The Tupelo journal., 1906-04-06
PENITENTIARY INVESTIGATION
Rankin County Farm Run at q
Loss of $4,000 to the State.
GRAVE CHARGES PREFERRED
Board of Control Accused OF Mis-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF a
Prisoner Set Out in Full.

jackson, Miss.-The report OF the pen
itentiary investigating committee con-
corning the management of the Rankin
county State farm was submitted to the
house today, and is as follows:
'To the House of Representatives:
"We, your penitentiary committee,
having had under investigation the Ran
kin county State farm, submit herewith
u report thereon: We do not cite you
to the particular pages of the testimony
wherein each charge specified IS sus-
tanned, because the whole is reeking with
a piteous account of drunkenness, cruel
ty and petty forms of graft. We find
that the board of control was negligent
in the discharge of its duties in regard
to this farm, and the said farm has Tor
this, among other reasons, been man.
aged at a loss to the State OF over $4o,-
600 in nine years.
"We cannot account for this heavy
loss to the State of Mississippi on any
other grounds than that of gross mis-
management. No rules or regulations
were ever made by the board of con-
troll or posted up where the convlcts
could see them, as required by law, IN
sections 3173 and 3174 of the o OF
1892; but drunken subordinates were
allowed to b~rutally maltreat the con-
Sicts, in some cases at will, or whenever
the unfortunates ran ounter to their
inebriate wishes. The sergeant of the
farm, one Capt. Dave Pickett, was a
drinking man, and those under him,
especially his relative, Joe Strong, was
s,,,ah xroreo than ho NNa find that norL
beef and vegetables in varying quanti-
ties were sent from the Rankin farm
to a hotel in Brandon, which hotel was
in charge of a son-in-law of Capt. Puck
EFT. Some horses, from ten to twenty.
were fed for quite a while at the ex-
pense of the State, which stock be-
ionged to Capt. Pickett, and for neither
pork. beef, vegetables nor horse feed
Hid the State ever receive a cent.
Report of Writ Adams.
CAS- to the heavy losses sustained by
the State on account of this farm, we
refer you to the special report of the
State revenue agent, Writ Adams, from
which any one who desires the infOrma-
ton may see for himself that the Rankin
county farm has caused a net loss to the
State of upward of 100000 from the
year 1896 to the year 1904, inclusive.
As to the cruelty of Capt. Dave Pickett
to the convicts under his charge, we
make no report, for the reason that the
said Pickett is under Indictment fol-
his conduct there, and we leave the mat
ter to a jury of his peers, without COM
ment.
Crockett Murder.
son June 8, 1908, a convict, one Dan
Crockett, was brutally murdered by an
other convict by the name of Horace
Wallace. which Wallace afterwards es-
capped and has not since been r%ecaptured.
Wallace was acting under the positive
orders of Joe Strong, and received the
second order to shoot before he would
fire the fatal shot. This Joe Strong is
a relative of Dave Pickett, and the
tale of cruelty, drunkenness and de-
bauchery shown by this testimony con-
corning this man is sickening in the ex-
IRENE. Said Strong, who is now I'M
der Indictment and is a fugitive from
justice, carried his excessive drunken
several weeks in the hospital on the
Rankin county farm under treatment
for delirium tremens. His will seemed
to be law, and he punished the unfor'
tunates without regard to whether they
deserved it or nos; taking advantage of
the position he held, which was driver,
afterwards promoted to assistant ser
geant on the farm. He would wreak
his vengeance on any one who dared cross
his Wbims or demonstrate against his