Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-29
EX-CUARD TELLS
Of HORRORS IN
j. 8. PRISON

place where the air is so foul as to be
almost nauseating.
Visitors Never Hear of 1t.

place where the air is so foul as to be
almost nauseating.
Visitors Never Hear of 1t.
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 wills to the WALL
I've unlocked the shaCkles and seen
them fall to the floor like plummet.
asleep before their bodies struck the
cement.
Men Came Out Maniacs.
81 don't think I'll ever forget the
hole, or the things I've seen out there.
I've seen strong men 90 into the
hole and come out maniacs, with
white faces, drawn and haggard. I've
seen good naturcd men, prisoners
whose only offense had been trying
TO get something to eat, thrust into
the hole and come out desperate ami
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 conceive ]
in the minds Of men, and I've see
men attempt suicide after spending a
few hours shackled and chained n
the hole.
81 took a short term prisoner down
in the hole one day and strung him
up. He had always been mild mar.
nered man, pleasant and affable. |
strung him up at 6 o'clock. and fif-
teen hours later when ! let him down
he was a physical wreck and a gio-
bering maniac. | left him lying on the
! floor, cursing ard frothing at the
mouth. After | had gone he reached
I 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 ii into the hole. He gathered M
the fragments of the light globe and
raked them into his cell. Then he
took the nail-a great. rusty spike
and tore a jagged hole in the muscles
of his side Then he Crammed the
hole with particles of broken glass
! found him the next morning lying
in a pool of blood, screaming and
tearing at the hole in his side with Il
piece of glass We took him to the
hospital and he recovered, but he was
crazy.
A Consumptive' Fate.
"A one armed man who was in
the last stages of tuberculosis was
one of the prisoners when ! was
there He was diving, and asked if
he could go to the hospital They
told him no. lie wrote a letter to
the Attorney General, and it was
caught in the mail As punishment
the consumptive, to whom fresh air
was life, was locked in his cell for
1--WE months and fed on bread and
water. Three days before he died
| they took HIM TO the hospital.
There was another man who had
a trhing alteration with a fellow
| prisoner while they worked i'm the
tailor shop. They took him and put
| him in his cell. and kept him there
| without bite to eat for twenty days
| Every day they showed in to him a
| slice of bread and glass Of water
| He refused to eat the stuff, and they
| told him to starVe. When he was
! taken out he had lost 10 pounds.
! 81 stood it as long as | could. For
| two years | hung men up in the hole
! and saw them change from men into
| lunatics-and then | had TO quit
1T was too much like sending mems
: souls to hell!"