Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-02-12
THE CONVICT CAMP.
How the Drainage work Ia Fro
gresstng-CondIGfOn OF the Gang.

Mention has been made in these columns
of the important work now being done by
the Drainage Commission In this county,
adjacent to the city, and the character Of it
has been fully described, but no one can
possibly realize its extent, except by q
personal inspection. The plan of the work
is to drain the swamp, or series Of swamps,
extending from near the Catholic Cemetery
to the salt marshes, In the rear OF White
Bluff, by means of an immense canal, ira
Versing the entire distance from near hay
nau's bridge to the point first designated, a
distance of five and half miles. This
canal has a width at the bottom of twenty
feet, and at its average top level OF sixty
two feet. The place where the work is now
being done is one of the highest in the i'm
mediate locality, where . cut is made
through knoll or ridge, so as to obViate 0
long detour, and at this point the cut Ia
about twenty feet deep.
A representative Of the MORNING News
Yesterday, in company with Hon. G. G. Casey,
of the Drainage Commission, visited the
present working point.
The labor is that of the convict chain gang,
the whites and blacks working % navvies In
excaVating earth and wheeling It away.
MIR. j. McCrohan, who has lately taken
charge Of operations, Is, In spite OF the con-
tinuous bad weather, making good progress.
a work OF this magnitude requires practical
experience and steady employment under
any circumstances, and when Ii is remem-
bered that this special undertaking has to be
carried on by inexperienced hands, nearly
all of whom have but brief sentences to
serve, tits astonishing that 1t is progressing
so rapidly At this time there are about
twenty-five hands at work, which small
number, though speaking well for the NOR
ais of the community or the ability of the
lawyers Though probably there are many
who ought to be on the chain gang who are
not there yeti. is not conducive to the inter-
ests of sanitation.
a motley crowd are these workers, the
blacks being In the majority, however, and
comprising sneak thieves, burglars, wife
heaters, drunkards, police resisters, and all
the other class of lesser criminals. Among
the whites is one, heavy built man,
whom We were told had worked In rain
and sunshine, bareheaded and bare
footed, wearing only q shirt and his
working man In the gang. He was serV-
ing out a sentence of six months for
stealing a dog. Another of the whites was
a sailor, still wearing his navy blue shirt,
trudging with his chained leg In the swamp
mud and filing his wheelbarrow, and In the
same row was a country lad of about twenty
These two looked as though they were sent
down from the Mayors Court for week or
two. The darkies were apparently as happy
as circumstances would permit, number OF
them being well known petty malefactors
who have spent much time In this kind of
public service.
The quarters OF the convict gang, their
food and clothes, are all that can be expected
(thanks to the humane gentlemen on the
commission), and doubtless they are as
comfortable as convicts generally are, but
we think that visit to this place, and q
sight OF the men chained (as special faVor)
to their wheelbarrows, instead of around
their waist, toiling all day, would make
tramp leave the country, the drunkard
keep sober, and the rich man forget his dys-
pepsia. The labor, however. In which they
are engaged is necessity, and there is no
better work that they can be employed at
for the benefit of the public, whose laws
they have been caught violating.