CHARGES
SUSTAINED.
THE
STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES MAKES ITS REPORT.
Superintendent
Brockway Found Guilty of "Cruel, Brutal, Excessive, Degrading and Unusual
Punishment of the Inmates"—The Board of Managers Condemned and a Recommendation
to Abolish Them.
ALBANY, March 20.—The state board of charities
handed in its report on the Elmira reformatory investigation and it is against
the board of managers. After detailing at length the findings in the evidence the
investigating committee concludes as follows:
First—That the charges and the allegations against
the general superintendent, Z. R. Brockway, of "cruel, brutal, excessive,
degrading and unusual punishment of the inmates" are proven and most amply
sustained by the evidence, and that he is guilty of the same.
That the general superintendent in punishing
convicts by blows across the face by the paddle, and the handle thereof, not
because of any offense committed by them, but because they happen to turn the
heads, often for the purpose of pleading for mercy, is guilty of needless
cruelty and gross inhumanity.
That the general superintendent permitted and
encouraged officers and keepers to strike, kick, beat and otherwise practice
brutality upon the inmates, when in his presence in the bathroom, and that,
therefore, said officers and keepers were encouraged to exercise brutality upon
the inmates elsewhere and when not in his presence. We, therefore, find the general
superintendent guilty of the charge of "permitting, countenancing and
encouraging brutality on the part of the officers and the keepers."
Second—That corporal punishment, as
practiced in the reformatory, be prohibited by law.
Third—That the general medical supervision of
the reformatory is inadequately provided for, and that the appointment as
physician of a relative of a member of the board of managers should not be
tolerated.
Fourth—That the law governing transfers of convicts
from the reformatory to state prisons should be amended so as to prevent a
recurrence of the hardship and injustice proven to have existed in the
management of the reformatory in this respect.
Fifth—That the laws authorizing the rearrest
of paroled inmates of the reformatory should be amended so as to prevent the
reincarceration of such prisoners except upon proper judicial inquiry.
Sixth—That the system of employing convicts as
officers, keepers and monitors, if continued in the reformatory, should be
amended so as to prevent the recurrence of such abuses as are shown to have
grown up under the present method.
Seventh—The present board of managers of the
reformatory, which is composed of but five members, a number so small that it
admits of no divided responsibility, should have known of the existence of the
facts, as disclosed by this investigation, and the evidence shows that they
knew little or nothing about them. They were requested by the governor, at the beginning
of this inquiry, to suspend the general superintendent pending the same, which they
did under protest. When the prosecution had closed their side of the case and
the testimony for the managers was only half submitted, they proceeded to
reinstate him by a formal vote and resolution, declaring their continued and
enduring confidence in him. Thus they have assumed direct responsibility for
his cruelties and inhumanities for which they were before only morally liable.
At the same time they have apparently gone out of their way to offer a wanton
insult to the executive.
Eighth—That the maximum number of convicts to
be confined in the reformatory should not exceed 1,000.
Adopting these conclusions the state board
recommends as follows:
1. The appointment of one or more resident chaplains
to the reformatory, whose duty it shall be to perform religious services under such
regulations as the board of managers shall prescribe, to attend to the
spiritual wants of the inmates and generally to perform such other duties,
consistent with their profession and calling, as will promote the contentment,
welfare and morality of the inmates.
2. That an experienced and properly
qualified physician should be required to reside in the reformatory.
3. That the mangers and general
superintendent be prohibiting to any office in the reformatory any person who
is related to either of them by consanguinity or affinity within the third
degree.
4. That the parole system in vogue at the reformatory
be retained, but with such amendment of the law as will permit the fact of
alleged violation of the conditions of parole to be judicially determined by a
court of record, and that the return to the reformatory shall be in the
discretion of the court.
5. That no convict shall be transferred from
the reformatory to a state prison until he shall have had a hearing before a
court of record, which said court shall have full power and discretion to
determine whether or not such convict shall be so transferred.
6. That the trial court shall determine and fix
in the sentence the maximum term for which the prisoner may be imprisoned in
the reformatory, or in the reformatory and state prison if subsequently
transferred thereto, the prisoner retaining the privilege of earning his freedom
in a less period, as under the present system. The trial court to have full
discretion to commit to the reformatory or to state prison as shall seem most
expedient.
