Newspaper Page Text
The Savannah Daily Herald.
BV 8. W. MASON AND CO.
SAVANNAH. SATURDAY. APRIL 1. IMS.
Highly Interesting Hebei News!
Al CiISTA DATES TO HAUCSE ?A.
The Very latest Intelligence.
XiOTALTST EW iLtTSt?STA.
Liberman Eagerly Looked l'or.
ESCAPE OF lUiOAISTS FRO® DIXIE.
Rebel Prices of Food rnd Clothes.
Impressment of Private Gold.
OXE YEAR f!V STATES’ PRISON
FOR BiyiXG 4i REE A BACKS.
AT TEMPTED DESTETCTIOS OF COTTO*.
I'.runai Items, Sanies, Dates, and all sorts
of Authentic Sews, a Diviol.oyal
Wedding: Included,
By tho kindness of some friends who have
succeeded in making their escape from the
intolerable tyranny of Jeffdom, and who
last evening arrived in this city, after a most
anxious and perilous journey from Augusta,
we are enabled to lay before our readers
news from that city and vicinity up to the
25th ult., inclusive, which fa oue day later
than the “Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel” of
Friday last, which they brought with thcrti.
The paper contains one or two documents
of importance, which our readers will find
in another column, but the public censor fa
so very severe in the execution of his work
as to leave the unfortunate editor but very
little scope beyond strictly official documents,
and their advertising pages. Comment on
military matters, information with regard to
military movements, and any article which
presumes to reflect in the slightest degree
on the confederate authorities, is remorse
lessly forbidden. Nor fa the hopeless jour
na'ist permitted to print anything showing
the temper, and the real feelings of the peo
ple, even were he disposed to do so,—such
being the fact a confederate paper is as dry
as the husks upon which the Prodigal Sou
regaled himself before bis penitential return
to the good old home mansion ; doubtless,
when the Rebellious States resolve to imitate
the praiseworthy example of this scriptural
fast young man, and, now that they, like
him, have had “ their fling,” .come back and
beg to be received once more into the family
circle, their journals will become newspapers
indeed, instead of being, as now, mere
chronicles of tyrannical military orders, and
records of dry-goods and grocery sales.
THE STATE OF SOCIETY,
Is one of the most curious imaginable.—
Among the people who claim to be respecta
ble, there exists little but distrust aud suspi
cion of each other. All wish the war ended,
but though there is much wide-spread Union
feeling, and though there are many who
would gladly welcome peace, eveu by lesto
ratiou and reconstruction, they are compell
ed to be so cautious in all their meetings
with each other, and in their expression of
opinions, that social intercourse is a mere
sham. All are speaking under the most
guarded restraint, and in fact, every conver
sation is held in full mental view’ of a Con
federate prison, a metaphorical curb is on
every tongue and a padlock on every lip.
But still there are certain Union men who
are known to each other, and who have their
meetings for the purpose of arranging plans
lor escape from the cruel tyrauny which in
variably prevails in Dixie, or, if nothing fur
ther may be done, to interchange ideas, and
cheer each other with hopes of happier
times. Among the devoted and faithful
knot of Unionists, the prayers for the coming
of Sherman were most servant and sincere.
He and his soldiers would have been receiv
ed with the heartiest welcome possible to
bestow on a benefactor who comes to deliver
a crushed and suffering people from the cru
dest bondage ever known in a Christian
land.
The Conscription ismo.ciuthlessthan ever
was the Auctioneer and the Slave Seller in
the foimer days—lathers and husbands are
toru from their homes anu forced into the
sum and sons are dragged awuy
to recruit the ranks of those armies which
are so rapidly melting nwav before the can
non and the bayonets of Sherman aud Gruut.
Those men who on account of physical dis
ability are unable to bear a musket, are im
pressed into the Quartermaster’s Department,
or placed in some other position where brain
work can be employed instead of strength
and muscle.
