THE HORRORS] OF A CONVICT CAMP INiLOUSIANA, , ._£

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5320, 15 October 1885, Page 4

THE HORRORS OF A CONVICT CAMP IN LOUSIANA.

i ' *^A report has just been received of a \ horrible butchery in the convict camp at Crew Lake, La., jon the Vicksburgh, Shreveport, and New Orleans B<ailroad.~ It has leaked out! that Philip Riley was whipped so unmercifully that he died from the effects of the beating he ; received. Riley, who was ab^ut 18 years of age, was j sentenced in New Orleans to one year's servitude* for larcieny. He prbtested his innocence to thei hour of his, death; andit was reported that he was to be pardoned by the Governor, j There are about 371 in the camps, who are employed in working on the railroad, wheeling dirt, and raising the road-bed. The camps are under the control of Capt. C. T. Husted. One of his lieutenants, a man whose heart is jas, hard as stone, is Joe.M'Q^artegs, wno'jiß known among thei prisoners as "Joe the Butcher." It is stated that he beat and whipped young RDey after he had fallen at his work, sick and faint from weakness. The boy pleaded with McQuarters in vain for raeryc. While the lash was being applied four negro convicts, held- the, victim down. Young Riley was 1 carrried' from the pillory to whatsis called a Hospital. He became speechless,' and death Boon took him beyond the reach of the inhuman wretches at Crew Lake. The stories told of the horrors ofi the convict camp are almost incredible, but there for believing that (the worst has not been ' told. The "Legree" of slavery times was a philanthropist compared with the convict contractor. The prisoners are :;:.' r worked sixteen hours a day. They are s •■.; half-famished for want of food. While the convict lives, the contractor is determined j. to grind the largest possible profit out of ;v his bones ; when thejcpnyict .dies the.con|c ; ; trator loses not a penny, as the supply of lathis kind of labour is at all times equal to. ' the demand. At one place, where the Crew Lake convicts were housed for a few weeks, twenty-three newly-made graves | iv are to be seen. Protests are being raised' in many quarters against the murderous barbarity of the contractors, but the Legislature of Louisiana is proof against public opinion, and it is quite likely the outrages incident to convict camps will be tolerated by law for many years to come.