The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-10-04
SHAMEFUL SYSTEM
OF CONVICT LABOR
Mines of Alabama Operated
BY Slave Driving Inhu-
man Guards.
CRIMES ARE ATROCI0US.
TREATMENT OF MEN EXCEEDED
IN CRUELTY ONLY BY THAT OF
BELGIAN MONSTERS IN CON-
GO.
Harold Scott.

Birmingham. Ala, Oct. $40 see
slavery with all it's revolving cruel
ties, it is necessary only to visit one
Of the convict-operated coal mines.
The Pratt City mine. near this city, is
one of these.
1t was with an air of pride they
showed me through. The system had
been somewhat changed and l was to
see how we'll It worked. / saw the
men, their quarters, what they ate.
where they worked and slept: the
four-foot leather trace strap with
which they were whipped when their
armed. keep eyed task masters said
they shirked; the rifie-carrying,
square, awed guards with their packs
of bloodhounds kept always ready to
track men down. saw it ALL and still
was not prepared to break forth in
praise.
That leather bludgeon keeps COM
ing to my mind. Each man is as
signed his daily task; and if he fails
he is strung up and whipped.
But" explained my guide, "a state
law has limited the strokes to twenty
one"
Cant they kill a man with that
many blows?"
mo. l should judge not. But they
can cut him up pretty bad"
Four tons day is the task required
of an able-bodied man. The men are
rated by their size. experience and
health. A man rated in the second
class must mine three tons, and a
third-rate man mines two. Those
who can mine more than four tons q
day are supposed to get paid for any
excess over this amount at the rate Of
twenty-five cents a ton.
Do the men get all they earn this
way? The wardens say they do. ant
there is no one to dispute their word
Surely a naked man writhing under
the blows of that murderous straI
will not give evidence of much value
on this point. So we will assume they
get their dues.
There were at the Pratt City camI
about thousand men. About hal
were convicts of the state-long-tern
men; the others were the county's
men sent here for misdemeanors. The
ing companies at an average of 81
per head month. The state con
victs are worked by the state, and tn,
companies pay the state so much ;
ton for the coal delivered. The pres
ent rate is forty-seven cents paid b.
the heading, while the Tennessee Goa
& Iron company pays seventy-fou
cents a ton delivered above ground.
The great reform of which Alabam;
boasts is change of the law which
does away with the lease system as ap
piled to the states long term con
victs. Most of the atrocities of con
Wet camps have resulted from turning
the men over to private parties-bru
tai contractors intent on money profit
and willing to get that profit at tn
cost of blood or even human life. I'm
der the new law the state feeds an,
whips and works the men, and sells tn
prOQuct OF Inelr LABOR.
The present system is much NOR
profitable to the state. Under the las
year of the lease system the state re
ceived 100000 for her convicts: unde
the present plan the books showed
profit of 100000.
A large proportion Of Alabama
criminals are negroes, and this fact
| usually cited as an excuse for the lash
The southern man will say that tn
only way to get along with the colore
| man. and make him work. is to WIFI
| him. But there are some white
among the blacks, and they get theirs
too. And occasionally there are WON
en-wtite as well as black-althoug
| they are not sent into the mineSan
there is nothing to prevent the us
of the lash in them.
Compared with northern peniter
tiary. the barracks and stockade @
convict mine seem quite films
| things. And there is an absence O
the rigid discipline of the northern
| jail The men all live together i
one large barn-like room, the negroe
| in one and the whites in another
| There are no cells. When not in tn
mines they may talk, loaf and gambl
| or spend the time as they feel disposed
The food. boiled pork. samp. cor
bread and corn on The cob, looked an
| tasted palatable, though not exactl
| tempting. For men with money t
their credit, the prison store afforde
delicacies like canned peaches, cake
candy and certain summer drin
very popular in the south and said {
contain drug.
| On the day of my visit two negroe
made break for liberty. A guar
fired at but missed them and they go
fair start in the woods. But befor
the following day the hounds ha
tracked them down and they had bot
been shot. One, dangerously wounde
was not expected to live, and the othe
was in the hospital
Probably the worst feature Of col