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The Press and Bannei ABBEVILLE, S. C. Published Every Wednesday by THE PRESS AND BANNER CO. \V.n. P. CiRKO'K, Editor ABBEVILLE SEPT. 15, 1915 CONVICTS AND THE ROADS. We had something to say last week obout a proposed Highway from Ell erton, Ga., and points beyond going towards the national capital. we ?re publishing today an editorial from the News and Courier and a letter written by Reid Whitford to the editor of that paper on the double subject of handling convicts, and building highways. The News and Courier quite agrees with us, as does Mr. Whitford, that working of convicts on the public roads in small squads is more exf^nsive than doing the same work by hired labor, or by contract. All county roads may best be worked under the contract system, under specifications made by an engineer. Of this fact we are quite convinced. While we are having some good work done in this county since the Supervisor commenced to widen the roads, and while we notice great progress over former years in the character of the work, it is useless to argue that the work done by inexperienced men as superintendents is equal to the work which would be done under the direction of an engineer. But that does not solve the question of th? convicts. We believe there is something in the contention or suggestion that these convicts may be profitably worked by the state in large squads, especially where the work of these men might be utilized in the winter months in preparing substances for road building. Our mind is made up that the motor car is the coming means of transportation for passengers between all local points. The time may not yet be here when there is any promise that these motor cars will be utilized -fa** ovfoncivp innrnpvq yiviivwwi; VAW4.W.T v W " " But the time is here when the railroads do not furnish the necessary accommodations for local travel. This is shown by the fact that there is. a constantly increasing number of men making the towns of the state in motor cars. On last Saturday we had business in Anderson. We left Abbeville at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and drove to Anderson in less time than it takes to go on the railroad, considerably less. We attended to our business there, and were ready to leave at 6. But the Southcm had gone at that hour. If we had taken the trolley we would have gotten to Greenwood at 10 at night *>nd would have been forced to spend the night there, or come home in the small hours of the night. As it was we drove to Belton, and had supper there. After spending an hour there, we came by Due West, stopping there for a short while, and reached Abbeville something after 9 o'clock. Had we undertaken the journey by railroad, we would have been compelled to leave home at 9 in the morning and to have spent the whole day in Anderson. This but illustrates the inconveniences of making local towns by railroad. If we had a good highway from Abbeville to Anderson, which could be traveled any day in the year, (and such a highway can be built cheaper than a railroad or trolley l:ne) we would have all the local connection with AViderson desired. Not only could passengers between the two points, and way stations, avail themselves of it, but the farmers all along the line could haul freight of all kind, and all kinds of farm products thereon, without cost, with ease and at comparatively no expense. Such a road would be a convenience not only to the traveling public and the shipper, but likewise to eve-y man who lived along the route. And for this reason we believe that good roads are coming and that the motor car and motor truck are coming. Already the merchants of New York city deliver goods up the Hudcrm fav n rlicfnr^nn a-T fi*"* V" AVI w UXOVMilVV Vt OO CIll.j!"IIVC miles just as the merchants here deliver within the corporate limits. If these roads are imperative, then they should be built at once; and if the convicts will assist in giving us these highways, which are real highways, we say, by all means, let us begin. THE T^IRD DEGREE Section 17 of the Declaration of Rights, in the Constitution of 1895, provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. It has been accordingly held that where a defendant is sworn in a criminal case as* a witness against himself that a conviction will not stand. But the intention of the law is broader than its letter. And the innate sense of right which dictated its provisions tells every m^n, if he will examine himself, that no man should convict himself, whether the evidence be given as a witness in a court of justice against himself, or extorted from him outside of the court by whatever pretext. The American sense of right rebels against the conviction of men on extra-judicial confessions made without the benefit of counsel, especially vhere confessions are made to ariesting officers. Some little time ago an officer in this state told us that a solicitor of this state had advised him to talk to his prisoners and get statements from them whenever the same was possible. We are of the opinion that this solicitor, however honest he may be, does not appreciate the spirit and