St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-11-28
The Georgia Convict System.
BY LILLE E. BARR.

now to accept the limited accOmmoda-
tons of very narrow guage, and, in
deed, had only a common coal car, with
plank laid across it for Il seat, in
which to ascend the mountain. The
mines are on the top of the mountain,
and are known as Camp No. ]. | found
when arrived there delicious dinner
waiting for me, and most comfortable
room with great blazing coal fire.
The next morning, accompanied by
the ladies of Mrs. Wells family, my
kind entertainer, and under the pro-
lection of Capt. Rease, | went to visit
the stockade and the mines. The stock
ade covers about an acre of ground,
and Is fenced with great rails fifteen
feet high. The gates are guarded lay
blOodhounds, in addition to the regular
number of armed men. The houses in
which the convicts sleep are built of
logs with apertures of about an inch
wide between them. The logs stand
perpendicular, not laid in the usual
horizontal fashion, and none but those
who have lived in log houses can un-
derstand what Il difference this makes.
The southern log house, made of hori-
zontal logs well closed, with shelving
lovely home, and would to most south
ern men, black or white, have pleasant
associations. The huts made of upright
logs would suggest nothing but the
calaboOse and the slave or cattle pen.
The loom of this convict house is
about one hundred feet long, and the
doors and windows are of grated iron.
They have no bedsteads; a shelf, the
length of IL man and raised IL few feet
from the floor, answers that purpose.
The filthy condition of the wretched
beds on these shelves is beyond descrip-
ton, but when | tell you that the min
ers sleep in the clothes in which they
work, you may understand something
of their state. Indeed us far as cleanli-
ness and comfort are concerned, Il hole
i'll the coal seam would be preferable
AT the foot of each shelf is IL chain to
which, aU night, the chain which the
convict wears is fastened. Chains. even
III the deepest sleep, are indeed bitter
captivity. The floors of this stockadc
are also of logs, and there is the usual
opening between them except under the
beds, where it is boarded but | cannot
see what great comfort is gained in this
partial flooring, because the whole
stockade is raised nearly three feet from
the ground, and the keen, freezing,
mountain winds find entrances through
the whole center of the floor. In the
winter months this place must be cold
hell.
The hospital is a small room built on
the same plan, excepting that the whole
floor is boarded, but as the walls freely
admit the blasts on every side, the pa
tient must shiver in continual fierce
draughts. In the hospital | saw one
white man who had been sent here for
the murder of Il Negro, and who a few
weeks ago had been severely fiogged
for trying to murder another Negro in
the mine. | had long and interesting
talk with him. The man was simply IA
monomaniac with regard to Negroes.
Singular as it may seem, his chief
trouble was-not his chain or loss of
freedom, or his hard toil-that he had
to wear the same clothing and eat the
same food as Negroes. Besides this, he
said, he had nothing to complain of.
He UaS Uery aUeH treated.
There are sixty acres of ground under
cultivation as garden for the convicts,
and there is also an orchard of apple
and peach trees they have also good
bread and bacon. The entrance into
the mines is from the side of the noun
tain. We sat down on some blankets
LAID on the bottom of IL coal car and
were drawn by mule for about two
miles into the mountain. This mule
was driven by convict now Just fifteen
gears Otd, and who has been here for
fUe gears. Oh Christian fathers and
mothers with little lads around YOU.
think of this poor child sent here at ten
years old for burglary, and for forty
gears! Who was the Judge that dared
to pass such an iniquitous sentence ?
Has he ever dared since to say. "For-
give me my trespasses"q
After riding about two miles we had
to get out and walk. 1t was quite dark,
the avenue was terribly low, we could
not stand upright, and had to grope
along, holding our lamps close to the
wet coal that strewed the way dark,
low, wet avenue that made one think
of Bunyan's Valley of the Shadow of
Death, especially as every few minutes
Il miner with dim, red light crossed
the path, and there mingled with the
dull thud of the hammers and picks the
constant fearful clanking of chains In
the heavy atmosphere, too, every sound
took new terror, and the horror of the
whole situation was intensified to me IA
thOusandtOld by the scuttling and sour
rying of the mine rats, who | fancied
looked at me with eyes uncannily know
ing.
After travelling in this way forty or
fifty yards, a strange, depressing silence
fell on the whole party. felt as if |
never could speak again. Suddenly IA
wild, pitiful voice began singing. The
key was so plaintive that every note
might have been a tear. | stood still to
listen
..Im in trouble Lord Jesusl
I'm in trouble, Lord ~
What wall What cry that was
Out OF the depths of the earth that COM
plaint must have startled the ear of In
finity and touched the heart of Christ.
L leaned against the black walls and
sObbed Surely in some sacred, secret
way of God that broken heart was COM
fOrted
The furnaces which supply the mire
with fresh air are in their way an euunl-
ly horrible place. From one immense
furnace tongues of fire four feet biob
leaped up continually, and standing
near by, leaning on great fire-irons,
stood a man with chains on both legs.
and the most sour, dogged, despairing
face it is possible to imagine. He never
moved; he never turned his ewes ON
u.s. he looked as if he might have stood
there ID gray, stony misery for thou
sands of years. ''Oh Christ!n | wbis-
pered, chow long till thou come again
Here ale Snirits hound In, -.