The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-13
DIR. ". Il. Thirkieid on the Cause Of
OutraGes and LynchiBgs In
Southern states.
LEASE OF CoNvICTs BRUTAL
PRISON CAMPS DENOUNCED As
SCHOOLS FOR CRIME.
ComparativeIy Good Of Both Sexes
Herded with the Depraved, Vile
and Abandoned.


Thirkieid. corresponding secretary Of the
Methodist Freedmans Aid Society and
Southern Educational Association, to-day
in delivering the opening address of the
Evangelical Alliance. charged that the out
RACES of negroes in the South was due TO
the chain gang prison system. He said in
part:
Far BE- IL from me to utter one word
in extenuation OF the unspeakable crime
OF which some black men are guilty. Let
US keep In mind, however. that only 20
per cent of the black men who arc lynched
have even been charged with the unspeak-
able crime against the sacredness of
womanhood. Let black men bring every
influence TO bear to make such crimes i'm
possible. Let there be prompt execution of
the Law against this and all crimes OF all
men. Lynch law, however, is anarchy.
1t brings in the reign OF barbarism, it
brutalizes members of the mob; it under
mines government; ii does not stop crime.
In estimating crimnslity among the
black people, we should keep in mind that
since Appomattox nearly every Southern
State has maintained school of crime
organized institution for the training of
criminals. This / charge against the con-
Wet lease system OF the South. This sys-
ten, with it's thousands of victims, has
been the cause of much of the outbreak
ing OF crime among black people through
its brutalizing and dehumanzing influence
on thousands Of negroes. Under this sys-
TEN both prison and prisoners are farmed
out under the control OF private corpo-
rations-sold to the highest bidder. To
the lessees the body and soul of convicts
are assigned The motive OF both State
and lessee is not moral but money; not
reformation, but exploitation of criminals
for gain. 1t Is crime turned into a source
OF revenue; the Drawn and blood of GRIM
inals bartered for gain.
Criminals are generally scattered in
branch prisons-quartered in rude stock
AIDES without proper sanitation. food or
clothing Tine average life of these con-
vlcts Is less than ten years old and
young are promiScuously chained and
herded together. Even men and women
In some camps, not separated Hardened
criminals and the boy convicted of his first
crime; the comparatively good and the
most depraved. vile ana abandoned, are
chained together. One warden Of State
penitentiary protests in his report that
penitentiary is the school of crime instead
of being a reformatory institution. OF the
fifty boys under eighteen. nine-tenths of
them leave prison much worse than when
they came in.
Years ago a warden of the Alabama
penitentiary bore witness 10 the filth and
Vermin and horrors of these prisons. Our
system, said he. is a better training school
for criminals than any of the dens of in
1quity that exist in our large cities-a dis
grace TO the State and reproach to cvili-
zation.'
There is in these convict camps no or
fanized reformatory effort. Reform does
not enter into the system. 1t is a matter
of barter and sale of convict men and
women to the highest bidder. The desire
of the State is not the moral reformation
of her criminal classes. but the care of
them without cost and even the reduction
OF taxes through the sale OF criminals 1t
thing them H.
works under the care of the State in a
chain-gang system. 1t is quite another
thing TO farm them out to the highest bid
der under the convict-lease system.
The outcome OF the careful investiga-
ton OF the convict-lease system on the
part of the Governor of Georgia was rev.
elation of inhumanity. barbarity and shame
less immortality. Much of it was unfit for
the public prints.
''In a period of two years over LOO of
these convicts escaped from Southern pris-
ons. Think Of 1.1O0 thieves. murderers.
thugs. at large-lawless men roaming about
in defiance of all law and order Think of
a system that has no reformatory element,
no system TO cure men of crime. but that
educates young criminals i'm crime and
that by its barbarity brutalizes and de-
humanizes men and sends out those that
slo not die under the horrors OF the system
10 debauch and degrade society. From
such criminals what wonder if there have
come forth hundreds OF moral monsters.
Even at the late session Of the Prison
Congress I'm Atlanta visitors went to the
city stockade, where conditions under
the oversight of enlightened officials under
the employ of the city. The element of
gain is here eliminated, yet these humane
people entered public protest against the
inhumanity and immortality of the present
system even under these favorable condi-
tions. The South should reform its present
system and thus stop the education of
criminals. The present system is a sowing
OF the wind, and it is bound to reap the
whirlwind.
over and against the outcome of these
schools Of crime is the fact that of all the
thousands of graduates from the Christian
schools maintained by the benevolence OF
the North and South not one graduate has
ever been accused Of the crime against the
sacredness OF womanhOOd."
Dr. Thirkield made strong plea for the
philanthrcpic and Christian people both OF
the South and North 10 join hands i'm edu-
cational and missionary efforts for the
solution of this gravest problem of the
races ever given any nation 10 solve.
nnTYEYn TN