The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1900-03-31
A Disgrace To Civilization.

ton Of the parish jail, we have faith
enough in their sense of decency and
humanity to predict a storm of indig-
nation and condemnation for the au-
thorities who are responsible for this
awful pest-hole, which We assert has
not a parallel in any civilized commu-
nifty in the world.
1t has been the subject of inves-
tigation by every grand jury for the
past five years, and the attention Of
the courts, the police jury ana the
public has been directed to its dark
ness, dampness, stenck and filth,
time and again, and then a weak,
spasmodic attempt at reform has
been made, which died out in a few
days, and the dungeon relapsed into
a worse condition than ever.
At present there is confined in the
southeast cave Of this reeking, drip
ping, Sinking closet, alive with body
lice, a poor lunatie, who was once
white, but not having known soap
and water for months, is the
color of a Malay. He raves day in
and day out, renders night hideous
with his shrieks and doleful songs,
and make life a burden for the near
by residents who are compelled to
listen to his jahbering. One morning
recently this vermin-covered unfor-
tunate, INDUCED in the sanitary pas
time of scooping up the mud and
muck from the floor Of his cell with
his hands, and pushing it tout through
the bars. In the den this week is an
| sid negro, less noisy, but as sorely
afflicted, and these two humans, n
black and one once-White, hang on to
life, eating, drinking and sleeping
with the vermin they breed, with the
offal they ezcrete, and the stencil
they create!
The smell If the jail and the clos
ets'near by, is enough to shock the
nose of a buzzard, and yet human
beings, unfortunates whose INSIDE
meanors or Affections have put them
beyond the means of caring for
themselves. are housed in these walls,
and compelled to pass months and
months in surroundings which an
average person could not stand fol
an hour. To confine a helpless luna
tie in such a place, is an outrage,
crime: and to confne rational beings
with him is to wreak q cruelty the
law never intended, and is enough te
make glbbering IDIOTS Of them az
well.
We appeal to the authorities, t.
the public, to the humane and chart
table citizens of this parish to put al
end to this horror. TO count tn
cost or expense will show a lack Q
knowledge of the real state Of affairs
liz NECESSARY this sink should b
RACED to the ground and not on
! brick left on top Of another; and W
} believe if any che will take the troubi
r to investigate, and see the place as
was the early part Of this week afte
several days Of rain, that it would re
! auire very little to rouse a feelln
crowd to the point Of forcing a last
inc reform or wrecking this Bastll
of Vermilion. The jallor can do n
more than he is doing. The fault
not his. The responsibility lies higt
, er, and we repeat that it rests wit
the authorities to either condemn IL
present structure and erect a moder
7 sanitary Jail, or cease combining HI
t man beings within its mouldy walls.
For the sake Of our good name, ft
the sake of the poor devils incarce.
ated. for the sake Of humanity, let
act, act quickly, act now, and rld Il