Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-19


He charges them with brutality and cru
city. He says:
:'There Is a greater percentage Of de-
prayity among convict guards than
among convicts. Let woman sink 70
the depths Of depravity and she may be
found in the lowest dives. Let depravity
bar some men from society and they
fetch up at a convict camp shouldering
a gun and considering themselves state
officials. Imagine that class of state ofh-
cials on a salary of $50 per month.
"I am averse to criticising men whose
hands are tied and whose lips are sealed
through fear and by force. but in order
that I may not appear partial viii &C
knowledge that there are many depraved
prisoners in the penitentiary. During sew
eral years experience on the Savannah
police force l thought I had witnessed
much human depravity, but IL Is as moth
ing to what I found to exist in the pent-
Tertiary. much of which officials are re-
sponsible for. In truth Of this statement
I will mention the treatment Of juvenile
prisoners at the state farm and young
men, or rather boys. in coal mines, VINO
are given tasks which they are physi-
icalIy unable to perform. Three of them
are white boys not much more than tots
brought up on equality with these negroes,
most of whom are much older and famfl-
lar with all kinds Of vice. They are fol-
lowed daily by the whipping bosses and
are under the same degrading lasn as
the negroes. What kind of men do the au-
thorities expect to make of these boys?"
ONein then tells of how convicts are
whipped to music. He says when a man
is tied to the whipping post a gang OF
convicts is made to gather around and
sing. Concerning this he said:
zone warden when he would some
times go to whip a man, would call the
other prisoners up who were religious
ly inclined and make them sing 'Amaz-
ing Grace, How Sweet the Sound AT
each stroke OF the lash the whipper
would repeat the words, How sweet
the sound referring, Of course, to the
sound of the lash He would order his
victim to- Join in the song. I have seen
men with broken legs made to crawl
out of bed before they were able and
sometimes, while standing on clutches
in the yard, where they could not lean
against anything, the crutches would
be taken from under them. They would
be cursed and ordered to walk. Some
times a pistol would be fired close to
their feet to make them alert and
lively.
Men are not supposed TO be sick in
the penitentiary unless they have a very
high fever. The officers Of these camps
are no more fit to have charge Of
prisoners than a brutal Turk would be
to have charge Of a female orphans
home"
The prison farm. which heretofore has
never been complained of. and which has
been regarded as the model prison OF
the south, is badly roasted by o'Neill. He
says:
1.-THE state farm near Milledgeville,
where 1 spent nine months, was, I'M
derstand, a model prison the first year
of its existence. If so ii has gone back
wards a great deal Cripples of all de-
scriptions, afflicted men, paralytics, and
consumptives are driven over that billy
farm and are abused by guards. They
are exposed to all kinds of weather i'm
properly clothed. In winter they only
have one shirt and the food they re-
ceive is little better than starvation. They
get cowpeas. fat meat. and coffee as a
usual thing.
lone of the most humiliating things
at this camp is the strict enforcement
of an order that prevents negro con-
victs from ADDRESSING white convicts as
Mr.
During the first year Of the farm
the people Of MilledgeYille used to visit
there, but they are not allowed to do so
now. At this farm. where squads are
at work In the field, negroes are put in
authority over white men. They act as
foremen. This tendency to keep the whites
and blacks together at work in the camps
is too pronounced in Georgia. 1t will al
ways cause trouble. The races should
be separated as much as possible. As a
native Of northern state I don't want to
make any attempt to decide the negro
question for the south, but say there is
as much hope of whites and blacks liv-
ing on an equality and getting along as
we could have experiencing daylight and
dark at the same time. Whenever we
can experience this phenomenon then
whites and negroes viii get along on So
cial equality. One is just as possible as
the other"
The cruel treatment of Fred Kent. a ne
gro, is told Of by o'Neill as follows:
Two years ago at one OF the camps
Frank Kent, a negro sent there from
Atlanta, had a most terrible experience.
He had to serve three years. He was
very humble negro, and was suffering
from some chronic disease. probably
dropsy. He was placed at very hard
work on a tramroad and, being unable
to do the work required of him. was
whipped nearly every day. One day /
was sick in the building. The negro was
kept in that day and double shackles put
on him. About noon he was carried out
in the yard and made to carry part of
a log on his shoulder around the prison
building in the hot sun for about an
hour and a half until he was nearly ex-
hausted. He was then put in the build
ing and placed on a bunk beside a hot
stove. He was covered with a mattress
and "a blankets TO be put through the
sweating process. For quite a while he
was kept there. 1 never heard any one
beg so piteously for mercy before, and
hope 1 never will again. soon noticed
that he had gurgling sound in his throat.
ITO all his pleadings he received moth
ing but haunting replies. Finally they
pulled him out and, becoming alarmed,
sent for the camp physician. He was
unable to save him, as he died that night
I helped TO place him in box next day
and his body was sent to a medical college
in Atlanta. His hide was torn with the
lash, as he had been whipped severely ten
times in the last 16 days Of his nfe.."
Jtdg j. s. Turner, chairman of the prfs-
on commission, when shown the statement
of O'Nein declined to discuss the matter,
saying the same story had been told by
convfcts before, and that none Of the al
legged outrages told of'by O'Neill had ever
reached the ears Of the commission with
out there had been an immediate tnvesti-
cation.
O'Neil was recently pardoned by Cover
nor Gambler on recommendation Of the
prison commission.
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