The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-21
FATE OF THE STATES FEL0NS.
THE TESTIMONY As TO THEIR
TREATMENT CONFLICTING.

TREATMENT CONFLICTING.
The Investigation Apt TO BE brought
TO n Close TO-mOrFOw-TwO Of the
Companies Not 10 Introduce Any
yxftnesses-A Letter Introduced In
tended 10 Impeach Capt. CON's At
tack on Convict Frank smith of
savannah.
Atlanta. Ca, Feb. 2o-The end Of the
convict Investigation is now IN sight. Az
ter devoting two whole weeks to il. ii
seems that by crowding things a little II
will be finished Saturday.
Company No. / completed the eXamina-
ton of its Witnesses to-day
Company No. announced that no wit
nesses would be introduced for their de-
Tense. but they would rely mainly upon
the testimony Of the witnesses, especially
introduced in defense of Company No. ].
Company No. also relies on the wit
nesses summoned by Company No. ].
This afternoon the state began the ex-
animation OF witnesses in rebuttal and
will conclude on this line some time to-
morrow morning. The defense will put
up other witnesses in sur-rebuttal, but
1t is thought that all these can be ex-
amined during the day, which will leave
Saturday for the arguments.
A. B. Steele. a stockholder OF Camp No.
2 was the first witness upon the stand
this morning. He testified that at his
camps the convicts were well fed, clothed
and cared for
Where did your men come from when
they came to your camp, Mr.. Steeiey''
asked Col Hammond. looking over his
spectacles.
THE Chattahoochee camp"
Il notice you furnished them new suits
before you took them away. Why was
that?''
well. convicts just like to have new
clothes when they leave home.
"Oh, they were going traveling?'
Yes, sir, we had special car for them,
and they Travelled in style
WAS il a Pullman carp
1T was not of the latest agony Of Pull
mans, but one of those Pullmans con-
]. c. Hallman. an Atlanta merchant.
testified that he sold groceries to convict
camps. His instructions from Mr.. Low,
president of Company No. 2, were TO al
ways furnish the best of everything. He
said that the meal supplied TO Mr.. Low S
company cost cents a bushel more than
Capt. Satterlee. the whipping boss at
the Steele camp, said he had the Convicts
comfortably housed and amply fed and
have as many as two or three pairs of
pants on at one time When / found this
out i would make them take them of.
A. l. Conyers, the whipping boss at AL
exander, testified the same of that camp.
He said that the groceries bought for
the convicts were of good quality. He
identified samples of meal as the same
as used in his camp. one was sifted, and
the other was not. AS to whipping, he
said S. ID. Johnson, convict, had fits
one day in the woods. He was marched
into camp at night with the gang. A few
days later Conyers gave the negro
whipping because 1.-The doctor thought a
few lashes would help him a little"
J. =. Low, in charge of the commissary
department at Alexander testified that
all the supplies furnished the convicts
were good.
Or. John Nelms. principal keeper of
the penitentiary from Jan. IS, 1876, to
July Is, 1885, testified that early in his
administration w. b. Low told him that
he thought it would be advisable to
change the penitentiary regulations, rails
ing the allowance of meat from one-half
to three-fourths of a pound daily. There
would have been trouble said DR.. helms,
If the lessees had not fulfilled their OBJ
legations while he was principal keeper;
He had always found them ready and
willing to obey any orders given them.
Judge Turner. the present principal
keeper was recalled by Capt. w. ID. Ellis,
attorney for company No. l, to prove that
ex-Convict Frank Smith confessed that
he had no knowledge of the facts mention
ed in the letter written by him, and Col.
Capt Cox to the governor stating that
Frank Smith was of exemplary character
and that Capt. Cox would be glad to have
the governor pardon him. This was de-
signed to impeach Capt. Cox's testimony
In so far as it gave Smith a bad charac-
ter.
J. w. Thomas, an ex-guard at Smith
sonia, had seen prisoners laid over bar
rel and whipped and ne had seen them
''bucked" and whipped. He thought the
whipping was very inhuman, as men
were whipped for not working fast enough.
He had been in Coalburg. Ala, where
man was never whipped on his naked skin
unless a county commissioner was pres
ent. At Smithsonia he had often seen
the whipping boss come UP and whip a
whole gang. The gang would Of
ten be waiting ready to be
whipped early in the morning when
they came out to the stockade. The wit
ness then related some horrible acts OF
brutality he had seen practiced on the
convictS, which are unfit for the public
prints. When asked if the conVictS were
well fed'at Smithsonia, he said they got
q plenty to eat, especially in potato time.
When the witness was asked if he had
not been discharged he replied in the
affirmative. He was asked if he was not
drunk when he saw all the men whipped
in such brutal manner, but he denied
it. There We're so many squads whipped
that he could not recall the names of the
guards. 1t was a common sight to see
squads being whipped.