Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-09-27

head per day, 272 cents, or ss so per
month.
These figures are carefully made from
records and bills paid and can be verified.
1t was well known that the investigation
of the Work-House was to be inquisitorial.
During the sitting of the jury personal
enemies Of mine thronged the ante-chama
bers OF the court, and often had the homer
of hearing IN the jlry-room, while no
friend OF mine appeared to fpeak a word
in palliation OF my shortcomings. Wit
nesses who in their daily intercourse with
the people charged me with converting
public property to my own use, drunken
ness, eic., must have been swift witnesses
before that jury when they were inv ted
to ventilate my off ial record.
One charge contained in the report l
cheerfully admit to be justified by the
facts. l admit that / have trusted con-
victs in several instances to go to see their
families and by this fault the list of escapes
has been larger than it should have been.
OF those thus allowed TO go home only six
escaped in four months, and these were
teamsters and 80 employed that they were
necessarily included in the class called
TRUSTEES. have used every preaautiop,
employing many guards, and always called
the roll ttgics dag instead of twice week
as reported by the Work-House Commit
tee.
1t should be considered that the prison
ers in my charge are delivered to me as
laborers, guilty of email offeuses; that nv
duty is to make them work effect NJ
utilize ;nn , SUCH force in -.,,na roads haul.
many " rrsetiee necessary TO work
= ,.esaeut shackles, aud TO trust many
,>eyGhd the range OF the guards.
The report of the grand Jury makes
no estimate of the work acco.apli he'd
by the conyicts during my term, and
startle the public with statement that
conveys. the idea that / am expsndieg 60
cents per day per man and $12 sc
per month per mule, with NJ remu.
nerative ptarn to the county what
ever. Several times l requested the
Jury TO call before them the superinten.
dent Of construction of turnpikes, under
whom have employed the convict force
since the lst of May; but this branch o;
the business they considered of NJ i'm
portlnce, and refused to hear this very
trustworthy witness to the main, the most
important feature of the Work-House sys.
tenn. Upon this subject / state very con
| fidentiy that never before in the history o
Shelby county, never, indeed, in any coun
| ty of the State, has the convict force been
utilized as during my superintendency. II
can be shown that the amount and value oi
public work done stree my superinten'
dency began has fully doubled the full ccsi
OF boarding, guarding and superintendent
cy,while the result is patent 10 the public il
| a system OF pubic roads, the finest in the
State, the pride Of the county, resulting
already in an enhancement in value of con,
| hguous lands lar exceeding their full cost
must be allowed to respond to that por.
| ton OF the report which embraces the bill
| OF fare and facetiously ridicules the insti
tuition as boarding. house for dudes, etc
| L reiet to 1t not as untrue as to items, bu
IS misleading and upjust TO me. The Items
matcaroni and vermicelli ara paraded be-
fore the public as part of my bill of fare
| while in truth my purchases of each have
| been but one box, the cost of the iIst be
| ing only 81.
Yet after all, l doubt whether the coun
| " can show more economical boarding
house than the Work-H use has been
unless perchance, it may be the City
| Work-House. By the way, il would have
been a very natural and fair and impartia
thing to have subjected this correspond
| ing City Work House to an investigation
Ike that which constitutes the body o
the report.
l beg to assure the County Court that
will be ready at the October term TO give
a full account of nay stewardship, ant
while doubt not it will be FUND hav,
not done we'll in all things, yet have
done my best in position Of great re
| sponsibility, laborious and disagreeable
yet one which has interested and ener
gizsd me more than any work of lon.
and active life.
The committee states that the Count
Court exercises no supervision CT my &C
counts. In this they are again misin
formed, for the truth is every account i
audited and passed Oh by the court, escl
justice voting as his name is called. Re
ports, full and in detail, of my operations
are made regularly each month-one t
the chairman, embracing expenses auC
work done, the other to the Judge Of tn
Criminal Court, embracing escapes, dis
charges, etc. The committee reach a eli
max in their faithful discharge of ju
dicial trust in reporting that politics ha
hiss had too much to do in shaping count
affairs. For myself, protest thai hav
no politics. l am a political hybrid,
there ever was one. My absolute inde
Fendence in politics is notorious in thi
county. The effort Of the grand jury, how
ever, TO divorce the county government
from politics is praiseworthy, and at thi
time, when the 5nds of the present cit
government seem anxious to keep city af
fairs out of politics, their high encomium
on "the best governed municipality in tt
world" have, after ell, some political sig
nifcance and lend political compiexic
even to their report. r NJ. MACON,
Superintendent County Work House.