The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-30
THE HORRORS
OF PEONAGE
One Alabama Negro Was Compelled
to Work 9 Year for 81
Debt.
Woman Was Beaten to Death and
Man Killed With a
Spade.
Stories Of Cruelty as Revolving as
Any in Uncle Toms
Cabin"

more arrests have been made since Satur-
day in the peOnage and conspiracy cases.
Among them were those Of L. A. Grogan,
deputy sheriff Of Coosa charged with "as
sisting in carrying Emma Pearson to
condition Of pecnage," which means that
he used his badge and his Office to delude
this and other negroes into thinking they
had really been arrested for something,
and of J. Wilbur Harrison, against whom
there are I've indictments for conspiracy
to injure and Cypress. 3
Harrison is to be tried for being one of
the affidavit men" whose particular part
was to fake and trump up accusations
against friendless negroes who 1t was de-S
sired to place or continue In bondage. u,
Some Of the grave abuses committed by
quarry owners, landlords, constables. mag
citizens Of African descent" Of their lib
erty, and which the federal courts are un-
dertaking to end can be had from the
sworn testimony of blacks, often corrobo-
rated by whites-testimony on which the
grand jury unanimously found ninety mine
indictments and wanted to find more. II
any man entertains doubts as to the cru
elites practiced, he has but to read the
following story of negro woman tortured
to death. A negress in good health was
beaten so much and subjected to such
awful tortures from s o'clock until 2
o'clock that she died an hour later, 3
" VIVA. IA LCI UCAu6 OcSScQ 0uIn I6I
back was blistered and bloody. she was
strung up by her wrists, her feet being
tied together. She was hoisted till her
toes barely touched ground. In this posi-
ton she was kept from 10 o'clock In the
morning till the dinner bell rang at IL.
when she was ordered cut down She was
still alive and went behind a log, on the
brow Of hill, to lie down.
She Couldn't Eat.
A pone Of bread made Of corn meal was
ordered thrown 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 mis-.
took her Inability to work for stubborn 3
ness; he struck her on the head with his
pistol. Then he Jumped upon her stom-
ach'
The guard then returned to the place
where the other poems We're at work. and
the poems ordering her to come on down
to work. Z < was then about g o'clock
The peon said: Boss, she can't come to
work. She's dead ~
| Killed with Spade.
] Some forty negroes and negresses have
been found whose grievances as to whip
pings have not been outlawed by the stat.
ute of limitation. The details are dis
tressing and do not vary much. There
is testimony that one negro was killed
with a spade by the son Of the proprietor;
that a negress who ran away was chased
by dogs, ..torn about the stomach
whipped when she got back and kept
three months more in servitude. Another
negress Is mentioned whose uncle says
she was killed by the son Of the proprie-
tor, acting overseer.
| One of three negroes who was bought
for $50 was whipped about every other
day for four months, lying face downward,
on his legs. Another was whipped with
hickory sticks with empty cartridges on
the end. Another was whipped twice:
once his hands were tied under his knees.
and the guard told him to count the
licks'' he was giving him on the bare
back. After counting to fifteen sne negro
could not count any more. Another,
working out debt OF $6.16 with seven
months labor, was whipped every day
with plow lines and out on the nose once
with hoe.
Worked a Year for 81.
The guards on one mans place had q
strap, ''tie leather about eighteen inches
| long, the handle about the saIne-tha
strap is about as broad as three fingers"
With this Joe Patterson, who worked q
year for a dollar debt, was whipped A
! boy Of Is was whipped two or three times
| a day. One tells Of being Clicked with
| a stick as big az q. broom handle; 3 ne
Rress shows scars on her head from a
buggy trace; e 16-year-old girl was
whipped once In her twelve months serv-.
ice;. they placed her over bench. pulled
up her clothes and struck her fifteen OF
twenty times with q strap that was
doubled four times and that was fastened
at the end with taclks.