Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-03
Atlanta Convict
Tied to Walls of
Prison 10 Hour
Freed Convict Makes This Charge
and Ayers Meyer Only Tries to
Keep Up Appearances.

Il III llSI hl4SsaIiOils Vi sldulSlul
conditions at the Atlanta Federal
Penitentiary were made Saturday
night by convict just released from
that institution which he never had
expected to leave alive.
The details Of dark age barbarities.
denied by the prison officials as often
as they have been alleged by guards
and ex-convicts. including Julian
Hawthorne, were repeated.
The story reiterated the charges OF
incompetency on the part of Warden
Meyer 1t was one which purported
to lay bare the sham and pretense of
the prison administration. 1t branded
all OF the so-called reform" as "a
brave show for the especial benefit Of
the Government inspectors and the
visitors. but show which, stripped
of its sham, had underneath only a
brutal and callous disregard for the
moral and physical welfare of the
prisoners.
Fayette Salter, d "lifer" sent up
from Mobile in December, 1898,
charged with killing a mail carrier
between Evergreen and Bellvilie, CO.
I1H ~
the mail, was the author of the latest
charges.
Trussed to Wall.
The witness whose evidence con-
vlcted Salter was found to be mental
ly unbalanced and irresponsible. and
Saltef's- sentence was ut once COM
muted V his present term OF service,
there being no other evidence against
him. He served eighteen months in
Raleigh, n. c.; three years in Nash
vile, and ten and half years in At
ANITA.
"They say there are no tortures,"
said Salter. II was trussed up. face
to the wall, and with my arms held
outstretched by nanacles, for ten
hours. When they let me- loose / just
dropped to the cement floor fIpm ex-
haustion. and didn't rise til the next
morning. This was during Warden
Meyers administration.
They say there Is no hole That's
right, there isn't any hole when
tho Deyyapa nor rarSr, nr., -, -,
itors go through the pen But the
poor prisoner that thoughtlessly IN
tracts q rule knows that there is
one.
There are a number Of three-cor-
nered cells in the isolation building.
A man can be chained up to the
doors Of any Of these cells Many of
them have been. There are little co.'s
in these cells. These are the cells
that are shown the visitors. But
down beneath them there is the
hole
No Cots in Cells.
The cells underground have no
cots. When a man drops, lie drops
on the colo cement floor. II they
want severely to discipline one of the
prisoners they can make one of these
little cells practically air-tig and
then turn on the steam through the
pipes.
Warden Meyers idea is to make
Il show. He wants his prison known
as a model institution. He wants to
see how little he can feed the men
on. Fully seventy-five per cent of
the men have stomach trouble OF
some sort from having to eat the
sour bread and meager rations that
are doled out.
Salter said that negroes are in
charge Of white men in many in
stances; that the men in the uber-
culosis camp are insufficiently clothed
because OF the warden's false econ
omy. and that the prison physician
treats the convicts without any re-
gard Tor their particular ailments.
Salter will leave to-day FOR his home
In Mnhila