Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Directors
Ethel de Long – THE ROAD

“Convict’s Camp”  [South side of Pine Mountain, KY] [047_IV_FN_08a_049.jpg]

TAGS: ethel de Long Zande. letters, Laden Trail, road construction, convict labor, human rights, Kentucky Department of Highways, African Americans, negroes, Pine Mountain Settlement 1919-1921, race relations, labor relations, Henry Creech, guards, transportation, C. N. Green, Dr. Winnes, Joe S. Boggs, Edward W.   Hines, H.V. Baskin.  W.H. Moyer, J.S. Watkins, Kentucky State Reformatory, S.M Foster, Rufus Wilson, Lafon Riker, Kentucky State Board of Control,

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ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Letters Regarding the Road Across PMSS 1919-21

Commentary Regarding the Correspondence

Convict labor in the early years of the 20th century was a common and a distasteful practice in the Southern States. The captive labor was often forced into unpaid work that was part of the demands of a fast-growing infrastructure of a developing country and part of an insensitive political elite. While the labor of convicts on roads and railroads has been well documented and frequently has been made the focus of compelling novels such as in the memorable 1967 saga by John Ehle, The Road, the broad reach of convict labor deep into Appalachia, is not well-studied.

Though the practice of using convict labor was widespread in the early decades of the 1900s, it nevertheless does not justify, in any manner, the practice. It is then surprising to find Pine Mountain turning to this labor force for work on their Road (Laden Trail) across Pine Mountain given the growing history of staff holding strong human rights values. The reasons are complex.

The following letters shed some light on the management and use of convict labor on the Road and the likely reasons the labor was used for construction. The letters also reveal the mixed response of staff to the controversial use of convict labor.  Today, the practice of the use of unpaid prisoners to fill labor shortages is not common, but still persists in alternate forms.   The long delay in the building process, the slow responses of the State in fulfilling their promises, and the common practices “in the day”, of Kentucky Government officers with regard to the use and abuse of prisoners, do not necessarily give these actions credence. Particularly, the Department of Roads, the Board of Control, and the State Board of Corrections demonstrated a wide variance of buy-in of Convict Labor across the State of Kentucky during the 1920s-1950s. The conversations documented in the Pine Mountain Road correspondence call into question not only racial issues but also what appears to be graft at the State level. The correspondence regarding possible misuse of funding raised by the School suggests that the School walked a very careful path in negotiating their much-needed road.

The need for the Road across Pine Mountain was critical to the future of the School. There is no question about that need. Did it warrant joining such an abusive system as Convict Labor? What would have been the consequence of confronting the human rights issues that the practice carried with it? The tangled moral and ethical issues that now jump from these letters were seldom addressed in the early decades of many institutions in the South, and for similar reasons. However large the buy-in, it is surprising to find evidence of insensitivity to race relations at Pine Mountain Settlement. Due to many closely held human rights beliefs and its association with the Settlement Movement and with its friendly supporter, Berea College, as a leader in race relations and educational accommodation.  More accommodation is often assumed than was present in race relations in the mountains.

There were signs from other Southern locations that demonstrated a growing sensitivity to the racial environment of the times. For example, Fred Loring Seely, a chemist and pharmacist, and an early owner of the Atlanta Constitution lost his paper due to his stand against Convict Labor. Holding fast to his convictions led to a loss of subscribers and as his paper lost subscriptions his investors also began to depart.  Seely then began to look for more favorable environs. Following his sale of the Atlanta Constitution, Seely arrived in Asheville, NC to join E.W. Grove, an entrepreneur, in his prosperous pharmaceutical endeavors. In the progressive city of Asheville, Seely again put his convictions to the test but in the rapidly growing and progressive city, he was backed by the considerable influence and income of Grove.

Seely had another reason to make an alliance with Grove.  He had married Grove’s daughter. Grove asked Seely now, his son-in-law and partner, to supervise the construction of the Grove Park Inn, today a famous landmark of the city. Seely, perhaps remembering the growing social disparities he had encountered in Atlanta, hired a mostly African American workforce and paid them more than the local going construction wage at the time.

The Grove Park Inn was constructed in 1913, the same year as the founding of Pine Mountain Settlement School. The massive and unique structure was constructed in just under a year. Upon completion the workforce, many already established from the earlier Biltmore construction years, amplified the growing and prosperous African American craftsman community. Yet, the state of North Carolina, as depicted in the John Ehle novel, continued the dominant practice of convict labor on roads and railroads, supported by various State and local authorities.

While we know a great deal about Asheville’s apparent supportive and progressive approach to race relations, For example,  George Vanderbilt, whose Biltmore Estate owed much to the skilled African American labor he used when building his massive Biltmore House, supported his labor force. He constructed Biltmore Village for those working on and at the Estate. He built a large recreation center known as the YMI (Young Men’s Institute) for the African American community in a central area of the growing city of Asheville.  There, he provided medical care, education, recreation, and other social support for the African American community.  Vanderbilt’s initiative set a standard and throughout the city there was a growing population of middle-class African American families. 

 We know less about the support system for African Americans in Harlan County but there are elements of the same capitalist support systems from the larger coal industrialists. Benham and Lynch supported excellent but segregated schools and housing.  What do we know about Pine Mountain Settlement School and the surrounding rural communities and their race relations history? We are only beginning to untangle those threads and the scattered archival correspondence at Pine Mountain is playing a key role in revealing the patterns of the rural race relations and the School’s race relations over the course of its history.

The broader coal-camp and urban communities of Harlan County  are clearly not uniform and communities such as Benham and Lynch display a richl integrated and segregated history. More remains to be discovered regarding race relations in the rural regions of eastern Kentucky and the Central Appalachians, generally, and much of that discovery is in the correspondence that moved into and out of the area in all its eras.

ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Letters: THE CORRESPONDENTS

• Ethel de Long [Zande], Co-Director and Principal, Pine Mountain Settlement School
• Katherine Pettit, Co-Director, Pine Mountain Settlement School
• Joe S. Boggs, Commissioner, Department of Roads, Frankfort, KY
• FH Winfrey, Columbia, KY
• Mrs. Lafon Riker, Board of Control of the State of Kentucky, Harrodsburg, KY
• Angela Melville, Principal at Pine Mountain
• Mrs. W.O. Bullock, sister of Katherine Pettit and member of BOT, Lexington, KY
• Mr. Edward W. Hines, Chairman, The State Board of Corrections Control, Frankfort, Ky.
• Mr. J.S. Watkins, Division Engineer, State Roads & Highways, Frankfort, Kentucky
• Mr. Chad Lewis, Convict Camp Superintendent, Dillon, Ky.
• Dr. Winnes, Veterinarian, Harlan, KY [Lura Parsons trial]
• Mr. Caldwell, steam-shovel man
• Mr. S.M. Foster, Superintendent, Road Construction Camp, Laden, Harlan Co., Ky.
• Mr. Joseph P. Byers, Commissioner of Public Institutions
• Captain Greene, State Reformatory, Frankfort, Kentucky
• W.H. Moyer, SUPERINTENDENT [Prisons], Ky
• H.V. Bastin, Superintendent, Kentucky State Reformatory, Frankfort, Ky.
• Rufus Wilson Esq., Assistant Superintendent, Convict Labor, Dillon, Ky.
• Mr. C.N. Green, Kentucky State Reformatory, Frankfort, Kentucky
• Mr. Henry Creech, Guard, Road Construction Camp, Pine Mountain, Ky
• Mr. L.R. Davis, Warden, Kentucky State Reformatory, Frankfort, Ky.

ETHEL DE LONG ZANDE Letters: TRANSCRIBED LETTERS BY DATE

November 21, 1919
Joe S. Boggs, Commissioner,
Department of Roads,
Frankfort, Ky.

My dear Mr. Boggs:
It is a very great surprise to me to learn that the convicts who were busy on the road across Pine Mountain were removed. We had the camp made comfortable, so that they could stay perhaps through the winter, if the weather was open, and we did this on the assurance that they would be kept at work as long as the weather permitted.
Can you do anything about getting them back to work? I cannot begin to tell you how much we need this road.
I am very much concerned, also, as to the cost of the road. The State promised us an estimate, which so far has not been submitted. If this hinges on the completion of the survey, please let us know. We hope Mr. Phillips will be coming soon to finish this side [South side] of the mountain.
Furthermore, there is a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed as to the superintendent in charge of the work. I hear from sources to which I must give credence, that he does not understand blasting, from others that he does not know how to push the men. Now you know it is impossible for us to raise any more money for this road, and it seems as if it ought to be done for what we have now on hand. I have been quite concerned since Mr. Johnson left, because I knew nothing about his successor, and I shall be very much relieved if you can write me reassuringly, that you will take it upon yourself to assume special care of this road. The money was raised among private individuals who wanted this school and this community to be placed in touch with the railroad; if it is being frittered away, it is a more than uncommon pity.
I shall eagerly await some reassuring word from…[cut off]

Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain,
Kentucky.

