Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-02-22
CHARGE BRUTALITY
Investigating Commission at
House Of Correction Hears
Startling Testimony.
PRISONERS BEAR WITNESS
Tell of "CrucI" Punishment for Nhnt
They Considered Trivial Offences
Charge Keepers with Beating
Sick Men--AlleEe Lack Of
Medical Care.

Rutland. Fob. 2I.--The special com
mission, appointed sometime ago by
| Gov. G. j. Boil to investigate the penal
| institutions OF the state, opened an ad-
| journed session n the House Of Cor
rection this afternoon.
Some rather startling testimony was
given By Phillip e. Pctric, former
prisoner, who described "cruol" pun
lshmcnt administered to some Of the
prisoners for what he considered trivial
offensos or no offcnscs at all. lie cited
instances where. he said men were
treated barbarouslN by some of the
Keepers and thought that the treat
ment dealt ont to some Of the mon, ono
or two at least. helped to hasten their
deaths. He related an incident in his
effort to show that men were CON-
PEELED to work when they were not
able to and said that he knew OF cases
where, in some of these. men who were
i'll were not given the necessary mcdi-
cal aid.
THINKS PUNISHMENT TOO SEVERE.
John T.. McGuirl5 Of Rutland who j.
serving a two years sentence at th"
House OF Correction for breach Of tho
peace. testified that he thought the
men We're punished too severely in
some cases. He said that tho custom
Of putting men in the dungeon for as
long sometimes as ten days and maxi
ing them subsst on bread aud water
and sleep Oh the baro floor was njur-
ious to their health ana he claimed
to have seen instances that had
OIL, ,i,t
McGurk claimed that tobacco fur
nished prisoners was mouldy and poor
and gave that az the reason for their
striking recently.
The next witness was .Fhilip +.
Petric. former plisoCer at the House Of
Correction. Petrie testified that he was
punished in 1874 for writing letter to
John y. Woodfn. one Of the States
prison directors, to which he signed no
name but OF which he confessed him
self as the author when confronted with
the accusation. He did not send the letter
through tho Office. but "sncaked" it out.
Witness said he was confined in the dun
geon for seven days and during that time
all nc had to subsist upon was thin
slice of bread and a cup Of water. every
"A hours.
Fits PRODUCED LETTER.
The letter referred to was produced bv
Attorney-Gcneral Fits. II complained in
an unmistakablc manner or the harsh
treatment which the author OF it alleged
was dealt out to prisoners by officers Of
the institution. Tho contents of the let |
ter stated that sick men failed 10 re-
ceive proper treatment and that doc
nft ,nl
taken sick. In the letter, Pe,rle accused
Keepers John Holland and William Ror-
den OF sleeping on duty and said they
were guilty OF striking men with clubs.
Witness testified that man named
Burno from Bennington, too weak to
work in the marble shops. fell into the
sewer from sheer weakness and was made
TO change his clothes and resume work.
At another time, the witness declared
he saw VIII Borden. ono of the Keepers
shove the same prisoner to the ground |
without, witness thought. just provoca-
tion.
Jim Borden said Pctrie. did the |
same thing to Burno and after he had
him on the ground, punched him An |
other day. said the witness, John Quirk, |
a guard, kicked Burno three .mcs,"
SAW STICK USED ON BURNO.
Later, when Burno was preparing to !
lake his bath. he was too weak to remove |
his clothing, and when his clothes were |
half off l saw VIII Borden strike him sew
eral times over the back with a stick. On |
May 2S, 1903, Burno was kicked while in |
the yard by tuara and two days later |
he died. He was taken to the hospital |
the day before his death, but don't think
he received medical attendance.
carroll, who died in either February
or March of 1902, had no treatment al
all and although sick. he was kept |
constantly. IIc complained to
Mr.. Richmond, tho assistant superinten-
dent. Carroll worked up to n couple
or days before he died and was forced
to do work when he was H.. able"
Another case. witness rt~1lled, was
that of Polander, who couldn't under
stand a word of Enslish. Witness tes-
Iifed that Will Borden told him to do
with that man he did not
and that Borden then struck
aim blow oVor the head with a club
so that the blood ran down TO the
ioor below. Jim Borden said wit
ness. "hollered. hit him again and
viii struck him another blow John
Holland also struck him.
The next morning Jim Borden mot
ne in the shop and >aughcd about it"