The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-30
Kept in Dungeon Three
Days and Nights Without
Food or Drink.
CRUELTY RUINED HEALTH
Startling Accusations Made by
Mrs. Ida Kuntz, OF West HO-
boken, Against Attaches OF
Hudson County Jail--May
Be investigated.

spectacle woman mother OF two chill
dren. comes from West Hoboken, and
NAV be called 10 the attention of the
Hahn legislative committee. The case
is worthy of one of the darkest pages
of the Dark Ages, and if the Hahn
investigating committee fails to get Il
line on those who are said to have been
responsible for the outrages to whlch
this defenseless widow and mother was
subjected, 1t Will not be the fault OF
those who are interested in placing at
the bar of justice her prosecutors, who
live at the public expense and are sup
posed to be the guardians of law and
order.
Mrs. Ida Kuntz. who now lives at
518 Dodd street, West Hoboken, was a
happy mother and free from care, as
far as her own humble circumstances
permitted. until a year g last May,
when the troubles that nearly berett
cher of her reason began to loom up.
Mrs. Kuntz was the owner of a COM
fortabIy remunerative wholesale milk
business in West HoboSen, and ear
ried an account in one of the banks
there. One morning she received word
that she had ovefdrawn her balance
to the amount of about $40. The same
day her sister-in-law called at the
house and said that she was wanted
at the West Hoboken police station.
She complied. and as soon as she reached
the station house. she is ready TO depose'
she was thrown into n cell where sne was
kent twenty-one hours without food or
drink Then she was taken out, put in a
cab and taken to the Hudson County jail.
she had no opportunity of informing her
children. two pretty daughters. Minnie. IL
years old, and Edith, I years old, where
she was. and 1t was five days later that
they were told that their mother was In
jail. -.
home was broken up and the business ana
stock were sold. What became Of the pro-
ceeds of the sale she does not know; she
has received no part of It. The bank TOOK
no part in the high-handed proceedings
and the money is supposed to have gone
elsewhere.
Not content with placing the unfortu-
nate woman In jail one outrage was piled
upon another. The jail doors had haroly
closed upon Mrs. Kuntz when she was
directed to take a bath. She protested
vainly that she had taken a bath that
same day. Then came n struggle, SO sne
is again ready to depose, but she was
oyerpowered by two keepers a1ter a
vigorous fight, In the course of which the
then Infatuated woman fighting for her
home and honor, so she VIII swear
knocked one of the keepers down.
When Mrs. Kuntz had given In at last'
she was stripped by a female ATTENDANT IN
the nresence OF the two male keepers, ac-
eording to her story, and forced to take
the bath that she did not need.
For thirteen days she was Kept In the
county iail, and then another chapter inthe
series of outrages opened before her pc
wildered mind and tortured her pody ana
soul. Her story is That the keepers, IN
censed at her behavior, after she had been
released for one week. a her arrested
and sent to the penitentiary at Snake Hill
for a term of ninety days, under threats
& that the next step would be TO commit her
TO an asylum for the insane.
In the meanwhile her little ones had been
cared for by kind %neighbors and when the
mother returned tn them Mt last they
hardly recognized her, From n strong.
blccmin woman in the best health she
had become haCgard and careworn. almost
derrepit In appearance.
When the last chapter was closed Mrs
h Kuntz secured Hudson County for a law
yer to take up her cause, but she found
that none was willing to act because OF a
rooted Discrimination to run up against the
powers that be- Finally her story came
to the eafS OF u new 1OTh lTleHu VI ridhh
M. McDermit. who was induced to loot
1t up.
He has had many years of experience
I as a criminal lawyer. and has heard hun
dreds Of stories to make a nearer heart
sick. but he said yesterday that none
had so appealed to his sympathies as this
life tragedy Of the woman of West Hobo
ken. outraged, stripped of her business
and almost made a mental and physical
wreck by a long series of wrongs.
Her story. which was first told in the
German language. is now being translated
into English, ana after every detail has
been verified an effort will be made to SCI
an investigation on foot.
Mrs. Kuntz was seen ut her humble hui
neat and clean little home Mt 5S podc
street, West HoboSen, last night after sh'
rcturned from doing a large washing ant
ironing for a wealthy West Hoboken resi-
dei.t. Tired and careworn the woman whC
still retains traces of her former self. al
though she is broken In health, related
story Of prosecutions that seems unbeliev
able In this enlightened age. The stor,
she told OF her treatment Mt the hands o
the keepers and matron of the Hudsoi
County Jail sounded like n tale Of the bar
barous nses when Christians were perse
cuted md tortured.
Because she repealed the attacks OF tn
matron and the keepers Immediately afte
the doors were closed on her, she wa
handcuffed and placed In a dungeon cell
whore she was told her temper and high
strung spirits would be curbed and broken.
With steel bracelets on her wrists. whic
prevented her removing an article of cloth
ing, Mrs. Kuntz said she was kept in tn
dungeon cell three days and three nights
without food or drink and no opportunit
of obeying the demands of the laws G
nature.
1T was near the end of the third day,
said Mrs Kuntz, that the handouts fe
ON my wrists, my hands had grown $
thin, and l took them and pounded on tn
coor Of the cell until one of the keeper
rame and opened the door.
For Gods sake, 1 pleaded. get me
drink Of WATER Without making an effoI
10 respond to my pieadings." the woma
continued. 1.-The keeper asked me how Ion
/ hal been there, and after I told him /
wen. TO the Office. Soon afterward III
matron came and l was taken from tt
dungeon and placed In a cell which Wa
alive with vermln. / pleaded for n do
tor. and when one came l saw 1t was II
doctor who. some years before, when
was county physician. charged me 80 Il
a death certificate, which he Is compellt
to give under the law. for my child, wi
was burned TO death.
He asked me my name and address an
why 1 was there, felt my pulse n tbs