The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-18
THE MORNING NEWS: TUESDAY, JUNE Is, 1895

little.
The witness thought Harris was about
II years OF age. and strong enough for
his age" He only saw Harris on the canal
Thursday and Friday.
81 wouldn't want no better men TO work
under as long as 1 am there than Mr..
Davis and the captain. said Campbell
Rad Fisher, cOlorCl. an eX-convlct, said
he was out on the gang when Harris was
brought out He was taken on the farm
June and put on the canal the next day
Harris was put in the canal picking
roots with a matlock," Fisher said He
seemed 10 be unable 10 DO that.
and Mr. Davis called him out
and whipped him. Campbell and
. Washington carried him up on
7 the bank for the guard. He got
four whippings between morning
. and noon. What became of him afterwards
don't know as my time was up at noon.
] Harris WAS laying down on the ground
at camp when / left He did not eat any
] dinner. / should say he got about . or 30
/ lcks. They hardly ever strike any less.
Ills clothes were taken down twice. can't
say whether his clothes were down the
other two times as / was not near enough
: 10 him 10 say"
Fisher said he served 1Oi days for gamb-
ling The guard said he whipped Harris
because he wouldn't work. Harris was
lying down in the mud. Fisher asked him
/ why he did not work and he said he was
unable. The guard told Fisher TO bring
I Harris up on the bank and he put him IN
the wheelbarrOw and rolled him up He
lay there until about % minutes to noon.
Did you hear him tell the guard he was
sick?"
yes. sir; / heard him say so the first
time he was whipped and afterwards when
he was whipped again. The guard came
up to him when he was lying on the bank,
and told him he must either pick roots or
throw water"
In answer to a question from one Of
the jurors, Fisher said: Those men are
afraid to come in here and make any
other statement. If l was on the gang /
would not come in here and tell the truth
If it was against the guards. l would be
afraid to do it. If wou don't believe those
men are whipped as l tell you, go out
to the gang and get them in line and
make them take off their clothes There
aRe some there with no skin at all on
their backs"
The witness said that he noticed sew
eral times that Harris did not take his
meals and did not seem 20 care for them.
How often did they whip your
Il got along very well. l was not
whipped until a short while before left.
l was ''trusty' until 1 had a difference
with the cook and was whipped and put
back on the gang. 1 was whipped often
after that 1 got used to 1t, though"
Prince O'Neill gave pretty much the same
testimony as the other convicts. Harris,
he said, did not refuse to go with the
gang from the stockade and made no
complaint of being sick. Guard Davis
asked him whether he would throw water
or pick up roots and Harris wouldn't 90
either. After he wouldn't go to work he
was called up on the bank and given ten
or twelve cuts over his clothes. He never
told the guard he was sick.
O'Neill declined to say why he was sent
NaA i.
months, he said. He was sent up for two
years.
In answer to a question he said that
Harris was not carried up the bank by
two other conVicts, as stated by Red Fish,
er, but walked up a plank to the canal
bank, where the guard was.
The jury seemed inclined to discredit
O'Neils testimony. one juror declared
that the witnesses were being drilled out
side.
Willie Campbell was recalled and swore
that he did not help carry Harris out OF
the canal to be whipped. and did not hold
him. Harris walked up the bank, he saiG
and not on the plank, as testified by
O'Neill.
A recess was taken at o clock of an hour
for dinner Superintendent r. r. Wimber-
ley of the poor farm was put on the stand
after dinner He said; Monday, June g."
he said. Harris came to the poor farm /
the afternoon. Maj. Blandford came ont
and paid off and asked me to relieve Mr..
Hillman, the guard. went to the farm and
took Mr.. Hillmans gun and when he re-
turned / called his attention to Harris and
told him that he was a tough case and that
! was afraid he would have trouble with
him. l had had him there before and it
was a hard matter to get any work out of
him. Before / left Mr.. Hillman hit Harris
six or eight ticks The next day Mr.. Hill
man sent for me, and told me that Harris
refused to work, and had tried to jerk his
gun from him and had struck at one of the
prisoners with his hoe. Harris was then
lying out in the field, perhaps 100 feet away.
l asked Hillman If he had whipped him. He
said he had and he thought sufficiently TO
make him work. 1t was then near the din
ner hour and l took the gang to dinner
Harris walked along all right. At dinner
he refused to eat. That afternoon he did no
work. At night when the gang fell in
to go to camp Harris refused to walk /
knew it would make us late getting to the
camp and l had a mule hitched to a cart
and hauled him TO the camp. When l told
Harris to get in the cart, he got up, walked
straightway to it, and got in. At the
camp he got out of the cart and went
into the building. That night I wrote to
Maj. Blandford, telling him what had
taken place; that Harris was obstinate
and unruly and had refused to work
also asked him what to do with Harris
The next morning Harris came out. In
the morning he thinned little corn and
worked very little. At noon while the
gang was at dinner, he refused to eat
| anything. I asked him if he was sick He
said his stomach hurt him. l asked him
/ if he would eat a little biscuit and butter
or anything that he wanted and didn't let
him go out that afternoon locking him in
an out house. He staid there until / got
/ a letter from Maj Blandford to turn him
] over to Acting Captain Davis. l carried
! Harris down to the canal but Capt Davis
| asked me TO carry him to the camp as
| it was too late for him to be OF much
/ service l had nothing more to do with
| him after that. l examined Harris on
| Thursday and found no abrasions of the
skin except cut over the eye, where Mr..
| Hillman told me he had struck him with
| the handle of the strap. 1 knew that Har-
ris had been whipped more than was GUS
| tomary. That was why l examined hin.
Harris was at the farm on short SEN
tenee once before and gave the guards n
| good deal of trouble. That was over a
year ago. Supt. Wimberly whipped him
himself then.
Mr.. Wimberly said that ten or twelve