Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-08-26
WORSE THAN SIBERIA.
Americans Have No License to
Criticise Russia-
The Contract Convict Camps OF Georgia a
Foul blot Upon Our Civilization
Gov. Atkinson WIN Take Acc
tion In the Matter.

ST.. Louis. Aug. a1.-A special to tho
st. Louis Republic from Atlanta. Ga.
says:
The spe cia1 commission which Gov.
Atkinson appointed last spring to in
vestigate the condition of the convict
camps in Georgia made a report FRI
day which astounded not only the gov
ernor. but even those members of the
legislature who thought that such an
investigation was needed.
1t declares that the. convict camps OF
the state are worse than Siberia, and
its findings show condition so horri-
BILE, revolving and inhuman as to be
almost beyond belief.
1t deliberately charges that the con-
victs in the misdemeanor camps, most
of whom are leased by the state to pri-
vate contractors, have been handled
without mercy by their keepers. The
report accuses the contractors of rob-
bing the convicts of the time the state
allows to them for good behavior: of
forcing them to work from II to 30
hours day; of failing to provide them
with clothes, shoes and beds; of giving
them no heat in winter; of forcing
scores of them to sleep shackled in
single, boarded-up rooms; of giving
them rotted food, and of failing to care
for the sick.
Instances are quoted showing the
horrible treatment of women and exact
names, times and places are affixed to
a charge that men were actually beaten
to death by the brutal guards for fail
ing to comply with insignificant regu-
lations.
The report says that in most of the
camps the men are provided with but
one suit of convict clothes, which they
are compelled to wear the year round.
In the matter of food, it says that on
the return of the convicts from Is
hours continuous work they are given
chunks of raw beef and horse, which
they have to cook on little fires while
shackled together on the ground.
In the matter of buildings, the re-
port is no less severe. In the Glynh
county camp the commission found 81
men sleeping in room Is feet square
and seven feet from floor to ceiling.
with no window in it, and absolutely
no means of means of ventilating.
Most of the camps had neither hunks
nor mattresses. The convicts were
compelled to sleep on the ground. The
death rate in one camp was one in
four. In the others it averaged about
one in seven.
Men and women of both colors were
forced to sleep together in outhouses,
and women were compelled to don
mems clothes and work in the bitches
with the men.
The reports description of the treat
ment of women is unprintable. In one
camp the commission found 1G colored
men and white woman quartered in
a barn with cows, and with guano
store-room above them.
In the Pulaski county camp the
guards had beaten a convict to death
and buried him with his stripes and
shackles on. In another case the COM
mission tells of an 1S-year-old negresS
named Lizzie Boatwright, with an
other young woman, being stripped
naked in the presence of the men and
subjected to treatment that is indie
scribable. The exact language of the
report in another case is as follows:
1.-THE facts in the murder case aga inst
Guard Cannon as sworn to before the
commission are these:
Cannon whipped the aged negro q
number of times, and so numerically
that, almost unconscious and helpless,
the old man looked up from the ground,
where he lay, and asked: Boss, is you
gwine to kill me? Cannon angrily re-
piled: Yes, I am The negro
then begged to be shot and spared fur
Their tortures. After the last whipping
Cannon dragged him to tree and
chained him up so that he could not lie
down. Half an hour later, when the
gang got back, he was dead"
The report quotes in full the state
ment of DIR. John Hill, of Washington,
who performed an autopsy on the old
negro. It is q detailed statement,
showing that the man was beaten lit
orally to pulp before his tortured
soul left his torn and bleeding body.
In conclusion, the report says: God
only knows just how badly the convict
camps need reform"
Gov. Atkinson will report the matter
to the legislature at once with a red-hot
message. and there is no doubt that
prosecutions will follow. The report
SAYS that the contractors leasing con-
victs have grown rich during their 30
year lease, aud have built up tremen-
dous influence, but it is doubtful if this
will stand in the way of aroused public
sentiment