The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-12-22
Cruelty to Convicts.
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL JOINT
INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE.

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL JOINT
INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE.
The Conylcts on the Greenwood and
Augusta Railroad-The Great Nor
tality Among tile Convicts the Result
Of Improper Diet, Want Of Cleanli.
ness and Cramped Accommodations
The Committee Recommend that the
Attorney General take Proper Action
upon the Testimony Adduoed.
The report Of the special Joint committee Of the
Legislature appointed to Investigate tue charges Of
cruelty to cOnvicts Is rs follows
To- he H0H0t able the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentuLUes of the &ate " South Curoiina.
GESrLSnEa-I The juint coInnIittee npImin ed by
concurrent resolution OF the last General Assembly to
investigate charges OF
CRUELTY TO coSvIcrs
Of tho South Carolina Pcnitentlary, employed upon
th. Greenwood and Augusta Railroad. and directed to
repurt to the present General Assembly, beg leave
respectfully to
REPORT:
That they have performed the duty assigned them
to the best Of tbeir ability, aud heI cwith submit the
teBtlUOny GlKen Uy LllcHl upon the btln1eCt lnulCAteO.
The inquiry was q tedious and difficult one. The
witnesses were scattered in Columbia and fDm
Greenwood to the city VI Augusta. and: the test.
mony takrn Is quite volumin"ps, much Of It being
cumulative, and n great deal Of It OF 0 negative
character. In conducting the examination the COM
mittee went to Greenwood and other points along the
runte, where the witnesses reside, IN order to save
tho expense Of bringing them to Columbia, and fl
the further purIuse Of inspecting the stOckadc nnc
viewing the ~c0nyicts In the employ Of the company
The c"mmittee will not under take 10 repeat tht
testimony In this report but will only state some
conclusions to which 1t points, and rceolnm,n ded h
the General Assembly such changes In the law 0.
will. in our Judgment, afford security and henl'f
among the convicts who may be worked outside o
the walls Of tho Penitentisry.
To b egin with, iyour committee regret to rcpor
that
TIE MORTALITY
upon this road WAS unusually great, resulting. 81
your committee believe, trum o lax Of acIunintat G.
| with the diseases which affected the ~conyicts On ID,
part Of the parties who had them In, charge, and frou
improper diet and a lack Of cleanliness, which con
triSutrd to induce these diseases.
The food given tho %cOnvicts was, rs testified By
e~onvie's and Others; wholesome IN quality and abun
dant In quantity, but consisted almost entirely o
bread and bacon, the continuous use Of which probably
contributed greatly to the development OF th,
%scorbutic diseases VIII CHI followed and proved 50 fatu
at St0ckades Nos. a snd 8. Vegetables, fruits, mill
and fresh meats were given the cOnvicts when tho!
could be obtained, but they were working fur from
any railroad communication. and the year was m
unusually dry one, which circumstance prevented th
use 0f these articles Of food In sufficient QUA titles t
preserve health, At Ml. the st.ckades ~suficien
bathing arrangements were made, but In many instan
ces the ~convicts were not required to battle thei
budies sufficiently often to keep the akin clean an
the pores open. They were afforded the oprortunlt
generally Of bathing once q week, but were not re
Quired to do 20, and many Of them neglected hi
necessary safeguard to health. Then, again, th
s~tockades were not sufficiently large to nec"mmod.t
this oyercrowdlng no doubt added to the other disease
prodvdIng cnuses.
1t Is but Justice to the company here to state TIM
these stOck6des were built after the style OF Mort
company visited for information. They were NJ
proved by Col. T. W. Parmele, and the s~uperinfrI
dent VI the Penitrntiary, as Was also the diet on
general management Of the c~oHvicts, even after III
II. ortality y hich began ut stockade No. 8. This WI
the first attempt at working the convict labor outsid
Of the Penitent airy, and this company had no ea
pariepce III others to gnide them In tho treatment {
the c. nvicts worked by them. /, Was but natural fu
them a. make mistakes, and the Committee has fuile
tu ind anything Of .
4 CRIMINAL NATURE
In the conduct Of the president or directors Of III
Greenwood and Augusta Railroad. They fed tn
~convicts sufficiently though not jndiciously. The
employed the leudihg physicians In the nrighborho,d
In which the cOnvicts worked, and when the in0rtnlit
began at Stockstr No. 8, they Inf rlned the the
s"Ie'''N Ai''eie,
iacle, anu TX rIs.I9 ~" tusPes.ra ne Goh.Iest on
e1t.essea ~ ase, 1sHo 'n ,ho, We .nfi, rralmsh
nNer"aius. o s,,o,yi.n. - ~ "o.'a
ulleCuorsM tne tonI.Snsu.y" w tNt '.nrI"l mortain.
anu ihru.e. anu ILL., Ti'., s.u s"e saPellh..,
nsns u H., = s. mil shor, the n,Sdis =. nste rrprnu
Gen' Hsn,eomb visited their cnn,o Mt Mo- s. " 11,u ued
oo,.Iv . cnn,nltntjon nj nhvsicjnns ,yos hronn Viii
rss:I,rd In nscrrt.ininp the natnre n f,he dis.,.e q
f,c,ino The con yicts' and under The nronsr trra,,,a,
H thosa .rhbo wero moi ron ,ow In bsoIth haopn ~ To-
.nooa mnS no ,rorhis trrn .irt No hns 49, su w ~
Wot., Nv ,harn harnnd tba, wSj,h 49, ~ s." S.r.
PfileneIu " "'n '"s' u|A ""' oe 'ouh
everywhere;
The conF'ets sune'ea most rom
| scoRBurrc AFFECTIONS,
ord ,bo.s IN many ~instance, wrrc ,uncr,nd,cad :
,hslr npev,uns confinement IN the Penitrntiarv yyhc,
,heir rsneraI health WINS imnuired. The %rondition
the conyic,s and the disease with which thcy VII
sm.c,ed wa, nat Of n nature psunlIy Snnnd ihrrus
/ ,hs rnnntrv, and Il "a hut stranre that II shopld bnI
,sm,,nrd indetrcted for eom. thns A. n matter
f,ct th. con vI.t, who wers conaned In sthe Prnite,
. ~ d,riro the w,n,.r NJ isT7.1 "a n,,nsor :" h.,
tm1 a.n ,nr.h .sar,.J T., ,b.ir bsa,th anJ ,na,
!, NJ o., mr..,os, rnnr,,Ii,u n,.n.iIsd rSo co.,
.hen lug s..an 30 I m.n p .,n ano sN
~ . "a s,, ,uI ,h. s w. a1"t a,sT \. end ','.,