Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1895-06-01
WHITE LRYSPEAKS.
3 ATROCITIES OF THE CONvTCT
SYSTEM
Ton. Fredeli lex Douglass ElOquence
-Instances OF Brutality Cited-SI-
IBERIA OutdOne-A Revolving
Condition OF Affairs In
Christian America.
tDTrOR MITCHELL

EDITOR MITCHELL,
Dear Sir--Ever since / attended the
funeral of Frederick Douglass 1 have
peen thinking, who will step into the
hanks and All up the place made vacant
by his death You can do it if you
make God your strength. How well
remember hearing that great man speak
n the Baptist Church in Erie as l sat
n my fathers pew near the pulpit
here l had sat on the Sabbath day ev-
since l was wee bit of a girl. But
Aever had ! heard anything from that
pulpit that burned into my soul like his
kgords. do not remember that he was
1cquent but what he said about the
eyiis OF slavery was stamped indelibly
upon my mind and left that church a
Changed being. l never saw him again
until | met him here in Washington. A
Quarter OF century had passed but the
picture he had given of the evils OF that
peculiar institution" was still vivid in
my mind and as trod the ground which
had so many times been bathed with
the slave mothers tears [ could not
wonder that American slavery had been
wiped out with blood.
THE GROWING INFAMY.
But alas, ] was not long in learning
I That another evil exists that excels In
harbarity even the old time slavery
Then the ground was made wet
with tears, now it is wet with blood
Then was beard the sweet, but mourn.
full plantation song mingled with
prayer; where now the very atmosphere
is made vile with curses.
Dye men and women of the North
you who rFlOice that what was known
as the peculiar institution" is no more
remember that there is a '0hastly insti-
n tuition" the legitimate offspring of sla
very, an institution 40 peculiar" how
ever that its parallel is to be found only
An Siberia. Go into the convict camps
IN the southern states Gfyou can get in
and hear the chains rattle, look at tn,
emaeiated forms OF men, women ans
chlfdTR6 in their striped rags. filth ant
covered with vermin; listen to the oath
and foul language from lips made t.
worship God.
o you women who talk so much abou
the ballot and women's rights remembe
your sisters Gin bonds as bound Wit
them"
CASE CITED.
think of that poor woman in Flor
da who was released a short time ag
after having been confined three month
in prison cell with eighteen men an
who is in consequence a physical WRECK
Think of the y oman whose body wa
handed over to the doctors in Atlant
not long ago who had died giving Dirt
to her fourth child, ali born in a conviS
camp, Think how convict women al
stripped naked and logged by me-
sometimes in the presence OF other mel
This is no fancy picture; these thiDl
and worse have been brought to ligl
again and again by the prison invest
eating committees in Georgia, Tenne
zee and other states where the convi
lease system has been adopted. Ye
look at all these things and much mo
such as arc found only where death al
hell reign supreme and then go hon
aud wet your pillow with tears as ha'
done.
REPORT OF COMMITTEES.
The prison investigating committee
Mississippi once declared that many
the cruelties and evils Of the lease sy
tenn are too shocking to put in print.
well informed editor sold, fThe bio,
of thousands upon thousands of done
death convicts cries to God from t
mining pits, railroad bitches, swan
and prison pens of the Sunny South. ."
Another editor equally well inform
said OF the convicts in his own sta
(Tennessee), Arkansas, Alabama a,
Mississippi; Che might have added FL
rida, Georgia. Kentucky and the Can
linas) that hidden out in swamps,
distant farms, down in dark, dar
mines and working on railroads uno
construction. hundreds of our fellow
ing sentenced to terms of imprisonme
at hard labor, are being pounded to
ly and to death, whipped until they 81
render their spirits, beaten into unrl
equitable shapes, their feet and ari
dropping OH az a result of gangre
brought on by exposure and negles
Think of this, all of you who tod
profess and call on Christ who was
pity and compassion and rememt
that you are more or less responsible