The city is lull of beggars. I’cople, and
whole families of them too. who before the
war were independent in circumstances, are
now actually suffering lor food, aud the au
thorities are doing but very little for them.—
Appeals for aid, the most touching and ur
gent, are daily made to the authorities, to the
public, and to the individual by ladies who
heretofore have ever been accustomed to give
generously instead of asking alms from oth
ers. The destitution is horrible—no descrip
tion can do justice to the misery and wretch
edness which pervade the entire city of Au
gusta and the country round about.
Among the lower classes crime is becom
ing terribly common. Provision dealers’
shops and Government store-houses have to
be sharply guarded by well-fed soldiers to
protect them from robbery. There are many
discharged or escaped soldiers prowling
about, who, having little means of living, do
not hesitate to commit theft or even burglary
to obtain the means of procuring food. These
things are not permitted to be published in
tiie Confederate papers, but they are vouched
for as facts by all who have left the Confed
erate ZZ* within the last two weeks.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY
has become so frequent, and the robbers so
bold, that women fear to venture out of
doors after dark alone, and no toan dares to
trust himself out at night without first trans
forming himself into a perambulati ig a-senal.
He must be fully equipped with Revolver
and Bowie-Knife, aucl- must be prepared to
use them on the instant. Men are kuocked
down and robbed of money, watches, shirt
studs and even clothing, even in the early
evening and in streets which once were used
to be crowded. One day this last week Mr.
C. West, a Saloon-keeper was attacked just
after night-fall by. a gang led by a negro-boy
whom he had recently discharged, and who
was aware that Mr. West usually carried
upon his person money to a considerable
amount, and that his watch etc. were also
valuable—just however, as the ruffians had
comineqced operations the opportune anival
of a friend of the victim armed with a most
welcome pistol, decided the rogues to leave
in a hurry. The boy was identified and ar
rested.
Burglary is also very common,and jewellers
and men who can do so, take care to remove
their most valuable portable goods to their
dwelling-house at night Four weeks ago,
the variety store of Mr. M. Hyam, corner
Broad and Mclutosh streets, was broken
iuto in the night, and robbed of goods to the
value of $40,000. No clue wa? obtained to
the burglars. The next week, the dry goods
store of Mr. C. C. Drake was entered in the
night and goods taken to the amount 0f540,-
000 to $50,000. Both these buildings were
entered in the same manner, by boring
through the wooden shutter with a centre
bit, then introducing a key-hole saw and
cutting out a piece large enough to enable a
man to thrust in his arm*and draw back the
bolts, and raise out of its place the cross-bar
which secured the back-door. Al
though in neither of these cases have the
robbers been caught, there are circumstances
which lead to the suspicion that both burgla
ries were perpetrated by the same parties,
and that these parties are returned C’onieder
ate soldiers.
THE CONSCRIPTION
has been vigilantly enforced until the num
ber of returned soldiers, and deserters be
came so great that they began to bold,
trout, and to refuse to obey the conscripting
officer. In a short time they were joined by
so many deserters from the very bodies of
men seut out to force them into tho ranks,
that the Confederate Government has re
solved rather tef do battle with what men it
has already, and can induce to volunteer,
than risk the loss of its veterans in the at
tempt to lorce into the ranks unw'illing re
cruits and determined deserters. There are
no troops at present in or around Augusta,
save a few cavalry, whose principal business
it 19 to hunt down ail refugees who attempt
to cross the confederate lines and escape to
a free country.
COTTON.
01 this staple there is a good deal in Au
gusta-many hundred bales. Most of it is
in private hands, the government holding
hut a very small amount. When Sherman
was threatening the city, and the people
were waiting every hour to see the heads of
his advancing columns, the commander of
the department, General D. H. Hill, ordered
all the cotton in the city to be brought out
and piled up ready to be burned. Many of
the owners strongly objected to this, but Hill
said that cotton had been burned in Now
Orleans and iu other cities,aud that it should
be done in Augusta. Accordingly the
cotton, to the amount of many hun
dred 'bales, was ferreted out from
Warehouses, and in some cases from cellars
of private houses, aud piled up three bales
deep in Broad street aud in Green street,
and every preparation Was made to apply the
torch. Combustibles were arranged near by
in the shape of light wood, and tar barrels
and rosin barrels, turpentine and camphene
were ready to be poured over it as soon as
the guns of Sherman’s advance should star
tle the city.
