The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-11-30

clambered to the upper bunk he
was assigned, careful to avoid jab-
bing the others with his spikes,
and stretched out on the blanket
crumpled on the straw mattress. 1t
was too much trouble to slip the
pants through the eye of the spikes
and he removed only his coat and
shoes They all slept in their pants,
stripped to the waist, if they had
no underwear.
FLIES AND MOSQUITOES
The iron door grated and changed
shut and the noises of the cage at
night began: chains clinking, mat
tresses ruStling, convict hum
ming softly to himself, sporadic
comments, curses in undertones,
sharp slaps at flies and mosquitoes.
Not a breath OF air stirred.
The cage filled with the acrid
stencil of eighteen unwaslled bodies.
A Negro scratched himself UNI
der the armpits. Another belched
gas and laughed.
From the adjoining cage a white
Swore ENORMOUSLY:
God damn stinkin' niggers'
THROUGH the bars you saw the
L trusty go to the shadoWy mass
in ttocks and raise the topmOst
board. The wrists were released
and the convict tell back, ms
shoulders striking the earth and
his legs pointing absu-diy up-
ward. When the ankles were
freed, his feet slid over the
board, the chain scraping the
wood.
They dragged him like a sack Of
potatoes to the cage. The door
grated again. Those who were not
asleep raised themselves on elbows
and stared as the trusty lugged him
to a lower bunk.
Gagged AGAIN
The door closed again. The pad
lock snapped. Insects droned.
Bodies tossed restleSsly. A Negro
snored. A convict stumbled TO the
pots.
A wild thing cried in the swamps,
a sharp cry of anger or hunger or
loneliness.
IT is hard to sleep the first night
in a cage in the heat and stencil,
and doubly hard when legs are
Weighted with spikes. When David
did sleep he awoke each time he
tried to turn. Once the convict
who had been in stocks startled him
from a fitful doze by a cry of pain
felt in a nightmare, and once the
boy awoke from dream where,
lost in q dismal swamp, his spiked
legs were tangled in twining roofs
that drew him down into q CLASSY,
Stagnant pool.
1t was quiet and peaceful in his
fathers cabin now. The half moon
was over the broken chimney and
the stars were winking like silly
Negro gals The sagging front
porch was piled with picked cotton.
zebulon was asleep with his mouth
open, hugging his skinny little arms
close to his breast. And over
everything was the stiffness preced-
ing dawn.
PREPARING BREAKFAST
The cook and his helper Stumbled
Sleepily to the kitchen. A lamp
was lit and their figures bobbed
Enthusiastically on the yellow squares
of window panes. The sharp cracks
OF kindling snapped in two were
like distant pistol shots.
The guard sat on the kitchen
steps. scratching his neck and
yawning.
The cage door swung open and
the guard called the old, familiar:
"Ey'rybody upl Gittin' out! Shake
yo laigs noWi"
Chains ratified and Changed and
conyicts stumbled sleepily from
their hunks, crowding and 'joStling
one another ia the narrow aisle.
DUzzARD'S ROOST was rushing
ID work on the road to Jeff
Beacon's acres. Last year the
planter had acquired unbroken land
cheaply and the county was now
making an ancient cowpath as wide
and level as other Georgia roads.
An eXcaVator ploughed the soil and
convict crews sbCvelled it into mule
wagons that took the load to level
deep hollows. In a senlicircle about
the wagon. their legs planted firmly
in. the broken earth, they waited
for the signal from the walking
boss
Tue guard approached David;
Ever work on the shovel gang?"
Eyes, sub"
SMALLPOX CARTER
Smallpox, Carter set the lick for
David's crew. d huge, pockmarked
Negro doing twenty years for man
slaughter.
"Bettah putin neah me, Boss,
be suggested. "Jes' to see dat he
doan hut hisse'f none"
The walking-boss nodded Con-
victs must shovel in unison, for If
, one rises while another bends, an
arm may be badly gashed.
The eastern sky turned gray.
"Let's gol" the guard shouted.
CNfALLPOx bent his broad back
y and with a grunted "Hepl" rose
with q shovelful of earth ano
heaved 1t into the wagon. AS he
bent each man in the crew bent
with him and when he rose, they
rose with him. Steadily, Will
rhythmic precision. fourteen SHOW
IL 1