purposes of American institutions and the rule of fair play. It is not the duty of an officer to get a statement from a prisoner. He has no right to question a prisoner. A statement made to an officer by a prisoner under arrest should be conclusively presumed to be obtained under duress, because as a matter of fact, this practically always is the case. And especially is this true in the cases of charges against negroes. The officer mav he nerfertlv honest in his effort to learn the truth, hut every man, who knows a negro, knows that when an officer tells the negro to tell what he knows about a case, the negro does so under some kind of compulsion. Some of the courts have so held. Our court has held to the contrary, and while we are all bound by the decisions of the court as long as the decisions stand, there is no reason why these decisions should stand, when they are not in accord with the experiences of men who know. The legislature should correct the growing evil of having an officer present at the trial of every criminal case to testify to a "voluntary confession," when such confessions are not voluntary. The confession of no man should be heard in A criminol __ M VVU& V TT11C1I 1/11(5 same is alleged to have been made to an officer, either before or after arrest, unless in the presence of and by the advice of counsel. You may say that some guilty men will escape. We will grant that; but American courts will command more respect from the right thinking, and the justice dispensed will commend itself to more people if the rule be established, and fewer innocent men will suffer. This thing of hearing confessions is but a step towards the establishment of the third degree?it is the third degree itself in a measure; and the system has no place among civilized people. The Good Book itself does not contemplate that all guilty men will be convicted. It was thought by the inspired writers that it was better to be right than to | convict always. THE COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS An unusually large amount of business was transacted last week in the Court of General Sessions. When court adjourned on Saturday every case on the docket had been tried and disposed of by the jury, and but for the fact that the court did not approve of the verdict in one case, the docket would now be clear. The work performed was due to several contributing causes. In the C. x -1 T? -1 -.. r* * urst piace, ouage uary nanaies business with dispatch. He is courteous to the attorneys, but he rules on all points promptly and keeps things in motion. His charges to the jury are short, directly responsive to the issues in the case, and when the case is covered the charge is finished. This promotes a clear understanding of the issues as well as a thorough understanding of the law. In the next place, Abbeville has a har whose members try their cases; they are usually ready, and when they go into a case there are ?o needless delays, and no great amount of time is taken up in arguing useless motions and objections to t?stimony. Witnesses are thoroughly examined, but there is an absence of that repetition which prolongs trials and consumes time. When all cases on the docket at a given term of the court are tried, and every case disposed of, it would teem to a reasonable person that there should be no complaints in this county against the law. In fact, this old complaint against the law's delays is largely groundless in this clay and time. There should always be deliberation in the trial of a serious criminal offense, but cases should be taken up with reasonable dispatch and disposed of, and so far as this county is concerned, this is done. CONVICTS AND THE ROADS* (News and Courier.) The article by Captain Reid Whitford, which we print this morning, is one which, it seems to us, is deserving of every careful attention on the part of all South Carolinians who are interested in public affairs. It offers r plan which would go far toward solving two very serious problems with which the people of this State have to deal, namely, the care and handling of convicts and the building up of a system of public higaways of a permanent character which would link all parts of the State together. Captain Whitford begins his article by testifying that in his own experience, as director of the work with which the Sanitary and Drainage Commission is charged in Charleston County, he has found convict labor quite as unsatisfactory as it has been proclaimed by the Abbeville Press r.nd Banner and other county news- j papers in South Carolina. He is convinced that where convicts are work-, ed in small bodies the expense of guarding them and caring for them is such as to make their use other than economical, their efficiency un uer sucn conuiuune nut, ueiug tumparable to that of hired labor. But because this is true Captain Whitford would not have the convicts rejected for road-building purposes. Instead, the point of his article is that were they employed in large bodies the isituation would be so changed that they could be used very profitably indeed. One guard, for example, could guard ten convicts as readily as two; their food, being