Sherman, as we all know, took a different
route, and the cotton was not then destroy
ed. Besides what was piled up in Broad
and Green streets, a great deal was carried
to the Railroad and piled up along the track
ready either for transportation further inland
or to be burned if it shouid be l'ouud impos
sible to carry it away. The cotton thift de
posited by the roadside was not hauled away
again by the owners, as the alarm about
Sherman did not immediately subside, but
kept the citizens in a state of trembling for
several days. Meanwhile “the rains descend
ed and the floods came” and wet that cotton,
and soon spoiled much of it; this was easily
done as the negroes and others shipped off
for their own use the Gunny-Cloth which
secured the bales, and thus the cotton be
came scattered aud tossed about and tram
pled into the mud. The Railroad towards
W aynesboro is to this day Strewed with scat
tered cotton, w hich lies in heaps like drifted
snow along the track.
When Hill proposed to burn the staple, the
“Consititutionalist” came fat and in the most
rampant manner demanded that all cotton
holders should at once briig out every bale
that it might be pdnsignel to the flames be
fore the invading Yankees could reach and
: capture it. It denounced ail who opposed
the wild project of hurcgig it in the public
streets of the ciy, as untrue to the Confeder
ate cause; men who thought more of their
money than of their countiy. A short time
afterward afire occurred, and the wiud was
in such a direction a3 to threateu the firing
ot this very cotton which still lay piled in the
streets, when it was at once seen that, had
Are communicated with the bales and with
the mass of inflamable material which had
been disposed near by, the destruction of the
entire city would have been inevitable. Then
suddenly the “Constitutionalist” made a com
plete wheelabout and just as vehemently de
manded that the cotton all be removed from
the streets, and either piled on the fields ad
jacent to the city, or be taken care of by the
r spective owners. As Gen. Hill had given
a peremptory order that not a bale of cotton
should be removed outside the corporation
limits, the latter course was resorted to.
Our informant who is well posted in the
matter, assures us however, that, such was
the general objection to the destruction of
Cotton among the ancT'd'talers, if
Gen. Hill had really attempted to carry out
his intention to burn it, his soldiers would
have been interfered with, the destruction
prevented, and the General himself probably
mobbed. Very many of tfe, cotton owners
are, at heart, Union men, who secretly re
joiced at the approach of the Union forces,
and all of them would much rather prefer
turning over their property to General Sher
man, and take the chances of establishing
some claimjto their goods hereafter, than, out
ot mere spite, and in obedience to an out
rageous order, consign it to utter destruc
tion.
There are no dealings in cotton now in
Augusta. Not a bale is bought or sold, so
that there fa no market price to be quoted.
All trade transactions are confined exclusive
ly to the sale of the absolute necessaries of
life.
A SCURVr THICK,
though a most characteristic one, was played
on one woman, who, when she heard that
Sherman was certainly coming, displayed an
American Flag which'she badMiastily manu
factured. A number of her neighbors, who
desired to avail themselves of tho starry
protection of the good oldbanner, brought their
jewelry, money, silver-plate and other valua
bles, and begged the privilege of placing
them in her house, that the Yankees,respect
ing their own flag, would spare the proper
ty it covered. The good-natured little Union
woman consented, and received a large
amount of ‘‘ portable property ” into her
domicile,promising to use her influence what
ever it might prove to be.to save their goods
lrom confiscation. Wearily and anxiously
the loyal, plucky woman waited, but Sher
man came not, Her neighbors, one by one,
soon reclaimed their property,andtlien,having
got their own again, these same people raiseg a
hue and cry against the brave little Unionist and
tried their utmost to drive, her out of town.
This is a fair specimen of Rebel gratitude
as recently developed at the city of Augusta,
Georgia.
IMPRESSING PRIVATE COLD.
By a law recently passed, all private gold
is declared liable to be impressed for tha use
of the Confederate Government. Everyman
fa called upon to give up his hidden store ;
few voluntarily do so, but whenever a Gov
ernment Agent hears of a concealed hoard, he
at once proceeds by force, if need be, to take
possession of it in the name of the Confed
erate Government.