7. That the law prohibiting its use in state
prisons should be so amended as to extend to and include all state
reformatories; or that if the use of corporal punishment is to be continued in
state male reformatories it shall only be administered upon the judgment of the
majority of the board of managers, sitting as a court, after opportunity to the
accused to be heard in his defense and to be confronted with his accusers. That
said judgment shall determine the character of the punishment to be
administered; and if by paddling the number of blows shall be stated; that the
punishment shall be administered by a subordinate officer of the institution
designated for that purpose by the board of managers only and who shall not be
the general superintendent and that at least two members of the hoard shall be
present to witness each case of punishment. That the board of managers shall
record in a book kept for that purpose a full and clear statement of their
disposition of each case of corporal punishment brought before them. That the judgments
of punishment of the board of managers be published to the inmates in general
orders by the adjutant of the reformatory regiment, or in some other general
and suitable manner before the punishment is inflicted.
It is further recommended that the physical
condition of each inmate under charges which may result in his corporal
punishment shall be ascertained by the physician and reported to the board of
managers sitting as a court before judgment of corporal punishment is
pronounced against him, and that the said physician shall be present at the
time the punishment is inflicted. That at the time of punishment, if by
paddling, the person of the prisoner be so protected by a stout leather jacket that
no unnecessary injury may he done him; that he be properly secured and not
hoisted in any manner from the ground.
8. The board earnestly renews the recommendations
heretofore repeatedly made in its annual reports to the legislature, and in the
reports of its standing committee on reformatories against the further
enlargement on any pretext whatever of the accommodations of the state
reformatory at Elmira and as earnestly recommends the immediate establishment and
organization of another reformatory for men, to be located in the eastern part
of the state, where it will be convenient of access from the metropolitan
district of New York and Brooklyn.
9. The government of the state reformatory has
been confided to a board of five managers, a number so small as to impose
special individual obligations upon them and quasi-executive functions.
After reviewing the work of the special committee
in its inquiry into the affairs of the state board of managers, the report continues
as follows:
The board holds the managers primarily and morally
responsible for the various grave abuses found to exist within the reformatory and
strongly recommends their immediate removal. Failure to remove the managers would
impair the future usefulness of the reformatory, and, construed as a
condonation of negligence and
maladministration, might be expected to produce far reaching and unfortunate
results throughout the state.
10. While the investigation by the special committee
has clearly proved that the general superintendent of the state reformatory has
been guilty of numerous acts of injustice, inhumanity and cruelty to the
inmates of the institution confided by the board of managers to his absolute
control, and that his tendency toward such injustice, inhumanity and cruelty is
continually increasing, yet the state board considering that the general
superintendent is the appointee of the board of managers and responsible only
to them, abstains from making any special recommendation in his case.
11. The reformatory should be preserved as such
under its present state supervision, and should not become part of the prison
system of the state. It should stand with the Eastern reformatory, now
projected, and the three reformatories for women already established intermediate
between the juvenile reformatories on one hand and the state prisons on the other.
To transform the reformatories into state prisons
would be a public misfortune.
The object of the state board in making the foregoing
recommendations is to preserve the state reformatory as such and to destroy the
abuses which have grown up within it.
The state board is of the opinion that these
abuses are of a comparatively recent origin in the history of the institution.
THE TROY INQUEST.
BREVITIES.
 |
| Robert Ross. |
WITNESSES
IDENTIFY McGOUGH AS ROSS' SLAYER.
Two Men
Testify to Having Seen the Prisoner Struggling With the Murdered
Man, and
One Claims to Have Seen the Fatal Shot Fired—Others Saw the Shooting But Could Not
Identify the Man.
TROY, N. Y., March 20.—The Robert Ross
murder inquest was full of sensations. McGough was identified by two witnesses
as the man who shot Ross.
Edward Copperly had voted in the fatal
district. He had heard somebody say while at the polling place, "Here
comes the repeaters." Two of them voted and then he saw Cleary fighting at
the door with Hayner. Shea helped him and pulled out a revolver, saying:
"I use this, too."
