Page 11 - 1914 February - To Dragma

124 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

WOMAN'S STORY OF WEEK IN JAIL

Auburn, N . Y., Nov. 14.—Miss Madeleine Zabriskie Doty, N u
Chapter of A O I I '02, lawyer and member of the State Commission
on Prison Reform, and Miss Elizabeth C. Watson, formerly in-
vestigator for the State Factory Commission, have come out of the
woman's prison here after spending nearly a week as convicts.

No one in the prison except Warden Rattigan and Head Matron
Leonard knew who they were. They were assigned to their cells as
forgers and went through all the unpleasant experiences of real
convicts.

They had some unpleasant adventures. They were stripped and
bathed by a negress and had kerosene rubbed into their hair, much
of it trickling over their bodies. The first night it was cold and Miss
Doty demanded an extra blanket and was chided for wanting luxuries.
She did not get the blanket.

The food was good enough, but wretchedly cooked. The investi-
gators found, as Thomas Mott Osborne did, that the most depressing
thing about prison life is the lack of conversation. They were not
allowed to talk except fifteen minutes a day, when the matron gave
the signal.

Miss Doty and Miss Watson complained that the system is such as
to " f i l l one's heart with rage and hate."

Other things the investigators complained of were the allowance
of one tiny towel a week, one cup of water a day, insufficiency of bed
clothing and the absence of any mental recreation.

Miss Doty in relating her experience said:
"There are many things to say, but one of the most astonishing
to me was the fact that they expurgate such periodicals as the
Youth's Companion and the Christian Science Monitor. And, think
of it, they censor Dr. Lyman Abbott's Outlook.

H A D TO REMOVE E V E N H A I R P I N S

"We entered the prison on the Monday night before election.
I was immediately conducted to a bathroom and was obliged to strip.
Everything, even to my hairpins, was taken from me. Then I was
told to get into a tub of water.

" I made an attempt to wash myself, but I was told to keep my
hands off. A negress, an inmate, then scrubbed me, my head as well
as my body, all in the same tub. The washcloth was a piece of an old
shirt.

"A bottle of kerosene was produced and poured upon my hair
and rubbed in. A prison nightgown was given to me and I was con-