THE PRISON HORRORS OP TULLAMORE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 24, 5 October 1888, Page 23

THE PRISON HORRORS OP TULLAMORE.

THAT was a pathetic story which Mrs. Mandeville, told at the inquest at Mitcbelstown on the body of Mr. John Mandeville, who was " done to death "in Tullamore. She said she was married in 1830, and had known her husband for nine or ten years previously. He was about thirty-eignt years of age, and was the strongest man she ever knew. Eetween her marriage and the date of his imprisonment, the 3 1st of October, he was in excellent health. He was a man of temperate habits. She remembered deceased returning from Tullamore on the 24th of December and noticed a great change in him. His lips were quite blue, and he wag very pale aud thin ; his eyes were very sore, and his sight appeared to h ive gone weak. His handwriting was very 6haky, and it was with the great' s r difficulty he wrote for the first monh. He found the weight of his overcoat oppressive, and he was alwa\s complaining of tue weight . f it an 1 his boots. Her husband died on the Bth of July, aid during the time intervening between his release and hi-, death lie used to complain and say he had never recoveielhis strength He complained of a bad tcoth. asore tbioit, ani of weakness ; an 1 his appetite was not as good as it used to be after coming back from piisun. Her husband lelattd io Le: bus prison life. He first told l.er about Cork. Tue doctor there ordcied him fLinnel, and when leaving tor Tullauiore he was not allowed to ak ■ it witn him, and con-cqui ntly his teeth weie actually chattmng. He arrived tnerc .tb >ut ten o'clock, and got no food until the time the ordinary prisoners were served, about one o'clock. lie said he ltft Cork at about half-past four in ihe morning. He coj^pUiLci that during tue whole time he was in prison his throat was s ..re and that the doctor did not believe it and frtquently certified that he was fit f-r punuhmen*. On one occasion deceased told witness for thr>- d-ys, while he had a sore throa', ho was on punishment diet. II sth oat was so sore that be ould not oat the brown biead or drink the cold water of wh'.ch the punishment diet cousiotel, anl the onseqiunce wis that for twenty-four hours he Lad no food. He told her that fome of trie Tang (county WexforJ) prisoners gave him a rope, which he tightened ruuud his waist, an I as he buffered more and more fiotn hunger In; tightened the rope. He mentiom d that Dr. Moorheal, J.P., told him re thought he was seriously ill, but Dr. Kid'ey, ihe prison doctor, s ■cm 1 ? 1 to think he coull stani it. He also said that his mnd wandered fr >ra hunger and that he prayed to Go i that h- raigut .lie lather lhan go mad. Ultimately, befoie the sen'ence was completed, they had to take him off puivshmont and send him hack to Ins cell. To d^enbts how Le suffered fiom hungji, on one oc.-a-aon he tjld her th it a warder, nor. a tnendly warder, who mini have been eating ri» meal outside the door, opened it and thiew him m m scrap of meat, just as h • himself would to Rover, his dog. (Sen aiion lucuuit) He told witness he never enjoyed anything like it belore. lteiorrirg to th.; incident I have mentioned, continu :d the \vitnes°, when h ; praye 1t > God to die rather than go mad he w-sott-rul to Le put into hospital if he would put on the prison clothes, but he would t,o'. When he w.is waruienng in his mind, hj told me be thought ho was a boy again, and ih it he was ljmg ou ihe hula of Hluve-na-Mon aud that 1 was lying deid be-i i<; him. He thought also re was looking at the Crucifixion, and he beard music. It was h" thought, all caused by hunger and weakne .h. lie sai Ihe had been f lequtnt'y suffering from diarrhoei. He complained that he got stirab mt and vegetable soup, aud said that no o'd woman would allow a patient to be fed oa such food 'Ihe dinnhoei was increased by m -h fond. 11 > was on bread and water ihe night before hi was releav .). Wh°n ho stretched his arms ou he could toujh both sidts <>t Oc cell with the tips of his finger-, aLd t..0 light was veiy bad That wns in the ordinary cell. T.e d -scrip ion he giv- me of the punishment cjII was that it was iliyged, th t thn p.isoneis wa-e compelled to wear slipper--, so that their limbs were trozen up to thtir knees. He told me that the plank bud was perman ntly (ixei in tie punishment cell opao-.ite so badly fining a door that oily lor tri-: tact tint he covered his head with a blanket at nunt up would have got inflammation of the lungs. He spoke to Dr. Moorh j ai of the draught through the door, and ue had it greatly lemedied by stopping the spars with bags. Thejcell was very small, and although the governor,

