WHERE IGNORANCE IS BRUTAL
Century Investigator Re
veals Horror of Prison
Regime in Southern
States
BRUTALITY in Southern prisons recently revealed in the
trial for murder of a “whipping boss” in a Florida leased
convict camp has united in vehement protest one of the large
national magazines with the editors of southern and northern
newspapers.
The Century Magazine, shocked at the conditions indi
cated by the Florida revelations, commissioned Frank Tannen
baum, a noted prison investigator, and Adolph Lewisohn/ an
authority on penal reform, to lay bare the facts in its July
issue. The indictments brought by Mr. Tannenbaum against
prison systems in several Southern states, are literally blood
curdling even in their mildest descriptions of the living condi
tions and treatment of prisoners.
Because of the unbelievable harsh
ness of the facts he discovered, Mr.
Tannenbaum prepared to fortify his
personal observations with numerous
quotations from official sources. He
has completely avoided mention of
the most atrocious discoveries. And,
in order that the people of the north
and west shall not take advantage of
the revelation of conditions in south
ern prisons to pride themselves at
the expense of the south, he has given
a brief summary of barbarisms that
exist in other sections.
Mr. Lewisohn’s article is devoted
to constructive suggestions for elimi
nating the conditions that now exist.
Not a Kindly Tale
In describing what he found, Mr.
Tannenbaum throws out a warning to
the extremely sensitive: “It is not a
kindly tale. If you are sensitive, it
will give you sleepless nights and har
rowing dreams. I write it because I
must. It is simply an attempt to tell
the things that good men do to one
another, and to women, too, all in the
name of virtue and at great expense
to the State.
."These happen,” he continues, "to
men like yourself and are done by
men like yourself, the sufferer and the
perpetrator both being unfortunate
souls caught in a vortex of passion
and hate that drives them to madness
and brutality. Unfortunate, ignorant
men, strained beyond capacity, in
* capable of fortitude and needing
some outlet and escape from a fruit
less, barren existence, impose their
wills upon other mer. more unfortu- i
nate and more hopeless.”
He considers the prison guards,
who have to work from half past four
In the morning until seven at night,
doing nothing but watch, nervously
clutching their guns. “The most fre
CRITICAL FOOD SHORTAGE AND
WORTHLESS MONEY CAUS
ING UNREST
BERLIN, August 13—The Reichstag
states that the Cuno government's fall
will be accomplished Immediately up
on his retirement. There is said to be
a critical tood situation, due to the
W shortage of supplies and high prices,
also to the fact that the workers are
beintr paid in worthless paper marks,
together with the internal, economic
and linancial situation, which is re
garded as being favorable to bolshe
vik propaganda.
BERLIN, August 13—All of the Ber
lin banks were closed Saturday noon
because of the lack of currency with
which to continue operations. The
Reichstag bank claimed it had no cash
on hand and none was in sight for im
mediate future. The sixty printing
> presses, which have been turning out
billions of marks have ceased opera
tions, owing to the strikes in the print
er’s trade. It is reported that the
strike movement is spreading to var
ious party of Germany and among the
different branches of workers, who are
dissatisfied with their wage agree
ments.
Erect Gallows for Effigies
BERLIN, Aug. 13.—Three limes the
communists erected gallowTs with effi
^ gies of Chancellor Cuno an 1 Hugo
Scinm-s hanging from them, bu. the
police tore them down. Five commu
nists and one officer were killed, and
seven strikers were killed in the
Hamburg shipyards this morning.
Communists Holding City
LUEBECK, Germany,' Aug. 13.—
Communists are holding the city after
having forced the Senate to retire.
Reichswehen troops have arrived.
Bloody Battles Are Fought
LONDON, Aug. 13.— Sanguinary
fighting between Communists and mi
r
quent wage,” he quotes from an offi
cial report, “is around fifty dollars a
month. Such a wage, coupled with
the class of work that a guard on a
chain-gang must do, does not attract
the type of man who is fit to have
charge of other men. The guard is
usually without an elementary educa
tion, often illiterate. He is ignorant,
of course, of any method of control
ling men except by force ”
Dogs Set On
Mr. Tannenbaum quotes from an
official report concerning the prison
farms, which, with the prison proper
and the chain-gangs, comprise the
three forms of prison punishment
used In the south. “The guards on
these farms were hardened against
human sympathy and of a rather
shiftless nature. We find that the
guards in charge of prisoners' work
in fields and on the farms frequently
beat them with ropes, quirts, bridle
reins and pistols, without necessity
I or authority, and that in some In
stances the guards have ridden over
the prisoners with their horses and
have set the dogs on them, infl.cting
serious and painful injuries.”
In describing conditions among the
chain-gangs. Mr. Tannenbaum gives
graphic pictures of the misery and
suffering that are products of the
system.
