News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-03-01
DOWN IN 4 coal NINE.
AIabama's Convict Coal Miners ana we
Manner in Which>They Live.

treatment the black cOnvlcts who are
leased to the contractors i'll many OF the
Southern States receive from the IesseeS,
I determined to satisfy myself as to the
alleged brutality of the hirers OF tins IN
voluntary labor. 1t must be understood
that the convict system OF the South IS
of recent growth. During the days OF
slavery. when negroes were valuable
property. their owners did not allow them
to be sent to prison for trivial otfenses.
Slavery dead, the Southern men prompt
" turned their attention to the disorderly
negroes, and they set the courts III mo-
ton against them. In no Southern
State is there any lack of material to
keep the chain-gangs full.
[ naturally supposed that the dark re-
cesses of an extensive coal mine would
afford rare opportunities for the abuse of
convicts For that reason l Inspected a
mine where convicts were worked. L
was prepared to see brutality, starvation,
death, and l saw nothing of the kind.
On side hill, above a railroad track,
there is a stockade enclosing about an
acre of ground. Inside were several
buildings for the cOnvicts to sleep IN,
cookhouse, a hospital, a laundry, bath
ing house, a room III which to dry wet
clothes. a mess room, and little shanty
standing over the manway that descends
into the coal mine There was also a
small and shabby guardhouse. Stand
ing on the railroad facing the stockade
the mine slope is to the right, distant
from the prison pen some seventy yards.
The hosting engines are close to the
mouth of the slope; overhead are the
coal dumps. At the entrance of the
mine a man, armed with heavy double
barrelled shotgun, sat by little fire, the
day being raw and chilly Above him,
and out of his range of vision, were the
coal handlers, who dumped the coal into
| the railroad cars. These men were I'M
| guarded. They are termed trustees, :"
/. e., men who will not run away. As
| train after train of loaded mine cars
rolled up the incline from the workings
| far below, the guard who sat by the little
| fire inspected them to see that no con-
victs were secreted between the cars or
were in the coal lightly covered.
Going to the wide-swinging gate of the
stockade, l was met by bUshy-browed,
full-bearded man, who asked my bust
ness. I told him that [ wanted to see
| the convict quarters. While we stood
talking three or four friendly fox hounds
came to me, and shifted inquiringly of
my hands and legs. These animals
looked like fox hounds, and still they had
a cast of countenance that was not alto
gether that of the hound that bays 50
| tunefully ON Reynard's trail. The friendly
hounds snuffed my hands and legs so
steadily that [ became conscious that
! they mistook me for a freshly arrived
convict, and were smelling of me with an
eve to business in the future 1 asked
the bushy- browed keeper if the dogs
were good on a cold trail. The first
spark of interest he had shown in our
conversation he evinced as he replied
enthusiastically, Yes; that one" indi-
eating a reddish brown hound, with his
Outstretched and dirty index finger,
"that one can follow a trail eighteen
hours old. The others can all trail if the
scent is not more than twelve or fifteen
hours old. In reply to my inquiry as
to the danger of the dogs tearing an
escaping convict, he said there was but
little. Now and then one was bitten, but
not often. No convict has ever escaped
from this small pack of hounds When
one breaks guard, the contractors mount
! their horses, the hounds are put on the
| trail, and the pleasures of the chase are
INDUCED in. 1t is said to be royal sport.
1t must, indeed, be charmingly exciting
or armed and mounted men to pursue,
with keen scented dogs, a flying fugitive
who seeks to escape from enforced labor
in a damp, gloomy coal mine. Yes, that
would be manly sport, almost equal to a
cricket drive in the Humboldt Valley.
When the men have finished their daily
tasks Cboth the white and black cOnvicts
are tasked) they walk up the manway
into the stockade. Turning to the right,
they at once enter the bath room, where
great tanks of warm water stand against
the wall. Here they strip themselves,
and are forced to thoroughly wash their
entire bodies in the warm water They
! then carry their wet working clothes into
! the drying room, where they hang them
up. In this room they receive their best
clothes, which they wear when they are
not at work cutting coal. These con-
victs sleep in well-ventilated log houses
They are allowed a sufficient number of
blankets to keep them warm o nights,
and they are allowed three feet of bunk
space to the man. There is no distinc-
ton made in the treatment of the white
and black cOnvicts, excepting that, to
protect the blacks, the white men are
kept in a separate building.
The men are fed on corn bread and
bacon and vegetables. was told that
they have coffee once day; but this l
, did not see. [ saw the allowance that
the convicts had for their dinner. Each
ration was in little tin pail, and there
was more corn bread and boiled bacon
in each pail than two men could possibly
eat. The convicts inquired of, all as
/, sured me they were allowed more food
than they could eat. I saw them throw
ing it away. [ saw the free black labor
: ers who were working at the Sloss Fur
naces eating their dinner. They too,
had corn bread and bacon, but they did
not have as large rations as the convicts.
There was a black woman, a convict,
i'll the room where the wet clothes were
drying. She sat by a fire mending
clothes, sewing on buttons, and gen
orally overhauling the dilapidated gar
ments the men wear when working. She
shyly retired when the convicts began
to burst forth from the shanty covering
the manway.
If any of the cOnvicts desired to OBJ
tain pocket money, they are allowed to
work extra time, and all coal cut by
them in excess of their regular tasks, is
, paid for at the same price the free
! miners receive. Many of the men take
advantage of this privilege, and add tC
their fare or buy tobacco with money sc
earned.
The quarters are all clean and sweet
smelling, except the mess-room. There
the sickening odor of rotting meat OF