The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-19
cox DENIES EVERY CHARGE.
HE EXPLAINS THAT HE WAS HIM
SELF ONCE A CONVICT.

state Capitol Eighteen Ncnrs Ago.
He Claims the Convicts Are Given
Plenty TO Eat and Wear-Smith OF
Savannah Looked Upon as "a HypO-
crite by the Observation-Disclosures
ing Declared Not Cruel.
Atlanta, Ga. Feb. 1S-Capt Ed. Cox, SUI
perintendent of the Dade county mines. tho
man who is accused of being the instru-
ment Of most of the cruelty to which the
convicts leased 10 company No. ! are al
legged TO have been subjected. was the
chief witness in the penitentary invesu-
cation. which was resumed to-day. No
session of the high court was held yester-
day, on account of the absence from the
city of Attorney General Terrell
Some eighteen years or more ago Capt.
Cox shot and killed Robert Aston. one Of
the best known men in this part Of the
state. The killing occurred in the old
state capitol, and at the time created
great sensation. Cox and Aston had had
a quarrel. and both went off and armed
themselves. When they met later In the
treasury department. they began shooting
at each other. Alston emptied his pistol
at Cox one Of his shots fetching him TO
the floor. badly wounded. Cox had an
other ball in his weapon, however, and
as he went down. sent il through his an
tagOnists head. After most sensational
trial Cox was sent to the penitentiary and
served five years. The camp TO which he
was assigned was that over which he Is
now superintendent, some of the men who
are now under his control, and upon
whom he Is accused of having practiced
most harsh and cruel treatment, being his
fellow convicts at the time he himself wore
the stripes
When called to the stand this afternoon.
Capt. Cox was visibly agitated, and at the
outset, frequently used his handkerchief
to hide his emotion. After few prelimi-
naries, when Attorney Burton smith, for
the defense, asked him if IL was true that
he was harsh or cruel in his treatment OF
the cOnvicts under him, he rose dramatic
ally, aud turning toward Gov, Atkinson
his voice shaking with emotion, he re-
lied: Your eNcollency, have been CON
vict myself: l have the kindest feelings
Have YOU ever delighted In the prac-
tice Of cruelty toward these men?' he was
asked.
In the same dramatic way, raising both
hands above. he exclaimed. Never, so
help me God, your eXceleney."
Capt. Cox was kept on the stand for two
hours, testifying in reply to the many ac-
cusations of ill-treatment and mismanage-
ment at the Cole City camp. He said that
he gave the ConVicts plenty to eat and
plenty to wear, and although compelled to
keep them under his control many Of
| them being most depraved criminals, he
/ was always cOnsiderate of them, never re-
sorting to the lash until arguments and
| persuasion had failed. The free laborers
/ at the works are not fed and clothed as
/ well as the convcts He described the
| feeding and clothing in detail.
! One of the witnesses for the state last
! ping himself one Sunday before the as
! sembled convicts, to show that there was
no moss" on his back this being in
tended to convince them that he was not a
man TO be fooled with
The same witness described how the
| captain had read a little sermon to the
/ men, telling them that they must not
put so much faith in their God (the Deity.
as he was a wooden god, but that he (Cox)
was their God and they must bow down
| to him.
! In answering this Capt Cox said that he
! had been run over by an engine al the
| camp and badly hurt, but nevertheless
! kept on working. He was trying to inn
| press upon the conVcts that they must
| work also, and as an object lesson, show
| ca them his wound. He denied having
! told them that their God was a wooden
God and that he was their God and said
| that Perseley the witness who had told
| the story on the stand, was not present
| when the incident took place To show
| that he was a Christian and believed in
| God, the witness stated that at one time
| when he requested some of the prisoners
| to sing some hymns for him, one Of them
| asked If he might pray for him also; he
| SAID he was perfectly willing. The con-
| Wet made the prayer and when he was
through, Capt. Cox thanked him for 1t.
| Capt Cox gave very interesting ac-
| count of Ben f. Smith. the Savannah man
! sent up for embezzlement, who was one
| of the principal witnesses for the state
| last week, and whose pardon was granted
| was present in the court room during this
part of of the the testimony, ,rigged
/ izen's clothing he has had for sew
eral years. The witness thought Smith
| was a consummate hypocrte and said thar
| he could never be made to believe that he
| was straight Smith, he said had profess
ed religion and enjoyed many privileges
| IN consequence of his professed reforma-
! ton; This caused him to get the "big
! head so to speak, and the witness said
| that was the cause of all the trouble with
! him. While Smith was claiming to be a
saint he discovered that he was in cor
respOndence with a married woman in
Texas under the assumed name of r. T.
| Clark. The epistles, which fell into the
hands OF the witness, were of very low
ing character, and when confronted with
them, Smith admitted TO him that he had
been on too friendly terms with his Texas
correspondent before coming to the PEN
itentiary. Smith being man of family
the witness said the discovery Of this
condition Of affairs settled his character
with him and he at once sent him to the
mines. The ex-cOnvicts enmity towards
him was due to these circumstances
In describing the 'duCking' method of
punishment, Capt. Cox said that he first
conceived the idea Of using it upon his
own son, who was rather incorrigible.
The punishment, he believed, to be more
human than hOgging. Some time ago an
effort was made to have him indicted for
| it by the Dade county grand jury, and
camp, and to satisfy them, he adminis-
tered both the water treatment and the
strap TO two prisoners, who We're about
to be punished. The result was that
there was no Indictment. As to the strap
the witness said that he had never broken
the skin on any mans back, and denied
also the testimony Of the states witness
Smith that he had given the water pun
ishment TO two men until they bled at the
nose and mouth.
In order to be prepared to prove the
harmlessness of the water punishment
Capt. Cox last night administered it to
negro in this city in the presence of two
physicians, who were introduced to-day
and stated that they did not consider it
dangerous or severe. The negro will be
put up tomorrow.
number Of other witnesses were ex-
amined to-day, all giving a pleasing ac-
count Of the treatment Of convicts at the
Dade mines. One of these, Lyman Mar
tin, store keeper for the company, was
so excessive in his praise of the condi-
tions at Cole City that Attorney Ham
mond. for the state, asked him IL there
was anything in connection with the
camps that would make them undeslra-
bic as summer resorts for private citi-
zens.
A dangerous looking dynamite cartridge
al.