The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-03-16
That Bad Situation at the Jail.

1
him this week a young, rather
half witted negro named Abram
| Wells on the charge of selling Ii
quor to the inmates of the coun--
lty Jail. The testimony showed
that during the month of Feb
ruary, the negro Wells went to
the jail and was given $1.50 by a
white prisoner named Norton,
then in Jail for drunkenness, to go
and get bottle of whisky. In a
little while the negro returned
with the whisky and the bottle
was passed up to the prisoners on
the second floor by a string let
down from the window for
that purpose. The bottle being
of the quart cabinet size and
little too large to pass through the
iron window bars, it-was uncork-
ed, the neck of the bottle turned
inside and the "Oh be Joyful
poured into a pitcher held by
another prisoner for that purpose.
The prisoners represented as eel
ebrating" on this occasion were
Frank Smith, colored, convicted
of burglary at the last term of
court, VIM. Holmes held for rape,
and Norton, the white man above
mentioned.
At subsequent date the negro
Abram Wells is alleged to have
gone to the jail and received
another $3.50 from one of the
prisoners to bring a bottle of
whisky and failed to return with
either the money or the booze,
and this raised a squeal and caus
ed him to be turned up.
On account of his weak mental
condition and the character of the
witnesses who appeared against
him, Justice Hoffman let Wells off
with $50 fine and costs.
The Leader has more than once
referred to the ease with which
prisoners in jail can receive arti-
cles of almost any character desir-
ed from persons on the outside.
A little while before the last term
of Circuit Court there were two
Jail deliveries directly due to this
condition of affairs, when several
deep-dyed criminals escaped who
have never since been recaptured.
One or two grand juries have call
ed the special attention of the
Board of Supervisors to this ex-
posed situation of the Jail to out
side intrusion, and yet nothing
has ever been done except to pass
an order,no yet enforced, to have
the Jail windows screened. As
has been stated before, no prison
er placed in the Lincoln county
Jail stays there very long, if he
is anxious to get away, because
there is no trouble to get all the
assistance he needs from the out
side
Only yesterday morning as the
editor of this paper reached the
court yard steps, with the story of
the Abram Wells case fresh in
Iulnd, he glanced toward the jail
and saw an ebony-hued young ne
gro man and a negro woman
standing in front of the door and
pint flask, filled with a dark
fluid which looked like booze,
slowly ascending to the second
story window by a string in the
hands of some one on the inside.
tThe editor caIiee to the negro
man on the outside who had Just
started the bottle up to stop it and
have it lowered so he could exam
inc it. In this instance it hap
pened to be bottle of cold coffee,
and the prisoner who was draw
ing it up by the string was Loss
Benjamin, one of the negroes who
murdered Richard Campbell last
Saturday night.
This illustrates, however, the
nam point the ease with which
a bottle of whisky, A, burglars
tools or any other article may be
passed most any time to the worst
prisoners in the county Jail with
| but slight danger of detection.
I 1t is high time something was
4 being done to remedy this out.
rageous situation.