November [illegible] 1919
Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain,
Kentucky.

My Dear Mrs. Zande:–
Replying to yours of the 21st inst., you will be advised that acting under instructions from the Board of Control, the office was compelled to recall all convicts at this time. All camps of the convicts will be closed down until early spring, at which time I am sure the work in your county will be opened and pushed to completion.
This action on the part of the Board of Control was, of course, necessitated by a desire to close their accounts for the year and make up their reports to the incoming Administration.
Personally, I am very much interested in the completion of the Pine Mountain road and I assure you that I shall use my best efforts towards that end.

Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

Joe S. Boggs, Commissioner,
Department of Roads,
Frankfort, Ky.

November 28, 1919
My dear Mr. Lewis:
Miss Pettit tells me that you and Capt. Winfry had your minds made up to tell me in what ways you thought Captain Williams was a failure. Won’t you please write me exactly what you thought of him?
Are you looking after the camp supplies? I wish you would see that the things left out doors are put inside, and that those which must remain outdoors are safe. What about that carload of coal that they had just gotten? We mustn’t have that stolen, and I am afraid it will be, if it lies there. I wish you would take charge of selling it for us.
I wish I could ride over and talk to you, but my mother is very sick and I cannot possibly leave home. I hope you will write to me immediately, about your opinion of Captain Williams.
Very sincerely yours,

Ethel DeLong Zande

IMAGE 0004 ILLEGIBLE MUST RE-SCAN

January 19, 1920
Columbia, Kentucky.
January 19th, 1920.

Mrs, Ethel Zonde,
Pine Mountain School.
Dear Mrs, Zande:
I have been thinking for some time of writing you as I am very anxious to know what has been done on the road this winter, if anything, and what you expect to do in the spring, as I am very anxious about the road and want to see it completed, I want to know if you intend to work convicts this year if so let me know and I will make an effort to get back as superintendent of the camp, Write me at once and let me know what your intentions are so I will know how to proceed. I suppose Mr. Lewis told you how the work was carried on last year I would like to see you and have a talk with you in regard to the work of the road, Remember me to all the people at Pine Mountain School.
Yours Most Respectfully.
FH Winfrey

P.S.
Give my regards to Miss Pettit and tell her to write me and tell me what she intends to do this year on the road.

January 30, 1920.

Mr. F.H. Winfrey,
Columbia, Kentucky.

My dear Mr. Winfrey:
The matter of convict labor for the road is entirely in the hands of the Division Engineer, J.S. Watkins, of London, Kentucky. I don’t know what arrangements he is making for beginning work on the road this spring but he will doubtless be very glad to send you full information concerning his plans.

Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

January 19, 1920

Mrs. Ethel DeLonge Zande,
Pine Mt. Ky.

My Dear Mrs. Zande:
I was in Frankfort last week and took up several matters regarding the outlook in Convict Labor conditions for the coming season. Mr. Boggs is very hopeful regarding this situation. There will probably be enough legislation passed during the session of the Legislature to remedy Convict work. In case there is no legislation passed whatsoever so far as convict work is concerned, there will no doubt be a bill passed giving the Comm. Of Public Roads more power, which will control our situation.
I am having prepared the coast statements of which I spoke, and as soon as they reach my office, I will forward you copies of same. Assuring you that you have my continued best wishes for the success of your School, and that at all times you will have my hearty co-operation on the Pine Mountain School Road Project, I beg to remain,
Yours very truly,
J.S. Watkins
Division Engr.

January 20, 1920

Mr. J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer,
London, Kentucky.

My dear Mr. Watkins:
May I have word from you as to the present situation of the Pine Mountain Road, your opinion today of our using convict labor this summer, the amount spend on the part already done, and plans for drainage?
If you are going to use convicts we want to get in an application before the Board of Control at the earliest possible moment.
I have not received from you yet the material on the affair with the L. and N. railroad. May I ask you to send it to me at once?
Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

London,
Pineville, Ky.

Feb. 3, 1920

Mrs. Ethel Delonge Zande,
Pine Mountain Ky.
My Dear Madam:
Relative to the application for Convicts, it should be made direct to the Commissioner of Public Roads in the usual written form. Application should be made at once for the limit of the number of convicts that our present quarters will accommodate.
Regarding the cost data that I have promised you on this work, bed to say that it should reach you this week. I am out of my office such a large percentage of the time and there have been so many varied things coming up in the past few weeks that I have been unable to collect and sum up the whole thing for you as yet.
Yours very truly,
J.S. Watkins
Division Engr.

February 5, 1920.

Joe S. Boggs,
Commisioner of Public Roads,
Frankfort, Ky.

My dear Mr. Boggs:
We wish to make application for forty convicts, to work on the road across Pine Mountain, said Convicts to be put to work as early as the State Road Commissioner considers practicable, and to be kept at work until in his judgment it is advisable to stop work.
We shall appreciate the cooperation of the Road Department in giving us this number of convicts. It is imperative that our road be completed as early as possible and it is a very large task.
Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 9, 1920

Joe S. Boggs,
Commissioner of Public Roads,
Frankfort, Ky.

My dear Mr. Boggs:
On February 5 I wrote you making formal application for forty convicts, to work on the road across Pine Mountain.
I understand from information since received that the convict camp at Laden accommodates seventy-five men, and wish to change our application at once to one for this number.
Will you therefore consider my letter of February 5th, as applying for seventy-five convicts?
Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 17, 1920

Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Mrs. Zande:–
I am in receipt of yours of both the 5th and 9th inst., making application for convicts on the Pine Mountain road. We shall place this application in our files and at the proper time will take the matter up with the State Board of Control. I question, however, that they will consent to allotting 75 convicts to any one camp.
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

February 9, 1920.

Mrs. Lafon Riker,
Board of Control of the State of Kentucky,
Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

My dear Mrs. Riker:
We wish to make application before the Board of Control for seventy-five convicts to work on the road across Pine Mountain, said convicts to be put to work as early as the State Road Commissioner considers practicable, and kept at work until in his judgment it is advisable to stop work.
A great deal of money last year was lost through having only a small force of convicts at work, since overhead charges are so heavy, and it was unfortunate that the number of convicts was not maintained so as to keep a good working unit.
We shall appreciate the cooperation of the Board of Control in giving us this number of convicts. It is imperative that our road be completed as early as possible and it is a very large task.
Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 21, 1920

My dear Mr. Hines:
May I ask for an opportunity to discuss the need of convicts for the Pine Mountain Road on March 2nd, before the Board of Control.
I would be glad if you could give a few moments’ hearing to Mr. J.R. Johnson our engineer until last September, and I shall hope for a few minutes also for Miss Angela Melville, public representative of the school at present, to speak on our particular needs.
Will you please notify Mr. Johnson, at the State University, how long he may speak, and also Miss Melville, Care Mrs. W.O. Bullock, 200 Market St. Lexington, to the same effect?
Very truly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 21, 1920

Mrs. Lafon Riker,
Harrodsburg,
Kentucky.

My dear Mrs. Riker:
I have just written to Mr. Hines of the Board of Control today, asking him for the opportunity on March 2nd to discuss our need of convicts.
I have asked the privilege of having Mr. J.R. Johnson speak concerning the road itself, and Miss Angela Melville, our public representative, speak about the needs of this country in relation to the road. Both of them will confine themselves absolutely to the number of minutes you will allow them.
I very much regret that I cannot be present myself, but I feel that it would be very unwise for me to take my eleven-months-old baby on the train, with influenza and smallpox both rampant, and I have literally no one with whom to leave him.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 24, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County, Ky.

My dear Mrs. Zande:
Mrs. Riker presented to the Board at its meeting today your letter of February 19, addressed to her.
When the matter was taken up by the Board on the 17th instant, Mrs. Riker was under the impression that you desired to meet with us, and it was with that idea in mind that our letter of the 17th was written. While the Board meant to convey the idea that if you desired to come to Frankfort to discuss the matter it would be very glad to accomodate itself to your wishes, there was no intention to solicit a conference.
Yours very truly,
Edward W. Hines
Chairman-

February 25, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County, Ky.