GREENBACKS PROHIBITED.
All trading or speculating in United States
currency, is strictly forbidden—Greenbacks
must not even be employed to purchase food
or goods, nothing but Confederate money cau
be used. And, so determined are the au
thorities to force their Rebel shinplasters
upon an unwilling public that they punish a
man buying or selling Greenbacks, or offer
ing them in exchange, with a fine of from one
thousand to five thousand dollars, and with
five years or more, imprisonment in the
Penitentiary, at the option of the Judge.
Despite this law Greenbacks are eagerly
sought, by people who are striving to escape
across the line and get to the laud oflaw aud
order once again By these people thirty
dollars, to fifty dollars Confederate is given
for a one dollar Greenback. Gold, when any
one possessing it, is verdant enough to part
with it for Confederate rags, easily commands
from sixty to eighty for one. As may be
supposed however, there is but very little to
be 8 old,
EATING.
Is a most expensive amusement, and few
do it who cau possibly do without it. It
may serve to somewhat reconcile ns to what
w e consider the exorbitantly high prices we
have to pay here in Savannah for food, etc.,
to peruse the following partial
SCALE OF MARKET PRICKS IX AUGUSTA. GA..
march 2.", 1860.
Flour, per barrel
Cooking Soda, per pouud . 25
Coffee, per pound , r r
Tea, per pound i-n
Sperm Candles, per pound go
Brandy, per quart n
- per drink to
Corn Whiskey, per drink 5
Apple Brandy, per drink 5
per dozen 10 to 1°
en cent box ot Blacking oq
Confederate made Lager Bier,per drink.. 3
A meal of victuals in a Restaurant is by no
means a luxury to be indulged in more than
three or four times _ a day, as witness the
following
RESTAURANT PRICES.
A full meal of victuals, consisting of
tainted or rusted bacon, bard bread,
vice, and sometimes fried potatoes slt>
Ham and eggs io
And these sums were demanded “inva
riably in advance.” This practice arises
from a playful habit indulged in by some of
Lee’s returned soldiers, of going into an eat
ing bouse, devouring a huge meal and then
walking off without paying anything at all.
Our informant wore a coat for which he
paid in Augusta six weeks ago the nice little
sum of $2,000. His pantaloons cost him $200:
his vest S2OO, and his 'boots $4<X). If a gen
tleman there is disposed to indulge in any of
the little delicacies of the season, he must be
prepared to pay accordingly. A dish of
oysters $lO, a glass of brandy slo,a Havana
cigar $lO, a snipe or bird of any sort from
$lO to $lB.
The gentleman to whose kindness we are
indebted for many of the facts upon which
this article is based, paid at a restaurant SBOO
per month ; as he only received for his ser
vices $350, he was compelled to resort to
outside speculation in order to secure enough
bread-and-butter to live on. When he had
at last completed his arrangements for se
curing his transit to the Union lines, he
started with a lady, and for the passage of
the two from Augusta to within twenty miles
of this city he paid SI3OO. From that point
to Savannah S3OO in gold. It must be borne
in mind that, save this last one, ail the sums
formerly mentioned are estimated in Con
federate money. However, as this is the
recognized circulating medium of the coun
try, and as none other is known or permitt
ed, the prices are even then, slightly above
an economical mark.
Having, after six days of anxiety and
trouble, at last safely reached the haven for
which he was so long striving, the first pro
ceeding of our kind friend was
one which will be of interest
to all our readers, and especially to
our young ladies and gentleman, and the par
ticulars whereof they may read in another
column. He started from Augusta with a
lady who was unmarried, and he was,strange
to say, also single. Before they had been in
the city thirty minutes, the young
lady • wa& married, and by the
most curious coincidence in the world,
our young friend afao about the same time
ceased to be a single man. For all we can
say, they may have married each other.
If so, they have our sincerest congratula
tions, and our earnest, honest hopes’ for their
welfare and perfect earthly happiness.
PERSONAL ITEMS.
