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J. 11. KMTILL, Savannah, <ia.
Ex-Preside*t Dari*’* letter.
No one Can read the letter of ex-Presi
dent Davis in reply to Hyena Blaine,
which we puhliah in another column,
without being impressed with the tone of
moderation and forbearance which char
octerizes it. It is simply a temperate,
calm and dignified vindication of
himself and the Southern people
from the wanton, false and
malignant slanders of an unscrupulous
political trickster. And yet, as was to be
expected, Mr. Bavin's letter, like Hamlet’s
“miching mallecho,” “hath struck” the
Radical organs “into amazement and
admiration. They characterize the letter
as another “needless firebrand flung into
the political field.” Especially ia Mr.
Bavin denounced for talking about the
“wrongs” which, in his opinion, the
Southern people have “forgiven” for
reminding his merciless persecutors that
he has never asked for a pardon, and that
he had refused to retaliate on Federal
prisoners the “barbarities” inflicted on
Confederates. For all this and more Mr.
Bavin is severely condemned, while we are
assured that “the letter will arouse bitter
feeling in the North, reviving animosities
that ought to rest.”
For this, if such is to be the effect of
Mr. Bavin’s letter, let them lay the
blame where it belongs—on the dema
gogue and trickster who sought to re
vive the pßssious and prejudices of the
Northern people and advance his own po
litical fortunes by re-opening the wounds
of the late sectional conflict. If the truth is
distasteful to the ltadical revolutionists,
let them cease their false and
malicious criminations. If they are rabid
let them not disturb the fountains of
truth. They expect too much of human
nature when they think to brand the
Bouthorn people with infamy and that
they shall remain dumb in their own de
fense. They arrogate too much to them
selves when they suppose that by a long
series of oppressions, slander and injus
tice they have accomplished the utter
humiliation of the men of tho South,
who, while they respect themselves, will
not fail to vindicate their right to the
respect of their enemies. Whatever may
be the judgment of the ltadical partizans,
we believe that there are thousands of
true men in the North who will justify
Mr. Davis in repelling the vile slanders
of Blaine, and who will endorse the pat
riotic and manly sentiment with which
he closes his letter : “Mutual respect is
needful for common interest, is essential
to a friendly feeling, and when slander
comes from high places, tho public wel
fare demands that truth shall strip fnlso
hood of its power for evil,”
jiMe Kclt. ilio-i in Culm It u miner tlir
.Sugar Crop.
Cuban journals brought by the City
Vera Cruz, which left Havana on the
30th ult., wo aro informed that the de
struction of sugar estates continued on a
serious scale. Plantation Fajardo, of
Honor Ruiz, near Han Felipe, has been
burnt, and Flor do Cuba, Han Luis and
Hunts Elena, in Hagua county, had also
been visited with the torch. The Diario
de Vienfuegon reports that the plantations
Altamirn, Deseugano and the sugar and
molasses warehouses on the Caimauera
and all along the bank of the Datnuji
river luul been effectually destroyed pre
vious to the 25th ult., and when
the last train left Las Cruces for
Cienfuegos on the 27th a large
area of sugar cane fields, covering
thousands of acres, was ablaze, compris
ing at least livo or six different estates
bordering upon the railroad. A general
alarm has been sent out to the surround
ing country. The fort and town of Los
Canas, at the entrance to the Damuji val
ley, enclosing a numerous aud rich clus
ter of sugar estates, had been attacked
by the rebels soon after the raid on the
warehouses was accomplished, in which
nearly SIOO,OOO worth of produce had
been destroyed.
The Governor of Colon and Brigadier
General Arminau arrived in Havana on
tho morning of the 29th, aud after con
ferring with General Jovellar, they left
in the afternoon with two trains, carry
ing two thousand men lately arrived from
Hpaiu, for the scene of danger in the
Ciuco Villas district.
Reductions in the Postal Depart
ment. —A special to tho New York Tri
bunt from Washington says that Mr.
Marshall, the First Assistant Postmaster
Geutyal, was before tho House Committee
on Post Offioes on Monday, and ex
plained the principle by which the de
partment proposes to revise the salaries
of Postmasters and reduce expenses. It
is proposed to reduce the offioers now re
ceivings!.(K)o to $3,000, to be paid half
in salary and half in the sale of boxes,
where furnished by the Postmaster from
his own means, but only $2,500 a year
when the boxes are furnished by the gov
ernment. In eight of the principal cities
Postmasters will receive according to the
scale prepared, as follows: New York,
$8,000; Philadelphia, $0,400; Boston,
$0,300; Chicago, SO,IOO, and the same
amount to Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincin
nati aud Sau Francisco. These amounts
are to be paid by salaries and commis
sions.
Burglaries are becoming so frequent in
the Northern cities that extraordinary
precautions are being adopted to guard
against house - breakers, and women
and children live in nervous dread of
masked miduight marauders. An ex
change says : When a girl retires for the
•light now she first fastens down the win
dows and closes the blinds of her boudoir.
Then she turns on the gas brightly and
opens the door widely to expedite a ready
exit in case of necessity. Cautiously she
approaches the couch, and with trepida
tion looks under the bed. Then she shuts
and locks the door, looks under the bed,
lays back her back hair, tries to read a
bit, looks under the bed, opens the ward
robe, looks in timidly, looks at the win
dow again to see if it is fastened, prepares
herself finally with a haste that is tedi
ous, turns down the gas, pokes under the
the bed with a broomstick, and at last,
summoning all her courage, jumps into
bed with a little yelp, and dreams all
night of burglars around, with bowie
knives and dynamite.
J. H. EST ILL. PROPRIETOR,
The Eastern Capitalists Waking Up-
Wall street is coming to it at last. At
a meeting of the New York Board of
’Trade last Wednesday, for the purpose of
adopting memorials prepared by Messrs.
George Opdyke a\d P. Farrelly to Con
gress, in relation to the currency, Mr.
Opdyke presented a report, including a
memorial to Congress. The memorial
claims that convertible paper is equal to
coin when issued to the amount neces
sarily required for trade, but that incon
vertible paper is injurious, inasmuch as
it is issued at the caprice of the govern
ment. The present volume of inconverti
ble paper is found to be only a little in
advance of the rate per capita as it ex
isted before the war, through which the
currency was greatly inflated ; but a re
turn to specie payments, although much
to be desired, would be disadvantageous
unless the government had at least $150,-
000,000 in gold in its vaults. As this
amount is not in the vaults by at least
two-thirds, resumption in 187‘J would
be impracticable, as the drain of gold
from this country is much greater than
the import of foreign gold. The report
recommends that the Treasury Depart
ment add $10,000,000 annually to its
gold reserve, and that the National Banks
be compelled to retain all gold received
by way of interest; that the act providing
for resumption on January 1, 1879, be
repealed; that greenbacks to the extent of
eighty per cent, be issued in the place of
national bank notes withdrawn from cir
culation; that $50,000,000 worth of United
States bonds, bearing 3.65 per cent,
interest, be authorized, to bo converti
ble at pleasure into legal tender notes.
The adoption of these recommendations
will, it is claimed, restore confidence and
remove fear of future financial trouble,
will give more elasticity to currency, and
finally lead to resumption at a time when
it will be beneficial to the commercial
interests.
Among those who participated in the
discussion were l'eter Cooper, £. B. San
ford, of the Adams Express Company;
Sinclair Tousey, B. K. Bliss, W. Orton,
G. B. Satterlee, G. W. Chater Clarke and
P. Farrelly, of the American News Com
pany. Messrs. Opdyke, Orton, Tousey,
Satterlee and Clarke were elected as a
delegation to present the currency me
morial to Congress.
We believe, with the Nashville Ameri
can, that these are the principles to
which the country must come at lasf,
and the championship of which by the
Democracy would make certain its suc
cess in the next Presidential contest.
The Way of the Transgressor is
Hard.
