The age-herald., 1898-10-26

meander among the woods and fences
 mile or two away. The master sounds his l horn lustily, the dogs rush franticaly here l and there, the track is found and off the whole pack springs in full cry. The run | ming dummy has circled round and round. 1 and crossed his own tracks, but there is | no fault in MT. Smiths training. The dogs go true and in perhaps two hours of earn | est run they tree the dummy. He hghts | them from his perch with poles or what not l to aggravate their temper. The master | finally winds his horn, the pack withdraws | and the chase is over. Nevertheless the 1 report of the board of inspectors, just is- 1 sued gives "escapes' for two years, last l past, at s7, and "recaptures'' only three That record is for the entire system, the mines, farms and contractors camps In various places.
 The prisoners at Speigners are divided for housing and work into several classes The women are separated some 200 yards perhaps, from the men and boys. The wo- men are separated by race. the whites, about seven in number have a separate building for dormitory and a separate table. I think no white women do field work, but most of the negro women are now picking cotton in squad to them selves. I saw them at work. all neatv clad, all wearing white bonnets well laundered. I was taken by the polite as sstant warden, MT. Jones. through the various arrangements for the home em- ployment of the women. In one room there Is cutting table where the garments are fashioned and there are numerous sewing machines to make up the clothing for al the prisoners. The women, white and black. work there under a white matron on a salary. Tn the same enclosure there | is laundry where half a dozen or more negro women wash and iron for all the prisoners and for the guards and officers. | The head wash-woman there Is Fanny | Bryant. familiarly known as the "Hawse woman" by reason of her connection wfh | the awful tragedy of the murder of Mrs | Hawse and children at Birmineham. Far nv is accomplished in her line of work. and | the officers linen is well laundered by her | She is in for life. and when l saw her was l in good spirits. There I saw an old black negro woman who had already served | twenty-four years of 2 life sente'ce She 1 does nothing in the way of work fhe | houses are whitewashed and the high fence | Is white. The white sand yard Is firm and l swept and drained. Never did negro wo- men live more decenty.
 The enclosure where the men and Dovs are kept when not at work is guarded bN l day by a Confederate veteran from Bullock county who came out of the battle or treo- ericksburg minus one leg. Governor John- | ston found him guard at the capitol. when | he himself entered office and transferred him to his present post as one better suited | to his condition. The convict men and l hoys here have separate houses to sleep n. l The bathing facilities are complete. There | is a new brick hospital for consumptlVes. thoroughly lighted and the walls very thick. All the arrangements for health and com fort for men, well or sick, are cleanly and otherwise exceedingly practicable and hu- mane.
 It is quite remarkable that so many "trusties" appear on this prison farm, but
 the explaantion is in the good fare, invit-
 ing beds and humane treatment they re- ceiye not to omit the knowledge that all
 have of the thorough training or MT.
 Smiths twenty-four hounds. Be that as II
 may, if one closes his eyes to the Zebra
 like uniform all around him, and loses sight
 of the firearms of tn white guards in the fields, he must stand ready to congratulate
 the negroes outside upon the readiness of
 the state to make useful and worthy men 1
 and women of them. The late Dr. Peter Bryce, standard authority, wrote in 1888,
 that the proposed system now being exc
 cuted at Speigners by the state is perfect
 penology."
 The annual death rate of the state con
 victs in Governor Oates term of two yeaas
 was All per 1000. In the brst term sof
 Governor Johnston the annual death rate
 has fallen to 27.45 per 1000, the lowest or
 record. This applies to the mines and the
 state prisoners everywhere.
 The death rate in the county convicts
 controlled by the state was 44.91 per 1000
 under Governor Oates and is fallen to o6.lS
 urder Governor Johnston.
 The distribution of state convicts is as
 follows, towit: Tennessee Coal, Iron and
 Railroad company, at Pratt mines, 1N;
 Sloss company, at Coalburg, 224; Speigners
 26U; Tallapoosa river farm, 43; Wetumpka
 walls "a kind of hospital, 209. Lime works,
 lumber companies and farmers have the
 balance. There are 7S6 county convicts,
 mostly in the mines above mentioned, and
 ,..ere is grevious complaint of the low con-
 dition in which these convicts arrive from
 county jails
 The Alabama penitentiary is out of debt
 The disbursements on account of the peni-
 tentiary for the two years of Governor
 Oates term were, l73,03325, and for the
 two years of Governor Johnston they are
 $12S, ,2SS.55.
 The cash balance on accont of the peni-
 tentiary now in the state treasury is s82-
 619.39. Besides this, there is $25,000 of fac
 tory goods on hand, left over from last
 years manufactured cotton, also about 50o
 bales of cotton of this years crop. The
 whole available cash, textiles and cotton in
 bales, is probably $1360O0, as textiles and cotton now sell.
 Governor Oates built the factory and put in the machinery, in part or in whole, at an outlay of $7S,347. It is a very complete and valuable property.
 JOHN WITHERSPOON DUBOSE