The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-21
CONVICT TOOK DRUG
TO SING sing, HE SAYS
Pickpockct Tcstifies That He
Was Punished for Reveal
ing Traffic.
SUPPLIES NOT EXAMINED
Commissioners Find No Whole
sale Smuggling, but Want
Guards Watched.

A committee OF the state Prison Com
mission sat almost all day yesterday in
Sing Sing prison in an effort to find out II
the drug traffic there IL ss serious az ex
Warden Clancy has declared It to be. War
den Mccormick. Assistant Principal
Keeper Martin Kelley. two clerks and nine
prisoners were questioned. No evidence
was obtained Of any extensive drug traf-
fc now going on.
Three ways In which drugs could be
taken into the prison were disclosed
through the shipping department. through
the supply cellar and through the guards
The easiest way seemed to be through the
guards,
The assistan; principal keeper said that
In his judgment the drug traffic Is now
less active than at any previous time In
his twenty-three years service In the
prison. Warden Mccormick said that his
two weeks as Sing Sings head had been
too short time for him to learn much
about the subject.
The commissioners decided TO recon-
J mend the segregation OF all drug iiends In
/ the prison and to try TO figure out some
way in which guards would find It less
easy TO take drugs within the walls.
! Henry solomon Of New York. president
| OF tho state Prison Commission; Leon
! Weinstock OF New York, who also is n
/ member - the State Commission on New
/ Prisons Frank T.. Wade of Buffalo and
! Dr. Rudolph +. Dedling of Saugerties
/ held the drug hearing. They Will start
I a similar investigation at Clinton prison.
/ Dannemora, August I. and about August
II will begin to inquire into drug snug
] Cling on BlaCkwell's Island.
No search OF supplies.
Arthur Ferguson OF the prison mainte-
nance department told the commissioners
that supplies arriving by boat for the
/ prison workshops are taken TO cellar
/ beneath the mess hall without search.
! Frank u. Way OF the shipping depart
| ,nent confirmed this. Supplies are weighed
In the cellar. but not examined for drugs.
I Commissioner Wade went out to see for
himself and found twenty-three prisoners
handling stun in the cellar. while single
guard stood outside taking the air.
A prisoner told OF bringing sixty grains
OF morphine. which he said he had OBJ
tanned in the Tombs. into Sing Sing in a
rubber tube hidden in his bsndaged foot.
Also he had sewed some In his shirt
sleeves.
A picltpocket said he had revealed the
drug traffic when Clancy was warden and
had been put in solitary cell on bread
and water for nine days as his reward
He added that he had been bounded ever
since Two keepers in particular had
challted him MP twice for talking loud In
his cell when. he says, he was innocent
This witness named three other prisoners
as drug sellers who received from IS &c
sl2 bottle for morphine and 80 bottle
for heroin.
Another prisoner said that he learnet
. TO use drug after a doctor had giver
him literally Of morphine TO XIII the pair
of a broken arm. He smoked opium a
Elmira as a youth and aterward' on
! only as a "joyrider." This Is the tern
used by drug takers who use the STUFF
only for pleasure. This man said he ha'
; never obtained drugs In Sing Sing. II
fact he had been cured" each OF the TIVE
times he was sent there.
81 went to the hospital TO get over IT,
he explained. ITO be sure. IL had stucl
around the shops i could nave got IN
stun"
The next moment he denied having sal
this Dr. Diedlng looked at him sharpi
and said:
"Why. you're doped now. Didn't yo
: have a shot OF the stun this morning.
Prisoner Denies "DopinK."
l. NO. indeed" said the witness.
~ Or. Henry T. Mereness, one OF tn
- prison DIS HltldIN, " as anu survey
!. the prisoner with Dr. Diedling. They cor
n cluded that the man IL so confirmed
h drug user that nothing short OF a bloc
~ ties, would tell II he had had any In N
4 last twelve hours.
y one OF the prisoners accused OF dru
N peddling Ia an ex-poltician OF a sma
a town who escaped from Sing Sing son
,e time ago by swimming the river and wa
's not caugh. until he had reached ga
n Francisco. Another prisoner said /
wished for drink one morning and IN
,s fellow brought him a whole bottle
10 whiskey. How he got It nobody knew,
Id asked. said the man whose thirst ";
ID quenched
al Ass!stan, Principal Keeper Kelley e'
pressed the opinion that while the dru
be traffic can be much minimized Il nev'
N can be wiped out The guards, $500
I'd 5000 a year men. come and go as th'
al please without search. Al bottom II is
question of their honesty. Warden NJ
I'd CormiclS said that " he found keep
,g peddling drugs he would not only di
o. charge him but try to have indicted.