Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-29
900 WHITES HELD
AS SLAVES, SAY
REFUGEES
Five Men Flee Tennessee Con-
struction Camp and Tell of
Barbarous Treatment.

Declaring they were forced to work
at the point Of guns and beaten with
Subs when they protested, five intel
ngent white men have appealed to the
Salvation Army in Atlanta for aid dur
ing the past week. They had ESCAPED
from a construction camp atsthe Ten
nessee Power Companys dam near
Parksville, Tenn.
In the last three years more than $50
men from the same place have been
aided by the Salvation Army, said Ma
jor Horace Dodd, who has been in
charge of. the local. relief station for
that time. All Of them tell the same
story, he said, and most Of them bore
bruises and cuts to bear our their
statements. Some men have been scar
red so badly they were unable to work
for weeks, while others suffered broken
bones and deep cuts.
Lawrence Cardenny. nineteen years
old, from Philadelphia, appeared at the
Salvation Arny's hotel several days
ago, along with d number Of others
who also had escaped in the dead Of
night while the guards around the camp
were not vigilant.
Cripple Forced TO Do Heavy Work.
Cardenny is suffering from a mall
formation OF the right arm which prac-
tically deprives him Of the use of that
member, yet, he declared, when he ar
rived at the dam the transportation
agent forced him TO take up pick and
shovel and labor beside others who
also had been forced into the heaviest
Of the work.
Three weeks ago he protested, after
having worked a single day. The trans
portation agent then took club, he
said, and beat him severely. Then he
took his pistol and smashed the boys
mouth with the handle. AS the boy
told his story he showed old bruises
on hts body and pointed to scars caused
by cuts which he declared were in
fficted by the agents blows.
The same day, he added nineteen
men escaped from the camp. Four
teen were caught and brought back be-
fore the muzzle of shotguns. The agent
and guards took clubs and beat them
while other guards stood by with load
ed guns to keep them from fighting
back. Some of the men were beaten
so severely they could hardly crawl
to their tents. That night seven es-
capped, Cardenny being one Of the
seven. He came TO Atlanta with two
Of them and lodged at the Salvation
headquarters, where he has been since,
endeavoring to earn sufficient money
In take him back to his Northern home.
500 Hold Virtual Slaves, He Says.
The boy, who appears TO be unusually
intelligent. said he was a plumbers
helper and was employed in that capac-
ity by the New York employment head
quarters Of the Tennessee Power Com
pany. He was old there he would be
given light work which he, even with
llis manned arm, could accomplish, and
that his wages would be good.
II took six days to make the trip
from New York to Parksville, he said,
and 80 men were with him. The day
after their arrival, though most of the
men had entered into contracts to 90
skilled labor, the agent forced them at
the point of pistols to take up pick
and shovel.
There are five camps on the work
now being done by the company, and
something like 100 men are employed
in each camp. Each night, Cardenny
declared many men brave the danger
Of the guards guns and escape from
their peonage Most of them are
Northerners, and on this and their lack
Of knowledge of the country the men
in charge of the power work expect to
LIE a i,ln n hold them.