CRIME OF CRUELTY

NZ Truth, Issue 817, 9 July 1921, Page 6

CRIME OF CRUELTY

The Lash m the Land of Liberty

(Prank Harris, m "Pearson's Magazine.") I am full of tolerance, I think, for all moral weaknesses; I can easily forgive all the frailties of the flesh and all the sins of the spirit with the sole exception of cruelty. Cruelty to man or beast, to rat or snake, seems to me the unforgivable sin, the one utterly loathsome and damnable crime that 'shows utter degradation, the Devil m man. ' Of course there are degrees even m this villainy; cruelty to the weak, to woman, and children adds cowardice to the diabolic; but cruelty to- the irresponsible, to the insane, is an even lower; hell. In- Detroit the other clay I was given a photograph of the lynching of two ■negroes for some crime fancied or real, . but certainly . unprWed, and I g-rew^ flick and then blazed with indignation. Someone who heard me denounce che outrage, sent me a leaflet quoting the "Detroit News," which I reproduce here: . v "HaTry L. Hulburt, warden of the prison, explained to the committee how the flogging apparatus is worked. The man to be flogged is blindfolded, handcuffed and shackled at the ankles. Then he Is stretched out on a long ladder which is made to fit snugly over a barrel. His hands and ankles are fastened to the ladder. Physician Holds Pulse. "The prisoner is blindfolded, the warden said, so he will not see who is flogging him. His back is bared and a piece of stout linen cloth placed over the bare spot. The instrument used m the flogging is a heavy strap about four inches m width, punched with small holes about an Inch apart, and fastened to a handle. The strap is soaked m water, according to the warden, till it becomes pliable. "The prison •physician, holds the pulse of the man being flogged and gives the signal for the (logger to stop. "No. I—Thomas1 — Thomas Schultz. Boy of 21 years old, seven months after being sent from, the Insane asylum was given 181 lashes and kept m the dungeon during period of the floggings for nine days, and fed on bread 'and water. "Sent to Jackson Prison, March 12. 1918, for larceny — two to five years. "May .15, 1920 — Sent to lonia Hospital for the criminally Insane. : "August- 12, 1920 — Returned by the order. of the prison doctor, as cured. "November 3, 1920 — Three months t later, assaulted a guard. For this and a few minor offences, none of them serious, he was sentenced to receive 181 lashes. • "November 4 he re'eetved 40 lashes; November 5 he 35 lashes; November 6* he received »26 lashes; ! November 9 he . RECEIVED 40 LASHES: November 13 he received 40 lashes — total 181. "He was kept In- the dungeon during this time and for nine days was fed on bread and water. "On November 30 he was returned to lonia Insane Asylum and is still there. "We now have a record of three men at lonia Insane Asylum who were flogged at Jackson Prison. Three men that we know of. How many more are there?" 1 . ■ I don't want to dwell on these facts. I can only say what I have already said of the actrocities perpetrated by the Wilson administration on prisoners, some of whom were beaten and tortured to death m prison by army officers; that such outrages, passing unpunished, degrade the very name of American. Already our lynchings have given us a bad reputation m Europe, but the educated try to excuse them as indicative of a ruder state of civilisation m which the machinery of law and order is not operative. That excuse no longer' holds. The worst atrocities of the Wilson regime were carried out by the officers of justice themselves, and now we have the terrifying spectacle of Judge Mahton, one of the appointees of AttorneyGeneral Palmer, hearing an Indictment of-' his patron and making himself a witness m his own court for the innocence of the man Who appointed him.