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XVIII. Some Interesting Sidelights on Chain-Gang Life
- University of Georgia Press
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C H A P T E R X V I I I Some Interesting Sidelights on Chain-Gang Life > HILE THE judicial minds of the Prison Commission were pondering the weighty problem of my fate, based on their principles of humanity and justice, I was daily facing the ordeal of a living hell. To properly describe the mental and physical torture of a Georgia chain gang baffles and beggars my powers of description. Upon arriving at the Troup County stockade, I found conditions that were almost identical with those in Fulton and Campbell Counties seven years ago.There was but one difference—they were worse! In place of the lash, which I have already explained had been abolished in 1923 by an executive order of Governor Walker, an ancient barbaric and mediaeval instrument of torture had been introduced. This was the stocks invented in the days of the Spanish Inquisition. Almost every night when we would return to the stockade after thirteen hours of heart-breaking toil, three or four of the convicts would be introduced to the "jack" (as the stocks were called), for no other reason than that they did not work hard enough to suit the whim of some illiterate and ignorant guard. Although I mentioned the "jack" in a previous chapter, I think another word here will not be amiss. The "jack" 170 w Sidelights on Chain-Gang Life 171 looks exactly like the pictures you have seen of the stocks used in this country during Puritan times inMassachusetts. The terror-stricken victim sits on a bench, placing his hands and feet between boards that have notches cut out to receive them. When he is in the proper position, the Warden pulls a lever which forces the boards together, brutally squeezing convict's wrists and ankles. After the lever is locked in place, the bench on which the convict sits is pulled from under him and he finds himself suspended in mid-air, hanging by his wrists and ankles. He is kept in this state of excruciating torture for one hour. Think of it! While the convict is thus suffering the agonies of Hell, the Warden and the guards take comfortable , reposing positions and punctuate his shrieks of pain with laughter and such expressions as "I don't feel no pain" and "How can you feel any—I am resting comfortably ?" The State Law of Georgia specifically states that no prisoner, black or white, can be placed in the stocks without first being examined by the County Physician, who must be present while the prisoner is in it. In the thirteen months that I was at Troup County stockade, this rule was enforced but once, in the face of an average of six punishments weekly such as I have described . There were many other violations of the state laws, which were as follows: The state law of Georgia requires that the rules and regulations governing the conduct and conditions of the [34.238.143.70] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:11 GMT) 172 I Am A Fugitive convicts by the County Warden be conspicuously placed where all may read them. The state furnishes large placards bearing these rules in letters a quarter of an inch high. At no time during my stay there were these rules and regulations ever posted in Troup County. One of these rules, most important to the health and conduct of the convicts, covered bathing facilities. This rule stated that the convicts must get one bath and clean clothes every week of the year and two baths a week during the period from May 1, to October 1. This additional bath, granted by the State, was made necessary by the intense heat of this period. At no time during my entire stay at Troup County did the convicts ever receive more than one bath each week. The bathing facilities provided there were of the most primitive and limited nature. "We bathed on Saturday afternoons in a combination sleeping quarters and mess hall. Five of the full trusties slept in this room. There were always a total of from eighty to one hundred convicts at this camp. Although the stockade was a cement building, it was devoid of all plumbing and simple sanitation. Bath tubs were improvised by sawing in half large casks. There were never more than twenty of these make-shift bath tubs in use at one time. On Saturday afternoons they would be stacked outside of the convicts' entrance...