The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-09-25

the state farm, told the committee of
the whipping of Mamie DE Girls, a white
oman
she said she was too sick to work."
said Roberts in his testimony. She
was chained to the same post at which
the white men and negroes We're
whipped and was given 40 lashes on tho
bare back. The blood that ran down
formed a puddle at her feet. She was
smeared with blood. h had tainted
dead away long before the whipping
was through, and when they unclaimed
her she fell into the blood. She was a
horrible sight and before she tainted
her agoniZed cries were pitiful to hear.
but none of us dared do anything to
stop 1t. The next day she was com
PEELED to work In the fields picking
cotton"
George Hurt, a lessee, saw a warden
negro who had killed several men to
bring Il mutinous convict into the
s%tockade. In the fight the latter was
killed, the former burying his pick in
the mans lung. He mentioned two
other cases of convicts having been
killed by conVicts at his camps.
j.. NJ. Sanford, Il former convict at
the Chattahoochee Brick company.
said he saw a white boy Is years old
chained up and given SO lashes. The
boy tainted from pain and the loss of
blood, but finally recovered.
G. ID. WORKMAN told of another negro
who was whipped to death. The man
was employed where the brick were
burned. The men working in this po-
sition stood on barrel heads and pitched
brick. The heat was so great and the
work SO arduous that the men per
spired excessively. The sweat from
the laborers drenched the barrels from
the ground for some distance around.
The negro in question could no,
stand the heat and fell short in his
work. He was told by Captain j. A.
Casey he would be whipped if he did
not do better. The negro was whipped.
was put over a barrel and whipped
again. The negro. whep released,
walked to a lumber pile and fell down.
Then he was carried to the hospital.
The next day witness saw his body in
the cooling vat.
l.. r.. Massengale. state representa-
tive, is a member OF the Investigating
committee. He visited some of the
camps. Here is his account of what
he saw at n camp:
AL the Floyd county camp the rules
We're violated. They had no mess hall.
h %convicts ate while lying down,
chained to their hunks. and they told
me they were haine in their hunks
on Sundays, too. They We're made to
sleel. IN the clothes they worked in,
n 1T they came In from the works
wet with rain it made no difference.
They slept In the wet clothes just the
anne
For supper the c~onvicts were given
q piece OF corn bread, a piece of meat,
and n potato, and il they ate it ali
for supper they got no breakfast. The
only breakfast they got was the re-
mains from the supper the night be-
fore.
this camp I found a man lying on
the floor of a little building in which
was kept the feed for the mules. 1t
was nearly full OF sacks Of grain, and
In the middle there was just room for
the man to lie on the floor. He was
dying of consumption. 1t was In No
venber and very cold, but he had no
covering, and there was no heat in tho
place. 1 tried to talk to him, but he
was so weak 1 could not understand
what he said
One of the witnesses told of a white
boy who suffered with lockjaw for
three days. 1t was Christmas eve
when he was first seized, and no doc
tor was summoned. In reply to u re-
quest for a physician, the guard said:
'EIe's enjoying Christmas, and amt
got time to fool With convicts.'
Another witness told of an old negro
who had been in the hospital on the
state farm and was ordered back to
work by DR.. Fisher, the farm ply
sicinn. The negro protested that he
was i'll and suffering. For his pains he
WAS given 25 lashes. DIR. Fisher cursed
him und ordered him into the wagon
with other laborers. The negro was
too weak to get In and was thrown In
ard driven to the cotton fields, where
he VAS ordered to pick Gotten. He fell
in the cotton rows, but was ordered to
rise and resume work. He could not,
and Captain Slater, the warden, after
cursing him, commanded the other
| negro convicts to raise him to his feet.
They declined, declaring they were
afraid to touch him. as he was dying.
On going TO him Captain Slater saw
his real condition and ordered him re-
moved from the field. The next day
the witness saw his dead body.
1t was disclosed that when conyicts
broke down from excessive work at one
camp they We're lined up and turned
over to a convict broker" who leased
them IT, another contractor who did
not know OF their condition. 1t deyel-
oped that the men convicts were
worked Sundays and every other day,
and that some of them had worked
five a without a rest of ever one
day: that the food was insufficient, the
under exhausting conditions in the
brick kilns and boiler rooms excessive,
the men were frequently overcome by
the heat and the hard tasks put upon
! them.
At the camp Of the Lookout Noun
tain Coal Inc Coke company, in north
west Georgia, a negroes arm was bro
ken by falling slate. No surgical at
tention was given, and the wound
healed in Jagged shape. making the
arm useless. Warden w. o. Maxwell
cursed II negro when he was trying
to tell members of the legislative com
mittee Of h accident.
At the camps of the Muscogee Brick
company and the Royster Guiana COM
pnny. members OF the legislature found
convicts wearing anklets with spikes
three inches long. designed to trip then,
up IL they attempted to run.
This string of horrible atrocities
might be extended almost indefinitely.
from the testimony given before the
committee. The people of Georgia have
been u~nspeaknbly shocked by the revel-
atlons. and there IS no question that
they are sincere and determined in
their demand for the immediate extinc-
ton OF the lease system.
This testimony was obtained from
\ members OF the Investigating commit
tee. who had made visits to the con
Wet camps in a special train: from ex-
convicts: from wardens and guards
past and present: and from independ-
cnt observers.
1,t,. $500. -. 49,.