The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-12-31
Sickening Revelations.
TREATMENT OF THE CONVICTS-IN.
HUMAN CRUELTY AND NEGLECT.

D TREATMENT OF THE C0NVICTS-IN
, HUMAN CRUELTY AND NEGLECT.
Testimony Of Col. Lipscomb and DR.
Trezerant as to what they saw Las
Summer in the Stockades OF tin
Greenwood and Augusta Railroad
The Horrible Causes which Accom-
for the Mortality Of Forty Per Cent
Meas AMI C6urier.J
The following are the reports OF the super
intcndcmt and surgeon OF the state Penilen
tlury as TO the treatment of the cUlIvict
leased to the Greenwood and Augusta Rail
road Company, which were called for by TIT
Senate at It's recent session, and by that badly
ordered To be printed:
comb.
COLUMBIA. =. e., Sept. }. 1879.
To The CHairma" o"d Board Of D'rectors, S
MISUNDERSTANDING received Il letter from
Gen. +. ii. Bradley, president Of the Green
wood and Augusta railroad, stating that {;
great deal of mortality and sickness existed
among thccOnvict$ leased to that company
| conferred with the chairman or the board
showing him the letter. He instructed me IL
20 over there and make All inspection Ul
their condition, and at my suggestion he In.
Structcu nc to tax DR.. IrcZerunt. the sur.
gcon of the institution, with me, to see what
could DO done to nmclioratc their condition.
DIR. Trcxevalt and myself appointed the
morning OF the 2lst OF August TO 30 on the
Inspection. On tho night OF the 2Dtll 1 It.
ccivcd the attached note from DR.. TreXcvant,
spying lie could not 20, and / proceeded by
myself On tho morning Of the 2lSt.
l met the Hon, a.. l. Butler, one Of the board
OF directors, In Augusta, Gu.. about il o'clock
the same morning. We left Immediately Tor
the camp on the South Carolina side, in Edge
field County, about nineteen or twenty miles
distant, which we reached about ) L. NJ.
l found III one emu OF the stocinde nine sick
men chained on what wns intended TO be II
straw bed, but the straw was too thin to 40
much good. l could not stand the awful
stencil and had odirect the guard to ullcliain
them and bring them out I'm front OF the
stockade. l found them In II dcplornble con,
dition, all OF them complaining of veIereal
diseases, swollen limbs, DC. l then went to
the so-calied hospital, where | found three
sick-two white ilen anu one black man:
They had some straw TO lie upon and were all
chained. They were all covered Will vcrmln
und ticas-so much SO that l was forced to
leave the room. | don't see how 1t was pos
sible for n well mIln to exist In these .plucrs
well treated, much less Il sick man with no
treatment, or so little that l regarded 1t us
none. They had no change OF clothing, no
shoes, no covering Of amy description that !
could see. They reported that they had had
no medicine ana no medlc;il LrcaIHenL except
one dose Of paregoric In the three days pre-
ceding, and their nourishmcnt was fat bacon
and bread. l LETT the camp ana proceeded 10
where they were at work on tho road, aooutu
mile or a mile and a haif distant. l iouna
about twenty-five men Mt work on the road,
clothed IN the Pen!tentiary stripe that l had
sent TO Gen. Bradley about Hve weeks before.
1t was so late that could only look ut their
condition generally and postpone the inSpcc-
ton until next morning.
I went next morning to whcr they were at
work, called the roll and inspected them. /
found a great many OF them complaining OF
Venere:ll diseases ana sWollcn llHlos, ana "
most all with sc4ryy. They were very dirty
In person and ci0tningIhnYlhg no cnahEe;
some OF them salu they nnu not MnshGu for
weeks. saw no Diahkets9i oco ciothlns ior
them to lie upon or cover WIN. A..
