The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-30
By Will T.
 Sheehan
sliced up for the convicts' supper.
 Sleeping Quarters Clean.

The blankets have been hung out In the sun and aired. A convict doing cham
 bermaid duty has brought them In and
 made up the cots. They form an odd
 sight, to one unaccustomed to them,
 these cots of the convicts. They are
 swung in long row, each cot being
 suspended from the ceiling by four Iron rods. The wooden frame is fixed to the
 iron rods and hangs clear of the floor
 but steady. The white convicts who
 have finished their daily tasks are sit-
 ting on the edge of their cots and talk ing away the hours of the late after noon.
 Over ir the corner is an odd looking
 thing. On first sight it looks like an immense bird cage built in the form of
 a Saratoga trunk and just high enough
 to admit the passage in and out of a man of average height. A door fitted
 with strong hinges and bolts swings open. This cage Is a memento of the
 famous Bibb County outlaw. Bart
 Thrasher. Bart Thrasher made more ! escapes from the stockade than any | other guest that was ever entertained there. He was a desperate character.
 a man who was said to have never felt ] the emotion of fear and to have had a | perfect genius for making daring es- capes. The only way the convict au-
 thorities could keep him within the
 walls of the stockade was to build this | iron cage and set it in a corner of the
 big dormitory. It is said that he even
 made his escape from this cage of iron. l It Is used as room now by some 1 thrifty convict who has fitted 1t up with more conveniences than his fellows en- | joy, but the door swings open all the | time, for there Is no convict at No 10 with the daring and ingenuity of Bart Thrasher.
 l The negro sleeping quarters are du- plicate of the quarters of the whites, but they are located in a different part
 of the structure. Here as everywhere else, there is cleanliness and whole | someness.
 Well Kept and Sanitary. In short 1t would do an incaiculable amount of good ii the keeper of every | jail in Alabama would visit this well kept and sanitary convict camp ana
 study the methods, that are employed. | If the jail keepers should observe the l ways of the authorities here and put that observation to good use there I would be less of the harsh criticism | that has been 1eveled at the usual
 county jail of Alabama.
 | There are employed at Number 10 l some 451 State convicts. Of these 35o | find employment in that particular slope. The slope is on hillside two
 miles from Pratt City Three-quarters of a mile from Slope Number 10 Is | Slope Number 3. There is an old
 stockade at Number but it is not at present used. On the other hand about | 100 of the convicts from Number 10 are
 marched over each morning from Num-
 Der 10 and put in the slope at Number ! 8. and marched back to Number 10 at | the close of the day.
 1 At Number 10 they are mining each 1 day 950 tons of coal. For each ton of
 coal mined by these convicts the State
 receives 73 cents. And this price Is l considerably in excess of what Is paid
 to union labor, which fact, however, Is due to the provision that the convict | mined coal shall be delivered on board
 the railroad cars while the coal mined
 by free labor Is delivered at the mouth 1 of the room inside the mines. l The convicts at Number 10 are in | charge of Warden Gordon and Mine | Foreman Massengale and Dr. Nat c.
 Clark, who was lately appointed a | member of the Board of Convict 1n- spectors. A word should be said of the excellent hospital that Is maintained
 at Number 10 and over which a com potent nurse and matron presides. It
 is said and no doubt truly, that health 1 conditions are better, much better than the average convict Is surrounded by | when he Is out and at liberty In the
 world.
 | COnvicts in Glasses. 1 Ine cOnNlCIS are uiNlueu III NdrlOuS | classes and from each class a certain | task is required in each of their days | of eight hours labor. From the first class convicts four tons of mined coal
 are required, from the second class,
 three tons, from the third class, two
 tons, and from the fourth class. one | ton.
 l These figures incidentally call atten- tion to another praiseworthy feature l of Alabama's convict system, a system which Is proving a model for the en- | tire country. When a convict has fln- | ished his daily task he may continue
 work and himself draw the benefits of his extra work. For instance when d
 convict of the frst-class has mined
 more than four tons he can keep on | digging in the mines and at the close | of the day receive check for his ex-
 tra labor. He can pass this check for | money at the stockade store in the
 purchase of luxuries and extras which | he may crave or he can save 1t and
 have lump sum of money come to l him when he has finished his term and | Is furnished with the new suit of | clothes the State gives all released l convicts. The store sell at cost to the l convicts, cakes, pies, tobacco and oth- i CT articles that find favor in the eyes
 of the men shut out from the world.
 The financial phase of Alabama's
 epoch making convict system is more ! or less familiar to the public. Some l of it's fine advantages. which have made it a model for other States have
 been explained at length. It has been
 recounted that the new system has put | into the State trearury upwards of 1 $300,000 in the last fiscal year while some six years ago the department
 under the preceding administration
 and under the old lease system only paid something over $6,000, and it has
 been recounted that under the old sys- | tenn the best class of convicts only got ] for the State $14 month, while un-
 der the new system the average re- l turns for the State from each convict
 has been in the neighborhood of $40 a month.
 1 But what of the convict under the new system? Is the money made for l the State made at the expense of the convict?
 l It is hoped that what is written here will show that while the new sys- 1 tenn is a great thing for the State it | is even greater thing for the con 1 vict. It is hoped that what light has been thrown upon the question has 1 shown that the convict has benefited | from the new order no less than the State The State has received from the new system marvellous increase of monetary returns from the convict sys- tenn, but the improvement in the treat noted. no less remarkable than the | Improvements in the conditions of the convfcts. And this new system of which so much has been said was conceived by II [ ipntpnapt Csovarpnr M Cunning