Among the ladies who arrived here yester
day was Mrs. Cel. Ringgold, of Columbia,
widow ot Col. Ringgold, a native of Charles
ton, who died in San Francisco about six
months since. Mrs. Ringgold states that
Gen. upon occupying Columbia,
treated the citizens with great kindness aud
took every precaution to insure the protec
tion of their property. Yet many fearine
that their dwellings would be plundered,
begged the privilege of depositing their plate
and other valuables iu her house, as she was
known to be a prominent. LTnionist and
would be likely to enjoy the immediate pro
tection of-Gen. Sherman. Their most valu
able articles were accordingly placed with
her for safe keeping. Nq sooner, however,
had the Federal troops left the town, than
these same citizens who had enjoyed her pro -
tection renewed theii persecutions upon her,
and by every means sought ;o drive her from
her home.
THE REBEL VICE PRESIDENT.
Hon. Alexander 11. Stephens is now at his
home in Crawfordsvile, as is reported, sick ,
but as his friends well know, sick only ot the
Confederacy. He will not stump the State
for the Confederate cause, as has been indus
triously circulated by the Rebel prints to
cover up his retirement in disgust from the
Richmond cabal.
The utmost vigilance and strictness are ex
excised by the authorities to prevent any one
from leaving the Confederate lines. Mr.
Milo Hatch, a prominent and widely known
financier, aud bank President of Augusta,
obtained a permit to leave that place from
Gov. Brown, for the purpose of taking his
wife, a consumptive invalid, to New York
to die among her friends, but had proceeded
only a short distance on his journey when an
armed force was sent after him and he was
compelled to return.
IIOW THE OFFICERS LIVE.
The officers of the Quartermaster’s De
partment are living in high style off the
tithes wrung from the suffering people.
Magnificent banquets, gay parties and costly
suppers are iu vogue among these officials.
Ladies going from Savannah may be assured
that there is no lack of “ society ” in Au
gusta. The gallant young officers who fled
from Savannah upon it3 evacuation, throng
the city, and what with balls and parties and
receptions, all goes merry as a marriage b ell.
Commodore Tatnall is in Augusta, and the
two gunboats which escaped up the river
when this city was invested by Sherman, lie
in the stream near the town.
The “Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel” has
come out in favor of a State Convention.—
This sheet is owned and edited by one Morse,
from all accounts a most preejous scouudrel.
A native of Connecticut, at one time editor
and proprietor of the Bridgeport Farmer,
jo*t previous to the breaking out of the war
he settled in Augusta, and by avowing the
rankest secession principles, and lending
himself and his paper to every sort of dirty
work, he obtained an influential and lucra
tive position. From this post he has per
secuted almost with impunity whomsoever
might fall under his displeasure. He has
ground his printers aud other workmen
down to the lowest starvation prices, while
amassing a fortune for himself, and upon
their striking recently for sufficient
wages to keep body and soul together,
had them all conscripted. With the
instinct of the "true sycophant, he has
perceived the turn in the tide of popular senti
ment, and is now shaping his sails accord
ingly. There are men, however, who have
snffered from his malignity, and who stand
ready to see that the gentleman shall have
his deserts when the time conies.
For Hitton Head.— The steamer U. 8
Grant, Capt. Dobbs, for Hilton Head, will
leave this morning at 10 o’clock.
A cotemeorary announces the marriage of
Mr. James Hogg to Miss Ella Beane. Isn’t
one bean to a hog a rather scanty allowance?
HOTEL ARRIVALS.
PULASKI HOUSE, MARCH 31, 1865.
Geo. L. Rice, Surgeon U. S. A.
Win. H. Shenvood, New York.
John D. Bronson, Surgeon U. S. A.
Mrs. Bronson.
Mrs. Ringold and four children, Augusta, Qa
Miss Hall,
.Miss Thomas, „
John Wilson, Asst. Surgeon IT. 3. A.
A. Hammond, Paris Island.
Capt. John M. Thompson,
John P. Slattery, Charleston.
Col. L. J. Blair.
Capt. Gates, U. S. C. T.
