MISSISSIPPI. 



563 



Penitentiary, where convicts are usually sick, as com- 

 pared with that in the camps, where con\ 



to be well, is very significant of the treatment 

 of prisoners in the latter. 



The work of the State Board of Control and 

 Supervision, created by the Legislature of 1886, 

 was found by the committee to be altogether 

 beneficial. Several important recommenda- 

 tions were made by this committee, but the 

 Legislature took no action upon the subject. 



Later in the year complaints were made of 

 further ill-treatment of the convicts, and on 

 July 1 the lessees failed to pay to the State the 

 salary and expenses of the superintendent of 

 the Penitentiary, according to their contract. 

 In fact, the lessees were themselves dissatisfied, 

 and wished to cancel their agreement. The 

 Board of Control investigated various com- 

 plaints, and early in December found sufficient 

 cause to declare the contract forfeited. The 

 reasons given were non-payment of money, in- 

 hnman treatment, subletting without authority 

 of the board, failure to make monthly reports, 

 failing to care for sick convicts, and other 

 offenses. By this order 248 men were released 

 and brought back to the Penitentiary on De- 

 cember 15 ; 155 others, having been sublet by 

 the lessees on a contract expiring January 1, 

 were allowed to remain. Before the end of 

 the year the board had negotiated a new lease 

 of 170 of the returned men. The total num- 

 ber of State convicts was 526. 



State Capitol. The Legislature provided for 

 a committee to examine the Capitol building 

 and report upon its condition. In May this 

 committee published its findings, which showed 

 the building to be insecure and in need of im- 

 mediate repairs to render it safe. For these 

 repairs the sum of $4,6-50 was needed, and for 

 other necessary repairs the sum of $112,300 

 was deemed requisite. 



Immigration. Pursuant to a proclamation of 

 Gov. Lowry, a large number of citizens met in 

 convention* at Jackson on May 24 for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a movement to attract set- 

 tlers to the State. The convention organized 

 itself into an immigration association, whose 

 objects were stated as follow : 



The objects of this association shall be to collect 

 and disseminate accurate and reliable information as 

 to the soil, climate, and resources of our State, to the 

 end that immigration may be fostered and encouraged 

 and good people of our "own and all other countries 

 induced to identify themselves with us and contribute 

 their capital, labor, and enterprise to swell the tide of 

 the returning prosperity of our great State : and we 

 hereby extend a cordial' invitation to all such persons 

 to cast in their lot with us, with the assurance that 

 they will he treated justly and fairly and on a perfect 

 equality in all respects with our own people. 



Officers were chosen and an executive com- 

 mittee appointed to put in operation the proper 

 machinery to secure these results. The forma- 

 tion of subordinate associations in the various 

 towns and counties was recommended, and 

 such associations were formed in many places. 



Confederate Monument. A bill was introduced 

 into the Legislature in January, appropriating 



$10,000 to the Confederate Monumental Asso- 

 ciation, for aiding in the erection of a monu- 

 ment to the Confederate dead, and also setting 

 apart a portion of the Capitol grounds as a 

 therefor. The Legislature granted the 

 but refused an appropriation, whereupon the 

 >tion determined to raise the neces- 

 sary amount by popular subscription. Largely 

 through the efforts of women, the sum of 

 $10,000 had been raised before the end of 

 May, and on the 25th of that month the cor- 

 ue was laid at Jackson. A letter of 

 regret was read from Jefferson Davis, who 

 had been invited to be present, and a notable 

 feature of the occasion was the presentation 

 to Miss Winnie Davis, his daughter, who was 

 present, of a silver crown for her father. The 

 monument is designed to be forty -five feet in 

 height, and will cost $14,000. A statue of 

 Jefferson Davis is to form a part of the me- 

 morial. 



Yellow Fever. On September 20 three well- 

 defined cases of yellow fever were discovered 

 at Jackson, among laborers engaged upon a 

 nev.- passenger-station of the Illinois Central 

 Railroad. On the following day four addi- 

 tional cases were found, and one death occurred 

 from the disease. An exodus from the city 

 D at once, and in a few days only a small 

 portion of the population, consisting largely of 

 negroes, was left. Quarantine regulations were 

 speedily established at all points. The Howard 

 Citizens' Association, which had taken control 

 of a former epidemic, was revived, and arrange- 

 ments were made for a long struggle with the 

 disease. Largely through these efforts, the in- 

 fected area was confined to its original limits. 

 Up to September 27 there were fifteen cases 

 and five deaths. Xo new cases occurring after 

 that date the excitement gradually subsided, 

 and before the middle of October many refu- 

 gees had returned and business was resumed. 



Political. Party conventions for the selection 

 of delegates to the National Conventions were 

 held early in the year. At the Republican Con- 

 vention, in Jackson, April 4. the following ar- 

 raignment of the State Government was em- 

 bodied in the resolutions passed : 



The present State Government, according to reports 

 made by legislative committees, is not only weak, 

 inefficient, and incompetent, but extravagant. It is 

 well known that our present State Government was 

 brought into existence through a fraudulent and vio- 

 lent suppression of free suffrage. Popular elections 

 are nothing more than farcical formalities. Those 

 who are in control of the State machinery seem to 

 have no regard for laws and no respect for the rights 

 of citizens. 



When the city of Jackson, just preceding the last 

 municipal election, was taken possession of by an 

 armed mob, "for the open and avowed purpose of 

 suppressing free suffrage and preventing a free and 

 fair election," the State Administration was as dumb 

 as an oyster, and could not be induced to take any 

 notice of what was going on. Whenever mob law- 

 breaks out in any part of the State, even if it results 

 in the death of" innocent persons, as at Carrollton, 

 Opiah. and Yazoo City, the State Administration 

 takes no more notice of them than if they occurred in 

 German v or Great Britain. 