My dear Mrs. Zande:
I have your favor of February 21, asking that Mr. Johnson and Miss Melville be permitted to appear before the Board to set forth your particular needs in connection with the Pine Mountain road.
Although the Board will be glad to hear either Mr. Johnson or Miss Melville if they desire to appear, this is a matter which should be taken with the Department of Public Roads, rather than with the Board of Control, and nothing can be accomplished by presenting it to us. We are bound to recognize the requisition of the Commission of Public Roads for convicts for this work, and with the exception of general supervision and welfare of the prisoners thus resigned, we really have no jurisdiction at all in this matter.
It is my suggestion that you communicate with the Department of Public Roads, and I have no doubt that department will be glad of the opportunity to discuss the matter with either Mr. Johnson or Miss Melville.
When I wrote my letter of yesterday in which I stated that the Board would be glad to hear any one who might wish to appear in regard to the matter of working convicts on the roads, my impression was that you or some person representing your school desired to make some suggestions to us as to how more economical methods might be employed in the handling of the convicts working on the roads, and we would be glad to hear you or any representative of your school as to that matter, if it is your desire to be heard.
Yours very truly,
Edward W. Hines
Chairman-

March 1, 1920

Dear Mr. Hines:
I am sorry to have created a kind of “tempest in a teapot.” I heard that you were very unlikely to give us convicts for the road at Pine Mountain, and that probably our only chance of securing them would be for someone to make a plea for them before the Board of Control. I very much wish I had suggested as to how economical methods might be employed in handling them, but my experience of last year only went far enough for me to see that there was a great waste. I should say that the most necessary thing for good management, was that the keepers must insist most decidedly that they must cooperate with the Superintendent of the work; that was a difficulty from the very beginning with our Pine Mountain bit of road, and certainly made a great waste.
I hope very much that you will grant us the seventy five convicts we have asked for.
With apologies for having entailed you so much correspondence, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Edward W. Hines, Chairman
The State Board of Control, Frankfort, Ky.

Mvle Home. [Melville]
Church & Mill Sts. Lexington
Tuesday, March 2nd [1920]

Dear Mrs. Zande:
I went off to Frankfort today to see about the road matter as requested by you, via Ethyl. I had telephoned to Mrs. Lafon Riker last evening & she was expecting me. I saw the Board, consisting of Mrs. Riker, Mr. Hines, Mr. Garfield, the secretary Mr. Brewer, and another man whose name I cannot remember. I told them of our great need of the convicts & Mr. Garfield said when I got through that there was apparently a misunderstanding as the Board has not the power to appropriate the number of convicts—this matter being in the hands of Mr. Boggs, Road Commissioner. Mr. Garfield said that they had understood we were not satisfied with the way the County was dispensing the funds & the only thing they wanted to say was that if we had a complaint in this respect they would be glad to listen to it and consider it & do anything within their power to improve matters.
You may imagine how I feel! I told him that I was surprised to hear that they had that information & that I would put this matter before you at once. I pointed out that naturally we were as anxious as anyone, to say the least, to have the money /o as far as possible; also that naturally we desired to have the County work with us rather than against us in this matter.
It developed in a conversation I had with Mrs. Riker that in a “private” conversation which she had with Miss Pettit (as if there were any private conversation in politics!), she was told by Miss Pettit that you & she were not at all satisfied at the way the State funds were being spent–that, for instance, an “inspector” was paid a salary of $300.00 a mo. when there was nothing to inspect.

I want to say that since this matter has come to the Board in this form we should, it seems to me, to farther write it, & clear it up. I told Mr. Garfield that I would write you in this way. I believe the rumor as they have it is hurtful to us—
Furthermore, when I went to see Mr. Boggs, the Road Commissioner, the told me that the Bd. of Control did have the power to vetoe or approve the number of convicts sent. He explained their statement to me by saying that it was a new Board, just appointed, & they probably just didn’t know their own powers! Mr. Boggs is very friendly & I am sure he will keep his promise to demand the 75 convicts for us, which he assures me he will do. But the Bd., he says, really says yes or no in the final resort. I went at once back to the Capitol Bldg. (Mr. Boggs’ office is in the Old Capitol), & saw Mrs. Riker & told her Mr. Boggs’ attitude & his desire to give us the 75 men, & what he said about the Bd. having the final say-so. I wanted her to know that we knew where the power lay. She assured me they wanted to help, etc, etc.
For what they are worth here are my feelings in the matter: I think the situation important enough for you (you are the only person who knows all about it) to come & see the Board. The legislature is sitting for another 10 days or two weeks. I really think the rumor re poor spending of the funds has got under the skin of these men & that unless we clear it up, or go on with it as a charge (it seems to me a very serious one & how can we antagonize the County?) that it will be quite a handicap in getting the men we need & the co-operation we want at this [time?]—
Glad as I should be to handle it for the School, I have not (& cannot get) the intimate knowledge of things as they were done last year, to make me the right person for this job—I hope you can manage to get across for the three days necessary to see the Bd. I believe it is important.
I was able to introduce myself to Lieut. Gov. Ballard & he is giving me some introductions—so far no luck, but this is a first day only! I had a funny time lobbying. If you are coming I wish I knew when so that I could be here–I expect to go back to Frankfort, probably Friday, to see the other men to whom Gov. Ballard gave me letters.
I am sorry to write trouble, but here it is & must be faced!
For [log?] on all—hoping you are very well—
Affectionately,
Angela
The enclosed letters are for file—future possibilities.

March 5, 1920

Mrs. Ethel De Long Zande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Madam:-
Replying to yours of the 1st inst., you will be advised that pursuant to Chapter 36, Section 1, of the Acts of 1916, I have today made demand on upon the Board of Control for 75 convicts for use in highway construction on the Pine Mountain Settlement road and have requested them to advise me as to the earliest convenient time that this number of convicts can be released for this important work.
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

March 5, 1920.

My dear Mr. Hines:
Miss Melville writes me that you thot I had a complaint to make in regard to the use of funds in the building of our Pine Mountain Road. I wish that the prevalence of small-pox and influenza did not make it very unwise to start out with my year old baby and clear the whole thing up in person. I have no way of leaving the baby behind so I must trust to the clearest speech I can achieve.
I feel that more money was spent on the amount of road graded last year than should have been because there were so few convicts and the guards did not heartily cooperate with the superintendent. You know our road is being built by the State, the county is not concerned in the disposing of the funds. With only seventeen convicts the cost of supervision and inspection was heavy with regard to the amount of work done. The salary of superintendent, steam shovel men, powder men and inspector are perfect legitimate expenses if there are enough men under them to make things come to pass. That is the reason why I feel we must get seventy-five convicts this year, or even a hundred. We will then have a good working unit.
I want to put myself on record as saying that I have confidence in the State’s administration of road affairs. I believe our difficulties last year were due partly to the very late start we had and partly to the initial trouble usually met with in getting a good working unit. I do not know on what authority the statement was made that an inspector was paid $300 a month when there was nothing to inspect. As I understand it the state department keeps an inspector pretty steadily on every road job, but I am quite certain that no such salary of $300 is paid. I will ask Mr. Boggs to give you definite information on the subject.
I understand from Mr. Boggs that the Board of Control does have final decision as to the number of convicts allotted to a particular road and may I again urge that you give us at least seventy-five, and that their chief guard have very definite instructions as to the cooperation he is to give the superintendent of construction work.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Edward W. Hines,
State Board of Control,
Frankfort, Ky.

March 5, 1920

Dear Mrs. Riker:
I feel very much distressed over the rumor that seems to have gotten about that we are not satisfied with the spending of funds on our road. I do not know where the figures were ever gotten that $300 was paid a road inspector. I am quite sure they are not true. It was a regrettable fact last year that we did not have convicts enough to accomplish much, although the expenses of salaries for superintendent, road inspector, etc., had to go on. I feel if we can only get a large working force and begin work promptly April first that real results can be accomplished. I am asking Mr. Boggs to inform the Board of Control as to the monthly salary of a road inspector. Of course it was too bad that there were not enough convicts available last year to keep the inspector busy all the time.
Then I want to say that the county is not concerned in the spending of our funds. By a special arrangement with the Road Commissioner, the State is paying for the road work and we reimburse the State to the extent of the amount of thirty-five or forty per cent.
You know the building of the road is my special work here at Pine Mountain and I want to make it very clear to all the members of the Board of Control that I am not proferring any accusation of misspent funds. I am only wanting an efficient working unit on the field early this spring. If anybody is responsible for the very small unit we had last year it is I who begged the Road Commissioner to get work started although he told me it would be very difficult to get convicts as we were not ready early in the spring.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mrs. Lafon Riker,
Harrodsburg, Ky.

