Identifier: southernstatesof00kingrich (find matches)
Title: The Southern states of North America: a record of journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland
Year: 1875 (1870s)
Authors: King, Edward, 1848-1896
Subjects: Southern States -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : Blackie & son
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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e great State Penitentiary, where nearly a thousand convicts are registered, THK CONVICT TRAIX PRISONERS LABOR. 119 more than half of whom are employed, Hke galley slaves, as hewers of woodand stone on the railroads and highways. The sight of the convict train is one of the experiences of Texan travelwhich still clings like a horrid nightmare in my memory. To come upon itsuddenly, just at twilight, as I did, at some lonely little station, when the abject,cowering mass of black and white humanity in striped uniform had croucheddown upon the platform cars; to see the alert watchmen standing at each end ofevery car with their hands upon their cocked and pointed rifles; to see the relaxedmuscles and despairing faces of the overworked gang, was more than painful. Once, when we met this train, a gentleman recognized an old servant, and criedout to him, What, Bill, are you there ? and the only answer was a -shrinkingof the head, and a dropping of the under jaw in the very paralysis of shame.
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We frequently passed large gangs of the convicts chopping logs in the forest by the roadside. (Page 120. The convict labor is contracted for, and is of great value in the building ofthe railways and the clearing of forests. As a rule, the men are worked fromdawn to dark, and then conveyed to some near point, to be locked up in cars orbarracks constructed especially for them. They are constantly watched, workingor sleeping; and the records of the Penitentiary show many a name againstwhich is written, Killed while trying to escape. I20 THE PENITENTIARY AN INDIAN PRISONER. We frequently passed large gangs of the convicts chopping logs in the forestby the roadside; they were ranged in regular rows, and their axes rose and fellin unison. When they had finished one piece of work, the stern voice of thesupervisor called them to another, and they moved silently and sullenly to theindicated task. In the town where the Penitentiary is located, it is not unusualto see convicts moving about the s

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