The crooked whisky victims in Indiana
presented a picture of grief and despair
when they were taken to the State prison
to serve out their two years’ sentence
Thursday evening. They had all been
prominent citizens, and had occupied
positions of honor aud trust under the
government. After the prisoners had
shaken hands with their friends and bade
(hum good bye, they were marched out
of the office into the prisoner’s reception
tjats,- There tkepzr-crr jwJjajtfd .ofgash ar=.
tides as they had about them which it was
contrary to the rules for them to keep.
They were next taken to the prison bar
ber, where their hair was cut and their
whiskers shaved off. They were then
taken to the clothing department aud the
striped convicts’ suits given them, which
they put on, aud which altered them so
much that they were scarcely recogniza
ble. One of the prisoners, Albert Mc-
Grlff, who is a gray-headed old man,
sixty years old, wept when he en
tered his cell. “My God!” he ex
claimed, “to think that I would ever come
to a place like this. It will kill me ; my
heart is crushed now.” He spoke in a
voice deep with emotion, and was greatly
agitated. “If it were not for my poor
wife and son, I believe I could stand it,
hut to think of the disgrace brought upon
them is more than I can bear. It will kill
my wife.” McGriff was well known and
highly respected in Evansville, hav
ing been for seven years the
City Clerk in that place, and a
leading member of the Presbyterian
Church. His trial and conviction have
told heavily upon him, and those who
know him well say that he looks ten
years older than he did two months ago.
The other eight prisoners were inclined
to be more cheerful, though some of
them winced when the barber shaved off
their beard and clipped their flowing
locks. All of them are upwards of thirty
years of age, and have families, so that
the grief occasioned by their downfall is
not confined to themselves. They will
not at present have auy work to do, as
the eonvicts are all idle.
The Distress in New England. —An
observing gentleman writing from one of
the most favored parts of the State of
New Hampshire to the editor of the
Manchester Union, says: “Never before
within the past thirty years has the
laboring classes suffered so much for want
of employment. In every town, in every
village of considerable size men are travel
ing from place to place making constant
inquiry for work, and still there is no
work to be found. Many of these are
good, honest men, who have been turned
out of their places in factories and
work-shops because there is no demand
for the goods they are producing.
It is not uncommon for single men to
ask to work for their board, but men with
families must have more, something to
carry home to their wife and children,
and when they cannot obtain work at any
price, their only alternative is to call on
the town for help, and the consequence
is that the per cent, of pauperage i s
greater than ever before known in this
section of our State. Never before was
there such an opportunity for good peo
ple to vindicate their claims for charity,
and it would seem that the wise should
study the causes of this terrible calamitj’
which has befallen the industrial classos
and point the way for relief as speedily
as possible.’’
The residence of Mr. Lewis Jackson,
on East Eighty-seventh street, New
York, was entered by burglars between
one and four o'clock on Thursday after
noon, while the family were absent, and
robbed of plate, jewelry, clothing and
other valuables to the value of about
one thousand dollars. Among the articles
taken was a lady’s velvet cloak worth
one hundred and fifty dollars. The
thieves got safely off with their
plunder in broad daylight. H. B,
Claflin A Co.’s silk room was en
tered by burglars on Friday last and rob
bed of $5,370 worth of silk goods. The
burglars selected silks of the best quality
and got off safely.
Affairs in Georgia.
The other night when a Macon saloon
keeper desired to close his doors, he found
slumbering by his stove an individual who
was much the worse for a long and tedious
struggle with J. Barleycorn, the eminent
prize-fighter. After some trouble, the sa
loon-keeper got the stupified man to his
feet, and proceeded to eject him, saying as
he did so : “I want you to get outof my
bar-room.” To which the toper somewhat
sarcastically responded : “An I wanter get
vour’nfernal ole bar-room outer me.” The
saloon-keeper slammed the door just like he
was mad.
We regret very much to learn that the
Male College at Forsyth has been destroyed
by fire. The building was a tine one, cost
ing ten thousand dollars.
The personal column in the New York
Herald is written by Mr. J. C. Goldsmith,
and we beg to say to him, if he is short of
material, that there is a woman in Whitfield
county, in thislHtate, who has a iyania for
squirrel-hunting. She brings ’em down,
too.
Captain Tim Ford, of Dalton, has white
shad in his fish-pond.
An exchange says: “A Canton cow yields
six gallons of milk a day.” Is it buttermilk?
If is a young man in Savannah
who wants to buy her for his sweetheart.
Address all answers to this office. Commu
nications strictly confidential.
An old negro man was accidentally burned
to death, near Irwinton, the other day. It
is supposed he had a tit and fell in the fire.
The Irwiuton Southerner and Appeal has
entered upon its second volume. This
weekly is not only edited with considerable
ability, but is a most indefatigible and in
dustrious gatherer of home news, and, con
sequently, is not only popular abroad, but
also at home. It has a circulation of more
than fourteen hundred copies.
Another colored child, owing to the care
lessness of its parents, was burned to death
in Burke county the other day.
Two weasels were captured in Wilkinson
county the other day.
An emigration agent accosted an old ne
gro in Columbus the other day: “I say,
old man, don’t you wan’t to mkke some
money?” “Dat’s jest what I’m a sarcliin’
roun’ fer boss. I hoDgry right now.”
“Well, in Mississippi, the planters are pay
ing mighty high prices for good work hands,
and if you “Hole on dar, boss. Jes
wait. I’m a Middle Georgia nigger. I done
been out dar. I’m a good wuk hand, too
I wuk myself out dar, an’ den I tun roun’
an’jwuk myselt back agin’, an’right here I’m
gwme ter stay, ef do Lord spars me. When
I dies I wants ter have a belly spang full o’
bread an’ meat, an’ I wants ter be berried in
a seminary whar I’m ’quainted wid do folks.
You heered my born!”
A Georgia editor remarks: “Lend us your
ears.” Hanged if we know wbat he wants
witli anybody else’s when his own are as big
as door mats.
Hon. B. H. Hill has written a letter advis
ing State aid to railroads in North Georgia,
in order that the natural resources of that
section may be adequately developed.
The Forsyth Advertiser says the present
Constitution was framed by “smart” men.
We grant you. They were too smart; but
were they good men ? Answer us that, Hal.
General Young is invited to deliver the
address before the Florida State Fair Asso
ciation.
The fitful kerosene broke through a lamp
tho other day iu Milledguville and burned a
negro woman to death.
Hancock county has produced a collard
six feet high. It had but one leg.
The prices of timber are said to be very
good in Darien.
A Bulloch county cow had a litter of four
calves the other day and then died.
The cotton factory at Milledgeville has
suspended, the only case of the kind in
Georgia, so far as we know.
Wo were delighted to meet yesterday Cap
tain B. F. Moseley, of Lowndes county.
The Captain comes of good old Middle
Georgia stock and is a native of Putnam
county. He brought with him a savor of
old times.
The Romo Courier is permitted to make
the following extract from the letter of a
gentleman in Texas, who has traveled con
siderably over the State, to a brother in that
city: “This whole State is overflowed with
imirigrants from ail parts of the country.
or
wishing they were out of the - Slate, but,'
alas ! how few of them can get out without
money or frionds. Goods are very high iu
Texas; yon can get them, as a general
thing, cheaper in Rome. There is more
gambling carried on in Texas than in any
three Southern States.”
They don’t do anything by halves in At
lanta, especially in the stealing line, as the
peoplo or Georgia have good reason to know.
Tho other day a Mr. Gilbert driving into
I liat thriving city saw a very uice buggy on
Decatur street. As his own vehicle was
somewhat damaged by wear, wind aud
weather, he concluded to swap, and he had
already made the exchange and was in the
act of driving off when he was discovered
aud arrested. There is a flavor of Atlanta
recklessness about this that is perfectly
charming.
A correspondent of the Atlanta Herald
says that a tract of country known as the
Diamond Belt extends through Cobb county,
having Marietta in the centre of its northern
border, from whence it extends five miles in
the direction of Atlanta, and east and west
fifteen miles. Of late years no gems have
been brought to light, although at one time
some fifteen years since, quite a number
were discovered, the total value of which
amounted to a large fortune. Great quan
tities of feldspar have been found, and traces
of topaz aud amethyst occasionally occur in
the quartz. Mr. King has of late discovered
a valuable chrystaline deposit, and in secret
is eudeavoring to discover precious stones ;
somo of the specimens which he exhibits are
remarkably pellucid.
