Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Wayland for Debs Campaign; Colorado Republicans; Georgia Democrats

The above letter was written to a New Castle, Colo., minister. A similar letter was sent to every minister in the state of Colorado. You will note that it is written on stationery furnished and paid for by the people of Colorado. It is by this means that the ruling class hope to further enslave the working class. The Mine Owners’ Association and the Citizens’ Alliance are flooding Colorado with literature in a vain attempt to stem the tide which they realize will soon engulf them. The Rev. Mr. Malone is very much afraid that Socialism will sweep aside the time honored institution of private property-and by private property in this case the gentleman has reference to the great productive properties of the state-the mines-the railroads-the mills and factories. Mr. Malone is right. Socialism proposes to destroy private property in these things, which are essential to the collective welfare and vest the title in society collectively. Exploitation will then cease.

Republican Colorado/Democratic Georgia:

PEABODYISM IN GEORGIA
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In republican Colorado when the workers interfere with the profits of the capitalists the militia is called out ant the “disturbers” tied up to telegraph poles, put on the rock pile, incarcerated in the bull pen, deported, their wives insulted and their children beaten, all in the name of law and order.

In democratic Georgia they do it differently. Let the Philadelphia Press tell the story:

Henry Jamison, a respectable colored man of Macon, Ga., between 55 and 60 years of age, whose regular occupation was that of laying and cleaning carpets and other indoor work, was arrested, charged with being drunk and disorderly, and fined $25 and sentenced to the chain gang for ninety days. Later in the day he was taken again before the recorder’s court charged with being “disorderly in the barrack,” and fined an additional $35 and committed to the chain gang for 120 days. With this aggregate fine of $60 and seven months at hard labor in the chain gang upon him, he was clothed in the stripes of a convict, manacled and immediately put with convicts from the state penitentiary at manual labor as severe as the human form is capable of.

The iniquity of the procedure is that there was no finding of guilt or innocence, no ascertainment of fact, simply a charge before a police judge, followed by a terrific sentence. Judge Speer tells us what is the lot of those sentenced to the Georgia chain gang in this clear and strong description:

“The sufferers wear the typical striped clothing of the penitentiary convict. Iron manacles are riveted upon their legs. These can be removed only by the use of the cold chisel. The irons on each leg are connected by chains. The coarse stripes, thick with the dust and grime of the long torrid days of semi-tropical summer, or encrusted with icy mud of winter, are their sleeping clothes, when they throw themselves on their pallets of straw in the common stockade at night. They wake, toil, rest, eat and sleep to the never-ceasing clanking of the manacles and chains of this involuntary slavery.

“About them as they sleep, journey and labor, watch the convict guards armed with rifle and shotgun. On the day this case was argued a number of felons from the state penitentiary, who by state law are brigaded with those convicted by the recorder of minor municipal offenses, attempted to escape from the chain gang described. Three were shot down, all desperately wounded.

“With each gang stands the whipping boss, with the badge of his authority. This is a heavy leathern strap, about two and a half feet long, with solid hand-grasp, and with broad, heavy and flexible lash. From the evidence we may judge that the agony inflicted by this implement of torture is not surpassed by the Russian knout, the synonym the world round for merciless corporal punishment. One witness, who served many months, testified that if the gang did not work like “fighting fire,” to use his expression, the whipping boss runs down the line, striking with apparent indiscrimination the convicts as they bend to their tasks.

“Often the whipping is more prolonged and deliberate. They are called to the stable door, made to lie face down across the sill, a strong convict holds down the head and shoulders and the boss lays on the lash on the naked body until he thinks the sufferer has been whipped enough. The evidence gives us an account of two white persons who were thus whipped, one a boy with but one arm. For this reason it was not necessary to hold him. He stood and cried as the boss applied the lash. The other white boy was compelled to place his head between the legs of a burly negro convict and was thus immovably held. The offense of one of these lads was loitering in the depot.”

Note: Emphasis added throughout.