Year: 1875

~oeOuEsC


cent, the prisoners received ration and


one fifth per day. or more tnan
twice the quantity issued during
field service in the late war to the troops.
OF the


CHARACTER OF THK FOOD


we will speak elsewhere, but we must say


that the supply and quality, which we saw


on the tables, was good and in abundance,


and certainly sufficient to fully supply and


crafty the appetites OF the prisoners: We
found the quantity which ought TO be on
hand to be a little under the quantity actG-
allv on hand, but gains in issue weuid
account for that. In our examination In re-
gard to the treatment of the prisoners we
executed our inquiries so as TO Include the
character or quality OF the tood issued. we
found the prisoners complained that they
received an over proportion of salt meat, and
that on one occasion they found spoiled
meat on their tables, and that until quite re-
Gently they had received wheat bread only
three day in each week. By an examlna'
ton Of the warden's report 1t will be seen
that he purchased during the year greater
quantity of salt than fresh meats, conse-
quently he issued lust what he had.
it was found that on one occasion spoiled salt
meat was cooked and placed on the tables


before its character was discovered. The lot
from which it was taken was at once shipped
back to the persons from whom purchased
at Chicago, and good meat supplied in its
place During the last few weeks wheat


bread has been issued daily because the
grade of flour used makes it as cheap as corn


bread. Your committee think, however,
that these complaints are fully answered in
the sanitary condition of the prison. The


death rate has been but four to one thou
sand, and it Is easy TO see that IL would
have been greater among the same men bad
they been out of prison. The death rate,
which is the basis of life insurance calcula-
g.. - "a fxuO a ho uuh hiah N
Cured during the past year were from
causes not in any way resulting from prison
treatment. The excellent results following
the strict and careful medical attention given
the inmates of the prison is matter OF pub
lie congratulation. Upon the question Of
punishment inflicted our examinations were
quite extended. We examined, under oath,
forty-seven convicts, separate and
apart from the prison officials or
other persons, in order that they might be
under no restraint in making their state
ment.


The case Of Lewis Armstrong, which had
gained considerable notoriety in the news
papers, we examined in detail. We called
him before us and reduced his testimony to
writing In it he said that he had never
done any manual labor; that he did not
want to learn a trade, and that he could not
learn how to make barrel. He said he had
been called into the Office by the deputy
warden twenty times during the period OF
three months, before any punishment was
inflicted, and that each time he was called
in the deputy reasoned with and urged him
to try to do his work, and told him on each
occasion he must do his work or be pun
ished. He further said he had been twice
punished, once with three and the other with
five lashes. The committee caused him to
remove his shirt and show his bare back
careful examination failed to show
that the


SKIN ON HIS BACK


had ever been broken. His fellow convicts
also testified to these facts. The convict Nah
lon Woods, with whom Armstrong worked,
testified that Armstrong told him that he
had never worked and never intended to.
The prison record of punishment shows that
on the 26th day of October, 1874, Armstrong
received four lashes for refusing to work,
and that on the 20th of November he received
three Iashes for still refusing to work. A
convict testified that he was in the cell with
Armstrong who told him that he would not
learn trade; that he was gentleman and a
merchant. The guard and foreman in the
shop testified to similar expressions on the
part of Armstrong. The committee made
inquiries of every prisoner examined by
them in regard to the standing in the prison
of one Hiram Lindley, and the answers
were uniformly that his standing and
general reputation among them was bad.


Inc VI COublCS O1LupSOA Wy 1oDubN
Warden Manning was made the subject of
careful inquiry, We found that Simpson
was near the end of bis sentence, and being
an escaped life convict from Sing Sing, he
was told by a fellow prisoner that the deputy
would send him back there when his term
expired. This enrsged, or rather made him
insane, and he declared he would kill the
deputy. Picking up his cooper broad axe he
rushed out of the shop and into the prison
Office. The guard gave the alarm, but be-
fcre any one could get near him. he was in
the Office. MIR. st. John, member of the
board of directors, was present with Man.
ming and struck the convict with a chair
while the deputy drew his pistol and ordered
Simpson to leave the Office or he would shoot


him. Simpson only answered, you have
betrayed me, and will kill you. Thinking
he must fire to save his life he did so, fir
ing three times before the man fell, and
when he did fall he threw the axe,


narrowly missing the deputy.


The killing was justifable in
| self defense and was that act against an in
sane man. The prisoner had never been
punished or even reprimanded while in
| the prison, and was regarded as a reasonably
good man. In the case OF Renster, who was
reported to have been brutally whipped and
! chained IN the wash house, yuor committee
| iud that he has periodical attacks of insan-
/ ity; that when the first one appeared after
| his Imprisonment, he rushed from his cell,
| and after knocking down fellow convict,


who was in the gallery, picked up stool
and attacked the guard in an insane man


ner. The guard gave the alarm and he was
| secured, without violence, and locked in his
i cell. The spell or attack lasted several days,


and as the prisoner, by his shouting, dis
turbed the other inmates of his cell, he was
removed to the wash house, the only place
where he could be confined, and in this no
more force was used than was necessary TO
restrain the man. he has never been pun
ished or even reprimanded since
he has been in the prison, and
is a favorite with the contractors and
officials and the guard has instructions to
relieve him from duty whenever he feels
unwell. In the case of Williams 1t was
found that


HE FEIaNED INSANITY,


and although the physician reported him OF