Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1851-11-20

t'HS llSht anu lelt, WHuly laugNlHS every llln
he turned his weapon of death to the hilt il
some unfortunate man. At length he was crap
pied with aud killed on the spot by the prison
ers. In the morning, in addition to nine death
| by yellow fever, small pox and dyscntery ther,
were seven corpses taken up with knife gashe
in them, the victims Of the maniac's frenzy, ant
! four dead bodies Of men who had been suloca
Il ted,
All, sir, it is horrible for me now to recollec
these things. was young and strong, and
loved life for Kate's sake, or never could have
stood it in that place as | did for six Ions
months You see am gray now, sir! But
was hall gray at nineteen, when escaped from
that prison-shp; and looked full forty-fyo.-
Sir, in that six months, we sometimes had as
many as twelve hundred prisoners there, pack
ed like sheep in butchers pen, and though
nearly twenty day persisted, every week a
fresh set would be crowded in upon us Why
sir in that six months, no less than thirteen
hundred American prisoners were buried in the
loose sand on the shore, and before the war
ended, eleven thousand died in the hulk, and
were shovced into shallow holes in the ground.
An, Lieutenant Darlington, have not travelled
far, nor seen much Of the world, but in that six
months, | endured and saw more misery than
most men see or suffer, who have lived hun
dred ears, or travelled the round world over.
Sir, it was dreadful, drcadtuln
Then the captain put his lorefngcr into the
corner othis eye, to wipe away a tear which
saw sparkle in it by the moonbcams.
1T has learned me two things, sir, he re-
>umed, after smoking carelessy a few whlfis,
that man is mans worst enemy, and that all
human misery proceeds from the cruelty OF one
to another. The other thing that it has taught
me, is, that war is the worst evil that can be-
fall nation. All, lieutenant, if we all loved,
and were kind to each other, instead of seeing
how unhappy men could make one another,
what a vale of paradise this world wonld be-
| d be willing to live here forever. But since
| saw human nature in the Jersey, have ever
been sick of mankind, and bless God there is
better world after this
Here the captain raised his eyes to the moon,
as she walked in brightness amid her glittcring
attendant stars, and remained silent, as if he
were specializing whether in that bright globe
might not be the better world he had spoken Of
| respected his silence, and reflected with shame
and pain upon the wickedness of humanity
which could give cause to leave such stain
upon the page of history, as that Of the Jersey
Prison shi p At length Captain Darby turned
his gaze from the moon, remarking,
Il shouldn't wonder if we had thick weather,
sir | see that the scud is flying across the
moon to the S. S. west.
assented TO this likelihood, and then said:
"Did not understand you to say, captain,
that you escaped from this prison ship:'
Yes, would YOU like to hear how it was"
Nothing would crafty me more
First taking cut his huge silver watch he
looked at it by the light orthe moon, and said
Eight o'clock, Mister jerks. Relieve the
helm
Come aft here, called the mate, you Peter
BarnAce and stand your trick at the helm
Peter Barnacle, a shor, little land tortoise Of
, fellow, with red nose, obeycd the order,
and Captain Darby then returned, after filing
his pipe atresh.
you SEQ, after had been there long enough
10 know pretty well that was likely to stay
here till | was released by dead-mans ticket
or the war ended, | made up my mind to- effect
my escape! As to getting out of the place alive,
unseen, it was wholly an impossbty. | re-
solved to kill myself
Go kill yourself, captanH
AS the players do, on the stage, YOU know.
Ever morning the dead were passed up, or
'ather nolsted up with fall and tackle on sort
,f hurdle let down into the hold 1t held four
bodies at a time. When had been on deck
n my turn to get water, ] had seen that they
we're in the same way lowered into the hearsc-
barge, and pulled ashore. So made up my
mind that would play the dead man; and
Jnly wonder the idea never occurred to Inc be-
ore. | waited till one night man was killed
N scufe for bread | crawed towards the
side of the ship where he was dragged aside,
md with his blood stained my face and breast
md hands, and matted my hair. Ah sir,
can't speak Of il now, without a shndder; but
hen sir, was desperate. only wonder we
lidnt eat the dead to appease our hunger |
ay near him all night, practising how to stltien
nv limbs. did not sleep you may be sure
In the morning when the matches were taken
1tl' and the dim, obscure light found its way
nto the den, and heard the cry, Pass up the
leadn and the hurdle came rafting down
among us, my heart, bounded But felt that
t was life or death, and kept as composed as
could. The prisoners were compelledto place
he corpses on the hurdle, because the soldiers
we're afraid to come down among us, as we
should certainly have torn them in pieces; for
We had got to be more than half demons We
we're glad enough to get rid of the dead, and
,iled them on the hurdles with alacrty. They
ook ne up before they did the wounded man,
md threw me, stiff as if dead upon two bodies. !
rhey then piled the fourth corpse upon me-
Nh sir, didn't feel so bad then as do now
bout it. for then only thought of escaping -
Veil, they hosted the hurdle up, swung it
,ver the sides by means of shears, rigged on
oilers for the purpose, and let it down into the
dead-man's boat, that was waiting to receive
he bodies. We were arranged along in rows,
ONE fifteen of us upon platform, that covered
he auor-part of the long boat; and eight men
With oars pulled heavily this freight of putrc-