Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-08
GRAND JURY To
HEAROF MUT|NY
PLOT IN CAMPS
Uprising Against FIogging Ex-
pected by DonaIdson-Inves-
tigation To Be Made.

With the Grand Jury preparing to
resume its inquiry into conditions IN
convict camps Of Fulton County when
II convenes Tuesday, the agitation fnr
prison reform, which has stirred At
lanta and Georgia for two weeks,
reached an acute stage Saturday when
S. II. Donaldson, who succeeded his
brother, Captain It. ]. Donaldson, as
| head Of the public works department,
declared convicts are PLOTTING to turn
| upon their guards in mutiny.
Mr., Donaldson asserted that a feel
| Ing OF unrest is evident in every
| camp In the county, a direct result Of
the protest against fiogging.
To Take Up Reforms.
The removal of Jurisdiction over
Fulton County's convict camps from
| the Superintendent OF Public Works,
who shall be replaced in respect TO
this one duty by a county convict
warden, is one of the several reforms
that will be given consideration by
| the Grand. Jury.
This plan would give the warden
care Of the convicts and no other
duty. 1t would be his work to ad-
just all grievances, pItSCiIDe all Sc
we're punishment and hear the pris-
oner's side of the case where such
| a proceeding was necessary. He also
would have the appointment and dis
charge of guards.
Under the present system, many
convicts have testified that they re-
ceived no hearing, and were flogged
on general principles.
Commissioners to Act.
Tull G. Waters, chairman of the
County Board OF Commissioners, sail
Saturday night that a conference
with the State Prison Commission
would be held Immediately upon the
report of the Grand Jury and that
every evil would be corrected so far
as possible. Resolutions already have
been passed looking toward remedy
ing conditions.
Beyond saying that ff trouble
comes we will be prepared for it," Su-
perintendent Donaldson refused 10
disclose the nature of whatever plans
he is making to check the rumored
uprising of the convicts.
Recalling his three months in a
Fulton County convict camp under
Jack Boss" Clyde Thompson with
shudder, q convict now in the chain
gang in another part of the State told
Saturday of cruelties of which he had
been .the victim and which he had
seen inflicted on others.
He is in Atlanta, and will testify
before the Grand Jury. He was SEN
fenced from LAGRANGE for murder
and is serving a life sentence. For
| three months he was in the old BuckA
| head camp
Calls II Slaughter House.
l..
not penitentiary or a convict camp"
| said the lifer 81 saw instances of
| unspeakable brutality. I was given a
taste Of It when first was sent there.
was weak from year in Jail, but
they put me at the hardest kind of
work
when I was exhausted by the
work in the hot sun and was unable
to go on they whipped me until l was
insensible Before | had been there
long / determined that IL ever I got
an opening l would make a break for
liberty.
wives and daughters of the men
in stripes would come to see them
and they would be subjected to in
dignities and insults before the eyes
Of their husbands and fathers, who
were helpless to protect them.
Says Donaldson Knew.
"Thomason, from my three months
experience under his rule, | know TO
be absolutely without human feeling.
| Captain Donaldson could not help but
know what was going on at the camp,
! but nothing ever was done.
"Thomason nearly beat man to
| death who used to pray every night.
"My experience at Buckhead taught
me that many of the guards in Fulton
County are little more than brutes.
They are illiterate and appear to be
chosen for their savagery and bestial-
ity."