Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-06-03
EXTREME CRUELTY At
TERRITORIAL PRISON
Charged That Convict Guilty of No Offense Was Strung
Up By Thumbs for II Days on Bread and Water
Diet.-.Brutality Only Ceased When Prison.
er tainted From Weakness

I The aforesaid Price Walters, as a
membero Of the penitentiary Commits
! sion attended meeting Of that body
few weeks ago In this city So did
Joseph +. Sulzer, ex-member of the
Legislative Council from Bernalillo
County, who was appointed member
Of the commission by that great re-
former Hagerman for voting for Hag-
; erman measures; SO did other mem.
bers Of the commission. During their
attendance, however, none of these
| commissioners whose duty 1t was to
Inquire Into the treatment of the pris-
| oners and to post themselves fully on
the conduct Of prison officials and to
ascertain If such conduct was in ac-
cordance with law, with the pre-
scribed regulations, with the dictates
OF humanity, and fair and humane
paid any attention to any of these very
important questions. They were too
| busy letting contracts, looking wise
| and endeavorlng to establish sins of
! commission and omission under the
| Bursum superintendency.
In view of this the New Mexican
will give few items of treatment of
convicts which can only be character
, lied In plain English as brutal in the
extreme. dangerous to human life,
even OF convicts, unjust unfair, tyran-
nical and in certain cases as barbar-
! Gus, uncalled for and undeserved tor.
| ture The New Mexican is informed
and it believes this information to be
reliable that for very slight oifenses
. and in one case brought to the atten
ton of this paper through no offense
at all convicts have been strung up
for days at time by the wrists, that
Is: handouts were put on them CON
nected by an iron chain few inches
in length, this chain was placed in a
staple and the convict placed under
this, his arms uplifted and in such a
position that his feet barely touch the
floor.
In one case the New Mexicans in
formation is that the prisoner
to whom this barbarous torture
was applied and who had been
SO tortured for seventeen days
tainted from peahness and was near
ly dead when he was taken down.
This punishment was administered in
dark cell and, during its period the
convict was fed on bread and water
only.
The aforesaid Price Walters and the
aforesaid Joseph F. Sulzer great Hag-
erman reformers, appointed to office
because they did as Hagerman d.
, rected, had neither time nor inclina.
tlon nor sense of duty nor humanity
nor decency enough to ascertain the
facts and put stop to such barbarity
inflicted unjustly and unfairly accord
ing to the account furnished this pa
per. This very probably because
they were appointed by fake reform
Governor. are fake reformers, and
| therefore neither could nor would
they discover anything wrong or i'm
proper or unjust or illegal under the
present penitentiary management.
The New Mexican is also informed
that some Of these matters were re.
ported to Ex-Governor Hagerman se,
eral months ago, but evidently the ex
Governor was too busy trying to run
the Thirty-seventh Legislative Assem-.
bly or considered humane treatment
OF conylcts in the Territorial peniten.
tiary OF no consequence and no atten.
tion was paid to the report.
The New Mexican has not placed
thls matter as yet before the people
as strongly and as we'll authenticated
as 1t expects to shortly in the shane
OF sworn testimony by reliable men
VINO give the facts of their own knowl-
edge supported by other evidence
which when all considered, will be
accepted as truthful even If given by
eX.cOnyctS.