The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-10-16


Cheek of Every Friend of Humanity
Men of Buncombe, Fathers and
Brothers, Will You, Can
You, Endorse Such Cruel
and Inhuman Afro
cities
Women put to shoveling dirt with
short handled shovels on the public
roads; women manacled with balls and
chains; women dressed in the striped
clothes Of felon; women worked side
by side with felons Of both colors; wo
men guarded from morn till night by q
man with Winchester! This is the
humiliatipg spectacle to which many
people of BUncombe county have been
unwilling witnesses But this is not
all nor the worst.
a woman, young woman Of tender
years, after having worked many days
on the public roa,s, manacled with a
ball and chain, side by side with white
and c0lored men of abandoned charac-
ter, was taken out, tied TO a tree,
stripped Of her convict garb and
whipped on her naked person with
leather strap attached to a wooden
handle, by a mana beneficiary of the
present system OF county government!
Whittier are we drifting9 Are those
who rule US LIST to all sense of shame
and humanity2 Are they degenerate
sons of noble sires, whose chivalry wGs
not transmitted to their offspring, but
expired when the eouls of the fathers
passed to the great beyond9
Tne facts are these: NJ J. LYDIA is
white woman. She is the mother of
three children She was convicted of
an offcnse which wa8 not felony, sent
to jail, from ther3 to the public road,
and worked with white men and ne
groes until she absoIu ely grew 50 weak
and faint that she could labor no longer.
She was then taken back to the camp.
A girl by the name Of Walker was also
| convicted in the criminal court for the
same offense, and she too was worked
on the road with men of both races.
Sarah Taylor is white girl She is
young, and it is said has weak mind
almost if not a lunatic. She was
convicted in a magistrates court of
fighting, Of having little racket with
| a negro woman. She was sent to jail,
and from there to the road. For fifty
days she labored with short handled
shovel, ball and chain forged around
her angle, side by side with men who
had been convicted Of high crimes and
misdemeanors, and when she rebelied
against the inhuman treatment, she
was taken out, tied to tree, stripped
of her clothing. and publicly whipped
with leather strap.
Can anything be more revolting9 If
this be civilization, is not civilization
a fraud and failure2 We should go
to the birds of the air and the beasts
of the field to learn from them that
which we have lost in the onward
progress of our so called civilization.
These birds and beasts all have q ter
der feeling for the females of their
species. Go and learn a lesson from
the lion or tiger of the jungles of Africa
and India, the most ferocious type Of
the animal kingdom. Within his saw
age breast is one warm spot, and that
is filled with love and affection for the
opposite sex of his kind.
But why these outrages? Do the
people of Buncombe county endorse
them9 We think not. These evils are
the legitimate offspring of the present
system of county governmental sys-
tenn that takes from the people all con-
troll of those who govern them-or
rather outrage them Under this sys-
tenn men totally unfit are placed in
responsible positions, and are respon-
sible to no one for their conduct, save
the little ring that placed them in
power. The ring is as soulless and
heartless as the tools who are chosen
by it to administer the affairs Of the
country.
Reader, do you think for moment
that a board Of county commissioners
elected by the people and responsible
to them for their public acts, would
ever permit such outrages9 Do you
think for g. moment that a board Of
county commissioners elected by the
people would select men to administer
the business Of the county who are so
cruel and heartless as to strip and pub
Iicly whip woman9 Men who have
no more respect for the good women
of Buncombe county and for the sex
than to work and expose mothers and