The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-10-10
The Evidence Of Witnesses is Vey
Conflicting.
Examined a Number
OF In the City and Then
Went to Castle Hayne-Four Physi-
clans Stripped Prisoners and Exam
ined Ihen,-Wm Make Their Report
Today.

day yesterday, during the morning in
the city and at the camp in the after
noon. Their object was to make an
Investigation relative to the charges
recently made as &c convicts being cru
ely whipped. /. being convicts who
it claimed were mistreated. the com
missioners naturally had % examine
convlcts in an effort to get at .he
truth of the natter and the evidence
given DIV them was of such a nature
hat oct little if any dependence can
be put In 1t. One convict would be
Dut on the stand and make one state
ment and the next one would make L
statement entirely different although
he would be speaking of the same ma
ter. The evidence showed that there
had been considerable whipping at
the camp, but rs to whether the c,n-
Vlcts were treated cruelty depends en-
tlreiy UPON what witnesses are believ-
ed. A jury with the evidence adducel
yesterday from the cOnvicts would
have Tound it extremely difficult to
reach any definite conclusion.
The board me: at 1890 and the first
witness examined was Tom Branch, an
ex-conylct. He said he had been on
the roads but had never been whip
ped. that he was treated we'll and
thought all others who worked were
treated in same manner. He said he
had never seen but one man whipped
and the punishment was inflicted b. q
guard by the name of Powell. He was
asked II the report Of there being as
high as six wkippings per day was
true. His reply was that he could not
say as to this IS he did not know. He
stated further hal he did o pay
much attention to the men while being
whipped. The gist of Branch's tesri-
mony was that he was we'll treated
and if n were i'll treated he did not
see it.
MI. r. W. Wescott. who is a mem
Der of the local board of charities,
was a witness and testified that he
and Mr.. j. T. Kerr went to the county
camp to investigate and exam
inc the prisoners. Mr.. Wescott ex-
planned the manner in which he exam
ined the men He said the statements
made to them ana those made to the
grand jury were widely at variance.
He said from his examination of the
IC 4OoA VI LIZ LII
and they all seemed to be getting along
we'll.
Superintendent Shearin was next
examined and he stated that he had
never known of cruelty being practised
at any of the camps and hat no con-
vict had died at the camp without mis-
body being examined by a physician.
The strap he said used for whipping
the cOnvicts was a piece of IL ounce
ducking. about l IL inches wide and
fitted to a handle. He said he visit
ed the camp daily. The men he stated
were never worked in rainy OF very
cold weather..
After Mr.. Shearin had testified, sew
eral former convicts were examined
and some of them had been whipped
and others had held convicts to be
whipped. There was no evidence to
show that they did not get plenty of
water.
Yesterday afternoon the commits
siOnerS went to Castle Haynes and
were accompanied by Drs. Mcmillan,
Green. Alderman and Wood, who
stripped and examined all of the pris-
oners. The physicians make their re-
port to the board today.
Ten convicts at the camp were ex-
amined. Their evidence was very co.,
f1icting and taken as a whole is pIac-
ticallY worthless. One convict, Gal
loway Williams. testified to having
seen a convict by name of T. Pew Civ
en- 100 lashes, 40 having been given
and then the convict allowed to rest
and 60 were given. Mack Taylor, a
negro who has already been on the
roads four years and two months for
house breaking. said hat the first
whipping given L. Pew that he was
struck three times with the strap. Said
he had never heard any complaint in
regard to Mr.. Shearin. The younger
prisoners. he said. were the ones usual
ly whipped. New ones were shown
some consideration until they are
broken in.
Some of the witnesses testified to
Hocutt's whipping prisoners very Often
and others said the very opposite. One
witness said he wrote a note telling or
how he had been treated and that h9
was whipped for it.
Superintendent Shearin again took
the stand and gave the board an lea
Of the kind of prisoners those were
who were examined. He also S4ld
that he had never heard of Hocutt
being guilty of cruelty tAwards e1n-
victs until the recent reports and that
the note spoken of had never been re-
ceived.
Mr.. Rochelle. who is now employed
as foreman of the rock quarry. Mr..
Hocutt being at the camp on the MAJ
to whip the men more for fighting
ket street road testified that he had
than anything else and that they were
generally given from 6 to IL lashes.
There were. in addition to NJ.
Shearin and Mr. Rochelle. ten convicts
examined and their evidence is too
voluminous to give in full. 1t woulf
be of little value were it given for ali
of it is contradictory.
Miss Shrier, an expert stenograpaer.
took down the evidence. The invest
cation will be continued today