The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-07-26
TERRIBLE CRUELTY.
Penitentiary Officials Makes Daaaggs
ing Charge Against The County
Chain Gangs.

Columbia, July 25.-The burden of-
the new law giving county supervisors
the use of convicts sentenced to term
of ten years or less with the option OF
turning them over to the penitentiarN
authorities whenever they wear out or
brake down from Ill health, is falling
with increasing weight on the peni>
tertiary authorities, who complain
that practically all Of the prisoners
they get now except those serss IN.
| for long terms, are either disaaseGs
or are otherwise ineapacitate6 for
work; that short term prisoners kens
on the average chaingang in this Statss
are soon broken in health from lack
Of care and by reason Of impropef>
treatment are sent into the peniten->
tiary physical wrecks.
"The new law is working terrsble
cruelty said Superintendent Griffin
| to the Daily ITEMS correspondent to
day. .I do not believe there is q.
man in this State physically strong
enough to stand ten years service on
a Changing in this State. The chains
gang authorities. are not equipped to-
care for the prisoners as they shoul0
be cared for. When the averages
Echaingang prisoner gets wet working
| in the rain he is allowed to sleep
through the night in his wet clothes
which is barberous. We never allow
a prisoner to sleep in net clothes
Edown here
A majority Of the deaths that occur
at the penitentiary restlt from tuber>
culosis, and many of these cases are
contracted after the prisoner reaches
Columbia, though some are sent in
each year from the chaingangs dying
from consumption.
7 A victim Of this disease yesterday
was A s. Simpson. 9. lifetimer sent
! here four years ago from Abbevilie
sfor. smurder. Simpson was only 81
Years old and contracted the disease.
It's months ago. He was q. bridge
tbuilder and killed his man in a dis
I>pute over the construction Of q bridge
He was a well-behaved prisoner and
was apparently a man of some scul-
I m
his widow and two children at Gals
houn: two of his brothers were fre-
ouent visitors to the penitentiary,
Simpson was at first worked in the
hosiery mill, where practically all Of
the tuberculosis cases originate, but
recently he has been working in the
carpenter shop.
Two negro convicts who died with>
in the past. 80 days were brought in
from the county gangs; each dice
within two days after his admission
to the penitentiary.
In this connection a paragraph
from DR.. S. E. Harmon's last annual
report Will be of interest: "Thera
were 292 patients in the hospital. Ten
times that number were treated for
: minor troubles that did not require
being admitted to the hospital. I re>
port 81 deaths this year, all being Of a
chronic nature, with the exception Of
two or three, including one suicide
Nineteen died of tuberculosis. The
death rate from this disease can be
reduced slightly by isolation, but
when we consider that large per
cent of those that die from tubercu-
losis are admitted to the institution
already infected you can readily sec
that the death rate from this disease
will always be large. You will see
that seven of the number that died
were received from the various chains
gangs in a helpless condition; one OF
whom died two days after being adj
mitted.
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