Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-04
PUNISH RATHER THAN REFORM
CONVICT SAYS COMMISSIONER

/ to make pubic the stories lOlu DS
Ithe convicts, but one Of them, II. d.
{ FlemnRs. whose sentence Will expire
/ in twelve days. told the newspaper
men his story when he came out.
! Here it is:
Il am serving my first term, he
| said Il was sent up for assault to
murder We are treated little better
than dogs here, although the new
warden. Mr.. Clark, appears to want
to do the right thing. Guards have
cursed me and applied vile epithets
70 my mother. and il ! objected |
| was whipped. / was logged on my
bare skin in June, and to this day
don't know what ] was whipped for.
| I'VE seen guards come into the camp
staggering under the influence Of
whisky, and once ! saw guard
| drinking He offered me a drink and
cursed me when ! refused.
Made to Work While H.
zone day last summer / got sick
| during the work and Charley Wood, d
| guard who is a brute, wouldn't let me
sit down. The next day | laid in, be-
cause ! was sick, and the Jack man,
| Captain Thomson, came and cursed
me and said there was nothing the
| matter with me
"On another occa sion Charley Wood
made me climb down off the bank,
where I had fallen because | was so
| sick. and made me get into the cut
and go to work. ] could hardly stand
and so couldn't see, but he held me
| under the gun and made me swing a
shovel
The day | was whipped-for what
| reason ] do not know-other men
were logged for the same reason.
| Among them were Guy Forester, Joe
l.,,,
/ call Fifteen Cents" whose real name
| / do not know I worked all the day
before, and worked hard, for I've
worked hard ever since | came here.
| When we went out on the chain that
morning Charley Wood came along
and stopped in front of us and cured
and said:
Go back into the office. you --.
and get killed.
Il got seven lashes and Guy For
roster got fifteen. The other men got
from FIVE to ten each"
16-Year-Old Boys Story.
Frank Huseman, a 16year- old boy.
who is serving a two-year sentence
for larceny. showed hand that was
covered with the remains OF a bad
abscess. He said the guards had
made him work when the sore was at
its worst stage, with no protection
other than rough and dirty rag.
Ben Cohen said he had been
whipped once during his six months
term for laziness,
God knows" he said, that ! wols,
as hard as | can. I'm not the strong
est man in The world and ! can't
stand everything | do my best. but
they whipped me because ] couldn't
do more"
Tales of brutality were told when
| the investigators went to the Adams
vile works the stretch of road
where the men under the gun were
working
They found r f. Watson there, a
| boy whose left arm is useless, dried
and shriveled from the effects of a,
| sunsho, wound.
Works With One Arm.
! He said that, although the doctor
had said he was not able to handle
| shovel, guards had forced him to
work under the gun with the imple
ment and threatened to beat him if
| he couldn't keep up with men who
| had two good arms. Watson said he
/ testified before the Grand Jury, and
| before that he was water boy After
| lie came back. he said, a guard came
| to him and said Captain Thomson
| had ordered him under the gun again
Il was whipped once" said Wat
| son, because | had q blister on my
| foot and my shoe was too tight, and
cut it so | could walk. I was also
| whipped because ! complained one
! day when il was cold and my arm
| hurt. MY arm hurts all the time, but
/ they won't do anything for it
Remarks made by the men on the
| Adamsville works proved the suspi-
| cion that had been in the minds Of
| some of the members of the investi
/ eating party--that the camp had been
prepared for the coming of the inves-
! tigators.
Food improved Suddenly.
I'VE knew somebody was coming
! to day" said Rube Mitchell who is
| serving a seven-yesr bit for the food
| was 80 per cent better than it usually
! is"
| Mitchell. E J. Patterson. John by,
! Frank Jones. John Beaseley and 9TH
ers told tales of cruelty on the part of
tie guards. and Mitchell shed lit
| tie new light on the shooting of Con-
Wet Harris
The stick these people say Harris
| had in his hand when he was shot"
| Mitchell said, lis not the one he car
| ried. This stick is a big bludgeon.
The one that Harris had was a little
| limb broken from bush, and it
wasn't over a foot long, and no big
| ser around than a broom handle.
don't know what became of it, but
the one that is Son exhibition came
from the camp woodpile after the
| shooting
! Frank Jones. 26 years old. who has
served nine years OF q life sentence
| for murder, said that he and half a
dozen other men we're whipped be-
cause they asked about the dinner
hour, which the rules say they have
right to do. Among the other men