The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1908-08-14
OFFICIAL STATEMENT

To publicly make reference to
theme that may possibly wound a
mother already grieved, is farthest |
from che desire of the undersigned, "A
but it has become regrettable ne
cessity. A young white man, con- !
Wet recently died at the camp of !
Pritchett Brothers at Minis, Florida,
an occurrence much to be deplored, !
but nevertheless unavoidable.
The occasion of his death has been |
used, so the undersigned have been |
informed, and do believe, by a num-
Der Of people around Minis and in
other communities as focus around
which have accumulated variety of
rumors and false statements, the
which if longer circulated are we'll
calculated to do grave injustice to
those officers of the law, who were
under the necessity of doing their
duty to the law, in the instance of
this young man.
The undersigned believe that moth
ing, save either ignorance of the
facts, or direct malice can account
for the persistency with which these
falsiications of fact continue to be
circulated. We do therefore seek
the only means available of refuting
these erroneous reports and relate
below the simple facts which any one
may corrObOrate, by making a SIM
pie investigation.
A young white man giving his
name as Jim Hart" was handed in
to the custody of the sheriff of the
county by a conductor of the F. E.
c. R'y., who charged the said Hart
with stealing a ride on his train or
attempting to ride without paying
the fare.
On trial in the court of the county
Judge he plead guilty and was SEN
fenced, receiving only about one-half
of the possible maximum amount of
punishment under the law. For
some time after receiving sentence
he remained in the county Jail and
was not sent to the turpentine camp
for the reason that there was no need
for more labOrers than were then on
hand. Only short time before the
Jail was burned the sheriff was adj
vised by the manager of the camp at
Minis that he would be ready in day
or two to receive several county con-
victs under the terms of a contract
which exists between the county COM
miSsioners and Pritchett Brothers,
the owners of the camp, etc.
1 II Tho The rosl l.
strOyed by fire. The sheriff, altho
fortified by the authority of the con-
tract, did not carry this batch of pris-
oners directly from the burned jail
to the camp at Minis, but awaited
the assembling of the board of county
commissioners who ordered him to
at once turn these prisoners over to
Pritchett Bros. according to the con-
tract had with them.
They were taken to the camp Mon
day afternoon. 1t has been charged
that Jim Hart" was worked and
whipped to death by the manager of
the camp. The truth is-Hart went
to the woods on Thursday, July End,
and was permitted to do almost moth
ing for the reason that he was a new
man. On Friday he again went to
the woods to work, and did about
one-half days work.
On Saturday he with other con-
victs remained at the camp on ac-
count of July 4th, holiday. On Sun
day he likewise remained in the camp
making no complaint and apparently
in good health aswhen committed to
the camp. On Monday morning he
went to the woods with his squad
and did no work and was not whip
ped to make him work but, on the
contrary. was brought by the mana
ger to the camp at Minis. He was
seized with CONFUSION just before
arriving. AphySician was in attend
ance as soon as possible and spared
no effort to avert what even then
seemed to be a necessarily fatal ter
minatiOn. The same physician gave
the coroner'S jury a statement of
opinion as to the cause of death to-
wit: SunStrOke and a consequent
series Of convulsiOnS.
Two days before death Hart gave
as his real name Ira French, of Pots
dam. N. Y. Upon the advice of
Capt. L. E. Wilson, the manager, he
wired to his mother for the necessary
amount of money to complete the
payment of his fine. Capt. Wilson
contemplated loaning him the money
. in the event of its failure to come,
and take the risk involved in the loan.
And yet there are those who have
been unkind enough to say that HE
WHIPPED FRENCH TO DEATH.
The above is frank statement of
fact and can he shown uDOn inVeSti-