The 'Torture Box' of the Tacoma Jail
A new, brutal method of disciplining tramps in the Tacoma city jail stirs up controversy among local officials.
The cold water shower bath for tramps is ready for use, save for the door of the 'torture-box.' The box is a rough coffin-like arrangement lined with zinc, where gas pipes perforated with holes allow icy water to shoot down on the imprisoned tramp. But there is no prospect of the tramps getting the promised bath yet. Everyone about the jail is laughing at the prospect of catching a tramp who can be forced into the box. Officials refuse to begin the torture without an order from the municipal court, fearing lawsuits if a prisoner should catch a deadly cold or die of pneumonia from the forced bath. Capt. Tom Devereaux, who advocated the shower bath, is currently away in San Francisco, and until his return, no tramp will be subjected to it without a specific court order.
“The bathbox is nothing more nor less than a rough coffin-box-like arrangement.”
This story highlights the dehumanizing treatment of the indigent during the Great Depression-era crises of the 1890s. The 'shower' was not a hygienic measure but a weaponized form of discipline meant to drive 'tramps' out of the city, a common practice in Washington State during times of high unemployment.
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