Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-06

ton last summer.
It was the first time, Thursday morn
ing, that many Of the convicts on the
train had been outside the mines by the
day since they were convicted years ago.
w. S. Young, a white man growing old,
had been fourteen years and four months
in the Durham mine serving all his time
there since his conviction in Walker
county. His sentence is 20 years, but in
two months more it will expire under
the good behavior rule. Young blinked his
eyes under heavy brows and said but 1T
tie on the train. He came to Fulton
county.
Long Years in Mines
Wilson Paul, a black and bearded ne
gro, was among the few who did not
grow weary on the train during the long
days travel. He had forgotten what it
means to be free, he said. He had been
sent up for life in 1879, when ne was 10
years old, and had been digging coal ever
since There was an unconscious pathos
in his manner as he told his story. Muir
der was the charge. He and his sisters
step-daughter-a little negro girl about LIS
own age-were playing and got mad at
each other, and began throwing things
that they picked up in the farmhouse
yard. He hit her with fence rail splin-
ter, and her neck was broken. He was
convicted of murder.
Calvin Jordan, a negro 81 years old,
sent up from Putnam county for life for
murder, has been in the coal mines of
| Lookout mountain since 1882. and from
the day of his incarceration till Thursday
he had never been on a train.
Frank Mayson, another negro, has been
digging coal since 1889. He was sent up
from Glynn county, convicted of murder,
| sentenced to life.
| Bishop Smith, another negro, was orol-
en- up about his legs by falling slate In
the mines. Smith has SO years more to
serve, on a 4O-year sentence for robbery
in Irwin county.
Manuel Maglon, colored, helped to build
the Central railroad over which he was
riding. Thursday. Maglon has served q
years on a life sentence imposed in Ma
rion county for murder.
| Charley williams, another negro, has
| dug coal for twenty-three years. He Is
| UP from Sumter county for life for
| murder.
| But Reuben Avery was proud Of his
| distinction as the man who had been
| the longest time In the Durham mines.
Reuben is a light-colored negro Of the
| gray-eyed type. He wears glasses, and
said on the train that he had been
blind as a bat" from the sunlight all
| morning. In 1893 Avery entered the
! Durham mines from DeKalb county,
! and he has been there ever since.
1t was stated that a number of the
| convicts had saved very tidy little
sums from their money earned for extra
| work in the mines after their daily
] tasks were finished. One negro was
! known positively to have $205 to his
| credit, for he had turned that amount
| in actual money over to Sheriff Brown,
| Of Fayette county, with whom he was
going. He was a negro, however, who
is under sentence for life Imprisonment.
Captain Gordon. ex-warden Of the Dur
ham mines, said that he had paid out
| a couple of thousand dollars among his
convicts Thursday morning before they
were turned over to the counties.
A Race With Dawn
"a Race With Dawn, or How The
Journal Got There" might be the title
| Of a thrilling novel dealing with the
adventures of The Journal in reaching
the Durham mines before sunrise Thurs
/ day morning
At $40 o'clock Wednesday afternoon
The Journal left Atlanta.
"You can't possibly get there before
late tomorrow" a dozen people had
told it.
In Chattanooga at 10 o'clock Wednes-
day night a dozen others were ready to
| tell it:
Durham mines at daylight? Impos-
sibie! Can't be doner
! A long distance trolley to Fort Ogle-
thorpe, back in Georgia, was transport
| ing forty-nine other responsible people,
each of whom told The Journal:
| well, 1 feel sorry for you, old man.