The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-10-13
HARD FATE OF A CONVICT,
FOR TWENTY LONG YEARS he WAS
UNDER GROUND.

Strange and AwEol Story of - Man Who
Was Sent 10 the Mines when He Was
Only Eleven Zcars Of Asc.
Ryder Hillard is the Rip Van Win
kle of Atlanta. just at present, says
the Journal. After spending twenty
two years of his life in prison,
eighteen Of which was spent under
ground, he bas cone forth into the
sunlight, q middle aged man with
everything to learn over aeain. His
is strange, wierd story. OF youthful
crime and painful penalty. In the
year 1878 be and three other boys
were caught in the act Of setting fire
to 8 store building and arrested by
the police. Billard was boy, OF 9
years then, and his companions were
all under Is. The plot had been form
ed for the older boys to fire the build
ing while Hilla&d was to assist IN
watching an alley. They paid him q
few cents to keep guard, but he was
not sharp enough to elude the vigi
lance of the police. They stole a
march On him, captured him before
he could give tie alarm, AID the
other three were caught red handed
in the act OF incendiacism.
The boys were all bound over to SUI
perior court and sent to jill. The
trials were put off from tiue to time
so that it was two years before they
were carried before court. On trial
they were all convicted and on sc,
count Of their extreme youth were
sent up for life. billiard was then
boy of II years OF age, small for his
age and SIS blsck as the see OF spades
He had been all his life q street walf
and there was nobody to take any
particular interest in his welfare. He
was sent to Babe coal mines along
with other prisoners, and on account
Of his dimin utive size. he was not put
to work in the mines, but was given
Jobs about the superintendent house
for two years. He did all sorts OF
chores, looked after his masters horse
and made himself quite useful. But
all that didn't save him from the In.
exorable enforcement of the law.
When Is years of age he was sent
down into the mines with his pick
and shovel and set to work with the
other life convicts. According to his
statement he never saw the sunlight
for Is long weary years. He was IS
much lost to sight as If he had been
encased in 8 coffin and buried instead
of clad IN the stripes and confirmed
in the bowels of the earth. At first
the boy had a hard time OF it. Being
so small the big, rough miners, all
under life sentences for various horrl.
bic crimes. treated him very badly.
But he kept up a cheerful heart, and
bore all their tyranny in such an un-
complaining manner that they became
attached to ''the kid" as he became
known.
Ryder says that twelve tors is the
regular task of miner, and if he IS
physically able to dig thai much he
must do so or whipping awaits him
at the end of the long gloomy day. II
he gets any more than the task he IS
promised pay at the rate OF s. a ton
extra for it. Ryder says he strove
hard to make MS task, and after he
reached the point where ne could get
out the regular task, he tried to make
something extrs, as be had no: lost
the desire for earning money. At
last one day he managed to take out
Is tons, and was paid 81 extra. But
that was the last time he received any
extra compensation. He found that
it was the rule that when convict
took out more than the regulation
task, his task was raised to that limit
without extra compensation, and as
he had taken out IL tons he was re
ouired to take out Is after that as long
as he remain in the mines.
Ryder says, in his broken lingo, that
the miners were forced to get up and
get their breakfast at 1 o'clock, and
then, since the mine has been extend.
ed so far they were made to march II
or Is miles along the tunnels and ram
ifcations of the mines, and by $50 or
6 o'clock they were hard at work, and
kept at il until z o'clock in the morn
ing. Morning and evening were only
relative terms to them, for it was al
ways dark, save where the htful glare
of the lanterns gliumered dimly alorg 6
those vast suoterranean passages.
They only knew that hight had come
by the order to knock off, and they
were only advised that another sur
was about to rise " pom the bright world
outside by the rough command to rise
from their couches and get their
breakfast. He says that sometimes in
his dreams at first, he would fancy
that he was again playing about the
streets and alleys Of Atlantis, but when
he would awake and feel the shackles
and open his eyes in the dark
cavern, he would lie there and cry un-
til it seemed sometimes as if his heart
would break.
But gradually his impressions of
Ifs in the open air became blurred
and indistinct, and be lost all count of
time. There was no winter nor sum
ner there, and it was about as hot one
time OF the year, and about as cold at
one season, as it wss at another. H
nally he grew to be stout, heavy built
young fellow, and could take out his
share of coal with as muc5 8 . as
any of the others. One oy one his
three companions died and passed out
of the circunscribed sphere of their
existence, and at last he felt himself
all alone in that dark dungeon. Some
times, he says, there would be cave,
in. If the obstruction was not too
bad the bosses would sat the ether
convicts at work resurrectlng the
bodies of their dead comrades. # the
cave-in wss bad one he says that
they would sometimes leave the bodies
where they lay entombed IN these
murky recesses.
Rlliard was such faithful worker