The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1901-03-13

sheriff would be needed.
The arrest was made on Friday night
and the Negro was brought to Anderson
on the same night. The deputy sheriff
suggested that the prisoner be taken to
Jail, but the Negro said that he would
prefer to 60 on with W. S. Newell, and
that Mr.. Newell informed the deputy
that the magistrate had instructed him
that he should carry the prisoner on
home with him.
Subsequently the magistrate was in
formed by the prosecutor that the case
had been compromised and that the
Negro had agreed to stay with him and
work out his contract. The rest Of the
facts were brought out in open court
We exonerate the deputy sheriff from
all blame in the matter.
The principal work Of this commit
tee has been the investigation of the
stockades of the county and the abuses
of laborers under tyrannous contracts
that has grown out of the farming out
of convicts and the working of free
laborers with them. We have taken
the testimony of moro than 80 persons
that Of the landlords, their overseers
and guards, together with large
number of laborers and few other
citizens. In these investigation We
have been treated with every courtesy
and generally we have found no dispo
sition to obstruct our work upon the
part of those whose farms and stock,
ades we visited.
A most careful inquiry failed to re-
veal that any general abuse Of the la
boring class exists in this county, sc
that our work soon narrowed down tC
those places where stockades existe
and free laborers were employed. W.
visited the farms Of D. Bolton Watson
A. T. Newell, p. b. Allen, j. H Miller
Elias Niece, w. Q Hammond and j
8. Fowler.
THESE EXONERATED.
We were unable to find any abuse
at the farm of j. B. Watson. He has
stockade and works free laborers also
but we found no evidence that free la
borers were put In the rtocka1es ant
worked in line with the convicts, o
subjected to any illegal restraint o
abuse.
The same thing WAS true at the farm
Of z b. Allen. We found that he hat
taken two contracts in which the la
borers agreed to work under guard AM
be locked up at night, but his own ev
iderc ce and that of all the laborers g
far as we could ascertain, was tha
these provisions had never been en-
forced.
A. T. Newell works State convict
anJ afooE.Io h,,E bo bao n
no free laborers along with the con
vict5 recently, when he has taken tW
contracts of that sort. One of thes
was the case Of the unfortunate Ncgr
Will Hull, who was killed by w.
Newell a few weeks ago and who's
case is referred to above.
''FREE labor
j. II. Miller formerly worked cor
victs, but they were taken away by th
State, and he now employs only free
labor, if indeed We may use the Wor
free to describe those laboreTs VIII
have signed his contracts and subj cote
themselves to the conditions exIstin
on his farm. He has a stocksde whic
was originally built for his State COZ
vcts and his contracts provide that th
free" laborers will work under guar
and will allow themselves looked up {
night.
Our first Investigations at this plat
we're met by statement from the n
groes that, they were satisfied wit
their treatment, but their manner ind
Gated coercion and subsequently '
made further investigations which CO.
vinced us that j. II. Miller, and h
overseer, j. A. Emerson, had BET
guilty OF whipping negroes, lookir