The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-10-14
LIVED AS A MOLE
PITIABLE STORY OF 4 CONVICT
MINER in GEORGIA.

uOkSHO0oos tu0 AOSOIut0 CsSWO Va
Mining Boss. Having No knowledge o
the WOrid Of People and tho Universe o
Sunlight Above Him Curious Expert
ence of a Modern Rip Van Wrinkle
| Whose Eyes Were Open, But His Sens Q
Shut
| New York, Oct 13.-The Herald says
Think of child Of nine years Of ag
being sentenced to the penitentiary 70
life. Think then Of that child, when bu
| four years older, being released infinite
| Iy as a laborer Of the boss of a coal mine
| into which ne descends, as to a living
tomb, there to toll and noiI, to sleep the
few hours allowed for rest, and eat tn.
niggard ration dealt out day by day
and never again to breathe the pure
air above or see the glad sunlight unit
eighteen long years had elapsed.
quite possible in Russia, or in the
dark ages" you say.
What would you answer If told that il
had occurred in the land Of the Stars
and Stripes, in the enlightened State OF
Georgia, and uring these very closing
decades Of the illumined nineteenth cen.
fury?
II is a weird experience that Ryder
Hilliard has had. Its recital is a crush
ing Indictment OF barbara convict sys-
tenn Of the government which has dis
posed Of mis- body as though he were a
chattel The fact that billiards skin i.
black will not lessen the readers indig-
nation on realizing that such condi-
ton OF affairs should exist in any por-
ton Of this land of liberty.
Listen 10 the painful story Of this lat
ter day Rip Van Wrinkle, and blush for
the Empire State Of the South.
Atlanta, Ca, Saturday.
Those who have laughed and cried by
turns at the genius Of Joe Jefferson
portraying the character Of a man who
had been asleep for twenty years will
read with astonishment Of the discovery
OF a real Rip Van Wrinkle. He is not SO
picturesque as the Rip Van Wrinkle of
the stage and MS surroundings lack
some Of the romance of Irvings genial
hero, but the reality Of his weird ex-
perience more than make up for what
is lacking in the comparison.
The name of the real Rip is Ryder
Hilliard, and he is stoop shouldered.
dim eyed, tremulous voiced old man-oc
thirty-one At an age when most men
boast of their youth and vigor and pros
poets. Hilliard has little OF any one OF
the three among the few assets that
are left to him. OF mis- thirty-one years.
eighteen have been blotted out by the
strong arm Of the law, and he is today
really child OF fifteen so far as every
thing except the mere matter OF BIRTH
days is concerned. II is literally true
TO say that ne disappeared from off tho
face of the earth eighteen years ago, and
has reappeared this week without in the
coming in contact with civilized human
ity.
Not the least remarkabel fact about
him-and his whole career is remark
able-is that he is still alive. When he
was a boy nine years old Atlanta had
not yet recovered from the torch applied
to it by General Sherman, and was more
of a village than a city. His parents
were grocers in the negro settlement,
and ne ran in the streets with other
youngsters Of mis- race. One day it &C.
Cured to him and his companions TO
burn down an opposing grocery shop in
order to help his fathers business, and
they set fire 10 the building without
thought of the consequences.
4 NE-YEAR-OLD CRIMINAL.
They were caught red handede in their
crime, carried in 10 court, convicted and
sentenced to life imprisonment. The bar
barous convict system OF the State, then.
as now, led 10 their sale into the slavery
Of the coal mines. and Hiiliard was ship
ped up into Dade county TO become the
associate of hardened criminals several
times his age The little waif. black as
the ace Of spades, was too diminutive to
be put TO work in the mines, and was
employed in doing chores and running
errand aoout the superintendent house
huring the first four years OF his incar-
ceration.
The horrors OF life in Georgia con-
vict camp have been told in the Herald
so frequently that its readers are famil-
lar with the general treatment which ex-
lists unchecked by the state. Few. even
in Georgia, however, appreciate the &C
tual condition OF affairs. and il is not
likely that the truth will ever be fully
known Il is a system OF slavery a
thousand times worse than that which
existed before the war, because the vic
tins are not only owned body and soul
by the mine Bosses but are compelled TO
do work OF character that would kill
one OF the old time soaves before he had
been employed six months.
The first four years of young Hilliari's
convict experiences, as he remembers
them now, were pleasant ones. He was
the youngest member o. the chain gang,
and was made a pet OF the guards and
the women prisoners, who worked above
ground. But there came an evil day
old and strong evugh TO mine coal.
and on tina: day ne was put into
bucket and lowered a mile INFO the earth
He was rather proud OF his promotion
al first and il never occurred 70 MIN %
take a last look a. the sunshine and the
green trees and clouds above his head.
He did not know that it would De eign-
teen years before his woody locks. pre-
maturely tingei with gray, would once
more emerge from the hole in The groun3
in which ne mad been cast.
BLINDNESS FOLLOWS PARDON.
But that = exactly what happened.
On Monday OF this week the boy who
went into the mine in 1879 was brought
ont again by virtue OF pardon issued
by Governor Atkinson. and he came 10
Atlanta on a ticket furnished him by
the mine boss and in a new suit OF
clothes purchased for him by the state.
Made half blind by the sudden glare oc