A little child was found dead in the bed
in Jasper county the other morning. It is
thought it died of croup.
Mrs. Tommie Shecut is announced as as
sociate editor of the Monticello Banner. We
cannot believe this. Mrs, Tommie is the edi
tor-in-chief—that is to say, she edits Shecut,
while Shecut edits the paper. That’s about
the truth of it.
Mr. Avia Newton, of Jaaper county, a
prominent citizeu and a member of the Se
cession Convention, is dead.
The Augusta Chronicle learns that a most
heartrending accident occurred on the plan
tation of Mr. Iloland Steiner, near Waynes
boro, Burke county, Monday about twelve
o’clock. During tho morning Mr, Henry H.
Steiner, of Texas, a young man eighteen
years of age, sou of Dr. Joseph Steiner and
cousin of Mr. Roland Steiner, who was on a
visit to the latter, decided to go hunting,
and took two little boys, seven or eight
years of age, his cousins, along with him to
carry tho game. While they were out in
the woods Mr. Steiner placed the stock
of his gun on the ground, and leaned
down to uncock tho weapon. Wt le he
was attempting to do this the gun was
accidentally discharged, and its entire
contents entered his head, just under the
chin, aud passed completely through, liter
ally blowing the top of his head off and kill
ing him instantly. His little companions,
terrified beyond measure at the occurrence,
ran to the dwelling and gave information of
the accident. Mr. Roland Steiner hurried
to the spot as quickly as possible, but when
he reached the body of the unfortunate
young man life was extinct. The deceased
was a young mail of brilliant promise, and
esteemed by all who knew him. He had
been attending Suwanee College, Tennessee,
and was spending vacation with his cousin.
The news of his untimely end will, indeed,
be sad tidings to those in Texas to wbdhi
he tvas near and dear.
Bainbridge Democrat: We have in our
sanctum one of the most interesting relics
of the past ages that we ever saw. It is
nothing more nor less than a portion of the
armor worn by a Spanish soldier nearly
three and a half centuries ago. The part
consists of a helmet with visor, and one
arm, all being of wrought iron, one-sixth of
an inch thick, and weighs seventeen pounds.
Some idea can thus be formed of the weight
of the entires suit of mail, when we say that
the above constitutes less than one-third of
it. This relic was ploughed up by a farmer
in Jefferson county, Florida, about the
year 1856. He did not know what it was,
or perhaps he would have reclaimed it all,
but he only took enough for use as weights
to his lot gate, for which it answered ad
mirably. Some years afterward, a gentle
man passing this farmer’s house was struck
by the oddity of the construction of the old
iron with which the gate was weighed, and
upon examination found it to be no less than
a portion of a coat of mail. He at once pro
cured the weights, or armor, from the
farmer, which he carried to Tallahas
see, where considerable interest and
attention were attracted thereto. The
gentleman went to Cuba, where he
died, leaving the relic with the late Attorney
General Galbraith, of Florida. It is now in
possession of Mrs. W. B. Wright, a sister of
the Attorney General, who resides eight
miles south of Bainbridge, and it was
through her courtesy that we have had the
pleasure of seeing this no less than a great
wonder. The soldier who wore this armor,
was beyond a doubt one of the followers of
Fernando DeSoto, the discoverer of the
Mississippi, who explored Florida in the
year 1539. The soldier was probably killed
in one of the many battles which that gal
lant band had with the Indians, and was
buried with his armor on, three hundred
and sixty-six years ago.
SAVANNAH, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1876.
Tbe Columbus Times hears of a Chatta
hooche county farmer who has himself,
mother and several little brothers and sisters
to support. He has supported them well. He
has Lad two very bad seasons, yet last year
he went in debt only eight dollars, au<l the
year before four dollars. He Las paid both,
and now has meat aud corn and more than
one bale of cotton.
A skeleton six feet in length has ' een
washed to the surface on the bank of the
Chattahoochee near Columbus. It is sup
posed to be that of a Federal soldier.
The Hinesville Gazette says that there
seems to be a perfect exodus of people from
the interior in Bulloch, Tattnall and Mont
gomery to the coast of Bryan, Liberty and
Mclntosh. Every week someone passes
with his goods and chattels, seeking a home
on the islands or main along the coast. The
attractions are the mild climate, the fertile
soil and the abundance of fish and game.
There was another attempt at incendiar
ism in Columbus the other night. Happily,
it was frustrated.
Good heavens! Has it come to this, that
even some of the citizens of Thomas county
are emigrating to Texas ? However, we are
not complaining. Our lunatic asylnm is
already overcrowded. They will find more
room in Texas than they would in Dr.
Green’s mansion at Midway.
Wm. Carter, of Thomas county, was dan
gerously, if not fatally, stabbed by Wm.
Brock, one day last week. They hsd taken
whisky and women in equal parts.
Several farmers of Thomas county have
recently lost horses from blind staggers.
The cost of Hilliard Institute, which was
recently burned in Forsyth, was $14,000.
The Albany News Bays that Hon. A. H.
Smith, of Lowndes, has never yet introduced
a bill or made a speech. Mr. Smith, if this
is true, and you don’t call by aud shake
hands with us on your way home—provided
the Legislature ever adjourns—we shall
never forgive you.
The members of the Macon Library Asso
ciation are making preparations for Mr.
Booth to hold a reception in the rooms of
theii library.
Mr. Charles Herbst has brought the
Macon Library at once to its feet. The
institution is out of debt, and has several
hundred dollars in the treasury.
The Forsyth Advertiser says that a promi
nent farmer of Monroe county has sown one
hundred and twenty acres of land in wheat
and oats, will plant fifty in corn and only
thirty in cotton. The Advertiser predicts
that he will make money by this system of
farming. He will manure the corn and cot
ton land heavily, aud expects a yield of one
bale of cotton to the acre. He will try the
plan of “intensifying.” He will have some
thing to feed with if he does not make
money.
It has been suggested to us in a
communication that probably the rea
son Smith, of Lowndes, has neither
made any speeches nor introduced
any bill is because he doesn't feel
equal to the task. This is really amusing.
Those who know Hamp Smith know that
there is not a readier or more logical debater
in the House. He is there to represent his
constituents, and he knows he can represent
them better by doing nothii.g when there is
nothing to b 6 done, than by rising in fiis
place and spouting or by revising an already
ragged Code.
Our eloquent friend, Revill, late of the
Meriwether Vindicator, bar, now one of the
chief peanut eaters of the General Assembly,
can’t be made to see the necessity of gather
ing aud analyzing the vital statistics of a
State. This is hard on the statistics.
The State Democratic Executive Commit
tee acts on Gregg Wright like a full-grown
Talulali red-bug. If he can get the com
mittee together we’ll help him scratch it.
Captain John Triplett, of the Thomasville
Times, has made a solemn promise that he
will be safely married by the first of May.
The Atlanta Constitution has at last taken
a decided stand in favor of a Convention,
and it is such an unusual thing for that
paper to take a decided stand that the
editors all feel sore. Sam Small says he
feels like he had fallen through a railroad
bridge and struck his stomach on a
scantling.
In Jackson county recently Mr. A. Mother
was married to Miss Selina J. Braeewell.
“What is home,” evidently inquired the
gentlo Selina, “without A. Mother?”
To the of Tuga
- 'iitXf —rT_Tiipo in your nln.cn/.shake the pea.-
nut shells from your coat-tail pockets, and
move to adjourn. Como, now, Potty, be
reasonable, and all will yet be well. Truly
yours: The Tax-Payeiis of Geokgia.
Mr. Richard B. Strange, a prominent citi
zen of Washington county, is dead.
