Mr. Redden, who was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for
his connection with the rescue of Kelly at Manchester, at the time the constable of the prisoners' van lost his life, has just been re- leased, and given to the Amnesty Association, Dublin, an incredible account of the tortures to which he alleges he was subjected in Chatham and Millbank prisons. The letter is in the Freeman's Journal of November 13. He was put on bread and water for two days for simply looking at Richard Burke, and for another day for speaking to General Halpin, and for another day for nodding to O'Donovan Roam, and for another three days for speaking to General Halpin and Mr. Costello. When ill, his illnesses were said to be feigned, and to punish him for malingering, he was confined for six days on eight ounces of bread and one pint of arrowroot, in a cell 7 ft. long by 4 ft. wide. He was dragged about at exercise because he could not (or would not) walk ; stripped naked and left in the cold in his cell for four hours on a cold October day, kept on short food, had a galvanic battery " tied " to his feet, was blistered on the back and neck, and the galvanic battery applied six times a day to his wounds, &c., &c. He says that Dr. Wilson, of Millbank, " violently beat him about the stomach," causing him to vomit in the corridor, which so enraged the doctor that he ordered the warders to wipe up the corridor with his face. We see every reason to discredit the statements. it is quite as likely that the prisoner was feigning sickness, and that he has invented or grossly exaggerated the penalties he suffered. But his horrible and incredible statements ought to be fully investigated. It is affirmed that Mr. Redden has come out of prison paralysed in his lower extremities in consequence of the treatment received.
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