re in one camp. A female convict testified that
during her prison life of fourteen years she had borne seven children.
A lessee testified that such irregularities as bastard children would
occasionally occur as long as women were guarded by men.

Dr. Felton, addressing the Georgia Legislature, said:

"I stated ten years ago that the State was acting as a procuress for
convict camps; the legislature is keeping up the supply in accordance
with the demand. I repeat the accusation here and now."

In 1895 a number of convicts had their feet so frozen that the flesh
and toes rotted off. Governor Atkinson enlightened the legislature of
the deplorable condition existing in the convicts' camps through the
report thereon by Hon. R. F. Wright, showing nearly fifty misdemeanor
camps. In the chain-gangs were twenty-seven white and 768 colored
convicts; generally both races and sexes being together day and night.
Among these were eleven children under fourteen years of age. Some
slept in rude floorless houses; some in tents on the bare ground, and
a few in bunks. The bedding was scant and filthy, and full of vermin.
The camps were poorly ventilated, the sleeping quarters being
generally sweat-boxes, constructed to prevent escapes. There were no
hospitals and no preparations for comfort or medical treatment. Female
prisoners dressed in male attire, worked side by side with men.

A member of the legislature declared:

"Most lessees would rather see the devil in their camps than a
Methodist or Baptist preacher. I do not urge the bill for the Negro,
but for the safety of homes and property. Crime has increased in the
United States more than in any other country on the globe. I plead for
the orphan boys and girls of the State. Better send them to a
bottomless hell than to James' camp."

Said the lamented Colonel Alston:

"The public knows how hard it is to get testimony in a case like the
lease question. If a guard kills a man, he is not going to tell of it.
If a lessee chooses to whip one to death, who is to know it? If he
starves them, who is the wiser? I never expect to give up the
agitation of this question till I can point to my native State
redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled from this great sin, and the
finger of shame shall no longer be lifted at her, as a State that is
banking on the crimes and misfortunes of her defenseless and ignorant
population."

Three months after this Colonel Alston was shot dead in the State