Two Chain-Gang Types
“There are.” he says, "two main
types of chain-gangs: those where the
men live in cages set on wheels, and
those where they live in tents set on
the ground.” The gangs are made up
of men whose ankles are chained, and
who have still another chain connect
ing them together. They work, eat
and sleep in this condition.
“The typical cages,” he reports,
"are small and stand on wheels. They
range from 7x7x16 to 9x9x20 feet. The
typical cage has eighteen beds. There
are nine beds on each side of the
cage, three tiers of beds, three in a
row. That makes the space between
the beds very narrow. If the men
were free to move about, they would
have little room: but they are
shackled. Even in the daytime they
are often locked to one another. They
lie on their beds, their faces almost
touching the bed above them The
cage frequently has a tin roofing. On
hot Sundays, Saturday afternoons
and holidays the sun streams down
on the cages and makes an oven of
the place and the human beings in it
roast. These cages are not clean
Under this crowding it would be im
possible to keep them sanitary."
Mr. Tannenbaum describes simi
larly foul conditions in the gang
camps, tells of vile and vermin-filled
bedding, and suggests a picture that
at the same time provokes nausea
and demands pity.
Sanitary conditions do not exist.
This is largely because of the igno
rance of those responsible for the
care of the men. State laws provide,
SELF CONSTITUTED PRESIDENT OF IRISH RE
PUBLIC FAINTS WHEN VOLLEY IS FIRED
OVER HEAD BY CAPTORS
LONDON, Aug. 15.—A dispatch form Ennis, County
Clare, says that Free State troops have captured Eamon
de Valera, and he is now a prisoner at the local barracks.
De Valera was addressing a meeting of electors in
the market square when the Free State troops came upon
the scene and fired several volleys over the heads of the
crowd. A stampede then occurred.
The troops surrounded the platform and took the Re
publican leader prisoner. De Valera fell to the floor in
a faint when the troops fired over the platform, and it was
first thought he was wounded, but later he walked dowTn
the steps to the waiting troops, who marched him off to
the barracks, in a pitiable state of fear.
litia took place today at Sitz, Saxo
ny, according to Berlin advices. The
Communists stormed the town hall
occupied by soldiers, and thirty were
killed and many injured. Many sol
diers were wounded.
BERGOOLL SHOOTS
MEN WHO ATTEMPT
10 KIDNAP HIM!
EBERBACH, Germany, August 13—
Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, the notor
ious American slacker, shot and kill
ed Carl Schmidt, a German Engineer,
and wounded a man n'amed Roger,
when they seized him at his hotel and
attempted to kidnap him. After wait
ing for two hours, in an old American
Army automobile, in front of the ho
tel, he was arrested by police authori
ties, aided by an American lieutenant
and several reserves off the U. S. S.
Prince.
NINETY SEVEN BODIES
MliESSRECOVERED
UPTOPRESENTDflTE
THIRTY-SEVEN MINERS RESCUED
DURING PAST TWENTY-FOUR
HOURS—ONE MISSING
KREMMERER, August 16—Ninety
seven bodies of the entombed miners
were recovered yesterday with one
still missing. Thirty-seven weg-e res
cued.
FREED OF CHARGE BY JURY
SEATTLE, August 17—Mrs. Maude
Sweetman, member of the legislature
has been freed of the charge of disor
derly conduct, and has charged ir
court that the police had “jobbed” her
Join Urbachs circulating library;
Fleischmann Yeast, fresh on even
boat. Seward Drug Co. 184-tf
for instance, for periodical oathing.
but in some cases this is done by put
ting two men into a tub at the same
time. More often than not one or
both of the men are diseased.
Chained in Bunks
In describing the insanitary condi
tions in one of the penitentiaries, Mr.
Tannenbaum quotes an official report
that states: “Prisoners were found in
one instance chained in their bunks
by a heavy trace chain, one end of
which was padlocked around the pris
oner’s neck and the other end secure
ly fastened to his bunk." Another re
port says: “The beds were infested
with chinces that ran in droves, and
not merely a few."
Reports of poor and scarce food are
I
PRESIDENT DESIRES TO RETAIN
HUGHES, MELLON AND
WEEKS IN CABINET
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14—President
Coolidge particularly desires to re
tain Secretaries Hughes, Mellon and
Weeks in his cabinet; but. is said to
not particularly care to have Secre
tary Hoover, who has presidential as
pirations ot his own. A tight is bung
made against the retention ot Secre
tary Wallace.
WILL HOLD FISHERIES MEETING
IN THIS CITY SHORTLY AFT
ER ARRIVAL
The Territorial Fish Commission,
composed of Governor Scott C. Bone,
R. J. Heckman, of Ketchikan, Calvin
Hazelett of Cordova, and H. E. Eells
worth of Seward, will hold a meeting
in this city August 25th.
