Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1880-01-15
On 24th September. 1877. they re

AVA St A's OSJ -
ceived 100 convicts; on 18th Octo
} Der, 1877. they received 8 conviets
on 3lst October. 1877. they receive'
2 copvicts; on % May. 1878. the.
s6zssl 65 conviote; on 9th Decem
: Der, 1878. they received 40 convicts
on 7th April, 1879, they received u
convicts; making, in all, 285 con
victs. Of this number l9 were re
turned to the Penitentiary before
took charge. as escaped. II were dis
charged, 7 pardoned, and up to Au
gust Let, according to reports sub
nitted by Capt. Cahill, there were
93 deaths. I found when I wen
there 81 had died who were ao
reported, the most OF them in Au'
gust, making total Of ia deaths
ELL of which is respectfully sub
mitted.
t. ]. L1PscoMB, Superintendent
The Report of DR.. rrezevans.
COLUMBIA, s. O.. August 80, 1879
! Col. T. j. Lipsconl6. Superintendent
South Carolina Psniientiary
y
DEAR SlR-In obedience to your
and Director Shields instructions,
proceeded TO Edgefeli County to in.
pprct the condition of the eonvicts at
work on the Greenwood aud Augusta
Railroad
] reached the stockade on Monday
AFTERNOON. the 25th and immediately
proceeded to the said inspection. /
foS,l in the log pen, which is called
Tic hospital, three conoicts lying Oh
IL shelf made Of poles and clapboard
and covered about two inches with
straw. Two Of said oonvicts were
colored and one white. One OF the
conticts, John Lord, was in the last
stages Of exhaustion, and had on
nothing but his shackles and pair
OF pants-the rest Of his body being
covered with flies. The other color
el convict had general dropsy. y
McGarvey, the white convict, was so
weak and omaciated that be was
unable to leave the shelf. and the
straw was so full of vermin that /
could not make Il satisfactory exami-
nation of him The English Ian.
guage does not possess words sufE.
ciently strong to express the stencil
that arose from that place.
The qu,rteru in which the labor.
ing couvicts, are consist Of two log
pens, twenty by thirty feet. In this
FAce found eighteen other conviets
lying on the naked earth. their dis
eases bring principally exhaustion
and dropsiea.
+ The same style Of sleeping accom-
-m}s3stious prevails in these pens as
dc in the hospital. with the e1cep-
tion that on some Of the shelves there
is no straw at all, and from the pol.
ished appearance OF the cl"pboards,
there have been none since they nave
been occupied.
Is1w neither trace or sigu of COW
ering Of any kind-blanket o, aught
else. The stencil arising from these
quarters was &ickening to the utter
most extent
The conking is done in six or eight
round iron ovens in the open air, the
bre:ul which | examined being burnt
on top and raw throughout the bal.
auce. / saw no noarrangenent for boil,
ilg, &c.
From the stockads I went to where
the convicts We're at work, and in.
spected each convict separately. With
the exception of nine. l found them
all more or less, infected with scur-
Wy, and with an eruption which Was
evidently CAUSED by the vsrmin on
their persons. There were two who
were so swollen with dropsy Of the
sxtremities that I remarked that
they should have been in the hospi-
tai, and Was told that they were;there
on light work. just to do what they
pleased. None OF them possessed a
change of clothing, and their persona,
though vidently having been washed
the preceding Sunday, We're offensive
on acc uut of the stencil from the fil-
thy clothing.
| In conversation with DR.. T. Nc
! Kie, III excellent gentleman as well
as physician, | found that he hal re-
! fused to attend further on these con-
victs, as he could be Of no possible
service under such condition oil
things as prevailed; and Mr.. Twiggs
the associate engineer oil the railroad
with the Georgia branch, informs me
that he has demonstrated time and
again. but to no effect, and that out
Ioi one hundred and ninety-one con-
victs on the Georgia side, since the
22nd day OF May lie has had no sick
ness whatever.
The mortality above is sufficient to
prove what their treatment has been
AS the cool weather comes on, with
thesysiem OF the convicts 80 enteebled