The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-07-09
GALL MISERABLE SINNERS"
The Treatment of Convicts in tho Southern
States.

Iue Slofeiouo koAoJ .!
menting on the treatment of convicts by
contractors in South Carolina, says:
"Brutalities of this nature have been
going on for 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 batbafities 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..
r. Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio, who
rebukes the Leader in these words:
"Now it has so happened that l 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 l am sure
you will be glad to publish report that
will not corroborate the supposition made
by the Leader. I found a 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, and the North
wing will be ready for use in o few
months The grounds upon which the
prison and shops are located consist of
| IA acres, and are enclosed by substan'
tial wall already completed. The prison
is under the coatrol of a board of five
directors, of which the Governor is ex-
oficio chairman. The officers in the inn
mediate charge of the prisoners are the
superintendent, the chaplain and the
surgeon.
Lipscomb, will compare fayorably 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 inyestl'
CATION by him will not be whitewashiDg
process by any means. The total number
of State prisoners is about LOCO; ol
these about 300 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 con
cerned, I did not find man IN South
Carolina who approved it, and every
body seemed delighted al the near pros
pect of its entire abolition in the State
The same can be said of North Carolina
and Virginia, and within a year or two
it 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 o.
dealing with the dependent, defective
and criminal classes.
cat Charleston, South Carolina, Wis
tied an orphan asylum, which, in the
perfection of its methods, among all the
institutions of its kind have ever seen,
is second only to the Protestant Orphan
Asylum at Cleveland, Ohio, and this
am sure is high enough praise for any
institution.
"Iu short, the time has come when il
would seem entirely proper for US tc
recognize the Southern people as mer
and brethren, and to give them the right
hand of fellowship. Because slavery ma;
existed, and some unseemly customs still
prevail, it does not follow that the
Southern people are sinners beyond al 3
others. Let us remember that fol
twenty-five years after Ohio was sett!ec
our criminal code authorized whipping
posts, stocks, pillories and ear.croppings
as civilizing institutions. and for Longer
period the poor were sold out to tue low
est bidder, and yet it would hardly 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 to their faults, remembering the
truth of the Episcopal liturgy where i
says 'We are all miserable sinners Z"