March 5, 1920

My dear Mr. Boggs:
Come rumor has gotten abroad that the School has been criticizing the Road Department for misspending funds on the Pine Mountain Road. As an example, the statement is made that a road inspector was paid a salary of $300 a month when there was nothing to inspect. I have written as emphatically as I know how to the Board of Control, trying to make clear that the heavy cost of work last summer was largely due to the very small number of convicts we had,–only seventeen where seventy-five or one hundred should have been at work. I will be very glad if you will tell Mr. Hines the salary you do pay a road inspector. My understanding is that the Road Department requires the presence of an inspector continually. Am I right in this?
I feel considerable anxiety about the bills for last season’s work. Will they not soon be in shape so I can know what our share is? We are entitled, are we not, to sixty-five per cent State aid?
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
Department of Public Roads,
Frankfort, Ky.

March 8, 1920

Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain,
Kentucky.

Dear Madam:–
I am in receipt of yours of the 5th inst., and would advise that as there are yet some unpaid bills on last year’s convict labor work on the Pine Mountain road, our accountant has not made up the total cost of this work for the year 1919. He also advises me that there is some reimbursement coming on the construction of the railroad switch used in connection with this work and that as soon as these matters are in, the total cost will be made up.
I shall be glad to advise Mr. Hines, chairman of the Board of Control, relative to the salaries drawn by State road inspectors. If my mind serves me correctly, the highest paid employee on this work was the steam shovel operator who was paid $200.00 per month, the regular union wage for work of this character. I have made demand upon the Board of Control for 75 convicts for this season upon which action will be taken at their regular meeting tomorrow.
In regard to the State’s share of the cost on this work, you will be advised that on all convict labor 50/50 is the basis and it is not handled through the graduated scale set out under the State Aid law. I refer you to Chapter 36 of the Acts of 1916 for the laws in regard to convict labor.
Trusting this information is what you desire. I am,
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

Lexington, Ky., March 9th, 1920

Mrs. Ethel De Long Zande.
Pine Mountain

My dear Mrs. Zande:–
Your letter of March 5th. Was forwarded to me here and I did not receive it until after I came from the board meeting today. There has not been any disposition on the part of the board to feel that you are in any way unjustly criticising the work of the State last year.
I am responsible for all that was said and I tried to repeat just what Miss Pettit said to me. Our talk was brief and if I made any statements that were in any way exaggerated I am extremely sorry. You will find this board glad to accept suggestions and friendly criticism and judging from the fact that your request for convicts was granted today I do not think any harm has been done. I understood Miss Pettit to say the road supervisor received three hundred dollars but was told today it was two hundred.
Hoping you will not worry about this any more and that the work will soon be started, I am
Very Sincerely yours,
W.M. Riker

March 15, 1920

My dear Mrs. Riker:
Your note was most re-assuring. I am very happy that the Board of Control did not really think we were making a complaint of mismanagement of funds, and granted us the seventy five convicts we asked for. I have always felt certain of your warm interest in Pine Mountain, and did not mean that you were the person who said $300.00 was the Inspector’s salary. I once knew that Inspector’s salary myself, and it was $175.00, when I knew it. I know that figures have a way of swelling all by themselves, and Miss Melville’s impression of the Board’s attitude made me feel that I must get the thing straightened out, if possible. Please excuse me if my letter implied that you were the originator of the $300.00.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mrs. Lafon Riker
Harrodsburg, Ky.

March 16, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Madam:–
I am advised by Hon. Edward W. Hines, Chairman of the State Board of Charities and Corrections, that at the meeting of the Board on the 9th inst. 40 convicts were allotted in Harlan County for this season, and that as soon as weather conditions are such that construction work can be properly handled, they would release these men for that purpose. Also, as soon as quarters are prepared for additional men, they will release 35 more, making in all 75 convicts which you have asked for. I trust that the proper authorities will take immediate steps for providing quarters for the 75 men and that quarters will be ready at the proper time.
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

March 18, 1920

My dear Mr. Boggs:
I have received word from the Board of Control that seventy five (75) convicts were granted us. I am anxious to know what we are expected to do at the Convict’s Camp. It was fitted last year for sixty men, I believe. Of course bedding was supplied by the authorities at Frankfort. Is the work to begin April 1st? When is the survey for this side of the Mountain to be completed? Are the specifications complete now for the draining of the road? As I wrote Mr. Watkins, failure to provide any draining of last year’s work, has resulted in considerable loss on account of the winter rains. Who is to superintend the work? I am afraid you will think I am quite an annoying person, always full of questions, but the road you see is a very vital matter with us, and I am intensely concerned that there will be fine progress made this season.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs, Commissioner
Commonwealth of Kentucky,
Frankfort.

March 18, 1920

My dear Mr. Lewis:
Will you please tell me how many convicts the Camp will accommodate this present moment? Seventy five (75) have been granted us, forty of them immediately, and the other thirty five as soon as the authorities say that the Camp is ready for them. I shall appreciate an early reply.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Chad. Lewis,
Dillon, Ky.

March 22, 1920

My dear Mr. Boggs:
I am having the Convict Camp fitted with bunks for eighty men, and trust to be able to report to you by the last of this week, that all is in readiness to begin work with a full force of 75 convicts.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs, Commissioner
Commonwealth of Kentucky,
Frankfort

March 31, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County,
Kentucky–

My dear Mrs. Zande:
Replying to your letter of March 27, our Board does not have the appointment of guards for the prisoners engaged in road work, the appointment of these guards being with the Warden of the prisons from which they come. We are, therefore, referring your letter requesting the appointment of Henry Creech of Mr. L.R. Davis, the Warden of the Frankfort reformatory, and are asking him to carefully consider your request.
The attention of Warden Davis will also be called to the condition of the compat Dillon, to which you refer.
Very truly yours,
Edward W. Hines
Chairman, Board of Charities
and Corrections

Dictated by Mr. Hines

March 26, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Madam:–
I am in receipt of yours of the 22nd inst. Advising that quarters for 75 convicts will be ready the last of this week. I have today written to L.R. Davis, Warden of the State Reformatory to send 40 men to your county at the earliest moment, and have also made demand on the State Board of Charities and Corrections for an additional 35 men, making 75 in all for use in your work. I have suggested to Mr. Davis that if he desires to have these quarters inspected that he send a representative at once for that purpose.
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

April 23, 1920

Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County, Ky.

My dear Mrs. Zande:
I am in receipt of your favor of April 20, regarding convicts for use on the Pine Mountain road.
I am referring your letter to Mr. Joseph P. Byers, Commissioner of Public Institutions, who will take the matter up with Warden Davis of the State Reformatory early next week.
Very truly yours,
Edward W. Hines
Chairman-

May 28, 1920

My dear Mr. Boggs:
The day before yesterday I went over to the camp at Laden to see how work was progressing, I was again impressed with Mr. Forester’s ability to push things. However, it seems to me that he is greatly hampered because Mr. Watkins doesn’t get up to visit the work. Mr. Watkins came up on the afternoon he brought Mr. Forester but nearly three weeks have gone by and Mr. Forester was not sure where his center lines were and so could not establish his ditch line. He knew nothing of the sort of drainage to be put in, as yet needed stakes and needed also Mr. Watkins O.K. about certain matters of the work. You can see that he was pretty short. I am sure he would keep things humping along if he had the help he needs.
I am writing you this not because Mr. Forester wishes to reflect on Mr. Watkins in any way and if you take this matter up with Mr. Watkins, I would be glad if you would keep this letter confidential and bring up the questions of his supervising visits some other way than as a complaint from Mr. Forester and me. Mr. Forester begged me not to write to Mr. Watkins, though he said that last year his division superintendent had sixteen counties to supervise but got around to him often enough. You see I agreed not to say anything to Mr. Watkins but told him I would write to you and ask you to get him up oftener without any mention of this complaint.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe Boggs,
Road Commissioner,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

June
Third,
Nineteen
Twenty.

Mrs. Ethel Delong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Mrs. Zande:-
I am in receipt of yours of the 28th and note that you are much pleased with Mr. Foster as superintendent of the convict labor camp. I also note that Mr. Watkins has not been on this job for sometime and I am today directing him to secure the services of a resident engineer for this work for can give Mr. Foster line grade at all times.
I would appreciate you keeping me advised as to the progress of this work or any inefficiency on the part of any of our employees.
Very truly,
Joe S. Boggs
Commissioner.

July 12, 1920

Dear Mr. Foster:
I want to make certain that you come over this Saturday according to our last week’s plan. Miss Pettit is going to put in a little piece of road and she wants to brush up on the best way to make a dirt road using a drag to make the crown, so we are counting on you not only for the pleasure you are getting but for the instructions we can get out of you. Be sure to bring Mr. Lyons with you. I hope you had a nice time when you were home.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Scott Foster.
Laden, Kentucky.

