The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-06-26
That Is What the States Sys.
tenn 81 Peonage Plainly
Amounts To.
CRUELTlES ARE FEARFUL
Laws Of the State Make This Sort OF
Treatment Possible Witnesses
Hard to Secure Against
Perpetrators.

pOOSa, COOSa n The last
named county is still under scrutiny,
The sheriff Is accused Of maintaining
poems in addition to controlling the reg
ularly convicted county prisoners. His
name Is Dixon and he is one Of five
brothers who dominate the politics Of
Lowndes county. They are rough, VIC
lent men and they nave succeeded in
creating SO much terror not only among
the blacks but IL whites Of Lowndes
county that witnesses against them are
exceedingly difficult to obtain.
One egr named billiard Freeman,
whom three OF the Dixons are said to.
have nearly killed because he left the
sherfff's placesat Hayneville and visited
his another seven miles away without
permission. was pursued right to the
entrance Of the United States court
house In Montgomery by he brothers
Freeman b been subpoened as a Wit
ness to appear before h Federal grand
jury. According to a story which the
boy subsequently told to United States
District Attorney Reese and his assist
ant. Mr.. S~ternfeldt, the brothers, one
of them the sheriff, warned him that
II he told the truth to the grand Jury
he would be killed upon his return to.
Lowndes county.
Dragged by a Rope.
The boy had been fearfully mall
treated. The Dixons pursued him to
his mothers cabin on the occasion Of
his fight from Hayneviue. They en-
tered the cabin by force, took Freeman
out of doors and in the presence of
his mother beat him savagely over the
head with pistols. Then a rope was
tied around his neck and the other end.
fastened to&a horse. Two of the Dix
ons took a position in the rear OF the
negro boy. In this order they proceed
sd back Ito Hayaeyille, a distance of
seven miles. The boy had to keep his.
! feet regardless Of the speed at which.
the horse Travelled o r be ~srrangfed.
After he reached Hayneville he Wad
mercflessly beaten With a gin strap
across h bare back and legs He sdoea'
not know how nlanysblows were struck,
, because he lost consciousness after tho
fifteenth, but there is testimony to
! prove that the total number was nos
less than 100. They were blows struck
bya man six feet in height and weigh-i
Ing $50 pounds and they were blows;
moreover that We're administered with
| all the strength b 5could put into them.
The only wonder is that the boy sur
! vived the punishment.
/ The most extraordinary feature OF
this case Is that the victim was eve
lega1lysconvicted OF an offense against
the law. Dixon in his capacity al
Sheriff had plenty Of prisoners for hia
chain gang VITO were legally convicted
OF wrong-doing, but he believed hq
needed poems and created them at will,
! Ostensibly he took the Freeman boy
n his employ at an agreed rate Of
by the terms Of which he agreed that
Dixon could treat him as a prisoner.
Education Of a "Trusty.DD
The first experience which he recalls
was one involving a. beating admintss
tered by one Of Dixon's subordinates.
Dixon told lin that they Were@educat-
ing him to be a trusty. The boy Id
now under the protection Of the United
states attorneys in Montgomery. The
attempt of the Dixons to force him to
perjure himself before the grand jury
under threat Of death would have been
followed by quick punishment of the
brothers by Judge Jones If proper corr
roborative proof Of the episode could.
have been obtained.
Lowndes county is IN the center Of
the black belt of Alabama, and its me-
gro population ontnumbers the whites
nearly 10 to 1. The Dixons dominate
Its politics absolutely. Their influence,
moreover, extends to state politics.
This case serve to illustrates what
peonage has brought upon the state.
The most shocking disclosures Of the
investigation thus far center In the
counties Of Coosa and Tallapoosa. Here
Lpeonage In Its worst form has appar-
emily thrtved for at least fifteen years
|Coosa county seems to have engaged
largely in the business OF creating Pc
ons and then selling them to the slave
drivers OF Tallapoosa county. The pro-
cess was comparatively simple. Al
appear in Rockford, the county seat.
or Colcis or Goodwater, both Of them
towns in Coosa county. "A constable
would take them int custody and ar
raign them before q Justice OF the peace
named London upon a trumped-up
charge. They might be charged with
obtaining money under false ~pretenses
any n Of the dozen offenses against
the law OF which they were innocent.
Girl Sold to Slavery.
The case Of a girl about 16 years OF
age who wasSsold into slavery IN Talla-8
poosa county by London illustrates
how the traffic was carried on. The
girl was travelling through Goedwater
with an itinerant photographer. She
was acting as ooh for the p%hotogra-
piers outfit. Robert M. Frankfin' !
constable, placed her under Arrest upon
q charge Of living in improper rela-$
gtions with her employer. He arraigned
her before London, the justice of the
peace. The latter found her guilty. but
compromised the a with the girl by
lldli5lAl5 a& " n lohG Z llIOE MS own
household as a servant agreeing to paw
her 81 a month. He gave her credit to
the extent Of $40 at his store, for
which he secured her acknowledgment
to a debt Judgment and then he sold
the girl to Turner Of Tallapoosa count
Ety.
His pretext was that she ran away
and thereby violated the terms of her
contract. Turner kept her in peonage
or slavery for twelve months. During
that time she was repeatedly beaten.
On nj occasion her hands were tied
under her knees and a buggy trace.
laid across her bare back twenty times
with all the force that asburly white
man could put into the blows.
NOW THE
They Threaten q Most Serious Plague
in Montana.
Livingston. Mont. Jun 2o.-Consterna-
ton prevails among the ranchers 81
Bridger Creek county over a threatened
~Crassh0nper plarae. All rafe fhnxn