Well, sir, Col. Jones, of the Macon Tele
graph, is in Brunswick. The only fault
he has to fiud with that city is
that he didn’t get enough break
fast at Mcßae, one of the stations on the
Macon and Brunswick Railroad. Think of Col.
Jones surviving untii dinner time upon an
inadequate—(that’s the word, isn’t it?) —
upon an inadequate breakfast.
Sandersville is to have a valentine party.
A Macon cow is the proui parent of twin
calves.
And hero is the forty-fourth: The gin
house of Mr. Holman, of Jones county, was
burned by an incendiary last Friday night.
We trust Dr. Jaues is jotting these little
occurrences down.
Hon. George R. Black, the Senator from
the Seventeenth District, made a character
istically clear, vigorous aud logical speech
in the Senate on the sth instant, on the bill
to define larceny from the field and prescribe
a penalty for the same.
It sounds like old times to hear that in
Houston county the other day, a stabbing
affray occurred at a dancing party. There
seems to be life in the old land yet.
Here is a chance for the birdofreedom
to Bqueal: An Augusta man shot a poor
unfortunate negro the other night simply
because the latter was stealing potatoes.
Isn’t it about time for our colored friends
to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday ? If our
recollection doesn’t forget herself, they
haven’t celebrated this glorious day since
October.
The Columbus papers are getting their
backs up about these swindling emigration
agents. They have persuaded the hands
already hired by farmers in several counties
to leave them and go West. The remedy
for this is for the farmer to send the agent
West with a shot-gun.
The Star says the guano trade at Coving
ton is larger at that point this season than
it was last year.
The Hessian'lly has made its appearance in
Stewart county.
The distillers of North Georgia, after
suffering all the indignities that cowardly
government officials could put upon them,
have at last come to the conclusion to have
a little fun. The officials have no one to
blame but themselves.
Nearly three thousand negroes have emi
grated from Georgia by way of Columbus
since the Ist of December.
Sandersville Herald : It will be remem
bered that the Savannah News, some weeks
since, published the arrival in that city of a
large number of “ intelligent citizens," who
were in search of golden treasures which
have long lain buried on an island among
the Florida reefs. The larger portion of the
party have returned to their homes in this
county. They are not, they say, prepared
to make a full report of their "operations.
We learn, however, that at the time of the
departure of the returning ones, that the
money had not been found. They have
leased the island to some fishermen for 20
years, for a barrel of fish per annum, so if
they get no gold they may have some fish.
When the remaining portion of the party
returns, we will give the “latest advices”
they may bring. George’s “rooster will ere
long crow again.” His tune will be changed
from “gold” to “fish.” The latest news from
the gold hunters was to the effect that prob
ably the sounding rod had either struck a
terrapin’s shell or “gold box,” not certain
which!
The same paper has this: On Monday
last Rev. J. M. Wood, of this county, went
to Tennille in an ox cart, accompanied by
his little boy, for a load of guano. Mr.
Wood obtained his load, about two thousand
pounds, and started home. On the road,
be got out to walk, and left his little boy in
the cart to drive. Walking a few steps in
advance and conversing with his little son,
he heard the cart wheel run over
something, and, looking back, discov
ered the little fellow had fallen from the
cart and was crushed beneath the
ponderous wheel. The child breathed for a
few moments aud then expired. What
caused him to fall from the cart is unknown
to the heart-broken father, as the road was
perfectly smooth. The little fellow was
some six or seven years old. After fife was
extinct the grief-stricken father took off his
overcoat, wrapped the lifeless remains
therein, and, accompanied by parties living
near the place where the accident occurred,
carried them home. What an awful return
to the wife and mother, who had parted
with her child in health but a few hours be
fore. The stricken family have our deepest
sympathies.
Afliens Watchman: Under pretence of en
forcing the revenue laws many outrages
have been committed in the upper counties
within the past few years by the so-called
government officers and certain pimps and
informers employed by them. That there
have been violations of the re .enue laws we
do not question; but these occasional viola
tions did not justify officers in violating all
laws, human and divine, in searching houses
and making arrests. This thing has gone on,
from bad to worse, until recently a citizen
of Gilmer county was shot down on
his own premises by a government officer,
and his body thrown into a branch
aud covered up with logs aud brush! We
do not wonder that the citizens of the
county have become indignant at these out
rages and have held public meetings for
the purpose of giviug expression to their
sentiments. Here is an extract from the
indignant protest of the citizens of Gilmer
county, in public meeting assembled:
“Deputy marffials, and their sub-deputies,
and deputy collectors, armed as if hunting
thieves, scour the country, and at midnight
ruthlessly aud insultingly enter the private
dwellings of our citizens, invade the secre t
precincts of home, and insult and frighten
helpless women and children, under the pre
text of rmarching for illicit whisky. All this
has been done in the'faee of the fact that
there has not been a licensed retail liquor
shop ia the county for two years past, and
that the prohibition was the voluntary action
of a very large majority of onr own'people.
So decided and universal was the opposition
to the manufacture and sale of ardent spir
its in this county that there was no organ
ized opposition to the act of prohibition,
and yet we are represented as associated
with' illicit distilleries in rebellion against
the government.”
Florida Affairs.
Twenty or thirty Cuban cigar-makers have
left Key West and gone to Jacksonville in
search of employment. We fear they will
be compelled to employ themselves in smok
ing cigars instead of making them.
Messrs. Seidenberg & Cos., of Key West,
will be,when their new factory is completed,
tho largest cigar manufacturing firm in the
United States.
A Cedar Key urchin was shot through the
leg the other day by the careless handling
of a pistol.
A Mr. Segiue, aged seventy, was drowned
recently near St. Augustine."
The building occupied by St. Dominick’s
Convent school at Pensacola came very near
being destroyed by fire the other day."
Hilliard Finch, against whom two true
bills for murder had been found, has es
caped from the jail at Madison.
Dr. H. T. Cummings, of Portland, Maine,
has invented a process for converting the
Florida green moss in a few hours into an
article suitable for mattresses, upholster
ers, etc.
The Jacksonville Press is informed that
the “little giant” of Alachua was ignomin
iouslv defeated in a public discussion re
cently held in Gainesville by J. W. Menard,
the colored poet and orator. Tho route was
total and complete, the colored auditors
ignoring the State Senator, and supporting
Menard with great unanimity. Verily, how
have the mighty fallen!
Pensacola taxes every table used for keuo
$1,000; every biiliard table, SSO and SIOO
each if used for pool; every bar-room, S2OO,
and every game of chance, SSOO.
A correspondent of the Agriculturist,
writing from Lake Jessup, speaks of a
mighty Nimrod, Captain M. E. Brock, who
bagged in seven consecutive shots seven
deer and a bear. He also adduces the case
of a helpless invalid, who came to Lake
Jessup six weeks ago, and who has gained
over fifty pounds in weight in that short
period.
The Tallahassee Floridian says that Mr.
C. F. Avery is making a good thing out of
the lime rock in Wakulla county. He has
burned one kiln of one hundred and fifty
barrels and disposed of it very readily at
paying rates, and is now burning another
kiln of two hundred barrels. He has asso
ciated with him Mr. Gillam, late of Minne
sota.
The same paper says that a very old
negro man, supposed to be near one hundred
and ten, and known by the name of “Uncle
Harry,” was burned to death in his shanty
at the Oil Still last Friday night. He lived
alone, and it is not known exactly how the
fire originated.
The editor of the Pensacola Gazette has
very sensibly concluded to drop the name
of “Conservative” from his political vocabu
lary, and to substitute “Democrat.”
The Palatka Herald says that one acre of
budded orange trees, in five years, will yield
a clear income of from one to tlireo thousand
dollars per annum so will the lemon, pine
apple aud banana. An oramm budded tree
v. ill bear in two v, omvkf bud; will
n'J-T.b J. ti-so ■ 'ffllM’gj.
The banana will bear in fourteen moutfia
from setting out, the pineapple in less time.
Vegetation hardly ever dies in Sumter coun
ty. Tomato vines will boar two years, so
will beans. The planter never digs sweet
potatoes only as he wants them, the vmgs
do not die. Cane comes for years from the
rattoou.