August 12, 1920

My dear Mr. Greene:
Won’t you please keep the number of convicts at work at Laden up to seventy-five? The number is already diminished and there are more to be discharged and the work is really going to be hampered unless we can keep the force up to the original number.
I am glad that you told me that we could depend on your cooperation, for I feel sure you will make every effort to bring this about.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Captain Greene,
State Reformatory,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

August 19, 1920

My dear Mr. Boggs:
There are now only fifty-seven convicts altogether at the Laden Camp. Mr. Green, the assistant warden, promised to send more, and keep the number up to seventy-five, but he has not sent them yet. I imagine a telephone call from you to Mr. Davis would be more helpful than anything else we could do. Six or seven men are to be discharged next month, and before they go we wish very much that the full quota could be at work.
Please excuse me for adding to your duties, but it is so very clear to me that you are the reigning power that I cannot help but bring my petitions to your court.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
State Road Engineer,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

August 21, 1920

Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Ky.

Dear Mrs. Zande:-
I am in receipt of yours of the 19th inst., and would advise that some several days ago I requisitioned the State Board of Charities and Corrections for a sufficient number of convicts in Harlan County to keep the quota up to seventy five, in accordance with my original requisition of last winter.
Please do not feel at any time you bring such matters to my attention that you are adding to my duties, as I am deeply interested in the completion of this road to your school, and wish to co-operate to the fullest to that end.
Very truly yours
Joe S. Boggs
State Highway Engineer

August 25, 1920

Dear Mr. Boggs:
Thank you so much for requisitioning the State Board of Charities to keep up the quota of convicts to seventy-five, and for answering my letter so promptly. May you live long in the land! Every time I hear from you I feel sure that our road will eventually get across Pine Mountain. The next thing I want is to have you come and see it!
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
State Highway Engineer,
Commonwealth of Kentucky,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

November 30, 1920

Mrs. Ethel DeLong Zande,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Mrs. Zande:-
I am in receipt of yours of the 24th instant, and am glad to note that the arrangement that I have perfected for the continuation of convict labor in Harlan County this winter is satisfactory to you.
In regard to perfecting some arrangement with the State Board of Charities and Corrections whereby convicts would be paid for only the time that they are actually engaged in work this winter, I would advise that I do not think any such arrangement can be made, in view of the fact that it is very necessary that the State Board receive pay for straight time in order to meet the living expenses of the prisoners while in the camps. If weather conditions should become so that work will be suspended through long periods of time this winter it would be best to abandon this camp until spring. This is a matter, however, that can be worked out later in accordance with weather conditions.
I have been intending for some time to visit this piece of work, and if possible will do so during the winter months. I have been very much interested in the work of the Pine Mountain School, and wish to co-operate with it in every way possible towards the completion of a road to the railroad.
Very truly yours
Joe S. Boggs
State Highway Engineer

January 23, 1921

Dear Mr. Boggs:
May I present to you a situation at Laden that has become acute, so that we are in danger of losing both our excellent steam shovel man, Mr. Caldwell, and our splendid superintendent, Mr. Foster.
Mr. Watkins has been complaining about the amount of work done, and the money spent in proportion to the results achieved. He has ordered Mr. Foster to dispose of the teams, and move the dirt by wheel-barrow. He has refused to employ a powder man, though Mr. Foster has been begging him for one for some time. On the other hand, he complains that the shovel is not making progress, and says that it must move ahead faster. He said, on his last visit to Mr. Foster, that he should not spend all his time on the road, as he had many other things of importance to do. Day before yesterday he told Mr. Foster that he should spend all his time on the road, letting lower priced men attend to other matters. He has said that unless more work were accomplished, he should have a general housecleaning. He has implied that Mr. Foster is unable to get on with engineers provided for him. So much for Mr. Watkins’ side of the case.
Mr. Foster says that he has to have teams to move coal, water, dinner and dirt; that scrapers are much more effective in moving dirt than wheel-barrows.
Second: That he cannot accomplish much with the shovel unless he has a good powder man working ahead of it. In regard to this matter, Mr. Caldwell will resign unless a powder man is secured. It would be most unfortunate if we should lose him, as he is a young man of excellent character and is an admirable shovel man.
Third: Mr. Foster is very much stirred by Mr. Watkins’ implications that he will fire him unless he accomplishes more work, and I am certain will not stay with use under the present arrangements if Mr. Watkins continues to take this tone.
Fourth: Pat O’Neill was certainly an incompetent engineer, and deservedly was discharged. Mr. Bailey was an excellent engineer and a very delightful person when he was not drunk, and had been doing nothing for three days, while the work waited for him to recover from his spree. He handed in his resignation, and it was accepted by Mr. Foster because of this unfortunate habit of his. I know Mr. Foster considered him an able man, and regretted that he lost so much time. You may know that when Mr. O’Neill ordered a certain stretch of road blasted to a certain depth, that although Mr. Foster knew this was not as it should be, he had to take Mr. O’Neill’s instructions. When Mr. Bailey came he had exactly as much more rock blasted away and filled in, so that that particular piece of road was gone over twice, because of Mr. O’Neill’s incompetence.
I am not a road builder, Mr. Boggs, but I do have confidence in Mr. Foster, and my husband, who regards the points at issue from the attitude of a practical man, feels that Mr. Foster’s point of view in regard to teams and the powder man, is the right one.
Mr. Watkins’ visits have been infrequent, as you will remember I wrote you some time ago, so that he does not seem to me to be a very good supervisor. I should hate to see Mr. Foster leaving because of friction with Mr. Watkins. I believe that Mr. Foster’s judgment and ability are of a higher order than Mr. Watkins’ and his interest in the road is very great.
Of course, I wish you, yourself, could come and look over the situation. If this is impossible, could you not yourself summon Mr. Foster? He does not want to make complain of Mr. Watkins, but if you ask him to come, I am sure he would tell you very frankly exactly what the situation is, or could you send a Division Engineer from some other department, to come up as an efficiency expert, and pass on the work done and on Mr. Foster’s desires for teams and a powder man? I have asked Mr. Foster please not to dispose of the teams, for I told him I was going to write to you, as I object very strongly to losing him and taking somebody else of Mr. Watkins’ choice.
It is my own opinion that Mr. Watkins would like to get rid of Mr. Foster and put in some friend of his. Whether you retain Mr. Foster or not, I wish our road could be put under somebody’s else supervision beside Mr. Watkins, for I think he really has messed things up over there, when we have an unusually good unit.
I would rather not have Mr. Watkins see this letter, for if you do retain him as a supervising engineer, I feel he would think me quite unwilling to co-operate with him, whereas I shall do so to the utmost of my power.
Please don’t let us lose Mr. Foster and Mr. Caldwell. I am sure if Mr. Foster has a free hand he will do that road as well and as cheaply as any man who could be found. I hope you can take some action very soon, for Mr. Foster is indignant and may just go away.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
State Road Engineer,
Department of Public Highways,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

January 26, 1921

Mrs. Ethel De Long Zande,
Pine Mountain, Ky.

Dear Madam:-
I beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 23rd instant, and a day or so ago wrote you requesting information along the lines that you have given me.
It has come to my attention that not all is well in the administration of the convict camp near your school, and it is my purpose to have the entire matter thoroughly investigated before taking any action. If friction, however, has arisen between the Superintendent and the Division Engineer, in my judgment it will be best to transfer Mr. Foster and put some other man on this work.
I thank you for the information you have given me, and assure you that it will be given very much careful consideration.
Very truly yours
Joe S. Boggs
State Highway Engineer.

