New-York tribune., 1914-11-14
BEDFORD HORRORS
A PLOT, IS CHARGE
DR.. Davis Refuses to Be
Iieve RefOrmatory Com
plant Report.
GIRL INMATES FAIL TO
SUSTAIN ACCUSATION
DR.. DiedIing's Allegations Re-
garding Prisoners Woes Seen
as Political Move.

dS fOIItISdl WOFS.
A report to the State Commission OF
Prisons by DR.. Rudolph +. Diedling,
commissioner, given out In Albany yes
terday, condemning the State Reforma-
tory for Women at Bedford Hills as
useless and cruelty administered, was
characterized yesterday by James
Wood, chairman of the board Of mana
gers Of the institution, as a political
attack. The report in detail was de-
nice by Mary X. Moore, superintend-
ent, who said that DR.. Diedllng spent
only twenty minutes in making his ex-
animation. Inmates of the institution
snickered at the idea that their punish
ment was cruel.
As an institution devoted to the sci
entifc study Of it's charges with a
view 20 their reformation, the Bedford
Reformatory gained an enyIable repu-
tation under DR.. Katharine B. DAVIS,
Commissioner Of the Department OF
Correction. Commissioner Davis re-
fuses to believe the charges Of cruelty
and calls the recommendation that the
reformatory be abolished preposterous.
DR.. Diedlng made his examination
on October 28. In Rebecca Hall-a
dormitory- says he found most OF
the one hundred inmates in bed,
whittier they had been driven by the
temperature. They told him, he says,
that they we're locked in from 2 o'clock
in the afternoon until the next morn
ing, and had to stay in bed to keep
warm.
The ten disciplinary cells, he says,
are poorly lighted and ventilated, and
contain no furniture. Girls are chained
up in them
az found one girl" he says, eighteen
years Of age, in one OF these cells, VINO
told me she had been placed in SIT
ting posture on a mattress on the floor,
with her hands handcufed behind her
back and fastened 10 the iron barred
door and her feet extending along the
floor, bound by shackles. and that she
was kept in this position continuously
for more than two weeks, during which
time she was given nothing to eat but
bread and water.
Doctor Would End Horrors"
al earnestly recommend" he con-
tinues, chat steps be taken at once
to end the horrors of this disciplinary
building"
One of the girls in the disciplinary
building told him, he says, that she
hed asked TO be put there because she
was so disgusted with conditions that
she feared she would do something
desperate unless strictly watched.
"The superintendent" says DR.
Diedling, "who overheard these COM
plants, did not attempt 10 defend this
treatment, but offered as an excuse
that she merely continued a system
that was in vogue when she assumed
charge"
81 did not overhear his converse
ton" said Miss Moore yesterday. 81
purposely left him alone so that he
could not feel that | was trying TO
influence or intimidate the girls. He
did ask me how long this system had
been operative and | replied, Ever
since before | came here.
"It is not true that the girls are
locked in Rebecca Hall from 2 o'clock
in the afternoon until the next morn
ing. On the day DR.. Diedling visited
the place one girl who had refused to
work was in her room; two or three
others who were i'll were in their
rooms They could have gone out at
any time. One group OF girls who get
up at 4:3O o'clock in the morning 70
do kitchen work have a two-hour rest
period in the afternoon, which they
spend in their rooms. They may go
to bed if they like.
"As for the disciplinary building,
you can see for yourself that each cell
has an inlet for pure air, which passes
over coil of heated pipes, and an
outlet near the ceiling for foul air
It is necessary to have some means OF
furnishing these girls when they have
tantrums. All the broken windows that
you notice in the buildings were
smashed during tantrums. The only
humane way of furnishing them is by
solitary confinement.
"ln cases where physical restraint
is necessary to prevent them from
| tearing their clothes to tatters and
wearing out their finger nails on the
| floors or walls we use handouts"
Miss Jessie Taft, graduate of the
/ University of Chicago, who is in charge
of the disciplinary building, corroho'
/ rated Miss Moore's assertions.
The eighteen-year-old girl, who, DR.
| Diedling reported was chained hanc
and foot, was still in solitary confine'
ment yesterday. She is q negro. She
is very disorderly, it is charged, anC
has spent five terms in the disciplinary
cells.
Girl Praises Food.
"Why are you here?" she was asked
"Oh, jes' can't be good. Pm in nov
cause | ran away"
"How do they feed you?"
"Oh, they feeds me all right. /:
| been here so much they gives me the
reg'lar meals when come. These that
| jes' come in once in while to get
| punished, they only gets one hot meal
a day. You see, I'm reg'lar boa der
The girl who, according to DR.. Died
| ling's report, chose solitary confine-
ment lest she "do something desper-
ate,' said yesterday that she GUESSED
she was there because she was too
popular" Miss Taft agreed with her
saying that she was full of mischief
| and was so much of q leader among
the inmates that she upset the whole
place continually with her pranks. Her
room is hung with pictures.
an my opinion" said James Wood
head of the board of managers, which
held its regular meeting yesterday,
"this is a political attack. | believe it
I . L.. 81 -, 8