The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10
BURIED TWENTY YEARS.
.-op 1s YEARS RYDER H1LLIARD
.rvER SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY.


same of His Experiences While
,,a.,ing Coal Related-The story of
ais SuMerings.
From the Atlanta Journal
py5zr billiard is the Rip Van Wrinkle
- Atlanta Just at present. After spend
,rg twenty-five years of his life in pris-
on eghteen of which were spent under
IND he has come forth into the sun
MOTT middle-aged man, with everything
e. learn over again.
His is a strange, weird story Of youthful
crime and painful penalty. In the year
7S72 he and three other boys were caught
IN the act of setting fire to store build
Inc and arrested by the police.
4Iu.iard was a boy of nine years then,
md his companions were all under 15
The blot had been formed for the older
b3vs TO fire the building, while billiard
was to assist in watching an alley.
Tbey paid him a few cents to keep
Guard. but he was not sharp enough to
elude the vigilance of the police. They
stole a march on him, captured him be-
fore he could give the alarm, and the
other three were caught red-handed in the
act Of incendiarism.
The boys were all bound over to supe-
ror court and sent to jail. The trials
were put off from time to time, SO that
It was two years before they were car
ried before court.
On trial they were all convicted, and,
on account of their extreme youth, were
sent up for life. billiard was then boy
of eleven years of age, small for his age
and as black as the ace of spades.
He had been all his life a street waif and
there was nobody to take any particular
interest in his welfare. He was sent to
the Dade coal mines, along with other
prisoners and on account of his dlmlnu-
tive size, he was not put to work in the
mines, but was given jobs about the su-
periulendents 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 tnexorable 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
sunlight for eighteen long weary years.
He was as much lost to sight as if he had
of clad in the stripes and confined 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 horrible
crimes, treated him very badly. But he
kept up a cheerful heart, and bore all
their tyranny in such an accomplishing
manner that they became attached to 1.-The
kid as he became known.
Under ground in those mines the con-
victs have q language all their own. 1t
Is a strange and uncouth gibberish and is
uninteligible to an outsider who is unac-
customed to it.
1t was this outlandish tongue that was
taught the little negro, while his more
fortunate companions back in the city
were attending the public schools.
Ryder says that tWeive tons is the reg
ular task of MINER and if he is phys
ically able to dig that much he must do
so or a whipping awaits him at the end of
the long gloomy day. If he gets any
more than the task he is promised pay at
the rate of 81 a ton extra for it.
Ryder says he strove hard to make his
task and after he reached the point where
he could get out the regular task, he tried
to make something extra, as he had not
lost the desire for earning money.
At last, one day, he managed to take
out thirteen tons, and was paid a dollar
ceived any extra compensation. He found
that it was the rule than when a convict
took out more than the regulation task
his task was raised to that limit without
extra compensation, and if he had taken
out thirteen tons he was required to take
out thirteen every day after that as long
as he remained in the mines
Ryder says in his broken lingo, that the
miners were forced to get up and get their
breakfast at O'Clock and then, since the
mines have been extended so far they
were made to march twelve or thirteen
miles along the tunnels and qualifications
of the mines, and by $50 or o'clock, they
We're hard at work and kept at it until 7
o'clock in the morning.
Morning and evening were only relative
terms to them, for it was always dark, save
where the fitful flare of the lanterns glim-
mered dimly along those vast subterra-
mean passages.
They only knew that night had come by
the order to knock off, and they were only
advised that another sun was about to
rise upon the bright world outside by the
rough command to rise from their hard
couches and get their breakfast.
lie says that sometimes, in his dreams,
at first, he would fancy that he was again
playing about the streets and alleys of
Atlanta, but when he would awake and
feel the shackles and open his eyes in
cry until it seemed sometimes as if his
heart would break
But gradually his impressions of life in
the open air became blurred and indis-
tnct, and he lost all count of time. There
was no winter nor summer there, and it
was about at hot one time Of the year,
ana about as cold at one season as it was
at another.
Finally he grew to be a stout, heavy
quit young fellow, and could take out
ms share of coal with as much ease as
any Of the others. One by one his three
companions died and passed out of the
cfcumscribed sphere of their existence,
tud at last he felt himself all alone in
mat dark dungeon.
sometimes, he says. there would be a
VaVe-ln If the obstruction was not too
pad the bosses would set the other con-
ncts at work resurrecUng the bodies of
Helr dead comrades If the cave-in was
u pad one he says that they would some
'unes leave the bodies where they lay
Sulomped in those murky recesses
hAilard was such a faithful worker and
eve such little trouble that finally he
was commended to Gov. Atkinson as a
Nv SUBJECT for executive clemency, and his
p3iuon was signed and forwarded to the
Superintendent