January 25, 1921

Mrs. Ethel De Long Zande
Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Madam:-
Considerable criticism has been directed toward this Department in regard to the convict labor work in Harlan County near your school, in which work your school is financially interested. I take it that a portion of this criticism as originated on account of the death of Miss Parsons.
I would thank you to write me briefly a report as to the conduct of our men, their handling of teh work, etc., which report of course I will hold strictly confidential. It is not my desire to retain in teh service of any superintendent, assistant superintendent, engineer, time-keeper, etc., who is not well qualified for his work and who does not devote his entire time to same.
If you have any criticism to make of the guards furnished by the State Board of Charities and Corrections, please feel free to write me fully as to same, so that I can take the matter up with the above Board and have better men put in their place. I realize full well that if the prisoners at this camp are returned to the Reformatory and the camp abandoned it is very probable that your school will never be able to get this construction completed, leaving you in an isolated state for years to come. I prefer, therefore, to correct any evils in the camp rather than to recall same.
Please communicate with me at your earliest convenience.
Very truly yours
Joe S. Boggs
State Highway Engineer

January 30, 1921

Dear Mr. Boggs:
I am answering your two letters of January 25 and 26, which I found on my return from the trial of Dr. Winnes yesterday. May I answer yours of the 25th first?
I have nothing but good words to say of Mr. Foster, Mr. Rufus Wilson and Mr. Howard Caldwell. Mr. Lyons, as timekeeper, is not so conspicuously able a person in his line of work as the others are in theirs, but I think he is satisfactory. Mr. Foster’s ability, and his anxiety to make every penny count, as well as his high personal character, make me hope he may have the pleasure of finishing the road across Pine Mountain.
Mr. Moyer, who visited the camp on Friday, told me that he thought he had scarcely seen any piece of work in the State that was going to be so worth while as this road,-fine, solid workmanship it seemed to him. He made comment to me, as he probably will not you, on the fact that the steam shovel is not doing enough. I do not believe this to be Mr. Caldwell’s fault, and as soon as an expert powder man is furnished, I am sure he will make a record. It has been great pleasure to me to have such men to work with, for my experience the season before had been disagreeable, to say the least.
As for the conduct of the camp, some poor men have been sent up there as guards, but they have been removed, and every effort had been shown by both the warden and the assistant warden to keep the personnel of the guards what it should be. I think there is an unusually good group of men there now, and that the regulations in regard to the handling of the prisoners are very wise ones. I feel sure that much of the criticism directed against the camp has been the result of the Parsons’ case, for I know that every effort has been made to make the geographical location of that camp explain the tragedy, and to ignore the plain evidence in the case. I know of no difficulty or disagreeable circumstance that has arisen from the presence of the convicts there.
I feel that a good deal of other criticism which may have reached your ears, is due to very petty personal jealousies. A number of people have been disgruntled because of very small things, such as the disposal of swill from the prison camp, and that has resulted in criticism which seems to have no relation whatever to their own petty grievances. These matters are really of no importance, but they have caused wide ripples.
Mr. Bailey, the last engineer at the camp, I know handed in his resignation, which was cheerfully accepted by Mr. Foster, because he was drunk so much of the time. Mr. Foster liked him and thought him an excellent engineer, but, as I have already written you, I know of his lying drunk on several successive days, when his work was actually needed on the road. It is a pity that so agreeable a person, and so able an engineer, should disqualify himself by this vice. But I believe it is unwise, for many reasons, for a man so strongly addicted to drink to work at a convict camp, where drinking is always a temptation of the guards.
Now, in regard to your letter of the 26th, I am very happy to note that you are going to have the entire matter investigated, and wish I might see your investigator when he comes to Laden. I hope that I did not give you the impression in my last letter, that Mr. Foster had wished, or even suggested the transfer of Mr. Watkins. That was entirely my own idea and he did not know of the suggestion. Indeed, he has said repeatedly that he could get on perfectly with Mr. Watkins as long as he did not ask the impossible of him, but he has added that if Mr. WAtkins were going to fire him for not getting more work done, when he was himself withholding the means of accomplishing more, he would resign before he would be fired.
I think if this matter can be looked into by an impartial outsider, it can be straightened out, and I want to urge again that Mr. Foster be retained on the road.
I am glad you are keeping my letter concerning Mr. Watkins confidential, for he has no idea that I have ever been dissatisfied with him. I probably would not have written you so frankly if I had not had to do all my thinking very hurriedly while this trial is going on. I was too impulsive in making the suggestion I did make, and appreciate the necessity you were under in supporting Mr. Watkins.
I shall be extremely anxious to hear, either from you or from Mr. Foster, what arrangements have been made for carrying on the work efficiently. The road is certainly making the best progress we can hope for at present, and if we can only stick it out through the storm of criticisms, and patiently work for the thorough efficiency of the unit, I believe we will actually have that wonderful road.
I wish I might personally talk to you about this whole matter. I do not want you to think I am a busybody and a wilful, spiteful woman. I do believe in Mr. Foster’s ability to get this road done right, and want him to have the support that he needs.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
State Highway Engineer,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

Feb. 5, 1921

Mrs. Ethel de Long Zande,
Of Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County Ky.

My dear Mrs. Zande:
Your letter regarding Mr. Marcum and also your letter regarding the quota of men on the road, have been received.
We are busy today trying to select at least thirty (30) eligible for road work to be sent to the Harlan Prison Camp next Monday. It is difficult to select so many suitable men because of the clause in the contracts of the companies which are operating in this Reformatory requiring notice of sixty (60) days before prison labor assigned to them can be withdrawn. But I am satisfied that before long we will have the road camp in Harlan County up to its full quota.
I am going to take up with Mr. Boggs as soon as I can see him the matter of powder men for the camp as well as some other matters which I think the Highway Department can do to facilitate the work.
With best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
W.H. Moyer
SUPERINTENDENT.

London, Ky.
Feb. 5 1921

Mrs. Ethel Delonge Zande,
President Pine Mountain Settlement School,
Pine Mountain, Ky.

Dear Madam:
I have several important matters that I should like to discuss with you, but have been awaiting the finish of the trial at Harlan. These matters pertain to the construction of our road, and it is imperative that we be on the ground where the work is going on. I should like to have a conference with you on Tuesday afternoon February the 8th., immediately afternoon. I would have been glad to have come to your school for this conference, but from the fact that the matters I have for discussion must be taken up with the active organization of the road. I trust that this will not inconvenience you too much, for I know you are a busy woman.
Yours very truly,
J.S. Watkins
Division Engineer.

February 8, 1921

My dear Mr. Watkins:
It is with much regret that I am writing to say that it will be impossible for Mrs. Zande to attend the meeting at noon today. She is quite ill this morning, – the result of six weeks in court rooms, and the strain of the trial that has been going on in Harlan since January 1st.
Mrs. Zande has asked me to say that she is very, very sorry to be obliged to send this message to you instead of appearing in person, because of her deep interest in work you gentlemen are doing on the road.
Sincerely yours,
Secretary

Mr. J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer,
Department of Public Roads,
Laden, Harlan Co., Ky.

February 8, 1921

Dear Mr. Watkins:
I was so sorry that I was suffering from the after-effects of the trial on the day you got to Laden. It was quite impossible for me to go over the mountain. I should have been delighted to have been present at the conference.
Permit me to say that again and again I am grateful to you and Mr. Boggs for putting Mr. Foster in charge of this work. His integrity and his ability are of rare order, it seems to me, and I am continually interested to see how he attaches to himself men of high character.
I am hoping very much you have found an expert powder man, who can go to work at once ahead of the shovel. Of course the lack of one has been a tremendous handicap.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer,
State Roads & Highways,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

February 8, 1921

Dear Mr. Foster:
I was so sorry I could not go over the mountain for the conference with Mr. Watkins, but I am writing him so that he will know my attitude as far as you are concerned. I have been very, very tired since I got back from the trial, and had to go to bed.
Do any of you know what has become of Fedo? I haven’t seen him since I got on the train that morning. Would you mind getting Hamp and Chad Lewis to put these notices up in their stores? I do want my dog back.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. S.M. Foster,
Superintendent,
Road Construction Camp,
Laden, Harlan Co., Ky.

February 12, 1921

Dear Mr. Boggs:
Mr. Watkins came over to see me yesterday, as I was unable to be present at a Conference he wished to have with Mr. Foster. I appreciated very much that he wanted me to be present when he talked over Mr. Foster’s failings with him, and also that he took the trouble to come over the mountain to inform me himself of his side in this painful affair.
Of course, I am not a road expert, and cannot be any judge in engineering matters. I do appreciate that an able man might disqualify himself by lack of discipline. It is, of course, a real regret to me that a man who had conducted himself as well as Mr. Foster had up until the first of November, could not have seen where the difficulty lay, and gotten into lone, so that he could have gone on with the road in which he was so deeply interested. I appreciate the fact that the personal equation often counts more heavily than anything else.
I am convinced of Mr. Watkins’ wish to do this work efficiently, and want you to know that I, of course, shall so-operate in every way possible, and have accepted his decision as to Mr. Foster, as final. I wish you could see Mr. Foster yourself, so that he really might have some chance of finding out just where he failed. I am sure he feels that it is a personal matter with Mr. Watkins now.
Mr. Watkins has told me that I may write him freely my comments on the camp. My chief anxiety is in regard to the use of liquor there. I feel that men who drink should not be retained in the service of the Road Department, since they must, of necessity, associate closely with the guards. If we have drinking going on over there, some terrible tragedy may happen, which would certainly make many people believe that Miss Parsons’ death really lay at the doors of the camp and that we had tried to cover it up. I am not referring to Mr. Bailey now, – Mr. Watkins discussed that point with me, – but only to the general policy of no drinking on the grounds.
With very hearty thanks for you, and Mr. Watkins’ courteous consideration of the school’s point of view.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
Dep’t. State Roads & Highways,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

