Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1903-06-26

apparently thrlVed lot AT least IlIteeu
years. Coosa county seems to have
engaged largely in the business Of
creating poems and then selling them
to the slave drivers, y Of 'Tallapoosa
county. The process was comparative
ly simple. A strange negro man or
. woman would appear in Rockford, the
i county seat, or Colcis or Goodwater,
both of them towns in Ooosa county.
A constable would take them into GUS
tody and arraign them before JUS
| t,ce of the peace named London upon
a trumped up charge. They might
be charged with obtaining money un-
der false pretenses, drunkenness, dis
orderly conduct or Of any one Of the
dozen offenses of the law Of which
they were innocent.
The case Of girl about 16 years OF
age who was sold into slavery in Tai
lapoosa county by London illustrates
how the traffic Is carried on. The
girl was travelling through Goodwater
with an itinerant photographer. She
was acting as cook for the photogra-
piers outfit, Robert M. Franklin. a
constable, placed her under arrest
upon charge of living in improper re-
lations with her employer. He ar
raigned her before London. the JUS
tice of the pease. The latter found
her guilty. but compromised the case
with the girl by arranging to take her
into his own household as a servant,
agreeing to pay her So per month. He
gave her credit to the extent Of $3.40
at his store. for which he secured her
acknowledgement to a debt Judgment
and then he sold the girl to Turner,
of Tallapoosa county.
His prptext wss that she ran away
and thereby violated the terms Of her
contract. Turner kept her in peonage
or slavery for twelve months. During
that period she was repeatedly beat
en-. On one occasion her hands were
tied under her knees and buggy
trace laid across her bare back twenty
times with all the force that burly
white man could put into the blows. 10
/. RICH MAN A SLAVE DEALER
Turner is a neighhor Of John w.
Pace. former sheriff of Tallapoosa
county who is recognized as the most
persistent and brutal violater Of the
state law against peonage. Pace is the
wealthiest and most powerful man in
Tallapoosa county. His plantation IS
one of the richest and largest in that
region of the state 1t contains ricn
soil for cotton, timber In abundance.
and large deposits Of graphite, which
he operates upon a considerable scale.
His graphite mine, in fact, is one of
the most extensive in the country. 81
Pace has for years employed the
county convicts of Tallapoosal and
maintains. as part of his establish
ment, a stocade with cells, kennel
of bloodhounds and force of armed
guards. He is equipped otherwise with
the paraphcrnalia of jailer. He has
in abundance leg irons or hundcuffs.
balls and chains and other instru-
ments designed to hold men in captiv-
ity.
CAN'T GET CONvTCTs ENOUGH.
The supply of regular county con-
victs in Tallspoosa county was never
equal to the demands Of PAGES BUSH
ness. He required between forty and
sixty negroes nearly all the year round
to operate his mines and sawmill, his
grist mill and to till his fields. He
found it profitable to secure his help
by creating poems rather than by d.
rectly employing negro ls'borers. who
voluntarily offered their services TO
him Il
Every person whom he took into his
employ, whether as peon or as a
free laborer, is forced to sign con-
tract which empowered Pace 70 treat
the laborer as a convict. Pace re-
served the right to lock him up at
night, to shackle him in the fields, de-
prive him of clothing ana to bring
him back with bloodhounds II he uu-
dertook to escape Corporal punish
ment of the most vioent character
was mere incident of the daily rou-
tine of PAGES Establishment Men aud
women were beaten upon the smallest
pretext. There were guards always at
hand ready with the gin strap or
buggy trace or pistol butt to perform
this service. AS usually happens in
such cases when beatings were not
frequently enough by the
victims the guards, who are classified
in the records of the United States
distric, attorneys office as whipping
Heads Department6of English. u