The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-07-10
PASS CRUELTIES OF
ante II :. !. B 81 ! | |. |:
Stories of Horrible Cruelties
Told by Witnesses in the I. "
Peonage Cases.
SLAVE DRIVERS ARRESTED
Negro Mon and Women Die Of Injuries
Inflicted During the Whippinss ~
Grand Jury lnvsstisat-
...,5I-. ing Matters. "A.

Montgomery, Ala. July 2.-The ar
rest Of several more parties for con-
nectton with the peonage cases have
brought to light condition OF affairs
worse than had been imagined. 2St5'i+
Witnesses have testified that a ne
gressi In good health was beaten and
subjected to such awful tortures from
s O'Clock until 2 o'clock that she died
an hour later-3 o'clock. After being
beaten until r'back was blistered and
bloody. she was strung up by the
wrists. her feet being tied together.
She was hoistad till her toes barely
touched ground. In this position she
was kept from 10 o'clock in the morning
till the dinner bell rang at u, when she
was ordered cut down. She was still
alive and went behind a log, on the
brow Of a hill. to lie down.
A pone Of bread made Of corn meal
was ordered thrown up to her by the
guard. She either could not or would
not eat. The guard thereupon ordered
the bread thrown to the dogs. When
the dinner hour was over the guard
went up to where she lay and ordered
her back to work He mistook her in
ability to work for stubbornness; he
Then che jumped upon her stomach"
The gG>rd then returned to the place
where the other poems were at work.
and sent work back after a while by
one Of the poems ordering her to "come
on down to work" It was then about
3 o'clock. The peon said: BOSS, she
can't come to work. She's dead"
Buried Without Ceremony.
Her body was ordered taken to a
nearby house. 1t was washed and
dressed by two negro men, The coffin
was built at this house. Next morn
ing guard took two negroes over. to
Eagle church about 8 o'clock and dug
a grave. The body arrived unattended
by. friends, and without any ceremony
was Immediately buried. The grand
Jury of that county undertook an IN
vestigation Of this death. Witnesses
were marched to the court house at
daybreaki under guard. III They walked,
while the guards rode, a distance of SIX
or; seven miles. The two negroes who
had been made to hold the dead woman
when she was being whipped were not
called to- testify. At the trial the wit
nesses did not tell anything because
they Didn't want to be thrown In the
river, and feared we would be killed"
The proprietors told us we had better
not tell anything" 0
Some forty negroes and negresseS
have been found whose grievances as
to whippings have not been outlawed
by the statute Of limitation (three
years.. The details are distressing and
do not vary much. There Is testimony
that one negro was killed with a spade
by the son of the proprietor; that ne
gress who ran away was chased by
dogs, torn about the stomach"
whipped when she got back and kept
three months more in servitude. An
other negress is mentioned whose I'M
Gle says she was killed by the son Of
the proprietor, a young man, acting AS
overseer One Of three negroes who
was ,'.bought for $50" was whipped
;about every other day for four months,
lying face downward one man on his
head and one man sitting on his legs