"I saw Robert Ross," he continued,
"trying to knock a revolver out of a man's hand. That man was the prisoner
McGough. Ross had neither a club or pistol in his hand. They went over the
embankment together. Then I saw McGough fire at Ross. I picked up a club from
the place where they were first scuffling. I went back to telephone for the
ambulance, believing that Ross was shot."
Joseph Shaw, an employe of General Joseph B.
Carr, was a witness of the tragedy. He said: "I saw Shea, McGough, Cleary
and others start a row with Hayner and a general fight occurred. Shea struck
Hayner twice full in the face. I heard several shots fired. When the crowd
cleared I saw McGough in the open running away and Ross lying on the ground
bleeding from a wound in the head."
This second testimony to the effect that McGough
fired the fatal shot, caused excitement in the courtroom.
"I saw a revolver." witness
continued, "in the hands of McGough. I did not see Shea with a revolver
and I did not see him again after I saw him hit Hayner."
The crossexamination failed to shake, the witness'
testimony on any point.
Emil Klagers was at the polling place when
the trouble began. He testified as to the preliminary fight the same as the other
witnesses. Relating the murder, he saw nothing until he found Robert Ross lying
in the gully and Boland and a man struggling. Boland had a revolver and fired.
A lot of men were running away.
"You did not see Shea fire?"
"No; I only saw Boland fire. At the
time Mr. Ross was sitting on the ground, evidently wounded."
Harmon Simmons first saw Robert Ross after
he had fallen on the top of the embankment. He was not wounded. "Just
then," witness continued, "a man rushed by me from behind and shot
Mr. Ross. He only fired one shot. I only saw his back. I turned my attention to
helping Ross. I could not identify the man who fired the shot."
Witness saw Boland with a revolver and saw
Thomas Keefe with a brick. Boland said: "Put down that brick or I will
shoot you."
William Cashman, a Democrat, testified.
"I was at the massmeeting and heard Sam Morris say, 'Go to the polls with
sticks in your pockets and get your rights. It is the only way you can.' Rev.
Mr. Sweitzer also told them to go to the polls prepared to fight for their
rights. John Ross also advocated the same course."
"Where do you work?"
"I worked at Bussey McLeod's foundry
until after the fall election."
"Why did you leave?"
"My boss said I was a repeater and I
told him he was a liar."
"You are not a repeater?"
"No, not on your life," said the
witness in an injured voice.
"You said that the people at these
meetings were told to protect their rights. Who were
they to protect themselves from?"
"Why, I suppose they meant Mr. Shea and
Mr. McGough and other gentlemen in the ward."
"Why should anybody object to such
gentlemen as Mr. Shea and Mr. McGough?" asked the district attorney with
sarcastic emphasis.
"I don't know why, but they didn't
protest against me," replied the witness amidst loud laughter of the
spectators.
Witness had been a poll clerk. He had known
Shea for nine years and had lived in the house with him. He also knew W. McGough
and has known him for a long time.
This closed the testimony for the day and a
recess was taken until morning.
 |
| Edison working on Kinetoscope. |
PAGE
TWO—EDITORIALS.
The
Kinetoscope.
Edison's latest wonder is the kinetoscope, a
device which faithfully records and reproduces all the motions of an
object—doing for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear. In inventing it,
Edison found it necessary to secure a device for taking as many pictures in a
second as the retina of the eye takes, else there would be a jerky motion as
the eye followed from one picture to another. His experiments showed that the
average human retina was capable of taking 45 or 46 photographs in a second and
communicating them to the brain. This number would record every motion and
every change of facial expression. The problem, therefore, was to get a machine
which would take 46 pictures a second, giving ample time for each exposure.
Edison found that with proper conditions an exposure of one-sixtieth of a
second yielded a perfect photograph. He then figured out that the time between
exposures was limited to one-185th of a second, during which the
gelatin plate of the photographic apparatus must move along with great
rapidity. The photographic machine, or the kinetograph, was the difficult part
of the invention. Having secured the photographs, it was necessary simply to
provide a mechanical machine for exhibiting the pictures.
Thus far Mr. Edison has developed a toy
similar to the nickel-in-the-slot phonograph machine, but this is not the
object he is aiming at. He proposes to mount the photographs on glass plates
and throw the pictures on a screen by means of a magic lantern, A large number
of spectators might watch the moving picture. He will combine the phonograph
with the kinetoscope, so that while the figures are in visible motion on the
curtain, their words may be heard plainly by the audience.
