Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-02
STATE PRISON.
letter of the Lessees to the LegiS
Iafure.

subject of your Penltentary, but the
MISREPRESENTATION made by your min~
ority director in his report, which was
made in YOUR Senate chamber on the
Doth inst; as also those contained in
what this same minority man, termed
his circular, which he had printed and
laid on YOUR tables last summer, during
vour extra session, compel US again to
appear in print on this subject; and as
we are compelled t. correct these mis-
representations, we will endeavor to give
YOU and through you to the public gem
erally. a full and rue history of the
entire matter, from he beginning of the
lease to the present 7riting. As has been
stated to your honoJ in previous COM
munication, your State prison was
leased to |. l.. Hyat and G. NJ Briggs,
on the 10th day Of July, 1866, the
parties to take DOS session on the 10th
day of Aug ust, 1866 which contract is OF
record in the Regis RS ONCE OF this city.
Between the day of citing the contract
and the 10th of August, 1866, one month
only elapsing, the entire machinery,
tools, fixtures, MATERIAL Of every kind,
finished and unfinished, then in
your prison, was appraised and
sold to Hyatt and Briggs. Said
appraisement amounting to $l5,-
200 AZ, which was paid in cash to the
Directors of your State prison. This min'
ority man would have you believe that
the lessees still owed the State of Ten
nessee that $l5,700 AZ, which he well
knew when he wrote, was untrue; as to
what your Directors did with the money
was no business Of ours. Your law regu-
lating the lease of your prison, sec. 4, says:
The Directors of the prison shall make
| complete schedule Of all tools and stock
of every kind ON hand, etc., and sell the
same for cash, and shall pay the same
over to the State Treasury; whether they
did so or not we do not know, nor do
We consider it any of our business to
know. We supposed the committees ap-
pointed to look after the interest of the
State frcm both branches of your Legise
lature, on the subject of Penitentiary,
have done their duty in the premises If
they have not, they had better be about
it, for this minority man is after them;
that is with your honors, however.
Shortly after we took possession of your
State prison, We set to work to put up
machinery to make it large manufac-
turing establishment for agricultural
supplements; and as is well known to
many of your honorable body, there was
no machinery in the prison save an
engine, and it too small for our purposes,
having only fifteen to twenty horse
power, we had therefore to put in every
thing new. This work had been only
begun when tho cholera made its apA
pearance in your city, and ran everyH
body away who could leave this stopped
! our work for about two months; as soon
as we could get mechanics to 90 to work
again We did so but by this delay, We
were not able to start our shops or do
any work whatever, until about the lst
OF January, 1867; nor did we get fully to
work until about the fist of April, 1861.
Notwithstanding all these troubles and
delays, and no work done by your con-
victs, from which We could derive dol
lar Of profit, we paid your Directors
promptly at the end of eachquarter as per
contract, for all the labor up to the lst of
June, 1867. Said payments and amounts
being as follows:
November 20, 1866, $1,000 25; Febru-
1ry 10, 1867, $7,704 y; February s,
$50 Is JUNE l, 1867, S9,95l 06; total
amount paid 50, 535 80 to June 1867
On the 22l day of the same month, the
entire east shops, together with all our
machinery, tools, fixtures material,
finished and unfinished work, were con-
sumed by fire, which had cost US, as
shown by our books, Sl07, 9l9 IL. Add
| to this the amount paid your Directors for
labor of cOnvicts, from August l6, 1866,
to June l, 1867, $24, $50 so; it gives the
total Of our outlay from August 10th to
| the lst of June, 1867, 1872, 45j fl, all of
which or nearly so, was lost by the fire
of June %, 1867. We think it has been
fully und satisfactorily proven to your
Committee on the Penitentiary, that said
| fire was not the result Of any act of ours,
but on the contrary, it was lully proven
| to have occurred by a failure on the
| part of Directors or Warden to do their
duty, and in not complying with the con-
| tract The contract says: "The Directors
| or Warden are to furnish a guard for
each work shop, day and night, and see
that they faithfully perform their duty,
and select such guards as are acceptable
to the Lessees." This part of the cons
| tract as has been clearly shown, by the
| evidence of the Directors then acting,
| and the Warden and guards, was never
complied with on the part Of the agents
of the State.
1t was also in proof before your com.
mittee, that If it had been, taat there
could not have been any fire It was also
proven that if there had been a guard
in the shop at the time the fire was first
| discovered, it conld have been readily put
out Yetthere was 10 one at all inside the
| Prison-yard This minority man even
denies our right to this day to say, wheth-
er a guard suits US or not 1t was also
fully proven that the character Of the
guards employed through the day in the
shops, or many of them, were worthless
and disqualification in the shops drunk
and would sit and sleep for, from half an
hour to an hour at time. IL was also in
proof, that we asked very often to have
them changed, without any effect The
! Warden, Col. Hull, would say he would
be glad to give us better ones but if he
| discharged them they would only be SEM
back on him by one of the Directors. II
will be remembered that a very bitter
controversy was waged during all of 1867
between the chairman Of your director:
and the Warden, and this same Director
; would say when appealed to, that as Col
| Hull, the Warden, had assumed full and
complete authority in the matter, he cOulC
, not do anything; and that the other Direc
tors would not join to help him turn HUI
, out. The result of all this controversy was
=, that we were burned up and injured to tb
2 amount of $l00, 900, at least; the contrac
8 clearly violated, and no remuneration of
: fered US yyour HOnOrs in any way fer th
, same, Notwithstanding the facts, as rela
e ted, have been fully proven to your com
mittecs, who, we feel, will fully sustai
:, what we here state. Your Director
: never claimed any pay from us after tn
! fire of June %, 'G7 until after Januar
y l, 1868, at which time We presentc
:, to you in substance by memorial what "
"A have set forth, asking your Honsrs
"a | to look into the matter, and we felt Gel
N tain thatyou would do us justice, especia
m " when the entire facts concerning Il
~ burning and damages, with one or tV
exceptions, were proven by your oW
d. officers, yet nothing has been done as y
D. looking to any settlement or adjustme
IL of damages except the passage Of a re
as olutiCn by your honorable body instruC
ng ing YOUR Attorney General to bring 81
10 against us for the hire of the conviC
i'm from the time of the fire until the 1st
he January. 1868. amounting to S2l3lS {