1 heard great and loud complaint ABOUT the
cruel treaGtnemTHi Hnn II ~ W u Nc
MI anu us G.tmru. Onc e. Nv
Garvey. NO. o,,L,' sho oon ,r, ~ he so%d raye
sell seats IPom ms M tsnn o" ~ stioi, IN Tho hands nf
caused ~ pow" S ho nnr i. SI.eh ouIs,d n' nawe the
Cnpt. GaniI., nnu PI rSn, S Uuh1IiIiI1 innself IN
same inloILa.'iVn h 49, LII Enu'i ,TnrnSed me-
reporting tno3I .,nS = :" az shoctins
lhat tne suura nau saoto ~ nT,Ir,f'r tho1
anu iaste"su W Il 1EGa a. Sonr"I thnt rnhi7i had
nc VAS ~ 1esU,r,, hnot linn
The c]onvlcis were generally in such n bad
condition that | deemed II my imperative
duty, to send the surgeon VI this ilsIi'uI'o" "
see them:
The sickness and mortality being so great
! heard that some or the dlrcct0rs OF inc rotu
geon, had ceased 70 Visit tie conSiccs prors
slonail9. l. w"s w ,'t u 'lm, honnnso
cd to continue to treat Inc S ennxic,s G pee r
nus presc',pa,tm YER nnd " oonr,shman, ~, FRIED
out: o. co,r,,o o, sot,rdov tho
\ reIurneu ~ srrn.ou"r, 10 NIL :" 'si,ni.
L'u " III ~ i've ,nortino of tic 2ith ne
n.r tspa.,no ". ,t,c roIInwinr omicr onnrnvrJ
" u bc eStl w tllS NV
ny lily ma '., ~ 49,, vii nc.nn,rnmw
append. iiSaeIli'cu icoo l. "o'o"'p'''
TINS paper; ,c- .,,o,, rooo,vod I'M
co un Iatn npp 1sth %cfob her, M tbrv received
3 convicts on 3lst October. M: they rec'iv,
ed = convlcts; on "a May. Ss'e, Lncy Itce!'ea
5 conTictsi on oth l%'ccrh'Der, 100, tney r.
c ceived ~ 3I CON vi,ts: I mnl;inri in nil IS CON.
VictS. W ms nuinoer 20 "cfc ieaui''S ~ y"
Tue fenllelIl"iH oIiuast soUn n",nJ ~ NJ ~
capped, Il were discharged, ! parao'eu, anu up
70 august ~ hcsoraI'is W. ,ePmt,h Tn,vnd
when went thcrc that u han uleu WIZ VIZ
not reporteu, Ih or IIa sIe, ~ e" !" A'Su''
ii"N 'nE u C1.t "a "a 4 f,Ty srbno,tt,j
T.. j. LIpSCoMB, superintendent.
The Rcnly of DIR. TreZeyant.
W. ..-,a, on ,s-o
-. Aus1SL ~; i|.n
Cot. r. IaLseono' ""Pe'f'"e""e"' "o"" "o
DEAR SIl-ln obedience to your ana pircc'
TOR Snie!u 5 DISTINCTIONS ! p"oJItiap III
field County TO inspect me c"mon,i' and ,me
cOlvictS NJ work on inc Grech"oou ahu Au-
guSta Railroad.
reached The stockade or MonaaS aitGri
noon, the 10Th, ana imincalaleiy profeedea
to the SAID insreGuon; l iSuru ~ hro az ~
pen. Wnicn Is caa,eu trv hos y, ,nIor nnj cInn.
board and covered about TWO lncincs VIII
straw; OF said conviets were Gol"req ana
one white. one oil inc conVlctS, .onn i'H,u;
was In the last stages OF exhaustion "nL na ~
pants-the rest OF his body 3clng fovcrea
with flies. The other colored CONVEX nan
general dropsy, McNarSes, tnG
white convict, was so Wcak anS ""I iEu
that he was unaple 10 lcate INC s"G'i, Nv ~
straw was so full OF vermln that coIlq no'
make q satisfactory eNnniinhtaom m n,nn,.
The English Language uoes uot POSSES mU hn
sufficiently strong 10 express Inc Ste"cii 'h"'
arose from that place.
are consist Of two log pens. twenty by thirty
feet. In this space / found eighteen other
convicts lying OH the naked earth, Their, dis
eases being principally exhaustion aud drop
sizes.
The samcs tylc of sleeping accommodations
prevails In these pens AS do in the hospital,
with the exception that on some OF me
shelves there Is no straw at all, and rom the
polished appearance OF the SiapoGba sen o eccre
pied. .
saw neither trace or sign OF covering OF
any kind-blankct or auSht else. The
stencil arising from these quarters was sick
sn IhS to the IttermostIe extent.
The cook Ing is done In six or eight round
iron ovens in the Opcn air, the bread when
T exomined being burnt on top and law
! a y t,o hnio MOO T saw No arrange.
hIousnou ~ 20 ""
From the siockadc I went to where the
oGp virts We're mt work, and inspected each