The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-08-15
SLAVERY STIEL Exists.
eeorgta's Convict System is Not
Less than Barbarous,
woman ARE S0LD BY TaE STATE.
They Work in Chains, are beaten
and Hounds Guard Them-Traoked
by Blood Hounds When They Es-
oapo-How They arc Treated by
Brutal MasteFs-obliged to Work
Fields Like Men,

me recent revelations OF IeoTSlu
barbarIc system Of farming out female
convicts have aroused great public in
dignation even here, where the meth
dds have come to be looked upon as
matter Of course. In this state the
female convict ia made to work, not al
in the north for the gain Of the state,
but for the benefit Of the mou who gets
the contract to keep her. A corpora
ton takes charge Of oil the female con
ylCts, for which privilege II pays $4,000
year. This year there are about 2,l5C
female convicts, which makes the lease
price per capita Sll IS, or a little less
than 81 per month. The contract is to
expire In 1890, and probably will not
be renewed by the company now con-
trolling the conyicts, the claim being
that even at the low rate Of hire 1t is
impossible to get the required work
from them.
Colonel W. II. Mattox, a planter who
has 5000 acres In the northern part OF
the state, has the contract The women
whom the state has cold to him are as
much his slaves as ever negroes were
in ante-bellum days. There are sever
al white women among them,
The women, the captain says, are
vicious, He gets all the work he can
out OF them, and no questions are
asked as TO his method Of bringing this
result. He Is an exc Confederate officer,
and he is used to having his orders
obeyed. Notwithstanding that the
army under him Is an army Of women,
he finds ways to make them amendable
to discipline as strict aa any ever sus.
tanned "at the 'front.'"
His guards-and he has need OF a
great lnauy-are all men, and a mo.
ments conVersation with any Of them
will prove that they are not above the
prejudices and faults that exist among
northern turnkeys, while the fact that
their charges are all women and that
they often work In lonely parts Of an
enormous farm offer many temptations
for immortality and brutality that are
impossible in the comparatively well
regulated prisons Of the north.
Many OF the women work In chains
and all OF them wear o striped prison
garb OF short skirt, half sleeved waist
and something else II they want 1t.
Few Of them want 1t.
They are employed at the hardest
kind Of manual labor-plowing aud cul-
tiyating cotton fields like men. They
rise at $3.50 in the morning, make their
scanty toilets and must DO ready to be
counted at $3.50 o'clock. The breakfast
consists OF fried meats, biscuit and
syrup. Az soon as the meal 10 com.
pleted the women form in line, and,
with guards armed with horse pistols
at head and rear Of the column, they
march away. The pillow women 20 to
the stables for their mules, which they
lead or ride from the stable. as they sec
lit.
Shoes are furnished, but usually are
not worn In the field. A soft felt hat,
an old bonnet or q towel completes the
costume.
At II o'clock all hands stop work for
dinner. 1fthey are within mile Of the
quarters they 20 there, but II they arc
at a greater distance their dinner Is
hauled out in cart. Nearly every day
some will eat in the fields and the rest
will be at the quarters. The dinner con-
sists Of potatoes, beans, meat and black
bread.
The lessee always likes to keep free
labor working near the convicts. The
wages labor gives the alarm in case Of an
escape. They assist the guards by their
presence and deter attempts to run away.
Two or three wages men and women are
always working within sight Of the
quarters There Is also pack OF hounds
Kept for the particular purpose Of track
ing fleeing women.
Since Captain Mattox has worked the
convicts there has only been half q
dozen escapes. Ono woman was sus.
pected by her companions OF being an
informer, and was compelled to run
away. Her fellow convicts furnished
the money TO pay her fare to Atlanta
aud provided her with clothes. On
reaching the capital she experienced
qualma OF conscience, and made known
10 the police the fact that che had o.
capped. She was sent back, received q
whipping and was put at work which
kept her away from the other women,
Alice, one Of the white women, once
tried to escape. Her room overlooked
the yard in which the hounds are kept.
Every day che would carry something
10 her room aud call the hounds to her
window and divide with them. She
made an especial pet oil Reed, the best
hound in the pack. The day Alice slip
ned away the dogs were not In the field.
They were brought hurriedly and soon
on the trail. They ran of In the direc'
tion the women were believed to have
taken, for Alice had companion. For
mile tho trail was followed II led
deep into tract Of woods along the
river Great was tho surprise OF the
guards when Reed suddenly appeared
from the bushes wagRing his tail. Noth'
ing could induce him TO resume the
search. Two weeks later, when Alice
was captured, che said that when Reed
came upon her In the bushes she Just
patted him on the head and he thought
that no belonged to her as much as any
ono else, go he wagged HE tail and walk
cd oil,
The penalty for running OF 10 whip.
ping. The blows arc administered with
q strap, sometimes on tho bare skin.
And yOt We all hold up our hands III
horror whom we hear about Siberia.
Sunday 10 rest day, The prisoners 90
out In tho lot which is surrounded by q
barbOd wiro ienCo, and there arc under
tho watch Of aguard. A preacher comes
aud gives them q sermon, for which he
gets 81 from the state. In summer tho
convicts are sent to tho river for bath
and swim.
II was not many years ago that mon
and women convlcts were herdcd indis'