A. Marvin Shew, Asst. Surgeon, Beaufort,
Lieut. Fred. C, Miller, 141st New York
Capt. Watson, 21st U. S. C. T
Capt, Roper, 15th “
Samuel A. Cooley, Beaufort, S. C.
Benj. 11. Chnmpney, “
G. W. Stevens,
PORT ROYAL HOUSE, CHILTON HEAD,) MAR. 30.
Capt, E. Both, Gist N. Y.
Capt. W. Warren, Sherman’s Army
B. P Jones, Hone, Ohio.
T. 11. Bazin, Boston, Mass.
J. W. Grosvenor, Asst Surgeon, 3d R I A
A. G Bennett, Lieut. Col. 21st IT. S. C. T.
Col. F. C. Smith, Blair’s Landing.
Col. G. H. English, “
Capt. W. ll.Bridgford. “
H. Dillon,
Lieut. Badzinsky, J4th Mass.
Capt, Wilber, Biair’s Landing.
Gen. Prince, “
Capt. Wiiber.
H. Parsons, Blair’s Landing,
. B. Cahill and wife, Savannah, Ga.
Miss Lewis, “
A. S. Bigelow, “
T. M. Denham, »
W. H. Sands,
11. P. Rugg, *•
A. C. Lomel'an, «
C. H. King,
E. E. Pens, • i
H. H. gchreiner, »»
M. R. Flint, «
C. S. Gay and wife, “
Dr. Bartlett. “
E. O. Otis, “
B. F. King, *•
Lieut. O. C. Marvin, Ist N. U.
Lieut. H. P. Webb, Biair’s Landing.
J. P. Reid.
Lieut. A. S. Ross. Mount Pleasant, S. C.
Lieut. M. Downic, “
J. M. Thompson, Rochester, N. Y.
Lieut. E. A. York, Ist Michigan.
A. C. C. Tnmsen, Charleston.
J. M. Glidden, Boston.
E. W. King, Michigan.
E. E. Edwards, Jacksonville, Fla.
Capt. W. Warren, Savannah Ga.
D. O. Adams, “
Dr. Brownson, U. S. A.
J. Price, New York.
J. R. Zearing, Blair's Landing.
SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
Arrived —steamer Enoch Dean, Hallett, Beaufort.
I. O. O. F.
OGLETHORPE LODGE, No. 1, meets every Tues
day evening. (Lodge Room on Bay street, over Geo.
N. Nichols’Printing Office.) A. F. Torlay, N. Q.; F.
Krenson, V. G.; James Clemence, Treaa.; C. Gross,
Sect
LIVE OAK LODGE, No. 3, meets every Friday
evening. (Lodge Room S. W. cor. Bull and Brough
ton st«„ -ith story, entrance on Lroughton street.) J.
Holbrook Estill, N. G.; R. M. Barthelmess, V. G.i D.
Thompson, Treasa D. H. Galloway, Sect.
ENCAMPMENT, No. 1, meets Ist and
3d Wednesday m each month in Live Oak T odira
Room. John T. Thomas. C. P. ; John HaJrison II
P. : John Dexter S. W.; R. Groves. J. W • c g™!
Scribe ; James L. Hanpt. Treasurer. ’ urOB8 >
MARRIED.
On the 31st ult., by the Rev. S. S. Landrum, M r
A. F. SMITH, of Augusta, and Miss AMELIA A SOR
RELL, of this city.
QLOSING OUT.
The large Stock of
BOOTS AND SHOES,
SPRING CLOTHING,
GROCERIES,
BOTTLED ALE,
PORTER and
CHAMPAGNE CIDER,
SEGARS and
TOBACCOS, In great variety,
BEEF AND PORK, in half-bbU.,
SUTLERS’ GOODS,
TEAS
COFFEES and
SPICES,
The entire Stock will be sold, 1
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL,
AT NEW YORK PRICES.
The public will find this the best opportunity to pur
chase yet offered iu this market.
17C BROUGHTON STREET,
marHl ts Next door to Sherlock’s.
CIDER FOR SALE, *
To families hy the quart or gallon, at
, , O’MEARA & CO’S,
Ish‘ ) 4 ° Ver Btns ’ Express Office, Bay street.