The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-11-01

CllLeQ against Cne mess nan Sn'
1t is difficult to sleep when
it is your last night on the
chain gang and David peered
through the latticed i r o n
b ars at the cro S s with
its smoking lamps. There were
thirteen men in the cage with him
nine Negroes and five whites
Sprawled on thin mattresses cover
ing the iron hunks ranging the
length of the cage on either side
in three tfree-decker tiers. The six
nearest the solid steel door were
reserved for whites The fourteen
men were naked to the waist.
Thsir exposed bodies shone with
sweat even in the semi darkness.
you kin take a bath in de ribber
tomorrow" a voice from an adj
joining bunk whispered enviously.
David did not answer. To battle
in a river, and haunting devil
always with him-that was Caleb's
life. The toothless old convict, with
a. skin dried and withered by
Georgia suns, had long since lost
what little wit he had been born
with and now spent his waking
hours arguing with evil spirits and
RELIEVING the day when he had
bathed in a river.
FLIES, MOSQUITOES
vERMIN
A mosquito lit on the boys neck
and he slapped at it casually. Flies
hummed in the cage. Flies and
mosquitoes we're always entering
through holes in the screen cover
ing the bars and buzzing desperately
to get out again. They were worse
than the vermin you scratched at
necessarily.
The guard, too, slapped at his
ankles and arms and face. Some
how it helped you when you could
not sleep, to know that the flies and
mosquitoes annoyed him, too.
The mountainous mass of Sam
Gates stretched on the bunk across
the narrow aisle from David
turned slowly at the whisper and
spat through cracked and swollen
lips
You work out dis mawnin'," he
said with difficulty, raising him
self on an elbow.
Eyes, suh," the boy whispered.
II wish I Wukked out" Caleb
announced eagerly.
THE huge Negro moved restless
ly. His legs hurt. A steel
spike resembling an ordinary pick
extended ten inches in front and
behind each ankle. The twenty
pound weight had rubbed against
his feet until one leg had become
infected. Shackle poison, convicts
called It. He had asked for a
doctor and the guards fist had
crashed against his mouth. That
had been yesterday, and he had
not complained again, though the
throbbing pain made it hard to
work and impossible to sleep.
4 KILLER
Everyone was afraid Of this
strapping prisoner doing life for
murder. Sam Gates had killed a
man on the farm where he had
worked-broke the mans neck with
his two hands. From the day two
months ago when, chained hand
and foot, he had been delivered to
the Ochlockonee county camp at
Snake Fork, he had terrified them.
In his sullen eyes and powerful body
was the tremendous, quiet power of
the primitive savage. Sam Gates
was a killer. Even the guards who
tried to break him and failed only
hated and feared him the more.
How long you did, boy?" he
asked.
six months"
six monthsl Dat ain nothin.'
bin in camps TO- fiv year an I
got lot mo- tub do befo' dey
takes desc often me-"
He raised the swollen foot in
explanation and let it down easily
on the torn mattress.
Eyes, subj" Sam repeated. Five
year. an a lot mo- tub do-onless
I kills dat boss-man an die out"
A prisoner, scratching himself
drowsily, raised his head.
"Gittin' up" he called.
The sleeping men tossed rest
lessly, disturbed by the cry.
"Git m" the guard shouted
The oonvict's bare feet thudded
on the floor. The sharp clang Of
iron against iron drowned the hum