The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-12-24
Physician Heal Thyseif! Pluck
Thine own Notes Before Set
ting gup for an tye-
Doctor.


Convention of Commissioners of Charity,
Correction, etc., at Louisville. Ky, an
old gentleman interrogatcl the North
Carolina Commissioners (Col. w. j.
Hicks, Col. W. L. Beasley, Mr.. j. I'll.
Mills, aud othersl 10 relation 10 the
treatment Of Convicts 90 the North Caro-
lima Railroad Routes which were then
using convicts.
When he had aroused marked atten-
ton he related an incident which fell
under his personal observation. ! "a'
one day at Greeusboro' said he, and
was invited by a wealthy citizen to ride
out to ace the c3nvict camp, on the line
Of the Cape Fear 4 Y. V r. r. When
we arrived We founl q crow1 gathered
around the corpse Of dead convict
colorei man. Although stiff. distorted
and bloody, he had an Intelligent coun-
tepance, and my heart vas touched. |
learned from my frieod that he had been
killed by one Of the guards brutal and
desperate fellow, ah1 made his boasts
in drunken freuzy that N ornlng that he
meant to kill a niger before night And
sure enough here lay his victim y
The story as related by Delegate PHILIP
C. GARRETT. of Philadelphia. naturally
created sensation. The North Caro-
Inians, through Col. Beasley. responded,
admitting the fact of the killing, but as
serting that it was just and legitimate,
as the prisoner w,s making desperate
attempt to escape. The guari, they said,
had not made any such threat on that
day. having been on guard all the day !;
and did not fire until one or two other
guards had fred at the flying convict
On being privately interrogated as to his
informant, Mr.. Garrett gave the name OF
DR.. D. w. G. Benbow.
Now We know something of prison
treatment, having spent two years under
the most rigid rule In the whole list o.
American Penitentiaries and knowing
what we know, we should be slow to damp
len Mr. CARROTS ardor Of investigation lntC
lsuch matters; nevertheless We suspec
his great sympathy and interest in the
dead darkey at Greensboro WAS due NOR
to political aul sectional zealotism thar
to philanthropy.
B. this as it may, We started to re
mark that the gentleman need not have
gone SO far from home for objects 0
! righteous Indignation. A recent mum
Der Of the Pnila lelphis TINES says =
Philip c. Garrett, chairman of Penn
sylvania's committee on lunacy, receive
so many letters complaining that insan
people, imprisoned by their relatives i
various parts Of the State, were inhu
manly treated, that in August last b
authorized Dr.. Thomas q. Morton t
issue circular requesting the proninen
lphysicians in all the counties to repol
all such cases for investigation. NJ
,nerous replies, containing reports {
cases of supposed cruelty, neglect an
Improper treatment Of insane peopl
were received.
In Clesrlield county the committe
found au insane young man who kel
the neighborhood in constant terro
The neighbors, who have slept uneasi
E. for wears. fearing that he would brea
out. have sent a letter thanking Il
committee fer the promised removal
the dangerous man TO the State hosplt;
for insane.
n In most cases the people who had Il
e. unfortunates privately imprisoned we
st more anxious to insure the safe-keepil
- comfort. The report Of the coinmitte
cold and temperate as 1t Is, tells drea
a. ful story of the sutieriHgs OF the lnsal
,.r men and women who were found secri
te ed in wretched huts and III barred roo-
in private houses. In Lancaster coun
two women were found chained by tn
lees to the floor. One of them had be
= chained in the same room for ten yea
lDuring that time she had never lett
;. apartment and the chain had never be
removed from her leg. Her compani
&c has only been insane about two yea
~ In Dauphin county the investigate
found a man fifty years old tied to
door with chain only twenty incl
. d long. The chain had worn its way IL
hu the patients leg and liberation a
- Great suffering followed A seven
M, tour wear old woman was discovered
down ln a bed that she had not lett
mr. wears. In another county an lnsf
lad Young man was found, weak and ems
yet ated, IN wooden coop built upon
ley Ground aud containing no furniture.
lnd Many insane prisoners were unearti
i. in wretched wooden sheds, without he
ase ventilation or necessary convenient
uLe In one of the interior counties W
; - tound n middle-aged man confined IN
M out-house Oh a farm. He was entlr
-, naked and was chained by the leg
..s the foundation of the miserable den
had occupied for thirty years. This
sane man had all that time lived on
farm of his nephew. who Is wealt
- A woman eighty years OLD was Sc
cred in a dreary attire where she
ID been closely confined for sixteen mon
Another woman was found caalned
NJ naked in a wretched apartment
~ though fortune of several thous
dollars was held in trust for her supp
~ Sixty wears another unfortunate ST
u.I. in a miserable room in the house oil
ere, brothers. He was chained to the
The committeemen express the oplI
that the cruel and lnhuman treatmeI
10 Hn- in most cases the result of lgnora
,rna, narsimony, fear of the lunatic or d
,,io.s ,.sss of the public knowing that there wa
many insane person In the family.
LUNATIC BURNED TO DEATH.
aIssd .nd Some Of the discoveries made ar
shocking that were they not thoron