Adopted in Senate, with Assembly amendments, January twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.

JOHN WHITE,

Secretary of the Senate.

Concurred in and amended in Assembly, January twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.

WM. S. BYRNE,

Assistant Clerk of Assembly.

REPORT.

In compliance with Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 41, the Hospital Joint Committee of the Senate and Assembly convened at Dr. Dean's office, in the City of San Francisco, February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and had under consideration the matter of complaint of cruelty practiced upon the "inmates of the Industrial School," as charged in the report of the Grand Jury of the County of San Francisco, and published in the Evening Bulletin of November second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven.

Present, on the part of the Senate, Senators Teegarden, Johnson, Maclay, Perley and McDougall.

On the part of the Assembly, Assemblymen Warfield, Spencer, Oliver, Mattingly and Mardis

On motion of Mr. Warfield, Mr. Teegarden was chosen Chairman of the Joint Committee.

On motion of Mr. Maclay, Mr. Johnson was designated to conduct the examination on the part of the Committee.

TESTIMONY OF GENERAL COBB.

General Cobb, being sworn, was interrogated as follows:

Question-Do you know anything about the condition of the Industrial School on the twenty-fifth day of September last?

Answer-Nothing in particular on that day, more than the general

management.

Q-Do you know what the condition of the wash-room was on that date?

A. I do; judging from its general condition, which is always cleanly. Q-How frequently did you visit the establishment before the twentyfifth day of September last, and after?

A.-Every Sunday, and sometimes during the week.

Q-What was the condition of the institution when you made such visits?

A. It was as neat and tidy as it possibly could be under the circumstances, when taking into account the large number of inmates and the

limited size of the building. The children wash three times a day, and pass through the wash-room six times a day, to and from the diningroom. The wash-room floor is redwood, and owing to its color it would have a dirty appearance when it was really clean.

Q. Do you know of four lads being in solitary confinement on or about the twenty-fifth day of September last; if so, state what and all you know about the confinement of said lads-the cause and duration of said confinement and manner of treatment?

A. The boy Griffith was confined in the cells for general insubordination and bad conduct. He must have been in the cell and room of correction for forty or fifty days. Previous to his release he formed a scheme to murder one of the officers. This boy was known as a Liverpool thief, and is incorrigible, in my belief. I have since learned that this boy has at different times used the most violent language to the Superintendent, daring and defying. Some part of the time during his confinement his food was bread and water. This measure was adopted as a punishment, under the rules of the institution, and to this end he slept in a cell originally constructed and intended for the use of ordinary inmates; and, in fact, all the cells now attached to the correctional department were for a number of years used as common sleeping apartments. When this boy was confined it was warm weather; he had a bunk and one pair of blankets, but cannot say that a mattrass was allowed him; sometimes when boys are in durance they are denied some of the ordinary comforts.

Q-Was this boy in confinement when he made the threats; and for what offence was he confined?

A. He was; he was placed in confinement for general insubordination and violation of the rules of the institution.

Q. What are the names of the boys in confinement on the twentyfifth day of September last?

A.-Griffith, Sullivan, Bunner and Wallace.

Q-What do you know of the three last named boys; and for what reason were they confined or punished?

A.-The boy Sullivan was placed in confinement for setting fire to the building at night, thereby jeopardizing the lives of more than one hundred and fifty children. He was indicted, but by some technicality of law he was not sent to State Prison. I know but little of the boys Bunner and Wallace. Boys in durance are sometimes placed on half rations and sometimes on bread and water. When such boys work they are allowed full rations. The sleeping apartments were originally all cells, and those used for punishment were once used for sleeping apartments. It is now and was originally the intention to have them locked at night.

Q. How long, if at all, was either of the lads confined after he manifested a disposition to submit to the authority of the Superintendent and the rules and regulations of the institution?

A.-That question can be more perfectly answered by the Superintendent.

Adopted in Senate, with Assembly amendments, January twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.

JOHN WHITE,

Secretary of the Senate.

Concurred in and amended in Assembly, January twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.

WM. S. BYRNE,

Assistant Clerk of Assembly.

REPORT.

In compliance with Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 41, the Hospital Joint Committee of the Senate and Assembly convened at Dr. Dean's office, in the City of San Francisco, February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and had under consideration the matter of complaint of cruelty practiced upon the "inmates of the Industrial School," as charged in the report of the Grand Jury of the County of San Francisco, and published in the Evening Bulletin of November second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven.

Present, on the part of the Senate, Senators Teegarden, Johnson, Maclay, Perley and McDougall.

On the part of the Assembly, Assemblymen Warfield, Spencer, Oliver, Mattingly and Mardis

On motion of Mr. Warfield, Mr. Teegarden was chosen Chairman of the Joint Committee.

On motion of Mr. Maclay, Mr. Johnson was designated to conduct the examination on the part of the Committee.

TESTIMONY OF GENERAL COBB.

General Cobb, being sworn, was interrogated as follows:

Question-Do you know anything about the condition of the Industrial School on the twenty-fifth day of September last?

