Nevada County picayune., 1888-03-21
PRISON REFORM NEEDED.

The following account of the cruel ! and horrible treatment of convicts at , Coal Hill mining camp. proves what . we have heretofore said, Arkansas needs prison reform and needs it badly, this from the Gazette:
 On February 22 J. A. Gafford. 1 the warden, had whipped Williams, ! who, being unable to do as much work as his partner (convicts are worked in pairs), had been punished /. and had run off and hid in the mines. ! He was found by the guard and brought out one morning at break . fast time. He was stripped naked . and chained to the whipping post, . and during the day 100 lashes were laid on his naked back. that night he was taken to the hospital chained hand and foot and died the next day. When the body was eXhumed it was found in a pine box, filled with mud and water. It was wrap ped in piece of old blanket and the only garment was a fragment of a shirt Every particle of flesh had been whipped off of the back from the shoulders down. The right tenn pie of the skull had been fractured with pick axe or some other simi- lar tool On the right side just ov- CT the kidneys was hole six inches square which had been kicked in there. The doctors said ten of the blows were enough to kill him. The physician, Dr. W. Hunt. had been informed by the steward that the man died of congestive chill and signed certificate to that effect without ever seeing the body. The coroner's jury rendered the follow ing verdict: We the jury find that Charles Williams came to his death from cruel treatment inilict- ed by J. A. Gafford, (which consisted of whipping, violence and neglect. =
 Coroner Blythe immediately swore out warrant for Gafford's arrest but it was found he had gone to Lit tie Rock the day before. He telc- graphed here, but the wretch had gone on to Memphis.
 The guards testified that Gafford was very brutal and delighted in see ing the eonyicts fight. He would go off and get drunk and come to the stockade and make two of them fight until one or the other was so badly bruised he could fight no long CT. There are now no less than thirty conyicts in the camp who bear marks and bruises received in these forced encounters.
 When the coroner and the jury came back to Coal Hill they heard that another negro had just died at the stockade through violence. Af- ter hesitating some time and squab- bling over the matter, Waller per mttcd MT. Blythe to go in, but it was found the negro had been bur jed. After another long squabble they induced Waller ts have the body exhumed. The coroner's jury examined it and then examined a number of witnesses and brought out the fact that the negro's name was Nose Harvey and that he had been killed by another convict named Mat Bailey. Altogether there were forty distinct severe kicks and brui- ses, any one of which might have produced death. The head had been punched out of shape and was unrecognizable. The eyes had been burst from the sockets and hung down over the face. looking like q black pulp or some raw, spoiled beef. 4 more revolting sight than that pre- sented by the remains could not be imagined The man had been kick ed and bruised on March lst. and lay in the hospital and suffered un- til March S--one week.
 While Waller was on the stand in the Harvey case the question was asked him if some time last summer a convict had not been chained to the post and whipped to death. Wal Ter replied: II am not called here to tell about that 1 am a witness in the present (Harvey) case, and re- fuse to answer any questions outside of the case proper. The reporter found, though, that last summer warden whose name was Hudson had had negro chained to the post and stripped, Hudson hit him lj0 licks making the back raw and causing the negro to yell so that his shrickS were heard at Coal Hill. more than a mile away. When he had whipped that way he then took salt ald water and threw upon the lacerated and bleeding back. He then left the nc- gro standing in the hot sun while he went down town and attended to some business. He then came back after two hours and whipped the negro until he died, at least he was found dead chained to the post.
 Max Elder white man, died about a month ago. MT. Blythe had the body eXhumed. It was somewhat dccomposed on account of the stuff in which it was buried. but it could be seen that he died from in- juries inflicted by the prison author ities, or they had been instrumental in it at least. On the back were thirty-four gashes, in any one of which man two fingers could be placed. There were other bruises, but it was impossible to tell which