bought in larger quantities, could be obtained cheaply; the arrangements for caring for them at night and when not at work could bo carried out much more efficiently in every way; and it would be possible to operate them, not in the haphazard fashion which usually prevails at present, but'under the competent supervision of a skilled and experienced engineer. The plan appears to us to have great merit. There has long been fairly general agreement that the best use which could be made of convicts would be their employment in roadbuilding provided they could be cared for humanely and profitably. The difficulty with the present system, where each county operates its own chain gang, is that grave doubt exists as to whether either of these ends is now being accomplished. The county is handicapped at all points. It is not an easy matter to get men who will look after the prisoners as they ^hould be looked after. The prisoners have not always been protected against harsh treatment or the elements. Sometimes the chain gangs get so low in numbers that the cost Qf guarding them is such as to make the convicts a dead expense to the county. In some parts of the State the weather for many weeks on a stretch is such that no profitable use can be made of the prisoners yet the cost of feeding them and clothing them and guarding them goes on just the same. 'Hiey are worked as a rule under men who know nothing whatever of the science of roadbuilding but who go about the matter according to arbitrary rule of thumb methods. All of these objections to the use of convicts on the roads could be removed were Captain Whitford's frlan adopted. Handling them in working parties of from two hundred to five hundred they could be guarded much less expensively, cared for properly and used efficiently; and there would be no time of the year when they could not be employed. It looks to us as if Captain Whitford has hit upon a big idea. We are sure, however, that he would welcome, and The News and Courier accordingly invites, criticism from other newspapers of the State and from its readers generally to the end that the strength or weaknesses of the plan may be thoroughly brought out. Is the present method of conducting the chain gang satisfactory anywhere in Sou'th Carolina? j A ESTATE OF MRS. A. A. TUSTEN " Notice of Settlement and Application for Final Discharge. TAKE NOTICE that on the 141h day of Oct. 1915, I will render a final account of my actings and doings as Executor of the Estate of Mrs. A. A. * Tusten. deceased, in the office of Judge of Probate for Abbeville County at 10 o'clock, a. m., and on the : <. same day will apply for a final discharge from my trust as such Executor. I All persons having demands against said estate will present them for payment on or before that day, proven and authenticated or be forever barred. "Pn rrorio T3 CI o vv Executor. THE SKEETER. 1 (Exchange.) The skeeter is a bird of prey, Which flies about at night, About three-eights of it is beak, And five-eighths appetite, And fifteen-eighths or so is buzz, And nineteen-eighths is bite. I mm h^^mjbp^n 1 ^ Our rem and the a Suits mak h#>irp ctmni **^riL V vaa ^ Glad to hav try on the Su arid yet how i in School Clot , , Park "" i HAVE A SANDWICH SUPPER o A TV/r TTTT.T. Ar XTX . X.LAU - - w w vr> have an excellent line of goods for Sandwich Suppers. TRY Shrimp, Lobster, Finney Fish, Sardines, Salmon, Olives, Cheese, Peanut Butter, Pimentos. o Olive Oils, Wesson's Cooking Oil, Yacht Club Dressing. o Abbeville Baked Bread, one day old, will cut well. The very best E^nds of Tea. L a. m.?llt?ns Phone 12G MAXWELLS MARKET T. H. Ill A A W'CTjL, Proprietoi .43X11 ?SAUSAGE SHALL 4I V3ISa KOAST PIG i'ijpsu rivHinwl DVSTKliS * i?cvt - r- 7? lli^est ^Ga^?? ijrie^s. Paid to Cattle, >Hogs and Sheep, Green Salted Hides. PHONE 298 Maxwofi'ii Market DR. W.'K'^cCORI .... ItlENTlfiiT .... over Dr. Speed's Drug Store Office 'hone 242, Abbeville, S. C Boys' Sch Our School all ready for sizes. Fabric: ing strong; se and a Very St ing of GOOD STYl AND F larkably attrc ippearance of e the inducet J". S' e you call and brii its, examine then nexpensively we c hes. J6? 1 Cigars Speed's I Pho Always Read SfatinnAirv Low Roun FOR EVERYBOI Seaboard Ai "The Progressive " San Francisco and San Dieg tional Exposition, and P For specific rate, sch< call on Seaboard A - S. COMPTON. T. P. A., S. A. L. Iiy. | Atlanta, Ga. 2 r | PROLONG L: ! mms r| A Harmless Vei i with no Inj t | DOES AWAY WIT! g Grfgsby's Livg Recommended It %%%%%%%%%%%% %%i ool Suits Clothes are Boys of all strong: Mak= " * wing strong; ronir Show LES 'ATTERNS ictive prices . our School nent to buy ., ng the Boys in, 1, see how well, an fit your Boy %**%%% B IFE BY USING t I Lll-VER-LAX 11 ^etable Uompound * m jurious Effects. i H I the USE of CALOMEL j I VeivLax Sold and ? I by All Druggists S H |^B Reese. ; i Candy )rug Store. ne 18.. y to Serve You. Toilet Goods d Trip Rates >Y OFFERED BY THE / r Line Railway Railway of the South'* :o, Calif. Panama-Pacific Internaanama-California Exposition, 1915. t edules or other information, gents, or write FRED GEISSLER, Asst. (ren'l Passenger Agt. Atlanta, Ga. i