Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-08-07
Crime in the SOuth.

was comparatively little crime. Th,
easy-go-lucky nature of the unedu
Gated and poorer whites was no
ambitious enough to be criminal
The better educated were too wei
bred to stoop to criminal life; and fo
the coiored criminals the masters
acted as court, judge, jury and exc
cutioner. There was no well devel
oped idea Of meum and tuum lp the
negro's brain, and if he sometimes
inverted the possessive adjectives he
met his punishment ia the stroke OF
the overseer's lash. If he were
guilty of murder he might have to
forfeit his life, and the state-some OF
them, at least-.made good his loss
to his master from the public treas
ury. Here and there calaboose,
and now and then Jail, comprised
the chief provisions for criminals
under the law, and state peniten.
tIaries were almost unknown. Ten.
nessee was an exception 20 this.
One of the earliest aud best state
prisons of the south was erected there
in 1923 Ga forlorn building it is now;
aud largely inspired by visit from
Dorothea DiX-whose portrait, given
by herself to Nashville, is one OF
its most priced p0ssessions-the
criminal law was made broad and
progressive, and the treatment oi
the convicts humane and wise, as
compared with other places in th,
South.
Suddenly this stricken land finds
six million of people thrown upon it,
of whom hundreds and thousand,
are soon culprits under the law.
What should be done with them.
without buildings TO receive anC
house them? The states were al
first almost palsied by the situation.
When the proposition came to leas,
the convict labor it was regarded IA
the best and wisest thing under tn,
circumstances. Here, again, tn,
provisions made by Tennessee were
intended to be humane. The frs,
lease kept state control over all th,
prisoners. No hand could be raiseC
against them without the permis
sion of her authorities. Every
prisoner who was adjudged guilty
of the infraction of rules of the
lessees, and SO deserving of punish
ment, had first 10 be examined by
the state officials, and could u
punished only by their permission.
Other states had somewhat sinilaI
provisions though il is safe to say
they were not always carried Out
to the letter.
The leasing of convicts disposed
of them etfectually for time. The
various states were no longer haunt
ed with visions of the necessity of
building great prisons and peni-
tentiaries, The lessees carried the
conv!cts off, body and soul, though
IN many transit the soulTrook its
flight, and only the dead body was
left on their hands, to be covered
away out of sight, without christian
rite or ritual, as soon as possible.
The horrors of this second age of
slavery have not only been/ written
by George w. Cable, but by less
practiced masters of the pen in
minority reports of legislative COM
mittees throughout the south. No
one appreciates more keenly the
evils of this iniquitOus system than
the best and most thoughtful men
of the south. 1t has seemed how.
ever a hopeless task to rid them
selves of it, and it is ia erefore the |
still accepted system of most
of the Southern states. Texas threw |
IL OH some years ago, ana us army |
of 5000 convicts is employed in va
rious industries under the direct con
troll of the state. South Carolina,
thanks to the devoted efforts of Mr..
one of the directors OF
the state penitentiary, has given up
the lease system and cares for hei
convlcts herself. Arkansas, ii is be-
lieved, will not renew her lease W hen
the present one has expired. The
other Southern states continue this
method of employing convicts,
though the agitation of public opin-
ion has lessened many of the abuses
with it.-From Life i'm
southern Prisons" by Isabel c. Bar
rnu.g i,, Hnrnap'. NAT,.I-I,.