The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-14
FLORIDA SHERIFF
MUST FACE JURY
IN PEONAGE CASE


of an agreement made between SD
perinterdent Fisher and himself.
The federal indictment against
Sheriff Jones charging peonase con-
tains three counts, and involves trans
porting New Thompson. 64-year- old
negro, to the Putnam Lumber com
pany
Charges Against Jones.
The federal indictment against
Sheriff Jones charging peonage con-
tains three counts. 1t involves trans
porting Ned Thompson. e4-year- old
negro. to the Putnam Lumber com
pany to serve sentence of three
months without any formal charges
being docketed against the negro.
Fisher and Higgenbotham are
charged with having entered into a
conspiracy to kidnap Thopmson.
Thompson. according to federal au-
thorities, was arrested here Septem
Der 9, 1921, on peace warrant taken
out by a negro woman. He was
placed in Jail on default of bond. Ac-
cording to state laws, Thompson
could have voluntarily worked while
being held in Jail, but he could not
be transported to another county to
be worked,
On September 20 according to a re-
ceipt the sheriff obtained from w. E.
Young. an agent for the lumber COM
pany, he was transferred to the lum-
Der company's camp. After serving
80 or more days, he was brought back
TO the Leon county Jail, where. after
few days confinement. he died.
Witnesses appearing before the
legislative committee have testified
that Thompson, because he was not
physically fit to perform hard
labor, was whipped by Higginbotham
so severely. witnesses testified, that
Ii :,
was sent from the logging camp in a
truck.
Convict Leasing To Go.
Legislative banning of the whip
ping of convicts in this state to-
night seemed to be only matter of
a day. With this prison reform un-
doubtedly will go the county lease
system as soon as existing contracts
terminate. Legislation to this lat
ter end has only been held from final
passage until the two hours of the
assembly could decide the difficult
problem of discipling convicts.
The lower house from the first has
been overwhelmingly in favor of the
banning the whip. Tonight 1t APP
peared that the fourteen unfolding
senators of the more conservative
upper house had won their fight be-
gun with the Introduction of bill
by Senator Hodges to abolish cor
poral punishment. Led by Mr..
Hodges Senators Stokes and Mac
Williams, this minority by three has
steadily brought the majority over
first to a resolution that would ask
the administrative officials to ban
the whip as an experiment measure
and then to the passage of a bill
yesterday that would make it unlaw-
full to whip county prisoners at all
while such punishment would be
banned for state prisoners for two
years at the end of which time the
next legislature could act in the light
of experience.
VIII Free All From Lash
But tonight the outright whip
aboiitionists declared they had
enough strength to make the senate
concur in an amendment put into this
bill by the house that would disre-
gard the two year experimental
clause for state convicts and would
free them, too, from the lash for
ever. If it is found that they can
not be handled without the whip at
the end of two years. these senators
said, the next session could take any
action it deems fit.