The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-19

was eight years old. showed the
arm to Mr.. Summerel, but he dithl
seem to- think it ought to bother me.
and each time he came into the field
he would say i was not doing enough.
Ibid SaImmerell ever whip anybody
besides you?
I've known him to whip thirty in an
hour"
How is it here under Mr.. Reinhardt?'
to himy'
Not at all"
"How is it here under Mr.. Summer
eH?'
THE best place | was ever at. We
are treated we'll and have plenty to
eat.
do YOU work as hard as at other
farInE?"
II think we do"
Witness said he was at Northamp-
ton farm when the prisoners We're
brought there from Castle Hayne. They
were weak, sicRly AMEN. hut their hands
and feet were not frost bitten. That
happened, he said. on the Northampton
falms Richardson had his hands frozen
amid others had their feet frozen. Gabe
Elliott was frozen sO-that he died.
His fingers looked like they had been
pat in the fire and baked. ! saw him in
the hospital and talked with him. lie
said me didn't think he'd ever get over
it. We We're afraid to talk much,
rGtough-afraid Mr. Stmmere!l would
hear MS"
did You see Joe Macon whipped?"
YES, once, with n strap. He said he
also got 200 flashes lust before we got
there
"How often did sunmerell whip CON
victs?"
Someone almost every day"
WHIPPED "RHEM'S BULLIES."
Sim Moore. n Bladen county negro, is
another convict who worked under Sum
merel. Though Summercll had never
whipped Sim, he had no good word to
say for the supervisor
Sim was sent mp for ten years insIS92,
for killing negto named Scot Bowen
with stick. He seems to be a very in
telligent negro, and says he was never in
court except to answer the charge of
which he was convicted.
During his seven years stay in the pen
itentiary he has served under several
Summerel to have been by long odds the
toughest.
Il didn't get beat, but / had to work
mighty hard to keep from it. I've seen
him whip men until the skin was broken.
blood ran down their legs and their
clothes stuck to them. and they had big
scars on their body Among these We're
Bob Gross and Mike Twitty. Mr.. Sum-
merelI would have other conyicts to
throw them down and hold them while
he beat them. He called them Rheims
DULLES. Capt. Rhem was supervisor be-
fore Summerell. | saw Sam Cowan
beaten till he was not able to work. He
was whipped in the field and laid on
the ditch bank He was beaten over the
head with sticks. Summerell and Jim
Sears did it."
Don't you want to go back to the
Northampton farm?'
Il like that farm, but / don't waa.
to go there under Summerell. He's
too cruel"
The witness said if given his choice
he'd work under Supervisor Cannon on
the rice farms. He said before he was
sent to the penitentiary he worked on 4
rice farm. He likes Cannon because he
doesn't make the men work hard.
Didn't you get lousy while under him
at Castle HayneY
''Yes. sir"
How long did you go without chang
ing clothesY
"Three or four weeks"
SEARS AND SUMMERELL.
The last convict to testify was
Charles Dixon, sent up from Wilmington
for five years for shooting around a
church. Before conviction Charles had
been employed, he said, by Governor
Russell. He, therefore. likes the rice
farms best, but he didn't like the Sum-
merell farm at all.
First he was sent to Caledonia, thence
to Northampton. Summerell didn't whip
him, he said, but he whipped men often
when ii didn't seem to be necessary.
Then I've seen him beat them down.
His overseer, Jim Sears, whipped a
white man, Jim Lowe, till he died. After
the whipping saw them put him in a
cart and haul him to the house"
do you want to go backT
Not if Summerel's there. He didn't
whip me, but he kept me scared all the
time"
Which do You prefer, Rhem or Sum
merell?"
"Rhem, two to one. I've seen Sum
merell beat men at the house, and then
when they went out into the field Sears
would give them another Then I've
seen Sears beat a man awhile and Sum
merell, coming along, would take the
overseer's place and beat awhile.
Il knew Joe Mason and i heard he
was very badly beaten, but l didn't see
him."
"How are you treated here?"
"All right"
POOR OPINION OF JOHN r.
The next witness called was @. T..
Blake, steward for the Arson farm. He
has been in the employ of the peniten-
tiary twenty-five years, except during
twelve months of Fusion rule. He has
worked in various capacities under Sup
erintendents Faison, .Leazar, Smith and
Mewborne.
What kind of discipline did Mr.. Lea
Ear hayew
Good"
Ibid he infiict punishment on the con-
victs very often?"
"He did not"