The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-11-06

lican coalition in county elections, many
Icounties, heretofore, Democratic, have
been placed under Fusion rule The
county commissioners and all officers
down to janitors of jails, as rule, have
been filled by hungry spoilsmen. Many
i of these officers were totally incompe-
tent to fill the places to which they had
been elected. Jails, chain-gangs and
poor houses under this administration
have been managed with frightful dis
lregard of decency and humanity Iimi-
| tation of space admits of only a few
illustrations in support of this asser-
ton. Testimony was adduced before an
Investigating committe for the commits
sioners of Rowan county in January
last and reported in the Charlotte OBJ
server, to the effect that the chain
gang force was treated inhumanly;
that "a physician was not sent for to
see very sick convict until a day be-
lfore he died. One witness testified that
Mr.. Mahaley, superintendent of the
force, cursed the prisoners very freely,
and told of several instances where
convicts had been severely flogged.
Lack of attention for the convicts
seems to be established by the evidence
of the Investigation.
Among other things it must not tc
overlooked that the Fusion Legislature
created new school committees for each
common school district. These commit
tees are manned by general mixture
of negro and white politicians, many or
them without decent education or de-
cent reputation. The fault here is not
SO much in he system as in tha inef-
ficiency of the men elected and their
offensive methods 1t is especially in
tOlerable to white women to have ne
gro men who can scarcely read, to SUI
pervise and sit in judgment on their
work Miss Mamie Livingston, a white
girl teacher of a school in Richmond
county, states under oath published in
the News and Observer of October 25th,
1899 that negro committeeman Dave
Monroe, visited her school in a state
of intoXication.
During the summer OF '97 the writer
visited number of county poorhouses,
and at one of them he found an i'll wo-
man lying upon hall floor without
even pillow to support her head. She
was almost nude A soiled garment
partially concealed her person. Not two
feet from her head, which was band
aged with dirty rag, was an odorous
| commode. Two male inmates sat at the
end of the hall near door and listened
to her means. One of them told the
writer that the superintendent spent
most of his time on the farm and paid
little attention to the inmates. He said
that on one OCCASION, the superintendent
becoming angered, struck the woman
just alluded to, in the face, causing the
blood to ooze from her mouth. He said
that the inmates were mostly fed upon
fat bacon and cabbage, beans and
soggy bread. | visited the dining room
and found samples of the fat meat and
bread on the bare table with a
large dish inverted as a covering The
food was fly blown and offensive alike
to the eye and to the nostril The mo-
llasses p t was literally swarming with
flies In some Of the rooms the legs of
the bedsteads rested in tomato cans half
full of water as a protection against
vermin. The floors, bed clothing and
windows were dirty beyond description.
In another poor-house to quote from
my note book was "a woman confined
in bed there for twenty years; a par
alytic, except head and arms; her limbs
badly drawn and rigid; cannot speak
nor understands; makes a moaning
noise; no net over bed or personal at
tention; the flies cover her body and
crawl in and out her nose and mouth"
| One reason for the neglectful manage
ment of jails and poor houses in some
counties, is that the last Legislature
deprived the physicians of the county of
a voice in the selection of the health
officer and vested his election in the
commissioners Incompetent commits
!. sioners have elected still more incom-
petent physicians to oversee the poor
houses and jails. The customary an
nual report of the State Board of Char
tiles, which gives a detailed account of
the condition of our penal and char
table institutions, and which has done
and is doing a noble work for reform
(this being the only department of the
public service which has not been made
to subserve partisan ends, no salaries
being attached to the offices) this re-
port, / say, for some mysterious reason
has been withheld from the public.
I hope it is not necessary to go into
any further details. Many people have
heard of the scandals of this admins
tration as they have from time to time
come to light, but have allowed them
to pass out of mind. Others have never
heard of them. Some lapse of time must
intervene before the people can come
to realize the general Incompetence and
grossnesS of the corruption which have
marked the last two years of our
States history. But, by and by, let us
Il hope there will be an awakening sense
of the reality of the situation, and
when the facts are all sifted down and
pondered over, we may rest assured
that there will rise up behind them the
| GlLlStGS III al lew Ileil, WuOSG lepTOuS
, touch has defiled the State and brought
this humiliation and disgrace upon the
people. BY and by they will have their
! reward and while worms perish upon
their poisonous clay, their names will
tester in the infamy of years.
/ appeal to every educator of North
Carolina and every messenger of the
gospel to aid in rescuing the State from
it's present degradation. OF what avail
are school houses, colleges, universities
and a christian ministry, if this admin
istration is an outcome of our civiliza-
ton?
l appeal to every Republican who is
not blind follower of party and who
values the integrity of his principles or
his own political future, to wash his
hands of this Fusion administration
I appeal to every Populist who has
any sincere desire for good government
to stand from under the leadership of
the men who have sold out the birth
right of their party for a mess of pot
tage, and by leaguing themselves with
tba 1iGrepnf n 11Ip alpynpr1t n IOnr