Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1913-05-23

M nuR1
II Governor Sulzer to investigate
/ the prisons and reformatories
, Of New York state. has turned in n re-
port to the governor concerning the ad-
ministfation Of Sing Sing prison upon
which it is expected the grand jury
will speedily take action.
"Stores Of torture of prisoners in the
middle ages sound like descriptions of
| Injuries in comparison to the tales that
have been told me of the lives that
somo of the prisoners in Sing Sing
live says Mr.. Blake in his report.
The worst feature-that dealing with
the morals of the convicts-Mr. Blake
I says cannot be discussed in a public
document, but should he called to the
/ immediate attention of those compe
| tent to deal with the situation.
| The investigator describes conditions
as "frightful." The prison cells, he
says, are dark, small, damp, filthy and
I infested with vermin. In them men
contract rheumatism and go out Grip
pied for life. Into none of the cells on
/ the lower tiers has a ray of sunshine
entered for eighty years.
In his Indictment of New York states
oldest penal institution Mr.. Blake re-
wives the story of the prison ring that
controls traffic in pardons and com
mutations of sentence. This story was
first heard when William +. Clark be
fore his resignation as secretary of the
commission of inquiry was called upon
n Of a a
[ had used the name of Governor Sulzer
in an effort to have Harry X. Thaw.
the slayer Of Stanford White, released
| from Matteawan. Mr.. Clark explained
his frequent visits to that institution
| by saying that Governor SulZer had
sent him to ascertain whether there
was prison ring" No confederation
of this testimony ever came from Gov
ernor Suzer, and the prison ring" was
not heard of again until after Mr..
Blake began investigating the prisons.
Unfair Transactions.
"If the combinations and pardons
bought were always delivered there
would have been a CLINT of fairness
in the Transactions, but in some cases
| the goods We're not delivered,'" Mr..
( Blake reports concerning the Sing
! Sing situation.
Il have evidence showing that by
/ the payment of money men have been
accorded the privilege Of seeing their
/ friends alone in n room adjacent to the
/ warden's office. | strongly suspect, and
I l. believe l will be able to prove it, that
1 certain men throughout the state have
used employees within the prison TO
| ferret out for them prisoners with
means in order that they might, by
I promises of clemency and of privi-
1 leges, wiring some money from them"
The report opens with bitter attack
/ on Warden Kennedy and on Colonel
/ Joseph e. Seott, who was removed as
/ superintendent of state prisons by Gov
/ ernor Sulzer after he had refused to
| appoint Charles T, Rattigan warden
! of Auburn prison. Colonel Scott was
appointed superintendent of prisons
/ after a successful administration, coy
! ering more than ten years, of the af
1 fairs of the Elmira reformatOry. He
I was considered one of the foremost
| penologists in the country. President
/ Taft summoned Colonel Scott to Wash
| ington to preside over the international
I conference on prison reform held there
/ two years ago. Mr. Blake in his report
assails Colonel Scott bitterly and says
fatty that he has done nothing to gain
/ his reputation.
/ He says in his report:
"The prison is remarkable because Of
/ the lack of any cohesive or well poised
/ plan of government 1t is so slipshod
/ and incompetent as to breed the sus-
/ picion at the first glance that the pur-
pose is to cover up dishonest methods
/ by a brazen show of innocent careless
/ ness.
II found no one man in the prison
who appeared to know the slightest
/ thing about the work he was expected
| TO do, with the exception of the prison
| doctors, who are without doubt con
scientous men striving to do their duty
| iu the face of manifold difficulties.
| Warden Kennedy has violated the
4 law; e;has permitted the creation and
/ continuance Of unbusinesslike methods
/ and has caused the state to lose thou
sands Of dollars in way that points
/ directly to graft. He has made no at
/ tempt to protect the inmates from dis
/ case and vice nor any effort to produce
better conditions in this prison. Dur
/ ing his administration scandals of the
! prison management nave become rife
/ in every section Of the state.
Warden Not Blamed.
'T do not wish to bear too heavily
upon Warden Kennedy. because | am
strongly of the opinion that the facts
/ set forth in this statement are due di
rectly to Joseph +. Scott, who was for
nearly two years superintendent OF
prisons. l have dug into the sterile
/ soil Of prison management to discover
II possible one redeeming trait in the
management of prisons of this state