented in which all
other punishment failed the lash might
be resorted to, but this is a contingency
not deemed probable. The cold-water
cure has been found effective in some
very obstinate cases. says the Portland
Oregonian.
The cold-water remedy consists of
stripping the prisoner to the Skin and
turning uDon him a stream of cold
water from an ordinary garden hose.
The 1nfiction of the punishment is not
as brutal as flogging, it leaves no scars
nor permanent injuries, and the pun
lshment ends the moment the water is
turned off. A prisoner who has been
subjected to the punishment once
wants no more Of it, though he may
be smiling within a few moments aft
er the ordeal is over. Gov. Chamber
lain and the prison authorities are
highly pleased over the result of the
experiments, for they have been de-
sirous Of abolishing the whip.
Only one prisoner had been fogged
during this administration. That man
was a trusty and had run away, and
upon being captured was given the
penalty always imposed in such cases
up to that time. Since then two pris-
oners have been punished with the
cold-water remedy. One of them was
a big, burly negro. When he came to
the prison he was assigned to work in
the shops, but refused to obey orders.
He asserted that he didn't have to
work, and wouldn't work. He was
taken to the bathroom, stripped, and
stood in a corner The first squirt of
water from the hose brought out a
shrek that was evidence of the ef-
t~ectiveness Of the remedy. After try
Ing for half a minute to dodge the
stream of cold water, the man gave I'm
and began to beg and make promises.
The punishment ended, he went to
work, and has given no further trou-
BILE.
The other prisoner subjected to the
water cure was a white a For
several months he had been giving
trouble and seemed to find enjoyment
In disobeying rules, even when he
gained nothing by it. Small penal
ties did no good, and he was finally
warned that another offense would
bring sever consequences. A few
days later he deliberately violated an
important regulation and was sent
to the bathroom. He began to beg be-
fore the water struck him, and before
a pailful Of water had been used he
was completely subdued. Before he
had dressed again he was laughing over
the punishment, but his subsequent
conduct has proved that be doesn't in
tend receiving a second dose of water
cure.
There are men in the Oregon peni-
Tertiary who bear flogging scars that
they will carry to their graves. 1t is
but fair to say that the scars were not
received during this administration.
Some of the men thus punished are
still u%nconquered, and are perhaps
more vicious and more desperate be-
of the method of inflicting pain.
Many a prisoner has sworn that if he
ever gets AM opportunity he will take
the life Of the officer who laid the lash
across his back. F1ogging was de-
grading both to the prisoner and the
mar who imposed the punishment. The
prisoner wal stripped and bound and
: logged until, in many instances, the
blood flowed down his back. Not so
with the water cure. The prisoners
are not bound nor cut and bruised.
The cold-water cure leaves the Of
Tending prisoner with a cleaner body
and apparently a more peaceful mind.