The Newark journal., 1913-02-07
INSTANCES IF
 CRUELTY CITED
DoNAGHEY TELLS OF CASES WHICH LED TO PARDONlNG
 OF 36o CONNECTS.
ARE MANY OTHERS, HE SAYS
Death Resulted From lnhuman Treat. ment of Prisoners by Camp War
 dens, lt Is Charged.

Little Roek.-In a special message to the General Assembly. setting forth his reasons for the pardoning of 360 state and county convicts. Governor Donaghey gave a number of instances of cruelty and improper practices in the state and county convict camps, which had been reported to him.
 The governor said that these and other instances led him to take the drastic action which he did in an ef- fort to put an end for all time to the convict lease system. The governor said that the instances cited by him were only a few typical cases and that if they were not enough to rouse the legislature to action, more could be found by calling at his office and ex- amining his files.
 Governor Donaghey cited one case in Phillips county, where two negroes jointly forged nine orders for one quart of whiskey each. One was sent to the penitentiary for 36 years and the other for IS years. When he is- sued pardons to the men he was noti- fled that after serving nearly two years of his time, the negro convicted for 36 years had died.
 The governor also cited the cases at the state convict camps at Malvern and Ward, where cruelty, resulting in the death of co1Viets was charged against the wardens in charge of con yiet camps. At Malvern, 1t was charged, a young white convict was forced to work in the hot sun with a burning fever, was refused the neces- sary attention and died the next day Tn connection with this case the gov ernor quoted from the Times-Journal of Malvern a statement to the effeci that information had been secured from the convicts that they were fed mostly on sour pork and beans, and were herded in cars at night, twenty four or twenty-five men to the car, where they slept amid filth and yer min, and that the slightest complaint upon the part of any convict brought him a flashing on his back with a leather strap six feet long and four inches wide, and that men sent out from the walls, unaccustomed to labor, to work on the railroads were made to do the hardest work in the hot sun from the start; and that, if they lag ged or showed inability to do the work they were thrown to the ground and lashed with strap to the extent of ten licks and sometimes as many as fif- teen, according to the humor of the warden.
 At Ward, 1t was alleged that while he was working on a railroad for 8 contractor, white boy convict con. yicted of a miner offense, was shot down and, after being delivered to the station to be transported to the hospi tsl, was left lying upon the platform, the warden refusing to permit anyone to give him relief The convict died in a hospital the next day. The gov ernor quoted local newspaper regard Ing this case as follows:
 "This young white man lay in this condition for more than ar hour Fin, ally about the time for the train for Little Rock to arrive, the warden said Get up and walk to the other end of the depot The boy attempted to do so, and replied I can't walk The creature called the warden said with a black oath: D-m you, you have one good leg get down there. They then dragged him to the other end of the platform and put him on the train
 The governor declared that the peni- tentiary management should not be blamed for these outrages, as the peni- tentiary board has done the best 1t could in investigating the charges and causing the discharge of employees for permitting outrages. The governor said that because of the impossibility of the members of the penitentiary board exercising personal supervision over the treatment of the convicts, they can not be held responsible for the conditions that exist. The peni- tentiary authorities have no control at all over the county convict camps.