The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-01-03

Norfherners Bring p2eonaG2s
ChargeAgainstearoiiln lima RaiI-
road CanpBosses.
WORKED "a GUMS PotNT,
Thrown Into G~uardhouss When They
First Tried IS Run Away-s
could%Net Pick y
.Iobs.

New York. Jan with q tale on
slavery. heartless cruelty and illegaI,
peonage that rivals the stories of the
sufferings Of refugeea from Russian
penal camps IN Siberia. seven young
northerners have returned from rail-|
road camps ia North Carolina, where
they had been enticed BY false pr6misesl
last October.
when they attempted to escape theyS
were pursued by armed guards, cap-s
tured and taken to local courtsA
charged with obtaining money uriderI
false pretenses In that they refused tot
work out a charge Of $13 for trallsporta-sss
ton from New York. They were sen-lt
fenced to twenty days on local
chain gang and forced 70 don the
stripes Of criminals.
Thousands OF .casss, Hs d IN
More than 5000 northern white menII
are said to have had similar narrowing
experiences In connection with the coll-t
struction Of the South and Western
railroad, q branch OF the Seaboard Air
Line from MsIion. N. e., to Johnson
City, Tenn.
The men who arrived here had thol
satisfaction OF going before q United
and giving testimony which resultcd8
in the indictment OF the Carolina Con-,
Struction company, Mayor Radcliffe. OF
Marion, N. g., Deputy Sheriff 7. G.l
Baker, who has been active In guarding
the construction camps, and three Of,
the company's employees, Superintend-3
ent j.. G. Porter, Foreman Chrrless
Crawford and Foreman Drini.ard, Wt0s
were charged with conspiracy to cont-s
NIT peonage. The company paid a flnel
OF $1,000, with the understanding that
charges against Mayor Radcliffe and,
Deputy Sheriff Baker be dropped.
AT Revolver's Point.
Burke acted as spokesman for the
party and thus told the graphic story
of their suffering:
with a party Of twenty I went
south, arriving at Atapas. N. C.,Yon Oc.,,
tober Is. The next day we were
marched six miles through the noun
tains to Spruce Pine, N. G..
we were told to report to Charles,
| Crawford, the walking boss. He was
mounted on q mule and carried a big,
revolver.
"'You Fellows take a pick and shovel.
and go into that tunnel he ordered
grufiiy.
81 am not a laborer,' ! protested. I
came down here to act as a clerk
"tYou can't pick your Jobs down
here said Crawford. Get down and
dig in that tunnel or Ill send for the
floggers.'
Crawford pulled his gun. and point
ing it at us, ordered: You just march,
ahead of my mule into that tunnel and
no more monkey business
Into the Guard House.
IT worked Until noon, when in COM
pany with Peter Rollins / escaped from
the camp. We were not a mile away
when we were halted by a mar with
a gun. He proved to be T. G. Baker, a
Mcdowell county deputy sheriff. AL
though he la III warrant he arrested
us and drove us back to camp, where
we We're thrown into a shack known
as the guard house. There we were
held for t~wenty-four hours with two
armed guards at the door.
Soon young Pappello was thrown
into the shack with US. He had been
flogged by a foreman and his body was
a mass of cuts and bruises. They
finally marched us twenty-five miles
through mud from eighteen inches to
two feet to Marion, the county seat.
1--WE We're held in the county ia. for
seventy-seven hours without a trial.
Then we were taken before Mayor
Radcliffe.
Twenty days IN the chain gang
was his sentence without waiting to
neal our story, and so we were put to
hammering rocks, with ball and chain
attachment to keep US from running
away.