The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-30

crime, for such is the lease system. The fact that the state may commit murder in the name of the law should immedi- atey abolish such a system, and murder | is not too grave charge to make. Here 1 in full is given the statement, with refer | ence to the sentence of W. G. Browner and F. Williams, who met their death in the explosion of Banner miles April [, | 1911:
 "The undersigned was in the office of the clerk of the Walker county law and equity court of Walker county, Alabama, when these two men, who had just been | arrested and placed in jail on charge of | unlawfully riding freight train, were | brought into said office, where they plead guilty and were sentenced to hard labor to pay the fine and costs. These were two young men of good appearance, who did not bear the marks of criminals. 'I shall never forget their statement that they were connected with some show which had stopped in Birmingham for week, going from there to Memphis and these two men were left stranded in Bir- mngham, having missed the train on which the others went to Memphis. Being ! without means. and anxious to get to their jobs in, Memphis, they caught | freight train on the Frisco railroad and had gotten as far as Dora. in Walker county, when they were discovered by a deputy sheriff and taken into custody | A"They stated that their relatives lived a great distance from Jasper, and rather thar remain in jail here they desired to go to work immediately, as it was their only means of paying the fine. They were sentenced on April 5, 1911, removed to Banner mines April and put to work in the mines on the morning of April T. and had been in the mines only about 30 min utes when the explosion occurred which sent them, together with over 100 others. to their death. These two young men had never worked in coal mines, and we cannot escape the conclusion that the law which authorized them to be placed there because of their being unfortunate in their inability to pay the small fine of s10 and costs. is the equivalent of nfiicting capital punishment on them for the commission of trivial msdemeanor.
 This is only one of many cases which | have happened to illustrate the inhu- | manity and injustice of working con- victs in coal mines'
 | The sworn statement of an ex-con- vict also make plain the horror of a
 system that allows paid officials of the state to commit atrocities that l would shame forever the name of jus tice in Alabama. The statement fol | lows:
 | "To the state at large as to the con dition that exist at present in convict | camps in the coal fields of Alabama:
 Tor one had four years experience in Snr
 so corrupt that words will not ex- plain The first phase of the question
 is the chasing of the poor unfortunate | creatures. They are classed once each
 month. simply by looks and not exam nation have seen 33S men classed
 at Banner mines by the state physi- clan, pr. Fowler, without him ever lay ing his hand on single one.
 "1 have seen men beaten unmerci- fully. I have as high as eight whipIRd at one time; twenty one lashes on the naked skin. and carried from the
 room to hospital unconscious and
 bleeding, all for the small offense of | lighting over game of cards I have known guards to sell convicts playing
 cards for $1 deck and then say a
 convict guard is truthful. I had rath CT. by far, have Theo Lacy visit my home than one such character. It all ways seemed clear to me that a convict
 guard and pit boss over convicts in l mines were of the lowest charactcr that could be found anywhere. There is one instance that I remember Just
 now where one negro named Frank Smith was brought out of the mines by
 g. pit boss and whipped three times ir one day. The excuse that the pit boss
 gave was that the man had refused
 to work. The last time I counted the 1ashes myself--47-and the negro was
 carried to the hospital No record was
 kept of such by warden as Is required by state
 "I remember quite well that a negro by the name of Grant was whipped one
 night unmercifully for just speaking 2
 curing meal time. This shows the brute
 that the warden or wardens have in
 them. have seen poor men hand
 ouffed by the front door of prison prison through the bars all day Sun day for such meanness as fighting the
 rivilege that is allowed every man
 in prison, just so it Is with his fist have seen the state chaplin, Dr. R. A. Emerson, pass these poor unfortunates
 handcuffed to the bars and make rq rove that they might hear his sermo, the thing the state was paying him $lS00 a year to look after. How came
 tEe two negroes to get burned to death in Banner mines for whom the Pratt Consolidated is being sued now? Il
 
 county farmers who was pretending to be pit boss and drove them in the
 mines over the fire boss warning. 'T have seen as high as IS men whipped ] in one night for failing to get their cIassi fcation. which was 10 tons each Sever lashes was great punishment but they would apply from IS to B and the war den and guard would laugh at how the poor convict bound down in the stripes of degradation, would plead for mercy. can say that I put up four years and two months at the prison mines in Alabama !! and never had a pair of stripes and was furnished a horse to ride. Why were )l these favors shown me, any more than to anyone else? Because I had friends
 who had money and the warden was us- ing 1t for me. When I completed my sen tence, which was in November, 1912, the warden was not able to pay me, so later after various threats. sent me a bogus
 check on the Birmingham Trust and Saw
 ings bank, which gave me an opportunity to prosecute him, and thereby effect a settlement. do hope that the present leg islature will abolish the convict lease sys. , tenn especially to the coal mines. and , by so doing wipe from the states his r tory one of the most dastardly things that ever marked the records of civil ized state-
 z "The inhabitants of Germany or Rus sia have never experienced the heart } aches, the groans and suffering, com : pared to what the present lease system of convicts in coal mines in Alabama hal brought upon the poor degraded convict E It Is a known fact that the two mos dangerous mines in the state are using convict labor. These mines are so dan. II reroi1a aa tO make the hire of "fref