The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-05-28
The CRUEL LASH.
Terrible Treatment Received by the CORp
vIcts of the State of Kentucky.
ICIncInnatI Enquirerl


The committee appointed to examine
into the affairs of the Kentucky coal mines
in regard to working convicts have fled
their report. The committee first visited
the Greenwood mines, in Pulaski County.
At this mine the conviets were compelled
TO work in water several inches deep, and
often were compelled to lie down and
work in the water in order to complete
their task. The committee say that the
State Inspector. who was compelled to
look after the welfare of the convicts, has
in great measure failed to discharge his
duties.
The prison in which the convicts at
Greenwood are confined is a log building
twenty eight by forty feet, and the other
is box house, and there is no way to heat
them. The ventilation is bad in the
rooms where the convicts sleep. They are
compelled to sleep on straw beds, laid on
plank, two convicts TO each bed, and the
bedding exceedingly dirty. The bedding
has not been washed for several months,
and the blankets and bedding were in
Tested with vermin. About six O'Clock in
the morning the convicts are brought into
a shedroOm with a dirt floor without hav-
ing an opportunity to wash their hands.
and hastily down a breakfast of coffee,
preceding day, the meat sometimes being
frozen. After breakfast they are sent to
the mines with piece of corn bread and
bacon for their dinner. The clothing fur
nished the convicts consists of a suit of
wool goods. They are confined all day
Sunday, and have no religious teaching.
The hospital is a log house, with mean
ventilation. Many of the convicts com
planned of not getting enough to eat at
times. The clothing might have been SUI
fcient for mild weather, but for the wealth
sr of last winter it was insufficient.
AS to the punishment, that was accord
ing to the discretion of the warden and
mine bosses, whose positions and wages
depended to great extent on the guam
tity of coal they can, under the dread and
terror of the strap, compel the convicts to
get out daily. The punishment inflicted
was with strap of heavy leather two feet
long, and varies in number from two to
fifty lashes, and the lash was often ap-
piled to the convicts for trivial offenses,
such as taking bread left at the breakfast
table and talking at night after they had
gone to bed.
The majority of the punishment was,
however, inflicted for a failure to COM
plete their task, which was in many in
5IduCeS pHyslCa1 ltupOSSIDlilUys Inc
highest number of lashes given to one
convict was fifty to Jesse Williams for at
tempting to escape. From the 9th to the
18th of March, 1896, over forty whippings
occurred, and the lashes administered ag-
gregated over three hundred. The backs
of some of the convicts showed the marks
several weeks after they had been whip
ped. A convict named Henry Solomon
complained of being sick and was sent out
to the warden. After being struck on the
head with whip-stock he was sent back
into the mines bleeding to work. Another
convict named Allensworth was whipped
before and after going to bed for talking
about escaping.
The committee also visited the Pensee
Mines, in Whitley County. At this place
there were fifty-one whippings from jan
uary to March II, 1886, aggregating Ala
lashes. The tasks here are entirely too
great for the men.