Palatka has gone into convulsions over a
plank sidewalk.
Tallahassee Floridian: About a week before
Christmas some unknown parties went one
night into the back garden of Mr. John Gal
lie’s premises and dug what appeared a
large hole, but covered it up again. In the
morning the spot attracted attention, but it
was not disturbed, and a few nights there
after the hole was dug out and covered up
again. Then the curiosity of everybody In
the neighborhood was thoroughly aroused,
and various conjectures were offered iu
solution of the mysterious digging. Mr.
Gallie concluded to explore, and accord
ingly the loose earth was removed for five
or six feet down, but nothing was dis
covered. If the mysterious operators
had concealed anything valuable there at
the first digging, as it was supposed by
some they had, it had been removed at the
Stroud digging, and the opportunity to dis
cover it had been lost. This seemed to be
about the state of the case, and talk over
the matter in the neighborhood had nearly
died out, when, lo! one night last week, be
tween dark and midnight, another large
hole v.’as dug out and left open at the very
same spot. The hole is seme four feet
across and about the same distance in
depth, and now the curious are all in a flurry
again. What it ail can mean is now the per
plexing question in that neighborhood. It
seems a queer place for thieves to select to
hide plunder, and yet there is certainly a
mystery about it.
A Mystery.
On the shore of Dublin county, nearly
opposite the islet known as Ireland’s
Eye, the scene of a tragedy which
excited extraordinary interest many years
ago, is a village, noted for its races, called
Baldoyle. On the 15th of December the
patrol of the Coast Guard Service there
observed, at 3 o’clock in the morning,
the body of a man which had been
washed up by the waves. The flesh had
nearly disappeared from the head, and
on the hands were hanging, in strips, the
fingers, appearing as if they had been
bruised to pieces. The body when found
was without a coat, but the clothes were
otherwise in perfect order, A watch and
three pounds sterling were found in the
pockets, but there was nothing where
with to identify the deceased. However,
a few days later the body was identified
by a jvlrs. Stewart, from England, as
that of her husband, John Stewart.
From the evidence given by her and
others it appeared that he was personally
interested in a Dublin will case which
came on for trial in November, and with
the view of opposing it took passage on
board the St. Patrick, for Dublin, on the
4th of that month, carrying with him
certain papers which he believed would
have a great influence in deciding the
cause. A short time before the vessel
reached port Stewart was seen by his
wife. He was sitting on a cask, his arms
on the bulwark, and his head on his arms.
There was a height of only eighteen inches
from the seat he occupied to the top of
the bulwark, and a movement in sleep
.'•light have caused him to lose his balance
and fdl over, but in that case what be
came of his coats ? He wore two when
last seen, and the papers for the Probate
Court were in the pockets. He was no
swimmer, so could not have divested
himself of his coats in the water,
and the fact that his watch and
cash were in his pocket when he was
washed ashore, seems an answer to any
hypothesis of violence having been done
him for robbery. The jury could only
return a verdict of “found drowned, ” and
probably the circumstances of his fate
will never be known, but his mysterious
disappearance, together with that of im
portant documents, will by many be
attributed to something other than acci
dent. It is quite a case for such an
unraveler as Edgar Poe describes to go to
work ipon. The fact of the fingers
appearing as though bruised to pieces
suggests the case of a man clinging to
the side of a boat and ruthlessly beaten
away. Could the steamer —he was seen
just before the ship came to anchor—have
been boarded by those intending to make
r.way with him, who taking advantage of
the darknesss —for it was 3 a.m. on a
November morning—thrust him into a
boat, got the papers, and then flung him
overboard ? Will cases present many dark
features. This may be one of the num
ber.
Treatment of Prisoners at Johnson’s
Island, on Lake Erie.
[From the Harrisonburg (Va.) Old Common
wealth.]
We deprecate the re-agitation of excit
ing questions, growing out of the late
war between the States, as strongly as
any one. We condemn in unmeasured
terms the re-awakening of slumbering
enmity and hate hy any one for any pur
pose. We know that the present gene
ration, at least, can never harmonize con
flicting opinions of the lately opposing
sections upon many of those irritating
subjects. We believe that impartial his
tory cannot now be written. We, there
fore, loathe and despise the selfishness
that would inject into necessary discus
sions of living issues the ferment of dis
cord and strife, belonging to what ought
to be considered and treated as the dead
past. And we furthermore denounce
as fiendish the spirit that. for personal
aggrandisement, or party success, can
lead its possessor to deliberately proceed
to lash into fury the gradually composing
elements of the lately distracted and
hostile sections of the American people.
In these sentiments we hope and believe
we have the sympathy of an overwhelm
ing majority of the citizens of these
United States. For Mr. Blaine, there
fore, and his bad works, recently done,
in the House of Representatives, we
take occasion to express our utter de
testation. That he can succeed, on any
pretext, in overcoming the tendency to
the establishment of peaceful and even
fraternal relations, which the ameliorat
ing influence of time, under the direc
tion of a benignant Providence, has been
developing, we do not believe. We
therefore hope, as we believe, that his
wicked schemes will fail —utterly, lgno
miniously fail.
It is one thing, however, to make un
provoked and injurious charges against a
helpless and prostrate people, and an
other to repudiate and disprove them.
And we trust that the manhood of the
South will never, at least in our day, be
so dead or cowardly as to fail, when
calumny and obloquy are sought to be
heaped upon it, to promptly hurl back into
the teeth of its false accusers their lying
imputations. We, therefore, approve of
Mr. Hill’s conduct, and admire his man
liness.
Wo take occasion to say that the South
has nothing to apprehend from the dis
closure of facts. The truth of history
will never cause the blush of shame to
mantle the cheeks of her sons and
daughters; for we do know that, “what
other errors, faults, failings, or short
comings they may have had, no act of
treachery, of perfidy, of hypocrisy or de
ceit, of breach of faith or of turpitude—
nothing of a low, mean, sordid or un
manly nature, can ever be justly laid to
their charge, in their State or Confederate
organizations.”
In the infamous speech of Mr. Blaine
to which we have referred, he boldly as
serts that “there is not a Confederate
soldier now living, who bad any credit
in his command, and who was a prisoner
in the hands of the Union forces, who
will say that he ever was cruelly treated—
that he ever was deprived of the same ra
tions which the Union soldiers had, or the
same food,” and he further declared
“there was no retaliation attempted or
'justified by the United States Govern
ment.”
Thus, publicly, ou the floor of the
Federal House of Representatives, be
fore the country and the world, has this
man, who has been favored by his party,
and who stands to-day conspicuously be
fore the country as an aspirant for its
highest honor, thrown down the gauntlet,
courted inquiry and defied comparison.
Has he asserted the truth ? We, Unhesi
tatingly and unequivocally say that b£
has not! And, we are in
facts to maintain our tho
truthfulness there are
11 of unimpsbo_!>lA
veracity to testify. These facts have come
into our possession from a most credita
ble source. We believe they have never
been published before. Their publica
tion has been withheld, till now, from
motives which Mr. Blaine has not and,
perhaps, cannot appreciate; but we feel
that we should be recreant to a sacred
duty if, under the circumstances, we lon
ger withheld them.
One of the Federal prisons was located
on Johnson’s Island. There, after the
battle of Gettysburg, till the close of
active hostilities, captured officers of the
Confederate army were confined. It was
said to have been regarded by the people
and government of the United States as a
“model prison.” The system of manage
ment there enforced was said to have
excited pride in the breasts of the North
ern people; and they, frequently, both in
this country and in Europe, pointed to
the well-fed, comfortable condition of
the prisoners at Johnson’s Island, as in
striking contrast with that of those who
were confined in prisons in the South.
The island is in the State of Ohio, in
the bay of Sandusky, a narrow peninsula
separating it from Lake Erie. It is a
bleak, cold place, exposed to the frigid
winds, which, coming from the Arctic
regions, sweep across the lake. On the
first day of January, 1804, the mercury
reached 24 degrees below zero, having
fallen 60 degrees within twenty-four
hours, and the island was surrounded all
winter by ice from fourteen to twenty
inches thick.
