The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-05-26
FLoRIDAs DAMNINe DISGRACE

We know that the patrons of this
paper will read the following taken
from a late issue of the Georgian.
with poignant shame and sorrow:
Not half OF the horrors attending
The inhun1an treatment of cOnvicts
under the Florida lease system are
told in a letter TO member of the
Florida house written by the father Of
a boy convict who was stripped nak-
cd and dashed by q whip. But enough
was told to cause some of the advo-
Gates of the old system 10 revolt, so
unreasonable and inhuman was the
nunishment And that whipping"
said the letter, was not as severe as
others get"
Willie McQuinn, boy convict, who
was almost an invalid when he was
sent to the gang" was required to
strip off his clothing and take the
punishment administered to his bare
back with a whip because a guard
did not hear the boy call for time out
when he stopped work just long
enough to replace the hack on the
handle so he could continue chipping
CurpGnJlu6 DOAcS.
Accompanying the fathers commu-
nication are affidavits signed by
physician, county officers and the
mayor of Kissimmee telling of the
lads physical condition. A weakling
since childhood" unable to perform
manual labor" cruel for him to be
placed in a position where he would
have to do hard labor" are the words
of some of the signed statements.
Yet under the Florida lease system
he is required TO work hard all day
in the woods, exposed to the wealth
er, and then has to undergo such Un-
reasonable and inhuman punishment
because he did not "holler" when his
hack came off of its handle and he
stopped work to fix it.
Yet some defenders of the lease
system have the assurance 10 say
that the convicts in Georgia do not
fare so well as the convicts in Flor
ida. When, since the end of the lease
system, has a Georgia convict. work
ing on her public roads. received
such treatment, such unreasonable
punishment as did Willie McQuinn?
The whipping told of in the letter
by the boys father is not the only
one he has received. MY son was
whipped several weeks ago, and how
many more times since do not know,
because he is afraid to write such in
formation are the words in the let
ter Why should the boy fear to
write to Florida's prison commission
er and tell him of the wrong done
him by the guards of the camp?
Because, said a member of the
1Crri e-1o old
tenn in Florida is not human enough
to allow its convicts such a privi-
lege.'
In Georgia, under the present sys-
tenn of working the convicts on the
public roads, they are allowed TO
write such information to the prison
commission, and the guards and war
dens are not allowed to open a letter
addressed to the commission. But
Florida, when she sells her conviets,
sells with them their right to appeal
TO their protector for protection
against inhuman treatment.
The guards or wardens are allow
ed to open all mail, no matter who it
Is addressed to-" says a lawmaker,
and If they catch a convict writing
about whipping, they destroy the
letter and whip him again for trying
to 'squeaP on them"
Oh, the intolerable disgrace of it.
But let US rejoice that it is about on
its last legs. The lease system that
tolerates these inhumanities was
killed in the house on May II by the
decisive vote of 45 to Is. Now, if the
senate will do as we'll we will rid the
state of one of its foulest blotehes.