Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-29
EX-CUARD TELLS
Of HORRORS IN
j. 8. PRISON
Men Chained to Wall for Weeks
in Hole Turned Into Raving
Maniacs, He Says
Continued From Page /.

place where the air is so foul as to be
almost nauseating.
Visitors Never Hear Of It.
You never hear of the hole when
you visit the prison. The first in
struction a guard gets is that he
must not talk Of the hole and the
prisoners can't talk until they are re-
leased-and then nobody believes
Them. And | believe every word ut
tered by the men who have been tell
ing these almost unbelievable tales is
true, for I've been there and I've help
ed chain the poor devils to the wall;
I've unlocked the shackles and seen
them fall to the floor like plummet,
asleep before their bodies struck the
cement
The ordinary man couldn't even
find the hole. unless he knew where IT
was. It's away off in a corner Of the
basement OF the isolation building,
where no visitors are allowed when
you inspect the prison, you are shown
the clean dining rooms, the chapel
where they pray for mems souls on
SundAy-and then on Monday the
same men take the prisoners into the
hole and subject them TO the tortures
OF the damned.
When YOU start to the hole, you've
got to follow a winding passagewav,
barred by iron doors which have TO
be unlocked and locked again when
you go through Then you come to a
final door, solid iron and more than a
foot thick. On the inside is the hole,
where silence and absolute darkness
reign You could stand on the GU
side of the door TO the hole and shoot
a gun-and you couldn't hear it in
the hole. Entering the door, you are
in a narrow passage way, flanked on
either side by half a dozen narrow
cells not more than Ave by seven feet,
and the ceilings are barely high
enough for a man to stand erect.
Air Fearfully Foul.
There are no windows, no place
where a ray of sunlight can enter.
The air in the hole is the same that
has been there for years, and il Is
unbclievably foul. A man can hardly
stay in the place five minutes without
getting q uplifting headache. The cells
or stalls into which the prisoners are
thrown are built of brick. with a CO.
ment floor, bare. All the lights are in
the passageway and are controlled by
a switch outside of the hole
In each cell, W inches higher
than a mans head, Sre stapled rusty
handcuffs. We'd take our prisoner,
throw him into the cell, make him
stand facing the wa" clamp his legs
v4tA hesns end then force him 10
stretch his arms out while we locke !
the handouts on his wrists. Then we
turned out the lights and left him
alone In a solitude that was terrible,
in a darkness that can hardly be pie
tured, breathing air that Slapped his
strength every second. He couldn't
hear a sound. for the hole is sounI- -
proof. I've known men to stay in the
hole for eight and ten and fffteen
days at a time. Wed shaclde them
up in the morning at 8 o'clock and
leave them alone until noon, VIII IN
we'd so down and loosen one arm.
The poor devil would be given a glass
of water and thin slice OF bread, all
the food he had for "a hours. He was
allowed few minutes to eat-in the
Oakland then he'd be strung up
again. AT o'clock at night the irons
sSks'e unlocked and h was allowed to
sest. He got his rest on a hard ce-
rS>Nt foor-and some idea Of the Sc
VERIFY Of the punishment can he
gained when ! tell you that lots Of
times I've released men from the irons
and seen them fall asleep before their
bodies struck the concrete.
Men Came Out Maniacs.
u don't think III ever forget the
hole, or the things I've seen out there.
I've seen strong men go into the
hole and come out manlaCs, with
white faces. drawn and haggard. I've
seen good natured men prisoners
whose only offense had been trying
"a get something to eat, thrust into
the hole and come out desperate and
with no other thought than to kill
I've heard men curse the warden OF
that penitentiary with the most ter
rible oaths that were ever conceived
in the minds of men,, and. I've seen
men attempt suicide after spending a
few hours shaCkled and chained n
the hole.
Il took a short term prisoner down
in the hole one day and strung him
NJ. He had always been n mild-mar.
nered man, pleasant and affahle |
strung him up at o'clock and ff-
teen hours later when | let him down
he was a ply wreck and a Glib
hering maniac. ! left him lying on the
fioor, Cursing and frothing at tho
mouth. After ! had gone he reached
through the bars of the door with his
shoe and knocked the electric light
globe down. Somewhere he had got
hold Of a rusty nail and had SNUG
gled IL into the hole He gathered IN
the fragments Of the light globe ana
raked them into his cell Then he
took the uail-a great, rusty spike
and tore Jagged hole in the muscles
of his side. Then he Crammed the
hole with particles Of broken glass
J found him the next morning living
in pool Of blood. screaming and
tearing at the hole in his side with a
piece OF glass. We took him TO -tho
hospital and he recovered. but he Nss
crazy.
"Fhen there was "a young white
man froms Mississippi a short tern