There were thirteen buildings for the
accommodation of prisoners—one being
a hospital. (In the latter part of 1864
there were, besides, three sheds for eat
ing rooms put up.) More than half of
them were mere shells, without lining of
any kind, hurriedly and coarsely built,
being box-frames vertically weather
boarded, and afforded but slight protec
tion from the snow and the chilling blasts
of winter. Into these houses from two
to three thousand prisoners were crowd
ed, there being more than eighty in some
rooms. For furnishing warmth small
stoves, wholly inadequate in size, one to
a room, were supplied; and for fuel
green, sappy wood, in meagre quantity.
In such conditions who will question the
correctness of the assertion that the suf
fering was great, and that even death
was their effect ?
For supplying water to the prisoners,
there were but three shallow wells, which
had only surface drainage. Strange it
may seem, that men kept upon a small
island, with
“Water, water everywhere,”
should, notwithstanding, have
“not a drop to drink.”
It is, nevertheless, tbue. In the year
1863 and the early part of 1864, before
the prisoners had accumulated, buckets
and other utensils for holding a night’s
supply of water—thirst being intensified
by salt food and diarrhoea —the suffering
of the prisoners on Johnson’s Island
for the want of water, was often
fearful and indescribable—-leading in
one case to the risking to life to procure.
Prisoners were not permitted to leave
their quarters between sunset and sun
rise—retreat and reveille —except to go
to the sinks, and, after nearly famishing
all night, they would crowd around the
doors of their quarters at daylight, and
unsuccessfully implore permission to
slake their thirst at the pumps, which
were in the middle of the yard. On one
occasion a Choctaw Indian, a Confederate
Captain, took his buckets, walked to the
pump and filled them, saying, he “would
as soon be killed as to die from thirst.”
This was done in broad daylight. He did
not take a step in the direction of a wall.
His purpose was manifest. Yet he was
shot at by the sentinels five or six times.
So insufficient was the supply of water
that more than two hours wefe some
times consumed in the mornings waiting
for enough to ooze into the wells to fill
all the buckets; and, at last, the water
became so impregnated with and con
taminated by the offensive, poisonous
contents of the sinks, which percolated
through the soil, that it was manifest to
the senses upon near approach to the
wells.
These iniquities were arrested, and
their consequent evils removed, when
Gen. Terry, with veteran soldiers, who
could appreciate valor even in their ene
mies, arrived on the island and assumed
control. Then the prisoners were per
mitted to get water from the Bay.
The hospital contained sixty beds.
Requisitions for medical supplies were
based upon estimates for that number of
sick. Yet, we assert that, the real num
ber of sick in the prison during the last
seventeen months of the war, (our cer
tain knowledge does not extend bejond
that time.) was never less than ten and
sometimes reached thirty times as many.
Of course, the medical supplies were
wholly insufficient in quantity, and
the sufferings and deaths' were
largely increased in consequence.
So imperfect and indifferent was the
medical attention received by the sick
from the Federal surgeons, that the pris
oners who were physicians in peaceful
times, organized a hospital committee,
and took entire charge of their sick com
rades, some attending to the inmates of
the hospital, and others to the sick in the
“blocks.” But often for days together
there would not be medicines to admin
ister.
In ’63 and till early in ’64, the supply
of food furnished was both varied in
kind, and sufficient iu quantity ; and, be
sides,Relatives within the Federal lines
were permitted to send delicacies and
other supplies to the prisoners. But
early in ’64, we think, orders from Col.
Hoffman, then in Washington, limited
the prisoners’ ration to bread and meat—
reduced the amount to 34 . ’' I
food (which is less than
subject, General Shermai.
say is sufficient for a- talthy
forbade the receipt of supp
friends, except in cases of sickness, t
special request, approved by the surgeon.
The amount of food allowed by the
“order” would have been sufficient to
prevent great distress, had it been hon
estly issued, but there was evident de
sign by the authorities that, at best,
prisoners should not “fare sumptuously.”
But, in fact, each man’s allowance
of bread was short every day, two to
three ounces ; and the meat ration was
deficient, daily, from a third to a half.
We presume that the government in
tended the prisoners to have thirty-four
ounces of food—bread and meat, exclusive
of bone; but the bone was always in
cluded in the weight. Now, as beef was
the meat chiefly issued, and as it was
generally poor, aud always fore-quarters,
we know, by actual experiment, that
nearly, and sometimes quite, half the
ration was bone. Thus the edible ration
was reduced to twenty-seven or twenty
eight ounces of food, instead of thirty
four ounces. Besides, in place of beef or
pork, dried white fish was frequently
issued; a good enough article occasionally,
and with proper facilities for its prepara
tion, but to men situated as the prisoners
were, whose systems demanded fresh
meat, even if the article was sound, it
would be distasteful; but putrid, as it not
uufrequently was, it was simply poisonous.
From gradual starvation thus pro
duced and improper food, the prisoners
at Johnson’s Island endured untold
miseries. Food was the topic of con
versation constantly; and gentlemen of
the nicest sensibilities begged for it, and
were constrained to consume the most
loathesome articles. Bones that had
been used to make soup for the sick
were taken from the garbage barrel,
cracked and boiled again, for the little
grease they might afford; peelings of
potatoes, the outer leaves of cabbages,
and layers of onions, wore drawn from
the same source; rats were esteemed a
delicacy, and even cats and dogs were de
voured by the suffering wretches. Is it
a wonder that men died and, what was
worse, became insane ?
That disease and death were attribut -
able, alone, in many cases, to causes
easily peveutable, we know. In the
winter of ’63-4 hardy, healthy men who
entered prison a few months, or weeks
before died, manifestly from the effect
coldest months of that
o ty havinu steadily iu
\wmter~the of
creased with the > A D _
the season—fcjffi - -ML 11* ”■
palling number ot one per day, in in ag
gregate of less than two thousand men,
of naturally strong, hardy physiques.
In the winter of 64-5, scurvy, a dis
ease clearly attributable to the diet used,
prevailed generally throughout the
prison. That this horrible disease was
produced by improper food, aud might
have been prevented, was demonstrated,
repeatedly, there.
When, after frequently calling the at
tention of Dr. Eversman, the cold
blooded, unsympathetic surgeon-in-chief,
to the prevalence of that painful disease,
he was induced to order a small supply of
antiscorbutics—lrish potatoes or onions
—it was immediately abated—the suffer
ings would soon be ameliorated, and hope
and joy would again illumine the counte
nances of the lately desponding wretches.
But, as if he took delight in the miseries
of others, with a refinement of cruelty
that was simply fiendish, he would torture
the unfortunate creatures, thus helpless
in his hands, by withholding antiscorbu
tics, just when they were restoring a de
sire to live, to the breasts of the sufferers,
and remanding them to a worse than
living death.
Thus for months hundreds of prisoners
on Johnson’s Island, miserable subjects
of scurvy, a loathsome and painful dis
ease which could have been easily pre
vented or arrested by proper food, were
kept oscillating between hope and des
pair, at the will and pleasure of an un
feeling Federal surgeon.
It may be said that these cruelties are
to be attributed to the dishonesty of a
Commissary, and the inhumanity of a
surgeon, officers of subordinate positions,
and were perpetrated without the knowl
edge of commanding officers. The an
swer is, that verbal complaint was fre
quently made to Col. Hill, the Command
ant of the Post, who admitted the crime,
but did not arrest it. A full and graphic
account of the wrongs perpetrated upon
the prisoners, and of their great suffering
in consequence, was also given to Major
General Hitchcock, who, at the time,
commanded the Department, and paid an
official visit of inspection to the prison—
and his answer was, “You are suffering
in retaliation for the treatment of the
prisoners at Andersonville.”
