Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-02-06
MEMPHIS APPEAL
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1888
THE BEAM AND THE MOTE.

With szw-log in their own eyes, the IA
natics Of the Meth have been busy for forty
years in calling attention 10 the mote in the
eyes Of their Southern neighbcrs. Since the
publication Of the census bulletins there has
been comparative pause in the habiluSl
practice of slsndering ard defamiDg the
South. So great was our prosperity and in
crease in population that cur old defsmeTs
denied the correctness of the census ref Grnz.
They were pronounced fraud and asWindle
fabricated with the view Of Increasing our
representation in Congress. II was charged
that Republican officials had been bribsd TO
make out false returns by which the popula-
ton OF the South was 10 be reported
much larger than the actual mum.
Der. These charges were made with
such persistencs that Gen. Walker,
Republican, at the head Of the census bu-
reau, ordered a new Census TO be taken in
many Southern localities, by new oficislf,
and the result not only susi aimed the reports
OF the former enumerators, but showed a
still larger increase in population. These
fac Is Sllenced the calumniatorr, for just and
sensible men in the North argued correctly
that II the Southern people were the muir
dsrera, savsges, and the lazy vsgabonds rep.
resented BY their traducers, il would be Ut.
terly impossible for them to increase 30 rap
IDLY IN material wealth and population.
For Twelve months the Southern people have
been comparatively free from the calumniss
made stale by forty years repetition. Bu;
the New York Tribune is nothing without
abusing the South. 1t could not subsist
Without occasionally revamping one OF
Its old editorials; and TO show that it is ac-
tuated by malignancy we have only 10 refer
to lis own columns during the last few days.
A week ago the columns OF the Tribune were
hlIed with an account OF the horrible cruel
ties prscticed in Clinton prison, New York.
The revelations made before the Committee
on State Prisons were most shocking. Here
are few samples Of the tortures Of Clinton
prison, as published in the Tribune: Games
Murphy, an ex.convict, testified that fell
low-conyict named Packman had been
chained 10 the floor OF the dark cell for 172
days, during which time he was fed on bread
and water and died under the treatment.
Another convict named William CressWell,
who tried to escape with others, was chaine d
10 the floor OF the dark cell ten months, and
died January 3, 1881. O'Neil, another of the
convics who tried 10 escape, was shet in the
shoulder. The food in the dark cell consisted
of one gill of water and slice of bread every
twenty-four hours. James Finnerty and
Martin Meehan were kept in Clinton prison
fourteen months over their legal term of
imprisonment. A convict named James
Belts was chained in the dark cell Tor ten
days and driven insane. A convict named
Feeny assaulted keeper and was taken
from the prison TO court, sentenced to an adj
ditional ten year,, brought back to prison
aud chained to the floor Of the dark cell for
ten months The witness had seen Arthur
Hessler, who testified before the committee
last week, crawl on his hands and knees from
the prison TO the workshop. Fellow-convicts
had put their hands under machines for the
purpose OF crushing them, owing TO their
Inability 10 perform their tasks" A full
report of the cruelties practiced in the Gin
ton prison, as published in the Tribune, would
occupy several columns in the APPEAL
The sworn testimony of many witnesses
shows that the managers of the prison had
lost all feeling Of humanity and were gov.
erned solely and entirely by spirit Of
diabolism. Torture has been reduced to
r,6uad art Tho hrnta. wbo ;nA;o,o1 a. :.
punishment spent slsepless nights, not in de-
vising means 10 amelioraie the condition of
poor fallen humanity, but in projecting new
methods for torturing their victims. In a
few brief lines the Tribune alludes to these
cruelties, and shows disposition to disbe.
lieye them upon the ground that convicls
are prone 10 complain. But while the col
umns of the Tribune were burdened with the
reports of tbete herrid crueltied, the editor
seeks to divert public indignation by a
TRADE on Southern prisons. In an editorial
Of nearly column, headed "Horrors of
Southern Prison." the Tribune says:
Is the South no more civilized than Rus.
STA? This is \ question which rises inyol-
UNFAIRLY 10 the lips after perusal OF the
"Biennial Report Of the Inspectors of the
Alabama Penitentiary." A more revolving
picture of inhumanity than is therein pre-.
scented it has not been our misfortune 10 con-
template for a long time. Prince Krspot-
kine's revelations about Russian prisons
were not more horrible than these. He made
his as a prisoner telling his experiences.
These from Alabama are in sn official re-
port and are made by the officers of the
prison. What we should hear if the prison.
ers themselves in this Alabama hell were 10
speak, the mind shudders TO contemplate
We have no doubt that similar revelations
might be made OF the penal system in other
Southern States. The chaplain, whose in.
dignant protest we have given, Gays the ex-
cuse made is that "nearly all the convicts
are negroes and that negro cannot be re-
formed" This lie the root Of the whole
trouble. The South has not yet learned that
the negro is a human being.
This Is pretty talk to come from a news.
paper teeming with the mosl diabolical
cruellies practiced at its door. Prison cru
elites are shame and a scandal TO the age.
They are con6ned to no section. The South
ern people in reading the T1bunss report
Of the cruelties at Clinton prison did noi
emblazon them 10 the world and charge the
Northern people with barbarian. But news
papers like the Tribune never fail to herald
to the world the discovery of cruelties in
Southern prisons. They should come to the
task with clear hands. The horrors of the
Clinton prison dwarf into insigniicance
those of the Alabama prison, and the 1ribrn,
should reform the abuses at home before
rushing down 10 Alabama. This calumnia.
tor Of the South should first pluck the beam
from his own eye before undert aking 10 ex.
tract the mote from the eyes OF others. A
ssloon-keeper in Milwaukee to retrieve hii
losses destroyed the lives of nearly hun.
bred innocent victims. II such a demon
had committed such crime in tue South, il
would have been published as another evi
denee of Southern barbarity. But the South.
ern people want peace, and only in self
defense allude to Northern crimes. Cruelty
aud crime are confined TO no nation and tc
no section, and the American people, instead
OF taunting States and sections with wicked.
ness, should confess that all are alike guilty
and unite in common effort to remedy the
evils.
-.
CONGRESS- AND THE TARIFF.