The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-26
FLOGGING WITH WATER.
How the Hose Was Substituted for
the Lash in Oregon.

the Lasn IN oregon.
From the Portland Oregonian.
The cold-Water cure has recently been
adopted at the Oregon State Peniten-
tiary with apparently satisfactory re-
suits. For all practical purposes fog
ging has been abandoned. No rule has
been established prohibiting flogging,
and if case should be presented in
which all other punishment failed the
lash might be resorted to, but this is
contingency not deemed probable
The cold-water cure has been found
effective in some very obstinate cases
The cold-water remedy consists of
stripping the prisoner to the skin and
turning upon him a stream of cold
water from an ordinary garden hose.
The infection of the punishment is not
as brutal as fogging, it leaves no scars
or permanent injuries, and the punish
ment ends the moment the water is
turned off. prisoner who has been
subjected to the punishment once wants
no more of it, though he may be smil-
ing within a few moments after tho
ordeal is over. Gov. Chamberlain and
the prison authorities a. e highly pleased
over the result of the experiments. for
they have been DESTROYS of abolishing
the whip.
Only one prisoner has been flogged
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 effectiveness of the
remedy. After trying for half a min
ute to dodge the stream of cold water,
the man gave up and began to beg and
make promises. The punishment end
ed, he went to work and has given no
further trouble.
The other prisoner subjected to the
water cure was a white man. For sew
eral months he had been giving trouble,
and seemed to find enjoyment in dis
obeying rules, even when he gained
nothing by it. Small penalties did no
good, and he was finally warned that
another offense would bring severe
consequences. "A rev days later ne
deliberately violated an important reg
ulation and was sent to the bathroom.
He began to beg before the water
struck him, and before a pailful of
water had been used he was COM
pletely subdued. Before he had dressed
again he was laughing over the pun
ishment, but his subsequent conduct
has proved that he doesn't intend re-
ceiving 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 unconquered and are perhaps more
vicious and more desperate because
of the method of inflicting pain. Many
a prisoner has sworn that if he ever
gets an opportunity he will take the
life of the officer who laid the lash
across his back. Flogging was de-
grading to both the prisoner and the
man who imposed the punishment.
The prisoner was stripped and
bound and flogged until, in many
instances the blood flowed down their
back. Not so with the water cure.
The prisoners are not bound nor cut
and bruised. The cold-water cure
leaves the offending prisoner with a
cleaner body and apparently a more
peaceful mind.