Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1931, Page 45

PAR[ 7. The Sunfy Stae filaga;me W: \\HIV(-'ION D.; C., SEPTEMBE R 6, 1931. ‘Books Features 20 PAGES. ey Torture of the Third Degree SuooUTH=, oy [P/ SR P, ', Sl S5 1 “There are prisoners who ‘won’t listen to reasom® under any sort of pressureX Many of the schemes used by modern police to obtain confessions had their origin centuries ago—Dbut various forms of torture have been “refined” and “‘improved’d - —variety in “psychological tests” —Wickersham Commission reports “HE prisoner lay upon the floor, face up, unable to move. His hands, tied behind him, served as a cushion for his back. His feet were not shackled, but were held down by the weight of several men who stood upon his ankles. Another man stepped forward with a bucket of water and a dipper. This man placed one foot on the heaving chest of the prostrate form on the floor. The other foot he planted -squarely across the neck of the prisoner. ‘The man with the bucket found it somewhat difficult to balance himself without spilling the water, prematurely. He scooped up a dipper of water from the bucket and began pouring -the contents slowly onto the terrified face be- neath him. The water, aimed at the nostrils, nearly strangled the helpless victim. When the dipper was empty, the shoe was lifted from the prisoner’s throat and the in- quisitors asked him a question—one that he had heard repeatedly during the past hour. Previously he had replied mnegatively to that fAuestion. This time—the dipper had been re- filled and was about to be tilted again over his mosé—this time he gasped an affirmative answer. Another murder mystery had been ‘“solved.” The culprit had confessed. ICTION? Not at all. An actual instance of modern use of the third degree, described by the Wickersham Commission in its volumi- nous report on “lawlessness in law enforce- ment.” This case was found of record in the courts of Mississippi. - The incident occurred a few years ago at Holly Ridge, Miss. The prisoner -who “confessed” was a Negro farm hand, 18 years of age. His torturers were a group of self-appointed vigilantes. He was convicted of ‘the murder of a white storekeeper. But an in- dignant Appellate Court excluded the “confes- sion” and reversed the conviction. BY REX COLLIER. ‘The type of torture employed in this case is known popularly as “the water cure,” an ancient form of the third degree, except that the in- genious Mississippians can claim as their own -idea the use of the prisoner as a door mat. In fact, the third degree in most of its funda- ‘mental forms is as old as the history books, and older. The Pharaohs of Egypt used tor- ture to force prisoners to confess. So did the ancient Chinese. The “water cure,” by the way, is said to have Jhad its origin in the Far East. Oriental cunning is credited with devising many of the more diabolic methods that once were used on crim- inal suspects. In its original form the water cure consisted in letting water drop with monot- onous regularity on the face of the victim, who was chained in “spread eagle” fashion to the floor of his cell. A few days of this incessant pelting by the seemingly harmless drops of water often resulted in insanity, it is said. Civilization has "effected (improvements” to this scheme. The dipper technique developed in Mississippi is but a crude makeshift, com- pared to processes described by authoritative ‘observers in some of our large cities. The more modern way is to suspend a hose over the recalcitrant prisoner’s face and regulate the flow of water with a spigot. The ancient Chinese found the rat cure most efficacious of all. The victim was stripped to the waist, bound to the floor on his back and given an opportunity to plead guilty, If he was obstinate, a bronze bowl of rats was in- verted against his abdomen. Heat was applied to the bowl, forcing the rodents to seek an exit. The prisoner usually made a full con- fession without further delay. -The Spanish Inquisition developed many new and horrible torture devices. The rack, the wheel and the thumb screw were European in- ventions. The iron boot, used in medieval times, was an importation from the Orient. Old Russia had the “knout,” a knotted rope, impregnated with tar, and used as a lash, or there was the threat of Siberian exile. The Moros of the Philippine Islands once ob- tained results with the “ant cure.” The sus- pected offender was tied across an ant hill and left to endure the bites of the enraged insects. XACT origin of the name “third degree” is uncertain, Richard Sylvester, former Washington police chief, once told the Inter- national Association of Chiefs of Police of a plausible origin. “In police and criminal procedure and prac- tice,’ he declared, “the officer of the law ad- ministers the first degres, so called, when he makes the arrest. When taken to the place of confinement, there is the ‘second degree.’ When the prisoner is taken into private quarters and there interrogated as to his goings and com- ings, or asked to explain what he may be doing with Mr. Brown's broken wnd dismantled jewel- ry in his possession, to take off a rubber-heeled shoe he is wearing in order to compare it with a footprint in a burglarized premises, or even to explain the blood stains on his hands and clothing—that, hypothetically, illustrates what would be called the ‘third degree.’” The Wickersham Commission calls the third degree “a secret and illegal practice” employing “methods ‘which inflict suffering, physical or mental, nponlpermhxofiertoobhhln- formation about a crime.” Because of its secret nature, the elhnt of its survival in this era of enlightment has beeq a matter of conjecture, “Those who employ it either will not talk or else will make formal denial of its existence, the law enforcement body declared. “The vice tims are likely either to present exaggerated or even fabricated accounts to further their ends or to decline to talk because of fear of police retaliation. Police reporters know a great deal, but they are dependent upon the police for their information, and are often llkewho reticent.” Department of Justice investigators en- countered such difficulties as those mentioned in pursuing their inquiry into third degree practices of the Capital’'s police force. The third degree, as defined by the Presie dent’s Commission on Law Observance and En- forcement, embraces mental as well as physical cruelty. As an example of mental torture the commission cited the celebrated Wan case of a few years ago. The “cure” in that case was not an incessant pelting with water, but with quese tions. The accused Chinese prisoner was quizzed almost continuously, night and day, for more than a week. He confessed orally on the seventh day, signed a prepared statement on the twelfth day and collapsed a short time af- terward. His conviction in the lower courtsg was reversed by the United States Supreme Court, which held the confessions involuntary and hence inadmissible. There are many other varieties of mental torture of record in American cpurts. } NE of the favorite “psychological tests™ is to have the suspected murderer view the body of the victim under the most eerie con< ditions., Usually the prisoner is taken to the morgue and forced to stand beside the corpse for hours, and often to feel the clammy face or hands of the murdered person, In Miam{ Oontinued on Eighteenth Page 1