Mr. Ellsworth received a cablegram
today from Governor Bone stating
that he and Mr. Heckman would leave
the 21st on the Alameda and that a
meeting would be held here about the
25th inst.
AMERICAN TRADING VESSEL
CONFISCATED BY SOVIETS
N^ME, August 17—The American
trading schooner Belinda, of Nome
has been confiscated by the Soviet au
thorises and converted into a gunboat
Her entire cargo was seized.
also mads repulsive by the accounts
of worms and insects that often are
found in meat and vegetables.
Care of the sick, or rather the lack
of care of tire sick, is shoe to be on
the same plane of ignorance and bru
tality with the other elements in the
horrifying condition. The tuberculous
and socially diseased are allowed to
communicate their disease to others
through an entire absence of safe
guards.
“I now am to describe the disciplin
ary methods." Mr. Tannenbaum con
tinues. "Frankly, I hesitate to sub
ject the reader to the tale of horror
that is involved. I shall cite a few
instances and those of a milder type.”
The first of these “milder" in
stances tells of straps from five to
nine pounds in weight that arc usedl
to beat the bare skin of a prisoner*
who is held down by a man sitting on
his head, another on his feet, while
another stuffs a dirty rag into hia
mouth.
Hung by Wrists
Another instance is an official re
port on the condition of a prisoner.
“There is evidence of brutal treat
ment on his wrists and legs that will
remain for all time in the form of
scars. On each wrist at the outer
base of the thumb deep holes were
worn in the flesh by the handcuffs aa
a result of the hanging."
A state farm report Drings this:
“They had been lacerated by dog
bites, and testimony wa3 developed
that said lacerations had been inflict
ed under the direction of the sergeant
after the escaped convict had beeni
caught."
Mr. Tannenbaum says: “A guard
has told me that when they killed aq
escaping prisoner he was allowed td
lie in his tracks until midnight an<i
then was drawn into the prison camp,
that the sleeping inmates w^ere awak-1
ened, and made to shake hands with
the dead body.”
“In one of the prisons,” ne reports,
“the guard are composed of prisoners
armed with high-power rifles. These
prisoners are usually men who have
long sentences, frequently men who
have committed murder. They are in
structed to kill any man attempting
to escape. If they succeed in killing
such a one, they are pardoned. It
puts a premium on murder.”
Treat Women Badly
“The condition of the women pris
oners is most deplorable,” Mr. Tan
nenbaum reports. “They are usually
placed in the oldest part of the prison
structure. They are almost always in
direct charge of men guards; they an
treated and disciplined as men are.
0 “In one institution the women ara
(Continued on Page Seven)
BODIES OF NINETY ONE MEN HAVE BEEN RE
COVERED FROM LOWER LEVELS, LEAVING
OVER 100 IN MINE—ALL ARE DEAD
KEMMERER, Wyo., Aug. 15.—Two hundred miners
in Number One mine of the Kemmerer Coal Company
were entombed this morning following an explosion in the
iowTer levels. A cave-in at Number 5 entry cut off all com
munication with the men. Up to noon but one body had
been recovered.
NINETY-ONE BODIES RECOVERED
KEMMERER, Wyo., Aug. 15.—Rescue crews have
recovered the bodies of 91 miners, who met death this
morning as the result of an explosion in the lower levels
of Mine No. 1, of the Kemmerer Coal Company. Over
one hundred bodies yet remain to be recovered. It is stated
that all the men yet below are dead.
FRANC DROPS TO LOWEST
PRICE IN HISTORY OF NATION
NEW YORK, Aug. 14.—The French
franc dropped to the lowest level in
history today as a result of political
developments in Europe. They were
valued at five and one-half cents at
the close of business today.
9ERMM ON BRINK
OF REVOLUTION UNO
EUROPE FACES WAR
SENATOR SMOOT RETURNS FROM
INVESTIGATION OF CONDI
TIONS IN EUROPE
NEW YORK, Aug. 14.—A picture ot
Germany on the brink of revolution
and Europe face to face with another
war was brought home today by Sena
tor Smoot who went abroad at the re
quest of President Harding to study
conditions in Germany as they affect
the reparations problems.
I
SIGNAL CORPS OFFICIALS GO 10
TALK OVER PLANS FOR NEW
LINE TO SITKA
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.—Col. Geo.
S. Gibbs and Col. Frank J. Griffin,
Signal Corps officers, sailed today for
London for a conference with the two
English bidders for the contract for
manufacturing a cable to replace the
line between Seattle and Sitka, Alas
ka. An English firm will secure the
cotnract as Britain controls the
growth and market of gutta percha.
TWO IRISH PRIESTS KIDNAPPED
HANKOW, China, August 17—Two
Irish priests were kidnapped today
when bandits pillaged Tsaoshih, and
burned the Catholic hospital.