On one occasion, during the temporary
absence of Colonel Hill, a communication,
in writing, reciting some of the facts and
depicting the sufferings of the prisoners,
and protesting against the dishonesty of
the Commissary and his disobedience of
the orders of the government, was sent
to Lieutenant Colonel Palmer, who suc
ceeded to the command; but it did not
elicit the slightest notice or effect the
smallest change. That communication
was signed by Colonel Steadman and Cap
tain Locke, of Alabama, and Colonel
Maxwell, of Florida, who attended upon
their sick comrades in the prison hospital.
A short time after that letter of com
plaint and protest was written, it was
smuggled out upon the person of an
officer who was paroled and permitted to
go to New York City. Just then it was
insinuated by a New York paper that
inhumanities were practiced in Northern
as well as in Southern prisons. Mr.
Greeley denounced the imputation in his
usual strong language, as “a base lie,”
and said, in substance, “if it could be
shown that a Federal officer was guilty of
cruelty to a prisoner, he would make the
continent too hot for him." The next
day the letter to Col. Palmer was pub
lished in the New York News. A few
days later a letter of similar import in
regard to the prison at Rock Island, 111.,
was also published in the News, but,
good Mr. Greeley was “as silent as an
oyster.” The letter of the officers was
published also, in some of the London
papers.
Stealing packages sent to prisoners by
friends, especially abstracting greenbacks
from letters, was common, and seemed to
have been regarded as a venial offense.
The hospital was the only building
within the enclosure in which lights were
permitted after “tatoo.” On one occa
sion a sentinel perceived the light in the
hospital through the windows of block
5, which was directly opposite to the
hospital. His order to “put out the light
in block 5” not having been obeyed, as
it could not be, he fired a ball from his
rifle into the block, and wounded two
prisoners were sleeping in their
bunks. For that chivalrous deed it was
understood that the fiend was promoted
to a corporalcy.
Except for, perhaps a month, the pris
oners were not permitted to buy of the
ESTABLISHED 1850.
prison suttler any provisions in 1864.
They could purchase only stationery",
pipes and tobacco, and then upon orders
from the commandant of the post. This
officer became intesested in a lithograph
picture of Johnson’s Island, as part own
er. He, therefore, made his approval of
orders to buy such things as the prison
ers were permitted to purchase, conditi
onal upon their first buying a picture for
s3—thus speculating upon the distress of
his helpless victims.
We have thus given a hasty summary
of some of the inhumanities experienced
within the “model prison” at Johnson’s
Island. Of the petty meanness practiced
by the guard, officers and men upon the
prisoners, and of the innumerable irri
tations to which the latter were needlessly
subjected we have no space to speak.
Of all the officers of the prison who
came in contact with the prisoners, there
were two only who exhibited any regard
for the lessons of Christianity. These
were Surgeon Woodbridge and Major
Belden, who exhibited traits of character
which marked them as gentlemen of
kindly, generous natures.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS..
A r - u Jetterxon Davis—Calm anil
is rieply to ltlainc’s Attack
•coplc of the Mouth— Ft < anil
’rlsoners—The Fruitless
Washington, D. C., February 6.—Jef
fefferson Davis has written the following
letter to Judge Lyons, of Richmond,
Virginia :
New Orleans, January 27, 1876.— H0n.
James Lyons : My Dear Friend—Your
very kind letter of the 14th instant was
forwarded from Memphis, and has been
received at this place. I have been so
long the object of malignant slander, and
the subject of unscrupulous falsehood,
by partisans of the class of Mr. Blaine,
that, though I cannot say it has become
to me a matter of indifference, it has
ceased to excite my surprise, even in this
instance, when it reaches the extremity
of accusing me of cruelty to prisoners.
What matters it to one whose object is
personal and party advantage that the re
cords both Federal and Confederate, dis
prove the charge; that the country is full
of witnesses who bear oral testimony
against it, and that the effort to revive
the bitter animosities of war obstructs the
progress toward the reconciliation of the
sections. It is enough for him if his self
seeking purpose be promoted. It would,
however, seem probable that such expec
tations must be disappointed, for only
those who are willfully blind can fail to see
in the circumstances of the case the fal
lacy of Mr. Blaine’s statement. The
published fact of an attempt to suborn
Wirtz, when under sentence of death, by
promising him a pardon if he would
criminate me in regard to the Auderson
ville prisoners, is conclusive as to the
wish of the government to make such
charge against me, and the failure to do
so shows that nothing could be found to
sustain it. May we not say the evidence
of my innocence was such that Holt and
Conover with their trained band of sub
orned witnesses dared not make against
me this charge at tho time which Wirtz
for his life would not make, but which
Blaine, for the Presidential nomination,
has made. Now, let us review the lead
ing facts of this case. The report of the
Confederate Commissioner for the ex
change of prisoners shows how persistent
and liberal were our efforts to secure the
relief of captives. Failing in these at
tempts, I instructed Gen. R. E. Lee to
go under a flag of truce and seek an
interview with General Grant, to rep
death of
of! the*
change of prisoners. To this, as all pre
vious appeals, a deaf ear was turned. I
will not attempt from memory to write
the report made to me of the incidents of
this mission. Lee no longer lives to defend
the cause and country he loved so well
and served so efficiently, but General
Grant cannot fail to remember so extra
ordinary a visit, and his objections to
executing the cartel are well known to
the public; but whoever else may choose
to forget my efforts in this regard the
prisoners at Andersonville and the dele
gates I permitted them to send to Presi
dent Lincoln for the resumption of ex
change of prisoners cannot fail to re
member how willing I was to restore
them to their homes and to the comforts
of which they were in need, provided
the imprisoned soldiers of the Con
federacy should be in like manner re
leased and returned to us,
This foul accusation, though directed
specially against me, was no doubt in
tended and naturally must be an arraign
ment of the South by whose authority
and in whose behalf my deeds were done.
It may be presumed that the feelings and
habits of the Southern soldiers were un
derstood by me, and in that connection
any fair mind would perceive in my con
gratulatory orders to the army after a
victory in which the troops were most
commended for their tenderness and gen
erosity to the wounded and other captives,
as well as the instincts of the person who
issued the order as the knightly temper
of the soldiers to whom it was addressed.
It is admitted that the prisoners in our
hands were not as well provided for as
we would have liked, but it is claimed
that we did as well for them as we could.
Can the other side say as much ? To the
bold allegations of ill treatment of pris
oners by our side and humane treatment
and adequate supplies by our opponents,
it is only necessary to offer two factß :
First, it appears from the reports of the
United States War Department that
though we had 60,000 more Federal pris
oners than they had of Confederates,
6,000 more of Confederates died in North
ern prisons; second, the want and suffer
ing of men in Northern prisons caused
me to ask for permission to send out cot
ton and buy supplies for them. The
request was granted, but only on condi
tion that the cotton should be sent to
New York and the supplies be bought
there. General Beale, now of St. Louis,
was authorized to purchase and distribute
the needful supplies. Our sympathy rose
with the occasion and responded to its
demands, not waiting for ten years then
to vaunt itself when it could serve no
good purpose to the sullerers. Under
the mellowing influence of time and occa
sional demonstrations at the North of a
desire for the restoration of peace and
good will, the Southern people have for
gotten much, have forgiven much of the
wrongs they bore. If it be less so among
their invaders it is but another example
of the rule that the wrongdoer is less able
to forgive than he who has suffered cause
less wrongs.
It is not, however, generally among
those who braved the hazards of battle
that unrelenting vindictiveness is to be
found—-the brave and generous and gen
tle. It is the skulkers of the fight—the
Blaines—who display their flag on an
untented field. They made no sacrifice
to prevent the separation of the States.
