New-York tribune., 1919-11-30
Bedford Girls
Manacled and
Strung to Cell
Common Practice to Sus-
pend Unruly So That
Toes Barely Touch Floor.
Says Reformatory Guard

BEDFORD. y. T.. Nov. % Hand
cutting refractory prisoners IN the
State Reformatory for Women 70 their
cell doors 50 that only the tips Of Their
toes touched the floor is a uniform
practice" according 10 Thomas Quinn,
a guard at the institution, who testl-
fed to-day in the inquiry into method,
of maintaining discipline which - be
ing conducted hy John s Kennedy.
vice.prcsiaent o. che State Prison
Commission. Quinn told Of one girl
whose feet failed TO reach the floor.
She found a footing on cross bar
Quinn said. but the attendant kicked
the girls heels ont.
Ruth Carter. whose trial on charge
Of assaulting mat:on brought about
the inquiry, testified 10 being strung
up 70 her cell door for three days. Her
wrists were laccrated. she sad. and
her only food was bread and water ad-
ministered by a matron.
Quinn al-o told Of dashing buckets
Of cold water on the suspended pris-
oncrs and of dipping the heads Of
handcIffcd girls into buckets % water.
holding them there so long sometimes
he feared the victim was dead wnen
her head was withdrawn. In three
years he had helped to dip one hundred
girls. he said. and in the last twelve
months thirty.
Handwriting a Custom
zone dip was as good As five said
Quinn. "if you kept her head down
long enough.
Ever since he became guard at the
reformatory four years ago. Quinn
said. il has been customary 70 punish
an unruly girl by handwriting her
wrists behind her, lifting her Oh
blanket 70 her cell door and fastening
the handouts TO a crossbar. After a
reasonable time he said, II the girl
still seemed ,kstreperous. she was
nut on "A cot with her hands and feet
shackled - the sides.
"The gir generally screamed all the
time We did it. Quinn said.
He said he never had heard of girls
mouth having been filed with suds
while Katharine b. Davis was supern-
tendent, but il was done once, at least,
he declard, during tn regime Of the
present superintendent, Helen A Cobb.
Soapsuds Crammed Into Mouth
"The girl seemed insane" Quinn
said Three or four Of us went into
her cell and one threw water or her
1t was cold water, but it had no effect. y
The girl being as vio.ent as ever,
Quinn continued, ne and the other
keepers began dipping her. They stuck
her head in the bucket of water sew
eral times, he said, keeping it beneath
the surface from thirty seconds to a
minute each time. This failed TO
soothe the girl, so they wrapped towel
around her head and crammed her
mouth full of soap and water.
"All the girl said was: My insides
are burning" Quinn testified.
The name of this victim, ne said,
was Elizabeth Nichols.
He said the cold water treatment
generally was used when girl was
strung up. After The treatment, he
said. the girl gasped for breath. her
eyes protruded and in some cases she
was unconscious.
Thrown Into BedIess Cell
Several times when he started to re-
move the handouts he thought The girl
was dead. he said. They were always
all in" he continued. but were thrown
into cell that contained no bed. go
they would have to sleep on the floor.
On August /, Quinn continued, girl
whose name he could not remember,
was manacled TO the door of ner cell
so that her feet failed 20 reach the
floor.
"She managed TO get the heels Of her
shoes in between the bars" Quinn said.
but when this was discoveries by an
attendant the attendant kicked the
girls heels out. She just hung there
- 4 vr ggled and squirmed after that
Ruth Carter, who said her real name