Brock Barkley in Charlotte Observer
Raleigh, Oct. 9—Two widely differing reports as to conditions in Stanly County’s single convict camp, one by the state welfare department, charging brutal treatment of prisoners, and the other by county officers, containing affidavits in general denial, have been turned over to Judge P.A. McElroy and Solicitor Donald Phillips, the court officers of the judicial district in which Stanly County is located.
The welfare department report, copies of which have been furnished Governor McLean and Attorney General Brummitt, charges a number of brutalities against N.C. Cranford, the camp survivor, and alleging that the death of a negro prisoner in ?? occurred after he had been beaten and dragged behind an automobile. Other and later instances of bad treatment are understood to be also included in the report. A copy of the report could not be obtained here today in the absence of from the city of Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson, state welfare commissioner.
General Denial Made
To these charges, a general denial has been entered by R.L. Smith, Stanly county attorney; J.P. Price, attorney for the county highway commission, which has charge of the convict camp, and Z.V. Moss(?), county superintendent of welfare. They presented to the governor and the attorney general numerous affidavits in support of their statements.
Both the welfare department and the affidavits of the Stanly officers have been forwarded to Judge McElory and Solicitor Phillips, and word from Rockingham today was to the effect that an investigation will be conducted by the solicitor. Mr. Phillips was reported as saying the welfare department report contained “charges of all kinds of cruelties and irregularities.” Its report was said to have been prepared following an investigation of conditions at the camp by J.E. Whitley, prison camp supervisor, who was recently employed by the state board of health and the welfare department.
Parties Involved
Politics is involved in the charges against the camp, the county officers are understood to have reported to the governor and the attorney general. They claim the welfare department report was based on the testimony of a “republican lawyer” of the county and ex-convicts who had once been confined at the camp.
When the county was under republican control the county highway commission, which runs the convict camp, was manned by democrats and charges of brutal treatment of prisoners are the outgrowth of republican efforts to embarrass the democratic highway commission, they claim.
The death of the negro in 1’18?? Was investigated soon after it occurred by the Stanly grand jury at the direction of Judge W.F. Harding, they also reported.
From page 2 of The Concord Daily Tribune, Saturday, Oct. 10, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-10-10/ed-1/seq-2/
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