The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-07-09
GALL MISERABLE sINNERS.v
Tho Treatment OF Convicte In tho Southern
States.

Tho Treatment OF Conviote In tho Southern
states.
The Cleveland (Ohio) Leader, com.
menting on the treatment of convicts BY
contractors in South Carolina, says:
"Brutalities of this nature have been
going on for q long time without inter.
ference from the State authorities. 1t Is
now said that the Governor and Superin.
tendent of the Penitentiary are about to
investigate these later cases, but the
matter will doubtless end with white.
washing of the incarnate fends by
whom the cruelties were perpetrated. A
State permitting such barbafities ought
to be ostracised by all civilized beings.
But South Carolina was once slave
State, and her people have not yet got
rid of their brutal instincts. The work
of the missionary is badly needed down
there"
These remarks bring to the front Mr..
II. Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio, who
rebukes the Leader in these words:
"Now it has so happened that I have
been missionary, or more properly, an
investigator, in several Southern States
upon this and other subjects, and three
weeks ago I visited the South Carolina
Penitentiary at Columbia, and am sure
you will be glad to publish o report that
will not corroborate the supposition made
by the Leader. I found q penitentiary
now rapidly approaching completion,
which, when finished, will be equal in all
Its appointments to the average of
Northern prisons, and certainly will be
superior to our own in Ohio. The South
wing is already occupied, aud the North
wing will be ready for use in q few
months. The grounds upon which the
prison and ahops are located consist of
IA acres, and are enclosed by a substan-
tial wall already completed. The prison
ia under tho co1trol Of board Of five
directors, O. which the Governor is ex.
officio chairman. The officers in the i'm.
mediate charge of the prisoners are the
superintendent, the chaplain and the
surgeon. -, -,
Lipscomb, will compare favorsbly with
our best prison wardens at the North,
and the whole tone of the prison was
elevated and humane, and am willing
to guarantee in advance that an inyesti.
CATION by him will not be whitewashing
of State prisoners Is about 1000; of
these abou, 800 are leased out, and the
remainder are inside of the prison walls,
and mostly employed upon contract
labor, the same as in Northern prisons,
and have no doubt are as kindly treat.
ed. So far as the lease system is coz
cerned, did not find a man in South
Carolina who approved 1t, aud every.
body seemed delighted at the near pros.
pect of It's entire abolition In the State.
The same can be said of North Carolina
and Virginia, and within year or two
1t will cease to exist in all three of the
States named
"The truth is the South is rapidly ad-
vancing in all directions, and nowhere
more noticeably than in its methods of
dealing with the dependent, defective
and criminal classes.
AT Charleston. South Carolina, Wis.
tied an orphan asylum, which, in the
perfection of it's methods, among all the
institutions of its kind have ever seen,
Is second only to the Protestant Orphan
Asylum at Cleveland, Ohio, ard this
am sure is high enough praise for any
institution.
"In short, the time has come when it
would seem entirely proper for US to
recognize the Southern people as men
and brethren, and to give them the right
hand Of fellowship. Because slavery has
existed, and some unseemly customs still
prevail, 1t does not follow that the
Southern people are sinners beyond all
others. Let us remember that for
twenty-five years after Ohio was settled
our criminal code authorized whipping
nosts, stocks, pillories and r.cropplpgs
as civiliEing Institutions, and for longer
period the poor were sold out to the low
est bidder, and yet It would ha.JIy be
fair to claim that our fathers were inhu.
man monsters. So with our Southern
brethren, let Us look more to their virtues
and less 10 their faults, remembering the,
truth Of the Episcopal liturgy where it
says we are all miserable sinners.'" !.