The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-08-16


received them, many Of whom have
prcfessed willingness and desire to pay
for them, and if possible save all such
items. This should by no means pre-
vent their holding the bond Of the SUI
perintendent liable for such things as
are not settled for. He has misappro-
priated the assets and should account
for them. There is another matter
which deserves attention in our general
remarks. The arrangements, it seems,
has been receiving favors and granting
them in return. 1t should pay for all
assistance it gets and then charge for
all matters rendered. The case of Hon
J. W. Ashley is IN point. He furnished
transportation for the officials, making
no charge; in return his horse was
boarded at the pcnitcntiary during the
session of 1898 Of the legislature.
While this may be very convenient, 1t
is not business. If Mr.. Ashley's favors
were worth receiving they should be
worth paying for, and likewise the board
Of the horse is worth paying for. This
free and easy method of balancing one
against the other will render it impos-
sible to ascertain at any given time the
liabilities Of the penitentiary. No one
will be able to ascertain what the unre-
turned favors received at the hands
of the friends of the superin-
tendent are worth, nor waen the lnstl-
tuition will be called upon to board man
or horse in return. 1t amounts to a re-
cip7ocity treaty between the superln-
tcndent and his friends, which may in
volve the institution In endless llablll
ty and expense. It should be stopped.
Another unbusinesslike feature Of the
management is the contract of the in
stitution with the knitting mill compa-
ny in the penitentiary. They give the
mill 25 horse power motor and pay the
electrical company for 25 horse power
and are to charge the mill only what
power it uses. They have not settled
in five years and haven't even put in
meter to be able to tell how much
power has been used. Now, the mill
company wants to settle at 10 horse
power. The directors don't know what
was used and have paid for 25 horse
power. This is unbusinesslike and
negligent, in our opinion. Now, as to
Mr.. Meals financial transactions and
his moral obl1quity in the matter. In
the first place, in the face Of the plain
spirit of the law he arranged as soon as
he became superintendent to have his
kinsman and creditor, j. Bolton Wat
son, take charge of his plantation in
Anderson county and procured for I'm
convicts to work it and agreed that the
net proceeds, after paying for the con-
vict labor and the farm expenses, should
be applied to his debt to Watson, and
he was thus to get advantage Of all
profits made by the convict labor, indi-
rectly hiring them to himself. The law
enjoirs upon him the duty Of watching
those who hire convicts preventing op-
preston and enforcing the rule that
they shall be humanely treated, care
fully attended by physicians and not
required to labor more thar ten hours a
day, nor on Sundays and holidays.
Sections 566 and 569, Vol. ., Rev.
Stats. of 1893.
The plain intent of the law is that
he shall hire them to himself, directly
or Indirectly, or be personally interest
ed in the amount of work done. The
net proceeds being his, the tendency
would be to give Watson the best labor,
work it over time and report as much
lost time as possible. Having run un-
der this contract for the years 1893,
1894, 1895, he had his debt reduced as
a result from sl7, 900 to sl4, 600 (See
exhibit H. Then he took contract
from Watson (Ex. H) whereby exclu-
sive control was returned to him, but
the convicts were hired to Mr.. Watson
(See Ex. G., and no bond was taken
from Watson. This was plainly done
to mislead the board Of directors as he
frankly admits that they would not
have hired them to him. Thus he be-
came the master, the contractor in fact,
with Watson as a stalking horse. All
the profits Injured to his benefit. In
stead Of paying the State for the con-
vict hire for 1896 he took worthless
note of his foreman, one Ragsdale, and
endorsed it as superintendent of the
penitentiary, borrowed money on it
and returned it as cash received. The
note has never been paid and the bank
threatens the penitentiary Fith suit for
it. TIE same thing occurred in 1897
with another Ragsdale note and in
1898 no pretence of payment has been
msde. The net proceeds Of the farming
operations for 1896 and 1897 were paid
to Mr.. Watson on Mr.. Meals debt to
him, except 81, 465. S., for which Mr..
Neal gave Watson receipt as super
intendent, and which was not turned
into the treasury, but which is covered
by one of the Ragsdale notes. The
State has been left out for the entire
three years and in 1898 neither Watson
nor the State has been paid anything.
In November, 1895, Mr.. Neal collected
Of W. Q. Hammond $500 on convict
hire, which he kel and used. In De-
cember, 1898, he collected from Cooley
& Fowler $500 convict hire, which he
also used. In February, 1897, he col
lected from these two firms over $l3,-
600 and deposited to his own credit and
used $33995 of the same. He collect
ed from J. J. Fretwell S3S1.l1 for oats
(Ex. NJ and failed to pay it in. He
gave a check to the pookkeeper for Sll2
to balance his account for cash ~ hand
and there was nothing in bank to pay it
and it has not been paid. He took a
note of W. ". Russell for $500 for his
own accommodation and endorsed it as
superintendent Of the peritentiary and
placed it in bank, and it has never been
paid the bank is after the penitentiary
for the money and Mr.. Neal admits