Answer-Nothing in particular on that day, more than the general management.

Q-Do you know what the condition of the wash-room was on that date?

A.-I do; judging from its general condition, which is always cleanly. Q-How frequently did you visit the establishment before the twentyfifth day of September last, and after?

A. Every Sunday, and sometimes during the week.

Q-What was the condition of the institution when you made such

visits?

A.-It was as neat and tidy as it possibly could be under the circumstances, when taking into account the large number of inmates and the

limited size of the building. The children wash three times a day, and pass through the wash-room six times a day, to and from the diningroom. The wash-room floor is redwood, and owing to its color it would have a dirty appearance when it was really clean.

Q. Do you know of four lads being in solitary confinement on or about the twenty-fifth day of September last; if so, state what and all you know about the confinement of said lads-the cause and duration of said confinement and manner of treatment?

A. The boy Griffith was confined in the cells for general insubordination and bad conduct. He must have been in the cell and room of correction for forty or fifty days. Previous to his release he formed a scheme to murder one of the officers. This boy was known as a Liverpool thief, and is incorrigible, in my belief. I have since learned that this boy has at different times used the most violent language to the Superintendent, daring and defying. Some part of the time during his confinement his food was bread and water. This measure was adopted as a punishment, under the rules of the institution, and to this end he slept in a cell originally constructed and intended for the use of ordinary inmates; and, in fact, all the cells now attached to the correctional department were for a number of years used as common sleeping apartments. When this boy was confined it was warm weather; he had a bunk and one pair of blankets, but cannot say that a mattrass was allowed him; sometimes when boys are in durance they are denied some of the ordinary comforts.

Q-Was this boy in confinement when he made the threats; and for what offence was he confined?

A. He was; he was placed in confinement for general insubordination and violation of the rules of the institution.

Q. What are the names of the boys in confinement on the twentyfifth day of September last?

A.-Griffith, Sullivan, Bunner and Wallace.

Q-What do you know of the three last named boys; and for what reason were they confined or punished?

A.-The boy Sullivan was placed in confinement for setting fire to the building at night, thereby jeopardizing the lives of more than one hundred and fifty children. He was indicted, but by some technicality of law he was not sent to State Prison. I know but little of the boys Bunner and Wallace. Boys in durance are sometimes placed on half rations and sometimes on bread and water. When such boys work they are allowed full rations. The sleeping apartments were originally all cells, and those used for punishment were once used for sleeping apartments. It is now and was originally the intention to have them locked at night.

Q. How long, if at all, was either of the lads confined after he manifested a disposition to submit to the authority of the Superintendent and the rules and regulations of the institution?

A.-That question can be more perfectly answered by the Superintendent.

TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH WOOD.

Colonel Joseph Wood sworn:

Q-Were you at what is known as the Industrial School in San Francisco County on the twenty-fifth day of September last; and if so, what was the condition of the floor of the wash-room on that day?

A-I was the Superintendent of the Industrial School on that date; the condition of the wash-room floor was the same on that day as on all other days, scrupulously clean; all the floors in general use are scrubbed every other day; the wash-room floor is made of redwood, and is not painted; the boys pass over it eight times a day from the school-room to the dining-room, and in passing to and from the yard.

Q. How many lads were in solitary confinement on that day? A. We have no means of placing any one in solitary confinement; four lads were confined in the correctional department on that day. Q.-State, if you can, their names?

A-Griffith, Sullivan, Bunner and Wallace.

Q-How long bad Griffith been confined previous to the twenty-fifth of September; and for what cause was he placed in confinement?

A. I should think he had been in confinement about six or seven weeks, and was at first confined for general insubordination; the punishment was continued for attempting to take the life of the Janitor.

Q. What bedding was he allowed during his confinement in the cell? A.-One pair of blankets and a mattrass after he had an attack of rheumatism; I think the mattrass was removed as a matter of punishment after he attempted the life of the Janitor.

Q. How long, if at all, was he confined after he manifested a disposition to submit to your authority and the rules and regulations of the institution?

A. He was released on the first day he manifested a disposition to comply with the rules of the school; the same was the case with the other boys in confinement.

Q. Could you, in your opinion, have produced obedience to your authority and the rules and regulations of the institution by milder means or punishment? And state, without further interrogation, such other and further facts as may, in your opinion, be pertinent in this investiga

tion.

A. To the first interrogatory I answer, I could not. The punishment, if such it can be called, was mild, and was so regarded by the boys themselves, until they thought they possessed sympathy from the outside. They often defied us, and said they did not care for the punishment inflicted. They were furnished their meals in their cells. They, as do all in confinement, cleaned their own cells, and go to the water closet, which is on the outside of the correctional room; and it was in this way the boy Griffith procured a pick-handle, which he concealed in his cell, and with which, it was afterwards ascertained, he intended to kill the Janitor. The boy Sullivan confessed that Griffith was to knock the Janitor down with the pick-handle, and the boy Wallace was to cut his throat with a case-knife, which he had concealed and sharpened on the wall for that purpose.