The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-03-13
The following is the report of tn,


special committee of The grand jury
The principal work of this committee
has been The investigation of the
stockadcs Of the county and the abuses
of laborcrs under tyrannous contracts
that have grown out of the farming
out of conviCts and the working of
free laborers with them. We have
taken the testimony Of more that fifty
persons including that of the landlords,
their overseers and guards, together
with a large number of laborcrs and a
cations We have met with every cour-
tesY and generally we have found no
di.positlon to Obstluct our work upon
the part of those whose farms and
s.ockadcs we visited. A most careful
inquiry failed to reveal that any gem
cral abuse of the laboring class exists
in this county, so that our work soon
narrowed down to those places where
convicts were employed and TO two
other places where stockades existed
and free laborers were employed. We
visited the farms of j. Belton Watson,
A. II. Newell, p. Is. Allen, j. r.. Miller,
Elias McGee, w. q. Hammond and j.
S. Fowler.
We are unable to find any abuses at
the farm of j. B. Watson. He has a
stockade and works free laborers, but
we found no evidence that the free
laborers were put in the stockadc or
worked in line with the cOnvicts, or sub
jecied to any illegal restraint or abuse.
rhe same thing was true at the farm
of Z. B. Allen. We found that he had
taken two contracts in which the
laborers agreed to work under guard
and be locked up at night, but his own
evidence and that of all the laborers so
far as we could ascertain was that
these provisions had never been en-
forced. A. II. Newell works State
convicts and has stockade, but he
has worked no free laborers along with
the convicts until recently, when he
has taken two contracts of that sort
One of thee was the case of the unfor.
tunate neC 70 Will Hull who was killed
by w. S Newell few weeks ago anG
whose case is referred TO above.
j. n. Miller formerly worked con
victs, but they were taken away by the
State and he now employs only I" free
labor, if indeed we lnay use the wor,
free TO described those laborers wht
have signed his contracts and sub iectet
themselves TO the conditions eXistin!
OH his farm. He has stockade whicl
was originally built for his State con
victs, and his contracts provide tha
the " free" laborers will work unde
guard aud will allow themselves TO b
, locked up at night.
Our first investigations at this plac
were met by statement from the ne
, groes that they were satisfied wit
their treatment, but their manner il
. dicated coercion and subsequently W
8 made further investigations whic
convinced us that j. r.. Miller and h
G ovcrsoer, j. a. Emerson, had bee
e guilty of whipping negloes, lockin
}, them up at night, of working thel
G under guard and putting shackles upc
:. them. Among these unfortunate
were John Harrison, will Wrigh
' Warren Sloan and Lige Jones. "
If found several of Mr.. Miller's contrac
d eft blank as to time of service al
Is amount 10 be paid, though the contrac
id were duly signed and witnessed.
al the case Of Warren Sloan he seems
ic have been arrested by j. II. Miller al
IN another man, whose name we cou
he not ascertain, near Central in Picke
County; there is testimony that
al warrant was exhibited il any existt
as but he was handcuffed anil taken
to Miller's stockade and kept there I'm