February 12, 1921

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
My acquaintance with Mr. C.N. Green, now assistant warden of the State Reformatory, and in active charge of the Road Construction Prison Camps, has extended through a period of very great difficulty and much criticism of the camps.
Mr. Green’s behavior, in my judgment, has been candid and honorable in every respect. He has been zealous to run the camp at Laden, where I am personally acquainted with the work, on the best possible principles. He has discharged man after man who did not measure up to the proper qualifications, and has honorably striven to conduct the camp in the most efficient way. During the investigation of Miss Parson’s murder, he was the object of much criticism, it being asserted that he was trying to shield his camp. I know that he personally gave every aid to the officials who wished to make investigations; that he objected only to the misuse of money or threats to perjure negroes, but that he helped every rightful means for ascertaining the facts.
It gives me pleasure to speak in an unqualified manner of the man who held a difficult position, and held it honorably.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

February 14, 1921

Dear Mr. Foster:
I am enclosing copies of the letters I have written Mr. Boggs. Mr. Watkins came over the other day, and Mr. Maneee, Mr. Zande and I had a long conference as to whether I could accomplish anything by going to Frankfort. From what Mr. Watkins said, I do not believe it is any use for me to go, or that I could help you at all. You see, Mr. Boggs knows what I think of you personally, from all I have written him. Mr. Watkins’ line of approach is based on technical points in road construction that I have no knowledge of, and on his statement that you would not co-operate with him. I have no knowledge with which to answer his criticisms of your, which he says began to date from about November 1st. If I thought I could do any good at all, I would be delighted to go, though I do not feel well at all since I came back from Harlan, and hardly feel equal to the trip.
I cannot begin to tell you how badly I feel. I so wanted you to finish the Pine Mountain road. It has been a delight to work with you. I wish now that it had been possible to go to see Mr. Boggs early in January. Mr. Watkins said that he had had his mind made up for something like six weeks to put someone else in charge, but things might have been straightened out if we could have gotten down to Frankfort in January. I think you owe it to yourself as well as to the Road Department to see Mr. Boggs and tell him your side of things.
When you can, please bring Mrs. Foster to see us. I hope that we all are going to have a peaceful year next year, and that the scars left by 1920 may gradually fade out of our memories.
Faithfully yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. S.M. Foster,
Dillon, Harlan Co.,
Kentucky.

February 15, 1921

Dear Mrs. Foster:
I want to thank you for that lovely note of the 28th, and to tell you how full of regret I am that Mr. Foster is not going to be permitted to go on with the road across the mountain. I find there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I am trying to accept it without bitterness, but I have been unhappy for days.
I want you and him to come sometime on a little vacation to see the school. I shall always feel as if I knew you personally, and hope that we all may be friends for many years.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mrs. S.M. Foster,
Box 57,
Vanceburg, Kentucky.

February 25, 1921

Dear Mrs. Foster:
I do not know how to tell you how much I appreciate your two notes. I have been so afraid that Mr. Foster might feel I have failed him in some way because it did not seem advisable for me to go to Frankfort, and your kindness just touches my heart.
I am grateful for your counsel about accepting the new regime. When Mr. Watkins told me that some six weeks prior to Mr. Foster’s dismissal, he had made up his mind to send him away, I realized that I could do nothing to help, and it seemed to me that it was my duty to co-operate to the best of my ability with the new superintendent. I feel very happy that Mr. Foster and you both want me to do this, for I should hate to have any cloud of misunderstanding come between us. So much of life we have just to accept and make the best of. I am sure it is the right thing to do, even though it is often very painful.
I hope you will let me know what work Mr. Foster takes up next, and that I may have one of your lovely letters from time to time.
Most warmly yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mrs. S.M. Foster,
Vanceburg,
Kentucky.

February 15, 1921

Mrs. Ethel De Long Zande,
℅ Pine Mountain Settlement School,
Pine Mountain, Ky.

Dear Madam:-
I beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 12th instant, and would advise that this office has selected a Mr. Brown as the new superintendent of convict labor in your county.
I have gone rather thoroughly into the matter of Mr. Foster’s dismissal with the Division Engineer, and am convinced that Mr. Foster has not been handling this work as he should. Mr. Brown is very trustworthy and I am sure will be able to secure better results on this work than we have heretofore.
I note what you have to say in regard to the use of liquor at this camp, and am advising Mr. Watkins by all means to eliminate this condition.
Very truly yours
Joe S. Boggs
State Highway Engineer

London, Ky. Feb. 18 1921

Rufus Wilson Esq.,
Assistant Superintendent,
Convict Labor,
Dillon, Ky.

Dear sir:-
It has come to the attention of this Department that liquor drinking at the Convict camp has been prevalent for some time. As you are aware, this camp now bears a very bad reputation throughout the State, which reputation will not easily be outlived. This evil must be eliminated at this camp, and this Department will use the most stringent means in the elimination of such practice. I am positive that my reorganization of this camp last week will mean much to its future progress, and we are looking to you Gentlemen who are in charge of this work to see that nothing hampers our progress on it. There has been an effort made through the press, by Contractors of Convict Labor, to discourage the use of Convicts on road work. And, these same men would be deligated [sic] to get a line on all the difficulties that we encounter in the handling of this work, so that they may spread propaganda throughout the State that Convict Labor on road work is a Failure.
Please call an immediate conference of all your free labor employees on this road and warn them that any indulgence in liquor in or around this camp or in the vicinity of this work, will warrant their discharge. You will please also, take this matter up with Captain McQueary, so that he may advise his guards. I trust that we may not again have the unpleasantness of again having this matter called to our attention, and I am sure that the stand that you have always taken in this matter will so firmly be brought before those who indulge, that they will be weeded out of our organization, altogether.
Yours very truly,
Division Engineer.

February 26, 1921

Dear Mr. Watkins:
Thank you so much for the copy of your letter to Mr. Rufus Wilson. I am happy that you sent such positive instructions on the subject of drinking.
I shall get over to see Mr. Brown as soon as possible, and hope to see you again before such a long interval has gone by.
Cordially yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer,
Dep’t. State Roads & Highways,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

[Letter is poor copy —Unable to scan]

March 15, 1921

Dear Mr. Wilson:
Indeed I was interested in the clipping you sent. I wonder if you are going to Pineville between now and the first of April? If you do, will you see that station agent? I cannot possibly get down there, and I would like to get the full facts.
I am coming over to see the road as soon as possible. You have no idea what a lot of work I had to do here that was piling up through January. I hear that things are coming on finely, and I am delighted that Henry Creech is in charge of the prison camp now. Tell him nothing could please me more.
I had a nice letter from Mr. and Mrs. Foster the other day, asking me to cooperate in every way with Mr. Brown. I am glad that Mr. Foster wrote so nicely about him.
Come over when you can. You know you have never seen this school.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel DeLong Zande

Mr. Rufus Wilson,
Harlan County Prison Road Camp,
Dillon, Ky.

March 16, 1921

My dear Mr. Brown:
I hope you haven’t taken my failure to visit you as indicating a lack of interest in the Road. I have wanted to come over very much, and shall, I hope, soon get over to meet you and see how that road is walking up the mountain!
` My winter has been so very disrupted by the events following Miss Parsons’ death, that I have scarcely had time to breathe since court closed.
If you can, won’t you come over and take dinner with us on Sunday, – that is, providing you haven’t been exposed to the measles? We have a very rigid quarantine for our neighbors this side of the mountain. If you cannot come this Sunday, come when you can. Even the old trail isn’t so bad as a crossing!
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Ethel deLong Zande

May 3, 1921

Dear Mr. Foster:
Sunday your successor, Mr. Brown, came over to see me, and you will be pleased to know that Mr. Bailey has had his deserts. Confidentially, of course, Mr. Brown effected his removal through a member of the State Road Board. He had exactly the same trouble with Bailey that you had. Bailey didn’t do any more work on the road than he could possibly help, drinking heavily, and then tried to falsify Mr. Brown’s yardage removed.
I wish you would write to Mr. Boggs, for I certainly want it pointed out to him that you were right. I don’t think it is exactly good policy for me to do this, but it irritates me every time I think of it, that Watkins should have given Mr. Boggs the impression he did of you. Mr. Brown is a good man. We are fortunate in that respect, and his corroboration of your findings with regard to Mr. Bailey is very, very gratifying to me.
I suppose it is for the best that the Winnes case was dismissed, since they might have succeeded in getting him acquitted.
I hope you are well, adn Mrs. Foster, too, and that you surely will bring her up sometime to see the school.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. S.M. Foster,
Box 57,
Vanceburg, Kentucky.

