The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-13
MISERY IN THE COAL MINES.
THE GEORGIA HADEs SEEMS TO BE
As BLACK A. PAINTED.

Crooked Work in Substituting n Re-
port That Appeared in the journal
of the Lower House of the Georgia
LeEIsIature-Capt. Cox Makes an
Exhibition of Himself Before the
COnvicts in His Charge.
Atlanta, Ga. Feb. 12-To-day's testi-
Inony in the penitentiary invest igation was
largely cOrrobarative Of the sensational
accounts Of the treatment OF prisoners
given by the two convicts from the Dade
mines yesterday. It was expected that
the state would get through with the eN-
animation Of witnesses to-day. but at the
adjournment this afternoon the work was
still in progress. with Principal Physician
Bush Of the penitenuary department on
the stand. and there are still a number Of
important witnesses TO be brought for
ward to fasten the charges of gross mis-
mana cement and cruelty upon the lessees-
Several ex-convicts and guards, as well
as a number Of members Of the legisla-
ture, were examined to-day, and through
out the tenor Of their testimony was to
support the charges upon which the les
sees have been indicted.
One Of the sensational features of the
day was the statement Of Representative
Jones of Dougherty county upon the
stand. He was one Of the committee that
went to visit the Cole City camp during
the last session Of the legislature. He
was also on the committee that visited
the camp in 1894. and in reference to
the condition of the penitentiary as the
committee of the House found it that
year, he said, that Chairman Reagan OF
the penitentiary committee had written
a report condemning the lessees for their
management, which report was approved
by the committee, but, strange TO say,
this report never appeared in the journal
of the House, but in its stead another re-
port of a much milder tone in reference
10 the leSsees. Mr.. Reagan, the witness
said, repudiated this report, to which his
name had been signed, and when the
House met this session, that is, the FIRST
one, a special committee was appointed
10 make an investigation to see how il
came about that there had been a change
IN the reports as they appeared in the
House journal. He was chairman of this
special committee and undertook to clear
the matter up, but was never able to do
So The inference from the witness state
ment was that some one In the pay Of the
the House.
Another feature of the day was the tes-
timony Of M. G. Pursley, formerly guard
at the Cole City camp. After describing
the food and clothing, which he said was
scant, and the punishment melted out to
offending convicts, the witness was asked
as TO the character Of Capt. Ed Cox, the
superintendent of the camp, for sobrety.
Capt. Cox was present and assisting in
the defense, and the witness at first hest
lated TO answer. Finally. however, ne IL
Illustrated his opinion of the superintendent
by saying that one Sunday morning he
had all the convicts brought out in the
yard, and lined up. The captain then pro-
ceeded to harangue them about sticking
10 their work. He said he must have
coal. He told the conVicts that they must
not put TOO much trust IN their God, for ne
was a wooden God. T. said the captain,
lam your God, and 1t is me that you must
bow down to-"
ceeded to strip himself of his shirt and
turned his naked back to the line of con-
victs, so that they might see that he had
no moss on his back, as he exclaimed to
them. The attorneys for the lessees tried
10 muddle the witness on the cross exami-
nation, but he stuck to his story about
Capt Cox's conduct.
Ben Smith, young man living at Cole
City. who had been employed as a guard
at the camp, during the progress of his
examination as to the character of the
work to which the convicts are subjected
got down on the floor of the Senate, and
laying on his back showed the governor
and the lawyers how man is compelled
TO do when he digs coal in the
mines. While he was at work for the
company he had to take his own money
"a get sufficient food although they agreed
10 board him.
Senators Mccarthy and Shepperd gave
testimony in support of the charges as
TO improper food, Insufficient clothing and
generally bad treatment at the Cole City
camp and at Alexanderville. Senator
Harrison also testified on the same line.
Represent atlve wallace SAID that when he
visited the Cole City mines some of the
convicts complained to him that they did
not get enough to eat.
w. H. Roland of Atlanta, a former
guard at Cole City, said that he had seen
the cuenng punishment inflicted, the vic
tins lying for some time after it was
given as dead. He testified that many of
the convicts were naked to the waist
and few of them had shoes, while he
was satisfied that they did not get enough
meat to eat.
One Of the most interesting witnesses
was J. ]. Patterson, who served term
in the Cole City camp for making
mur1erous assault on his wife at Grant
Park on account of her relations with
Representative Dodgen of Milton. The
case was great sensation at the time
Patterson is a very intelligent man. He
was parGoned out by Gov. Atkinson some
time ago. He described the fiogging of
convicts ard said that he had seen the
lash oraW blood. The convicts were COM
PEELED TO sleep in the same clothes which
they wore during the day in the mines
Socks were given out about once q year.
pair to a man, and the clothes that were
distributed were generally ragged. He
had often heard men begging the guards
for food. For their. Sunday work the
men were paid in script, which could only
be used at the store of the company
When DR. Busch, the principal physi-
clan of the penitentiary, was called to the
stand, he presented his report to the gov
ernor to show that two of the camps at
Cole City, as well as other camps, have
no hospitals, among them the Heardmont
camp, where the women convicts are all
confined Upon his first trip to Cole City
he issued an order directing Capt. Cox
to stop the, "ducking" process of punish
ment, which, he said, he considered cruel
and dangerous. At the Barlow camp,
Dr. Busch said, he found five or six sick
men being worked, and he ordered them
stopped and at the Worth county camp,
he had ordered half dozen men to be
kept in the stockade because they did not
have proper clothing to go out to work. At
some of the camps, whites and blacks
sleep in the same building. DR.. Busch
thought that the conVicts got enough TO
eat, such as it was, at Cole City; but at
Kramer and Alexandersville the food
is bad. At Maxwell, the men are COM
PEELED to work knee deep in water some
times, while the building in which they
are housed is nothing more than cattle
shed without floor and in a swampy dis
trict.