The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-09-25
GEORGIA CONWCTS
BRUTALLY PUNISHED
Women Prisoners Are Stripped
and Fogged by Negro
Convicts.
From the st. Louis Post pispatoh

N"'AoI SAEOSuIG " liltleIliellt WealleT
aud other tnhuman cruelties in the
convict camps of Georgia are being
exposed by n committee which the leg
tslature of the state appointed to In
vestigate the matter.
Such horrors were disclosed by the
COMMITTEES that the whole state is ex-
cited and angry over 1t.
In Atlanta. the capital of the state,
$500 persons met in the opera house
and demanded q fuller investigation
and an immediate abrogatton of the
convict lease system by which such
cruelties were permitted.
Similar meetings ave been held in
Rome. Greensboro and in other parts
OF h state.
The cruelties that have been I'M
earthed by the Investigating commit
tee seem Incredible.
White men and boys have been
whipped to death because the were
too sick to work.
White women have been chained to
posts and whipped with straps weigh
ing five pounds until the blood ran
down and formed a pool at their feet.
Forty convlctS were stood in Il row
and four strong and brutal negro on
victs were given straps and spent five
hours lashing the 40 men on their bare
backs.
A white boy, 16 years old, was
whipped to death because he accident-
ally spilled a mug of hot coffee on the
back of the warden's pig.
Negro ~Convicts, serving terms for
murder. have been ordered to punish
u,lruly %convictS and several times
these tnurderous convlcts have killed
their charges.
Convicts nave been kept haine
to tho floor for months.
Graft on the part OF the wardens
and their assistants has been found.
One "conVict broker admitted to the
committee that he cleared $175 900 in
: two years by leasing ~convicts from the
Rtate for 1921 q year and %subleasing
them to contractors for $500 and $3.50
"a year.
II. had been discovered for the first
time that the wardens employed by
the state We're regularly receiving pay
from the ~lesses, and tina the state
warden. Jack Moore. In direct employ
of the state warden commission. had
acquired q fortune OF some 5000
within a few years, on a salary of $40
n inonth-which it has been discovered,
came from tratflcking in convicts and
acting MS a go-between with the les
sees.
From this slave traffic the state made
S2b0,00O a year net and the money went
to he public schools.
The convict camps OF Arkansas are
0isO being Investigated by a commit
tee appointed by the state board. 1t
reported that %convlcts were forced to
work hen sick, and that men n
+Wonen were often whipped most cruel
Nv. The report says:
=. There is abundant evidence to prove
that. both men and women have been
frequently cruelty whipped There are
numerous instances in which more
than 10 lashes have been inflicted, fire.
aucntly on the naked skin, often cut
ting and bruising II causing blood to
NoW. Several women We're whipped in
q manner that was both indecent and
knhurnan. In rartial %pai!lation of these
cruel ~whlppings it may be said thai
Ahey were frequently for immoral con-
duct men and women. and the
warden argued that the ordinary pun
ishn1cnt was not sufficient. However,
there was ample proof of & great many
Whtppings on tho bare back for other
causes
I'm order to establish beyond all
question tho severity OF the %whippinss,
maze a persona1 examination In
Colauttt and ". willis. of 1873 men.
and found that 10 OF them showed scars
a:ld bruises. This is a large number
when 1t Is known that there has been
sdta@of March. and when many Of those
whom the Testimony shows had been
ceverely whipped had been sent from
the farm, some pardoned and sorne
escaped.
But the greatest cruelty has been in
the convict camps of Georgia. One OF
tho Incidents which caused the people
OF Atlanta to assemble in mass meeting
and protest against it was told by r..
A. Keith. formerly a convict. now par
doned. He is Il White man who had
beer sentenced for staying the despoiler
of his home. He tod the committee
and his statement was corroborated by
ether wltnesses-how a White boy 16
. years old, who was serving q term of
ono year for stealing two cans OF potted
ham, was whipped to death.
This boy had been leased to the Dur
nam Coal and Coke company in north
west Georgia. One day he spilled some
hot coffee on q pig belonging to the
warden. Keith says he was held down
by two men while q man struck him
6S lashes with 81 heavy strap. The
boy had to be carried to the hospital
and in q week he died. The death GER
Keith himself was cruelty treated in
the same convict camp. and after his
pardon he sued the company which
LEASED him and recovered $1,000 dam
ages because of the crueltles.
n witness before the Investigating
committee was Daniel Long. a negro
boy. sl0 years old. He had served his
term In h Worth county road amp.
The boy came before the committee
accompanied by his mother and exhib-
tied his back. Although healed. 1t gave
evidence Of terrible decoration from the
Has In the neighborhood Of the kid
10y the skin q been torn from his
left hand and right foot. his right side
- pol RoA y 1SA-
J. A. Cochran. q white man. sentenced
Tor life for whitecapping and afterward
pardoned. told the committee how Pc
ter Harris. a negro convict, was
whipped to death at the plant OF the
Chattahoochee Brick company. Harris
couldn't stand h heat in the brick
'.clamps.'' where it was SO fierce thai
Warden ]. 7. Casey hesituted to ente,
for fear it would cause the discharge
OF his pistol. Harris was whipped ir
tho morning and again In the after.
Don for failing to perform his tasks
The next day Cochran saw his body ir
the cooling vat. The coroner's jury &C.
cepted the testimony that he died from
drinking too much water"
Cochran said it was the daily dut,
of each convict to handle 100. 900 brick
When he went there he weighed 2I
pounds; In two months he a falle1
to 1854.
Lovett Byars. another negro. wa.
overcome by the heat In the CLAMPS.
His subsequent death was attributed t.
consumption.
G. d. Workman testified there wer