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

convicts. They were hardly sufficient in
either case to form a squad of their own.
They joked among themselves, but they
were not noisy like the negroes preced-
ing them had been.
But all, negro and white, had their
friends and special acquaintance among
the onlookers. CHEEKY words were called
to the men in stripes and were answer
ed as cheerily. Farewells full Of kindly
feeling were exchanged, good humored
bantering dispelling any suggestion OF
sadness or unmanly feeling from them.
In short, the folk of Durham did not
stand off and shun the convicts as they
would a contagion. Their attitude to-
ward the felons was that of human to-
ward human. And this was the case all
through Georgia, wherever car of con-
victs stopped long enough to be realized
Pariahs the convicts may be, in the eyes
of ordinary men; but not that, so long
at least as they wear the stripes that
are their dishonor. Then they are mark
ed, distinctive. When they discard those
stripes is when, peculiarly enough, they
enter upon the full estate of Cain.
At Durham, however, the kindly senti-
ment toward the convicts was crystallized
and typi1ed, because many Of the con-
victs had passed ordinary lifetimes in the
mines and were we'll known to the inhab-
ttants.
/ 'ACome Back Soon"
Goodbye, Tom" the onlooIxers would
call. "Come back nome soonH
There seemed to be an impression
among the Inhabitants Of Durham that
the new law will not live long, and that
the convicts will be back in the hands of
the lessees before a great while has
passed.
Come back soon," was a farewell often
heard But the convicts only laughed.
Paintings between guards and their
former charges were cordial and without
any tinge of ill feeling. Probably there
were no partings, however, where hard
feelings existed.
TITS shame to put all those chains
on the fellows" said some of the towns
people among themselves.
One old negro trusty who hadn't been
in chains for twenty years was hobbling
about, grinning and telling everybody
goodbye. But he at least was not tied
to squad chain. He could move about
by himself.
Soon everything was ready, and the
first section started down the mountain
In one of the moving cars a negro was
singing, improvising words to his peculiar
tune. The other negroes heard him and
stopped their babble to listen and laugh.
Listen" they told each other. Hes
singing Hits a Mighty Long Train" A
! banjo was tinkling in one of the cars
The negroes on the two trains fired q
volley Of good-byes at each other, and the
first section was gone.
Shortly after it followed the second sec
j ton, and the last of the convicts from the
mines of Lookout mountain were on the
move to their new life.
AS the second train rolled out the songs
of the negroes became general. One ne
gro had an old hair brush and was slap
ping the palm of his hand with the back
of 1t, singing, IT'S Gwiner See My Gal
| Sat'day Night" and keeping his fellows
! laughing with his foolishness. There was
no vulgarity among them, nor profanity
To outward appearances, they were an
unusually well-behaved body of men.
Are you glad to be going?" was a
| question addressed to a car full of the
convicts' after the second section started
Glad To Be Going
Before the question was finished the
chorus of vehement Yes, sir!' had be-
gun. There was no doubt Of it.
: Behind them the black shafts of the
mines in which out yesterday they mad
been toiling, might nave reverberated
with that answer. It might have startled
the reveling ghosts OF humans who had
| died there.
Four hundred and thirty-seven pas
sengers were aboari the two trains-six-
ty-two guards and the rest convicts-go-
/ ing to eighteen counties. Two hundred
and thirty-tkree Of the convicts had ccn.e
| from the Durham mines. That number
! included 20 white men, of whom 2s came
to work in Fulton county and one went to
| the state farm as hospital steward
From the Lookout Coal and Coke mine
came 142 men-133 negroes and white
men.
So there was a precious load Of bu-
man lie aboard the two heavy passen-
| ger trains that cautiously rolled Their
| way down the mountain to Chickamau
/ ga, eighteen miles down in the valley.
ABOARD of the last train were the rail-
( way ofhcials, who were giving their per
sonal supervision to the work Of trans
| porting the convicts-Division Superin-
tendent :. ]. Cotter, Travelling Passen-
ger Agent ]. L. Hunt, District Passen-
| ger Agent Warren H. Fogg and Henry
! Baldwin, trainmaster. They saw to it
| that the biggest number or passengers
/ that ever moved on Lookout Mountain
, came down the mountain safely Su-
: perintendent Cotter, say railway men
who have assembled the mountain on
! the CentraPs spur to the mines has
! good reason to be proud or one Of the
costltest and best roadbeds in existence
| The Lookout Mountain spur shows as
! fine specimens of engineering as any
! railroad over the Rockies. The run
/ down to Chickamauga Thursday morn
| ing was without mishap or stop for
! any reason. From the mines clear
| through to Rome, in fact, the Centrals
| officials kept everything moving like
clockwork. At Rome the train which
had been united at Chickamauga was
split again into several sections and
sent out over different lines to various