The Mineral argus. [volume] (Maiden, Mont.) 1883-1886, 1885-01-29
SOUTHERN CONVICT SYSTEMS.
How the Conyicts Are Worked and Treated
A Field for the umanitarian-Criminal
lava Made Only for NegfOel.

A Field for the umanitarian-Criminal
laws Made Only for Negroes.
1.-The Shooting of Penitentiary Con-
yicts.- was the heading of a dispatch
in a newspaper which read on last
Friday, and which gave the details OF
the shooting Of three hired convicts.
who we're at work in the Coal creek
mines in East Tennessee, writes an
indianapolis correspondent of The Gin
cinnati Enquirer. To-day l read an.
other paragraph which stated that the
conyicts in Arkansas are hired out to
farmers ut 81 per month. Within the
past ten years, and often during that
time, have had opportunities to see
every phrase of the system OF leasing
convict labor in various states. but
have given special attention to those
states which allow the cOnvicts to he
worked out of doors. What shall
write on this subject will be upvar-
nished facts, and l will try to make
4 them SO distinct that no one can dis
pute one statement which will make.
The states which know lease their
convict labor to be worked outside OF
the penitentiaries are Arkansas, Tex.
as, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. and
Kentucky. Most Of the states lease
their prison labor, but in the north the
convicts are worked within the prison
walls; the tasks are regulated by the
state, through its own officers; the
state feeds the convicts, treats them
when sick, attend to their sanitary
condition, has them bathed and their
clothing properly washed and mended.
L. psa thAV
are unnecessary. for the Intelligent
reader can do that when he has the
facts. l only want to call atten-
ton at the outset to the fact that the
constitutions of all the states. follow
ing the eighth amendment to the
national constitution, provide that
! excessive bail shall not be required:
nor excessive fines imposed, nor crue!
J and unusual punishmcnts inflicted.
1t may be that do not know what
! constitutes ''cruel and unusual pun
ishments," SO that those who read the
facts will have to be their own judges:
During the years 1875. 1876, and
1877 the cOnvicts Ut the state OF Ar
= kansas were leased to Mr.. Zeb Ward,
, of Kentucky. Mr.. Ward had been
: prisOn-labOr contractor In TENNESSEE
: when I first knew him. His lease o.
|, the peniteutiary Of Arkansas and oi
: the convicts was for the term OF ten
: wears. One of the conditions Of thu
lease was that Mr.. Ward should not b.
: hampered with the presence Of ward
Q en- or any state officer who could stant
between the cupidity or passionate
i cruelty of the lessee. During the tern
y for which the persons were sentenced
b the state had no control whatever owe
t the criminals. The contractor fed
j. clothed, and cared for them as he say
r fit. About 1875, perhaps 1876. MI
q Ward found that he could not worl
Is all the convicts in and about the peni
q Tertiary, SO he opened a large cOtto
3, plantation and penal farm up the Ar
n kansas river, and in what Is known q
1t the river bottoms. There the soil !
e yery rich, but the malaria is general
s; and IL not fatal, produced the resul
ID which was fatal in the end. l visite'
Is this prison farm twice during the sum
s, mer of 1877. once at the invitation Q
L. Mr.. Ward, and once at the request Q
d. citizens of the little town on the Littl
s. Rock and Fort Smith railroad. Dul
X ing NV first visit l saw that the cor
te victs were fed on cOrn-bread and IA
D. meat; that they were huddeled tc
to gether in the vilcst, filthiest dens G
lie cabins within a stOckade; that the
I'D were not half clothed, and no regar
he was paid to their sanitary condition
a. and, worse, that there were no bathin
facilities within the blockade. Their
e. was not white prisoner among tn
il three hundred then on this prise
re farm, and do not think there was
ly white man in the penitentiary at LII
er lie Rock who was subject to the col
m. tractor. Several white men, who
"a. gentlemanly bouts had killed 9TH
Dt- white men, and who feared lynchir
"a or assassination if kept in the jails
N. the counties where the crimes we
committed. were confined on their Ov
request in the penitentiary until Il
courts could go through the form
to releasing them. They, OF course, we
rs, not convicts, and when they felt like
ok came down town and had a good tin
ms with the special guards who look
he after them. 1t seemed to me that {
ed criminal laws applied only to negro
MIA except where the crime was hor'
NO stealing. This observation applied
he all the states, in general way, whe
ab- conyicts were leased out to cOntr;
vas tors, and it appeared to me that
he arrest of negro for any often
IN seemed accepted as proof positi
Dol that he was guilty. | gave esPec
The attention to this subject. and !
nh ticed that conviction almost
~. ways followed arrest. do Z
md know that the negro is always thi
Ged perhaps he is, which would acco!
ere for his almost universal convict