The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1880-01-09
81 . UNION H, ksJANUARY o. 1880

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to Edgeield County to inspect the condition
of the convicts at work on the Gr1enwood
and Augusta Railroad.
[ reached the steckade on Monday after
noon, the 25th, and Immediately proceeded
to the said inspection. / found in the log
pen, which is called the hospital, three con.
victs lying on shelf made of poles and
| clapboard and covered about two inches with
| straw. Two of said convicts were colorcd
aud one white. One of the convicts, Jno.
Lord, was in the last stages of exhaustion,
ana had on nothing but his shacklcs and n
pair of pants-the rest Of his body being
covered with flies. The other colorcd con.
vict had general dropsy X
McGurvey, the yhitc convict, was so weak
aud emaoiated that he was unable to leave
the shelf, and the straw was so full of ver-
min that | could not make satisfactory ex-
animation Of him. The English language
does not possess words sufficiently strong to
express the stencil that arose from the place
Tho quarters in which the l;boring con-
victs are consist Of two log pens, twenty by
thirty feet, separated by an alley way of
eight or ten feet. Iu this space found
eighteen other convicts lying on the naked
earth, their diseases being principally ex-
haustion and dropscs.
The same style Of sleeping accommoda-
lions prevails in these pens as do ih the hos
pital, with the exception that on some Of the
shelves there is no straw ut all, and from
the polished appearance of the clapboards,
there has been none since they have been
occupied.
saw neither trace or sign Of covering of
any kind-blanket or aught else. The
stencil arising from these quarters was sick
eninS to the uttermost extent.
The cooking is done in six or eight round
iron ovens in the open air, the bread which
l examined being burnt on top and raw
throughout the balance. l saw no arrange.
ment for boiling, &c.
From the stockade went to whore the
convicts were at work, and inspected each
convict separately. With the exception of
nine, found them all, more or less, infcc-
ted with scurvy, and with an eruption which
was evidently caused by tho vermin on their
persons. There were two who were so swol-
len with dropsy of the extremties that re-
marked that they should have been in the
hospital, and was told that they were there
on light work, just to do what they pleased.
None of them possessed change of cloth
ing, and their persons, though evidently
having been washed tho preceding Sunday,
were off ,nsive on account of the stencil from
the filthy clothing.
In conversation with DR.. Il. j. McKie,
an excellent gentleman as well rs physician,
L found the. he had refused to attend fur
thef on tdcsc convicts, as he could be of no
possible sclvien ,Eldcr snch condition. Of
| thiuSs prevailed; and Mr.. TwISgs, the
associate engineer of the railroad, with the
Georgia branch, informs me that he has re-
monstratcd time and again, but to no effect,
and that out of one hundred and ninety one
convicts, on the Georgia side, since the
22d day of May he has had no sickness
| whatever.
The mortality above is sufficient to prove
what their treatment has been.
AS the cool weather comes on, with the
system of the convicts so entecbled by their
scurvied conditions, am afraid there will
be still greater mortality.
l have the honor to be, with much re-
spect, your obcdicnt servant,
G. S. IRRELEVANT, NJ. d.,
Surgeon Pcnitcntiary
p. 81 would respectfully report since
your inspection that Spencer Bradford had
died. or all the cases inspected did not
see but one case Of well marked syphilis
There wore three others that 1 did not
sec.