The age-herald., 1897-08-21
FOR HU MAN CREDENCE
Georgia COnViCtS Treated Worse Than
 Slaves Eyer Dared To Be.
THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER, BYRD,
In Daylight and at Night Visits the Death Pens and Reports to the Governor Details Startling in Their Nature
 Governor Talks.

Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 2O-Special Commits sioner Phil G. Byrd, who was appointed by Gov. Atkinson last spring to invasiri- gate the chaingang, municipal and coun- ty misdemeanor convict camps of the state, today filed his report at the gov ernor's office.
 Epitonized, the report is as follows:
 Robbing convlcts of their lime for good behavior.
 Forcing convicts to work from fourteen to twenty hours day
 Providing them no clothes, no shoes, no beds, no heat in winter.
 mer in which three score of convicts sleep in chains.
 Giving them rotten food.
 Allowing them to die when sick for lack of medical attention.
 
 Outraging the women.
 Beating to death old men zoo feeble to work.
 Suborning jurors and county officers, whose duty it is to avenge the wrong doing of guards.
 Cheating the state.
 The report gives names and dates and places. IL tells of. things which Col. Byrd saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. tt is the truthful account da ytime and at night when no one knew of his coming. It is a fagthful descr.p- tion of events of his own knowledge, which prove a condition of affairs so appalling that no one will read it with out a shudder.-l- .-. st
 Colonel Byrd visited fifty-one chain
  victs. These included twenty-five county camps, two municipal camps and twenty four chain gangs operated by private in- dividuals. The twenty-five county camps are located among the counties as fol- lows: Fulton, four Chatham, three; Bbb, two; and one each in Floyd, Bar tow, DeKalb, Glynn, Jefferson, Dough- erty, Muscogee, Spalding, Laurens, Burke, Green, Houston and Walker.
 The municipal camps are in Thomas vile, Thomas county, and Waycross, in Ware county The chain gangs operated by private individuals are distributed among the counties as follows: Jasper, three; Wilkes, two; Lowndes, two; Coffee, two, and one each in Oglethorpe, Clark, Morgan, Oconee, Erwin, Emanuel, Deca- tur, Washington, Franklin, Lee, Pulaski, Ware, Doty, Beluch and Putnam.
 The twenty-five county camps contain 1,167 convicts, of which three are white women, 101 are white males, seventy-five are colored females and 98S are colored males. The twenty-four chain gangs openatei by private individuals contain 59S convicts made up of one white fe- male, twenty-seven white males. twenty colored females and 570 colored males These figures refer to convicts over six teen years of age. There are about 100 under that age.
 Colonel Byrd says in conclusion:
 God only knows just how badly the convict camps of Georgia need syste- matizing and regulating. Surely there can be no general civilization where mans inhumanlty to man is so possible and so plainly in evidence Your ex- cellency should have the hearty cooper ation of all good citizens to make all misdemeanor convict camps of the state what the law has already said they should be-places of punishment for the law breakers whose. offense is of the milder grade of crime"
 Gov. Atkinson carefully read the re- port when it was presented to him and spent good time this morning in going over the detailed statements and figurest concerning individual camps which ac- companied the idocuhent. "s
 Tonight an Associated Press reporter asked him what he thought of it.
 It's just what I thought it. would ibe," he said I've seen some of this my self" sssfs tkit
 What action will you take?" was asked.
 q will send il. to the legislature with my message-as T have done sfor so long time thatit has got to be d sort of habit with me-" =
 "Do you expect that this legislature will take defnitz action on. and see that there is reform?''
 "I assuredly do I believe that this next legislature will take up the entire convict question and settle 1t for good and aii.'' et
 In that connection itsmay .be mem tioned that.t are only two more legis- latures that will meet in time to settle it. The twenty year convict lease ex- pires two years hence. ..s, ...,.