June 4, 1921

My dear Mr. Boggs:
Yesterday I went over to the road camp and met Mr. Watkins there. Mr. Brown, Mr. Watkins and I agree that we would prefer to stop work on the road than to go on with the present farce. The convicts are doing as little work as they can possibly get away with. I have never seen a group of ten or twelve year old children shirk any more than those men shirked yesterday as I watched them all along the line. It is a waste of the State’s money and the School’s money to continue as things are going now, adn personally, rather than be robbed in this way, I would prefer to have the road work stopped until an honest deal could be secured.
You know, however, that it would be a deep regret to me to have anything interfere with the progress of the road. If no pressure can be brought to bear upon the prison authorities, to secure an organization of guards, backed up by the Department, who will get work from the convicts, why not put in free labor. I think your blood would boil, as mine did when I was over there, at the way the Road Department and the School are being done.
I am sure Mr. Watkins has already telegraphed you his opinion of this. I am writing you because I told him I would, so that you will know how the school stands on the subject.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. Joe S. Boggs,
State Highway Engineer,
Department of State Roads and Highways,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

June 4, 1921

Dear Mr. Green:
I am very sorry to have to write you that I feel the work done by the convicts in the Laden Camp at present is an absolute failure. I went over yesterday for a conference with Mr. Watkins and Mr. Brown, and in the few hours I was on the road, what I saw was enough to convince me that there must be a decided change.
I never have had a group of children at Pine Mountain lazing on their work as much as those men did. Mr. Brown tells me that there hasn’t been a honest day’s work done since Henry Creech left, and that one, at least, of the guards took offense when his attention was called to the way in which the men were working.
Is it not possible to secure an organization which will deal honestly with the Road Department, as Henry Creech did? I am very much afraid that part of the trouble at present is due to the fact that the convicts have taken Mr. Bastin’s and your remarks to them as meaning that you were backing them up. They feel that they can get to you over any guards, and that you will be ready to believe they are being abused. I cannot imagine you intended any such results as these to follow any of your talks, but these are the facts. I personally feel that I would rather see the work on the road stopped altogether, unless a more honest job can be done than is being done now.
If you and Mr. Bastin can get a good organization and back it up, so that we will have some chance of getting a decent day’s work done, that would be quite satisfactory, but unless a very radical change can take place, I should certainly advocate the removal of the camp.
It is a matter of great regret to me that Henry Creech resigned. He was a man whom you could have backed up to the last ditch, as he is a person of unquestioned integrity that he had the backing of the prison authorities.
I am very much in hopes that you may have set forces in motion already, which will mean that our road is being dealt with in a just way, for I am sure you would regret to see money wasted as much as I do myself.
I hope your little daughter is prospering.
Very sincerely yours,
Ethel de Long Zande

Mr. C.N. Green,
Kentucky State Reformatory,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

London, Kentucky,
June 5th, 1921

Hon. Joe S. Boggs,
State Highway Engineer,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

Dear Sir:
SUBJECT: Convict Labor in Harlan County:
I was on the Pine Mountain Convict Labor job yesterday and I must say that in my opinion this Department is paying convicts at the rate of $1.50 per day per man on this job for 10 hours of work and getting probably on the average of 50% efficiency or 5 hours per day actual labor from each convict on the road. Within the last few weeks the efficiency due to the lasity of the guards and the guard in charge of the camp, has decreased to a deplorable state. I doubt if each convict on this job at present would do 50% of the work that a free laborer would do on the same job, it seems to be the opinion among these negro convicts that all they have to do is to pass away the time. I talked to each and every guard on the job and also to Mr. MeQuary who is guard in charge relative to this point and advised them that this department is demanding an average 10 hours work from each man per day according to the attorney generals rulings and that we would not suffer conditions as they now exist at that camp. I will discuss this matter personally with you within the next few days and it will be my recommendation on July 1st if conditions are not remedied by the warden at Frankfort, to take this camp out of Harlan County altogether. Our hands are tied when we cannot get the cooperation of the Prison Department.

Yours very truly,
Division Engineer

London, Kentucky,
June 22nd, 1921

Mrs. Ethel De Longe Zande,
Principal Pine Mountain Settlement School,
Pine Mountain, Kentucky.

Dear Madam:
On Monday June the 20th Mr. Boggs invited the Board of Charities and Corrections to meet with the State Highway Commission in a conference at Frankfort to take up with them the methods the Prison Department was employing in the working of convicts on road construction.
Mr. Boggs requested me along with one of the other Division Engineers to be present at this meeting, and I told them frankly the conditions as they existed in Harlan County. Mr. Baston and Mr. Green both were at this conference and they promised that they would do anything in their power to right all the wrongs on each and every job.
Mr. Byars chairman of the board of Charities and Corrections told us at any time this department had grounds of contentions against guards who were not doing their duty about seeing that the convicts worked on the road, that he would immediately remove them from the job. We spent quite a while in this conference and I believe now the Board of Charities and Corrections have an insight of just what has been giving us all the trouble in the past.
I believe that without doubt we will have more efficient work on our job, or we will know the reason why. At any time you have any criticism to make do not hesitate in the least to take the matter up with me and I will see that any looseness that exists on the job will be corrected, I may add that the man you referred to who is with this organization on the Pine Mountain Road, in your conversation with me some several days ago, will soon be relieved of duty. But as it has been running for the past few weeks I thot it best for the other reorganization to come about first by the Prison Department.
Yours very truly,
J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer.

June 25, 1921

Dear Mr. Watkins:
I am very much pleased with the action taken at the conference in Frankfort last Monday, and hope that we will have an end of this kind of trouble at least. You see, I am quite sure that the scripture is right when it says “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” But if we can get the convicts to work, we can stand a certain amount of trouble, can’t we?
I am ever so much relieved that the person of whom I spoke to you [about] is not to be at Laden much longer.
Thank you for letting me feel I may write to you whenever I know of anything going wrong. I am sorry I could not have seen you yesterday.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. J.S. Watkins,
Division Engineer,
State Dep’t. Roads & Highways,
London, Kentucky.

June 21, 1921

TO: Mrs. Ethel de LongZande,
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Inc.,
Harlan, Ky.

SUBJECT: Harlan County Road Camp.

FROM: H.V. Bastin, Superintendent,
Kentucky State Reformatory,
Frankfort, Ky.

I am sending Mr. C.M. Greene, Road Supervisor to the Harlan County Road Camp, with instructions to reorganize same and to displace guards who are not competant or unwilling to do their full duty. He has been instructed to effect a complete reorganization, if necessary, in order to bring about satisfactory results.
I will appreciate it very much if, from time to time, as you have the opportunity to observe, that you will advise me direct as to the progress of the work, and as to the discipline and work of the prisoners.
It is my purpose to cooperate fully with you and the Road Department in every way possible and any suggestion you may have to offer, from time to time, will be thankfully received.

Yours very sincerely,
H.V. Bastin
SUPERINTENDENT.

June 28, 1921

My dear Mr. Bastin:
I am very glad that the road camp at Laden is being reorganized, and that we may hope for an honest day’s work from the men in future.
Thank you for your friendly letter, and I shall avail myself of your kind invitation to write to you whenever it is necessary.
Sincerely yours,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. H.V. Bastin, Superintendent,
Kentucky State Reformatory,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

Aug. 1, 1921

TO: Mrs. Ethel de Long Zande,
℅ Pine Mountain Settlement School, Ind.,
Pine Mountain, Harlan County, Ky.

FROM: H.V. Bastin, Superintendent,
Kentucky State Reformatory,
Frankfort, KY.

SUBJECT: Progress of work on the Pine Mountain Settlement School Road.

I[f you ?] would advise me how the work is progressing on the Pine Mountain Settlement School Road. I am very anxious to give you the very best that we have in carrying forward this worthy proposition, and if you can suggest any means whereby we can push the work forward more rapidly, I will appreciate it.

Very sincerely,
H.V. Baskin
SUPERINTENDENT

August 4, 1921

My dear Mr. Bastin:
When I was over to see how the road work was progressing two weeks ago, the report was that the men were doing their work satisfactorily.
The superintendent thought that perhaps they should be better fed, for he said it was impossible for him to get the best work from the negroes unless they had very adequate rations. He felt that more food would mean more work.
Of course, this is a matter on which I am speaking on second-hand information, but my confidence in Mr. Brown is so great, that I believe it would be wise for you to send a special letter in regard to rations furnished, to Mr. Daley.
Yours very sincerely,
Ethel deLong Zande

Mr. H.V. Bastin, Sup’t.,
State Reformatory,
Frankfort, Kentucky.

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SEE ALSO

ETHEL de LONG ZANDE Director

WELLS RECORD “THE ROAD”

LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD Correspondence -Part I

LADEN TRAIL or THE ROAD Correspondence – Part II