The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-03-30
TEEHEsSEE' ! tsIlNHALsEE9s1
An offcial Who Eas Ean3led Nearly
5000 conviets.

s@G SAAs%SA " ~ s@eS -@eA ~4SA sASS%AE Il
5000 conviets.
AND OSAY LET ONE ESCAPE.
Probably no man has ever car
risd as many convicts from different |
pOrtiens of the state to the capital
az Joe Turnsy. That official Is tall !
good>looking and has stomach Of !
aldernanic proportions. His BLONDE
mustache Is carefully curled at the
ends, and his clothes are kept scru-
pulously clean, Even his most in>
Il mate friends have tried in vain to
find his small narrow shoes in any
other condition but a state of high |
polish. Occasionally during cen
versation he will draw silk hand
kerchief from his breast coat pockS
ct and brush an imaginary speck
from their shining surface. Yet no
one can look in the agents COED
natured face and accuse him Of
being dude.
Agent Turnsy has held ais pres
ent Office for eight years and can
show q remarkable record during
this time. For each year of this
time the official has annually car.
ried something over 1000 prisoners
to the penitentiary, the total NUM-
Der for the entire time Of his sers
vice being 1868 Eight~tsnths, or
80 per cent. of this number were nsA
grOes, and of the prisoners carried
frsm Shelby ctunty, which has the
largest negro population, fully SO
pei cent. negroes TIE small per-
centsge of whites furnished by ShOl>
by were alm IS entirely composed
OF labsrsrs and others of the lower
world Only 5 per cent. of the 1868
convicts were females. and but ! per
cent. of those were white women
One tenth or 10 per cent Of the to-
a mum Der were convicted of man.
slaughter or murder, and 1 per cent
Of the murdarers were women. OF
the murdsrsssss only two were
white. One of these poisoned her
husband and the other shot her
brother. During the entire eight
years but one white female was
convicted and sentenced in Shelby
county. This was Ellen Burrows,
a notorious prostitute of the lowe st
order and had been tried half doz
en- tiAes efore for various crimes,
The police once suspected her OF
having nowlSdge of the mysteri'
GUS disappearance of i man WAC
was last seen alive in her room
The crime for which she was cSnr
Ucted and sentenced was that Of
robbery. She enticed = drunken
abOrer into a vie den and went
through his pockets, securing sever
al hundred dollars. This money
represented years of ceasslesS toll
and thu man was unusually vi9OrOu
in the prosecution Of the Barrowss
woman,
OF the murders three ffths claim
cd the crime for which they had
been convicted ami sentenced, was
COM mitted while they we're under
the influence Of liquor. One-ffth
OF the murders ere caused by jeal-
Ousy and the remaining fifth was
5 equally divided between 1uarreli
while gambling and various other
/ causes,
} CT the 897 murders, in 179 case'
the killing was done by cutting OIL
s stabbing and the remainder by shoot
/ ing or using other weapons.
: OF the re manning 1866 prisoner
! 1866 were convicted and sentenced
f for grand larceny, about $500 TO
I pc tit larceny, 500 for assault ant
battery and the remaining 1000 fol
violation Of revenue laws. incendia
rlsm, swindling, forgery, obtaining
money under false pretenses, coun
terfeit1ng, train rebbing, burglary
. and every ether efenss on thu
criminal caleudar' Three-ffths O.
. this number were between the age
of 20 and % years, ons~ffth over 2E
and the remaining fifth under 20.
From an annual official record o
crime it is found to increase more
f rapidly than in proportion to the
, growing population. An estimate
may be made of the extent to which
: 1t prevails in each county from the
: number of prisoners received at the
psnitentiarY during the msnth Of
February. One hundred and five
: prisoners was the total number for
this month. Shelby county turn
= ished 81, Faystte l, Haywood ]
Knsx II. Hancock 1, Madison 8
Saith 1, Greene 1, Wheatley 3,
Hickman 2, Davidson 80 and Ham
iltsn II.
In speaking of the different mills
of justice in each county, Agent
Turney said: SHELBY county car
boast Of the finest criminal judge
in the stats. The nearest approach
Of any other County judicial to the