Why should they be expected to promote
the confidence and good will essential to
their union ? When closely confined at
Fort Monroe I was solicited to add my
name to those of many esteemed gentle
men who had signed a petition for my par
don, and an assurance was given that on
my doing so the President would order
my liberation. Confident of the justice
of our cause and the rectitude of my own
conduct I. declined to sign the petition,
and remained subject to the inexcusable
privations and tortures which Dr. Craven
has but faintly described. When, after
two years of close confinement, j
was admitted to bail, as often as
required I appeared for trial under
the indictment found against me, but
in which Mr. Blaine’s fictions do
not appear. The indictment was finally
quashed, on no application of mine; nor
have I ever evaded or avoided a trial upon
any charge the general government might
choose to bring against me, and have no
view of the future which makes it desir
able to me to be included in an amnesty
bill. Viewed in the abstract, or as a gen
eral question, I would be glad to see the
repeal of all laws inflicting the penalty
_ 1
of political disabilities on classes of the
people, that it might be prescribed by the
constitution, be left to the courts to bear
ard deoide causes, and to affix penalties
act uding to pre -existing legislation. The
dir. i:urination made against our people is
unjust and impolitic. If the fact be
equ.dity, and the purpose be fraternity
among the citizens of the United States,
conviction and sentence without a hear
ing, without jurisdiction, and affixing
penalties by ex post facto legislation, are
part of the proceedings which had its
appropriate end in the assumption by
Congress of the executive function or
granting pardons. To remove political
disabilities which there was not legal
power to impose, was not an act of so
much grace as to form a plausible pre
text for the reckless diatribe of Mr.
Blaine. The papers preserved by
Dr. Stevenson happily furnish full proof
of the causes of disease and death at
Audersonville. They are now, I believe,
in Richmond, and it is to be hoped their
publication will not be much longer de
layed. I have no taste for recrimination,
though the sad recitals made by our sol
diers returned from Northern prisons can
never be and you will remem
ber the excitement those produced and
the censorious publications which were
uttered against me because I would not
visit on the helpless prisoners in our
hands such barbarities as, according to
reports, had been inflicted upon our men.
Imprisonment, is a hard lot at the best,
and prisoners are prone to exaggerate
their sufferings, and such was probably
the case on both sides. But we did not
seek, by reports of committees, with pho
tographic illustrations, to inflame the
passions of our people. How was it
with our enemy ? Let one oxample
suffice. You may remember a pub
lished report of a committee of the
United States Congress which was sent
to Annapolis to visit some exchanged
prisoners, and which had appended to it
the photographs of some emaciated sub
jects, which were offered as samples of
prisoners returned from the South.
When a v-, ’ i report was recui ed,
I sent it to Colonel Ould, Commissioner
for the Exchange of Prisoners, at ■ I
learned, as I anticipated, that the phol<
, graphs, as far as they could be identified,
had been taken 'fom men who ware in
our hospital when they were liberated for
exchange, and whom the hospital sur
geon regarded as convalescent but too
weak to be removed with safety to them
selves. The anxiety of the prisoners to
be sent to their homes had prevailed
over the objections of the surgeon. But
this is not all, for I have recently learned
from a priest who was then at Annapolis
that the most wretched-looking of these
photographs was taken from a man who
had never been a prisoner, but who had
been left on the “sick list” at Annapolis
when the command to which he was at
tached had passed that place on its
southward march.
Whatever may be said in extenuation
of such imposture because of the exi
gencies of the war, there can be no such
excuse now for the attempts of Mr.
Blaine by gross misrepresentation and
slauderous accusation to revive the worst
passions of the war, and it is to be hoped
that much as the event is to bo regretted
it will have the good effect of evoking
truthful statements in regard to this little
underslood subject from men who would
have preferred to leave their sorrowful
story untold if the subject could have
been allowed peacefully to sink into
oblivion. Mutual respect is needful, for
the common interest is essential to a
friendly union, and when slander is pro
mulgated from high places the public
welfare demands that truth should strip
falsehood of its power for evil.
I am, respectfully and truly, your friend,
Jeffeuson Davis.
Mysterious Foot-Prints in the Snow.
There is a broad common containing a
lonely thicket within the city limits of
Bt. Paul. The common is very seldom
crossed in winter time, as it is marshy
and bleak, and tho thicket in the middle
of it is almost as secluded as if it were
wrapped in the solitude of the Great
American desert or sunk in the heart of
the Sierra Nevada. A fresh snow fell
lately and there were tracks in the white
flakes that covered the common like a
winding-sheet. There was something
very peculiar about those foot-prints in
tho snow. A citizen who knew the
neighborhood well saw something in them
that puzzled him. Ho noticed the
prints of three men who appeared,
have started in company across the coni
mon and ; n the direction of
There war, nothing remarkable aoWf od 1
A usual v-alking pace was indieatfe^|
uj&TrSft? iftISBIfFSSHI
walked side by side, like friends. The 1
citizen did not follow them to the thicket,
but on the opposite side of it he oarne
upon human tracks again. There was
something remarkable about them, for
there were the foot prints of two men
only, impressed in the fresh snow side by
side. There were no other tracks in or
around the common but his own audl
these. It was evideut to him that three
men had entered the common, probably
penetrating the thicket, and only two
men had left it. The othor man must,
therefore, be in the lonely thirl
which the St. Paul people rare!
visit in mid-winter. The ciroum
stance so strongly impressed the citizen
that he made tracks for the thicket to
get a solution of the mystery. Ho found
there a man lying on his face dead, and
the snow stained with blood all round.
There were evidences of a desperate
struggle in the snow, and also on the
dead man’s body. His head was nearly
severed from the trunk and his body was
gashed and stabbed all over. His arms
were slashed with knives, these wounds
doubtless having been received in his
desperate defense of his throat and heart.
He was cut enough to kill half a
men, and then his murderers, to make a vfl
sure job of his death, had cut
pounded him with them, as if he haH
been a sheaf on a threshing floor. They'
left their clubs lying there, bloody aud
barked, showing severe usage. This was
a horrible explanation of the footprints, of
three men into the thicket and .
men out of it. The examination—^ H A
followed before the Coroner cast u<
of light upon the dark deed in the (
mon. The three tracks came to a
corpse, and the two tracks turned away
from the corpse, and beyond the fresh
white winding-sheet they mingled with."
thousands of other tracks in the trodden
streets. The corpse in the thicket is all
unknown. He is supposed to have been
a Scandinavian, about twenty-five or
thirty years of age; was well-dressed, and
wore a white shirt with three gold studs.
In his pockets were an empty wallet and
a pen-knife. Nobody has missed him, or
at least nobody mentions his loss. Still,
somebody may be waiting for him, and
wondering what can keep him so long
away. Other anows will fall and fill the
foot-pripts, and the spring will come,
and those grim and bloody human tracks
will forever melt away.— Bt. fxmU lie - I
publican.
The Press, Past and Present.
[Cincinnati Enquirer.]
Within the last quarter of a centm
there has been a great revolution in the
administration of the press. The press
of 1876 does not resemble that of 1851.
So far as its expenses are concerned,
one day now is equal to a week of 1851.
ft publishes seven times more printed
matter. Part of this change may be at
tributed to the telegraph—land and
ocean. From it the press receives greuter
power. It has been enabled to do it by
the multiplication of railioad facilities.
Those who live thirty or forty miles from
the city oan have their daily papers before
breakfast as well as those who reside u>-
the immediate vicinity of the paper.
The modem newspaper, to a large extent
is the creation of the railroad and tele ‘
graph. A quarter of a century ago a few
thousand dollars would start a paper in a
great city. The capital now required
runs up into the hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
This is so because it must start upon
something like the plane of its competi
tors. The effect is this, that but few pa
pers are being started. Population and
wealth are increasing steadily and large
ly. But- newspapers are decreasing.
Cincinnati has not as many journals as it
had twenty-five years ago. Thin years
from now it will have no more, if u.deed
it does not have less. Formerly the ;
itician—or, as he was called, the states
man —dictated to the press its character
of management. Dollars not invested
governed dollars that were invested.
This, in all the large places, has passed
away. The press, being the exponent of
the people, cares little for the anathemas
of those who assume to dictate to public
thought, which they largely indicate, if
they do not manufacture. The press is
more disinterested than political leaders.
The press has no selfish objects to attain
aside and apart from the people. A few
years ago the patronage of office bought
up the press. It is now of no account
compared to the patronage of the many.