When these things are all accomplished, as
they will be sometime, it will be possible to catch every gesture of Chauncey
M. Depew, for instance, delivering an after dinner address, and every
inflection of his voice, and to exhibit both to admiring audiences one hundred
years hence. It will be possible to see and hear grand opera by stereopticon.
The invention has been largely a work of
sentiment on Edison's part. He does not believe that there is much money in it,
but he thinks it will be important in science and history. A great man will
never die if his pictures and speeches are saved by the kinetograph and
phonograph.
—The insurance on the Schermerhorn building
was paid last night. It nearly covers the loss.
—Five insurance adjusters were busy nearly
all day wrestling with the damaged stock of G. J. Mager & Co.
—No one should forget the lecture at Normal
hall to-morrow evening by Dr. Lewis Swift upon "The Problem of the
Heavens."
—The regular communication of Cortlandville
lodge, No 470, F. and A.M., will be held to-night. The third degrees will be
conferred.
—The mothers' meet (west) will be held at
the house of Mrs. Frank Kinsman, 13 Park-st., March 22, at 3 P. M. It is
desired that there should be a grand rally of old and new members.
—Secretary Richardson this morning received
entries for the athletic contest at the armory March 30, from the following
organizations: The Twenty-sixth Separate Co. of Elmira, the Forty-first
Separate Co. of Syracuse, the Syracuse Athletic association and the Syracuse Y.
M. C. A.
—The twenty fifth anniversary of the Woman's
Foreign Missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church will be celebrated
by the W. F. M. S. of the Homer-ave. M. E. church to-morrow evening at 7:30. An
interesting and instructive program has been arranged. Every one invited.
—Cortland people who delight in squandering
large quantities of saliva upon postage stamps will be grieved to learn that
the last of the Columbian stamps of the denominations of one and two cents each
were closed out this morning. A few Columbian stamps of larger denominations
yet remain. The large postal cards are also no longer to be issued and the
stock of these at the Cortland office is nearly exhausted.
—Forty-four members of the Onondaga County
Bar association arrived in Cortland from Syracuse at 1:45 this afternoon by a
special train of two coaches. They came to attend the funeral of Mr. M. M,
Waters. They were met at the station by Attorneys B. A. Benedict, John
Courtney, Jr., John W. Suggett, W. C. Crombie and Edwin Duffey of the Cortland County
Bar association who escorted them to the funeral.
—About twenty rifle shooters of this village
met at the jewelry store of Mr. W. G. Mead
last evening and organized under the head of "Cortland Rifle Club." A
range has been located near Cooper Bros. machine shops and a Standard Creedmoor
target will soon be erected. Their object is to attain some degree of
proficiency in the art of rifle shooting, which can only be acquired by
systematic target practice. A list of officers and members will be published
later, together with a notice of regular meetings.
BAR
ASSOCIATIONS.
Action
Taken Upon the Death of M. M. Waters.
At a meeting of the Cortland County Bar held
at the office of the surrogate in Cortland village on the evening of March 17
and called for the purpose of paying respects to the memory of Merton M. Waters,
Esq., Hon. J. E. Eggleston was chosen chairman and B. T. Wright, secretary.
After the organization of the meeting, on
motion of A. P. Smith, the chairman was requested to appoint a committee of five
on resolutions. The chairman appointed as such committee, Judge A. P. Smith, Hon.
O. U. Kellogg, Geo. B. Jones, Esq., I. H. Palmer, Esq., John Courtney Jr., J. Dougherty,
L. Bouton, R. Champain, W. D. Tuttle and J. E. Eggleston. All spoke in the highest
terms of the learning, ability and achievements of the deceased as a lawyer, of
his great worth as a man, and especially of the esteem in which he was held by
the bar throughout the state, of the respect entertained for him by the
judiciary.
After the speeches the resolutions which
were as follows were unanimously adopted by a rising vote:
WHEREAS, It has pleased Providence to call
from our field of labor, our fellow worker, Merton M. Waters, therefore
Resolved, That his long and faithful service of over thirty-eight years at the bar
and his eminent ability and uniform courtesy make this gathering much more than
a pro forma expression of our regret at his departure.