Dr. Moorhead, and himself were in the cell,! he called Dr. Moorhead to try the temperature. Dr. Moorhead tried it, and found ut several degrees Delow the regulation temperature. THB EX-'WABDEB'S NARRATIVE. Mr. Daniel Gaulding wa9 examined by Mr Harrington. He deposed : I wag a warder in Tullam>re Prison when Mr. Mandeville was imprisonel there. The day he arrived at the prUon I was told of his arrival. About three days after hia arrival I saw him for the first time. His physical appearance struct ma as being very remarkable, He was a big, strong, able man, and healthy in every reipect. 1 was present when hi was stripped of his clothes. I was off duty at 6.30 that evening, and at 730 I was called to the governor by Warder Houlihan. I called Warder Wilson from bed at the request of the governor. Warder Moody was also called. At 3 p.m., Warders Wilsnn, Mooaey, Bagaal, and tnyailf, and Chief-Warder Birtley wa-e marched into the prison by the governor, and formed in line on the parade ground. He informed us that he had instructions to strip Mandeville ; that he expected them to do their duty. "It is very hard," he said, •• but it must ba done. Lsad on now, men." We proceeded to Mr. Mindcville'a cell. The lights ware out at the time, so that it must have baen after eight. Birtley unlocked the cell door cautiously. The door was opened, and the governor said, " Light the gas." The chief warder lit the gas, and I saw Mr. Mandeviile lying on tha bad, seemingly in a good sound sleep. Ha had bis cell stool propped under the pillow, which was stuffed with fibre. There are seven pounds of fiore in tha mattress supplied. Bartley went over to the bed, caught the stool in his right hand and pulled it away, at the same time saying, " Come, get up out of that." Th« man's head fell when the stool came cut. He lifted himself op, and leant on his right elbow, rubbed his forehead and eyes in his left hand, and asked what was up. The governor said that he should take off the clothes. Mr. Mandeville was in his clothes at that time, and they were buttoned on him. Mr. Mandeville said be would not. " If you don't give them up," said the governor, !l we will tako them from you by force. I have instructions to do so." He said that he would not without a struggle. " Very well," said the governor, " men do your duty." The chief- warder, Wilson, M'dllough, Bagnal, and Mooney seized him. Coroner — And what about yourself ? Witness — I was looking on. Wbile he was sitting down oa his plank- bed they caught a hold of his coat, opened it, were pulling it off his shoulders, straining his arms, and managed to get oft his coat after a struggle, Air. Manieville saying that he did not wish to strike them— th »th,t h, strike us —that we were too num ;rous. They opened his waistcoat and forced that off him. He had a twisted knitted gansey oa him over his siirt, and that was pulled off. They pulled off the tiou^>ers then, Wilson opening the buttons, Mr. Maadeville'-J hand 9 being held at the same time. Th>y then caught him by the shoulders and pulled off the bhirt. Ha said, " For dtceacy sake, leave me my shut. I wont give up my shirt with Dut a struggle. " Those are the words he was saying whil; they were pulling it off. Warder Wilson placed a shift around him to cover his nakedness, and Mr. Mandeville liy down on his plank. Frisjn cloth s had already beea laid in the cell, arid on leavi ig inn cell they wero lefc behind. Tue governor lold Mandeville thatth;y were nice clean clothes, and to put them oa. He said th it he would not, and that he would remain naked. His own clothes were gathered up by Mooney. We left the cell and the door was locked, and the light put out. M-Cullough was the warder on dut>, and he joined vi on pirade. There is a book in the prison for the war Jers to enter any complaints against prisoners. Every time Mr Mandeville was on bread and water I kaew it. I think he hid nine so ltencesof bread and water. lam aware that Mr. Mandeville was in the punishment cell. That cell is not in the condition now toat it «ras when he was co.ifined in it. It has been improved tince — boarded. I saw Mr. Mandeville just before he left prison. I noticed a change in him then and during his imprisonment. Hid tact! was tbm ; there were cUrk circles round his eyes ; his lips were blue, and his tace haa a bluish colour. On leiviug prison uib own clothes seemei too bi^ for him, and on the whole he was a different man Jrom the man I saw at exercise wi h Mr. William O'Brien.

There appcus to be no doubt (=ays Truth) that Mr. Mandeville was doae to death a". Tullam jre prison. Mr. BtLfoui'd notion ig that, it a ni.iii offends against tne Crimes Act. he should serve a term in piisjn, and thai, whether he cau bear the discipline or whether he caunor. he ought to be made to submit to it. The governor of the gaol wont to Dublin and saw the authorities on Mr. Mandeville being put u..dt:r hn charge. On Ins return he srippjl his v.ctim of his clothes and put h m m a flagged cell, and te i him on bread and water. JL'Lis treatment rendered him ill, but it was persevered in. The first result ot the inquest on Mi. .VlaudevUle's lemaius has been that Dr. Kidley, who was induced to assent io these atrocities, has cut his throat, rath ;r thin appear as a witness. Never since Richard 111. killed his nephews l j the TwerT >wer ha* th;re been a more horrible and vuck>d crim^ on the part oi. the def^uiets ot law and order done upon a prison v:ct m.