Resolved, That we who know him best, who have for so many years met him as an
associate and an opponent, are best qualified to speak of him as a man and a lawyer.
Resolved, That, as one of the oldest and most successful members of our bar, he challenges
alike our esteem and admiration. Beginning at the lower round of the professional
ladder, nearly forty years ago, he has by an energy and industry which should
be a stimulant and inspiration to every person entering the profession, arisen to
a height alike commanding and enviable. He has illustrated to his acquaintances
in the profession that success does not depend so much upon opportunity and surroundings
as it does upon a determination to succeed, aided by industry and an
intelligent, persistent and determined effort. Mr. Waters illustrates the truth
of the saying, that Providence helps those who help themselves. They live
longest who live to the best purpose.
Resolved, That the sympathy of the Cortland Bar is hereby extended to the widow and
son and daughters and other relatives of the deceased, and that as an evidence
of such sympathy we will attend his funeral in a body.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions
be presented to the village papers for publication, and also to the Bar
association of Onondaga county, of which he was a member, and that the
president and secretary of this meeting engross and sign a copy thereof and
present to the family of the deceased.
A. P. SMITH,
O.U. KELLOGG,
GEO. B. JONES,
J. COURTNEY, JR.,
I. H. PALMER,
Committee.
On motion of Mr. Dougherty, it was resolved
that the bar meet at the surrogate's office on Tuesday at 1:30 P. M. and
proceed in a body from there to attend the funeral of the deceased.
The following persons were, upon motion, appointed
a committee on floral offerings, viz., D. C. Smith, T. E. Courtney and George
S. Sands.
On motion, the secretary was instructed to
inform the president of the Bar association of Syracuse of the time and place
of funeral and express a desire that that association might be largely represented
at the funeral.
The meeting then adjourned till Tuesday at
1:30 P. M.
The Onondaga County Bar association met in
the general term room in Syracuse yesterday afternoon to take action upon the
death of M. M. Waters. President W. P. Goodelle spoke in highly eulogistic
terms of the place held by Mr. Waters, of his quiet coming to Syracuse twelve
years ago and the eminence which he has since gained. He said he was always
courteous and always generous, and did not stoop to any tricks of the profession.
Every feeling held toward him was of the kindest consideration. Mr. Goodelle
expressed some of these feelings in his short remarks and asked for the
pleasure of the meeting.
Harrison Hoyt moved that a committee of five
upon a memorial be appointed. This was carried and President Goodelle named
Harrison Hoyt, John McLennan, M. E. Driscoll, William M. Ross and Charles H.
Peck as that committee. The committee reported the following:
"Again the bar of Onondaga county is called
upon to pay the last tribute of respect to one of its members, who, by a long,
arduous and blameless professional career, has earned our best eulogy.
"Merton M. Waters, born amid humble surroundings,
and with little, aside from his natural abilities, an indomitable perseverance and
an honest heart, won his way to the front rank in the profession. His zeal and
untiring industry, his devotion to the interests of his clients, all too early 'loosed
the silver cord and broke the golden bowl,' while he was yet in the zenith of
his powers. As a trial lawyer he was keen, skillful and brave, but it was in
the appellate courts where he found the keenest enjoyment and highest rewards of
his professional life, and it may be truly said that few lawyers in Central New
York were listened to with more respect by courts of review than was our deceased
brother.
"Of a generous and forgiving nature he harbored
no animosities, no contest so embittered him that his better nature failed to
reassert itself at once.
"To the younger members of the
profession he was ever ready to give a patient hearing, and a well considered
opinion on any question, asking no reward except the satisfaction he felt in
doing a young brother a favor.
"As a lawyer he abhorred and shunned all
tricks, shams and subterfuges and so won the respect of bench and bar.
"As a citizen he was honest, upright
and zealous in all that promoted the best interests of society.
"To the learned and conscientious
lawyer, the upright citizen, the steadfast friend, his associates inscribe upon
their records this memorial and point to his life as one to be emulated.
"To his bereaved family we extend our deepest
sympathy.''
Other members of the association also spoke
of Mr. Waters in the most favorable manner.
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