Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-08-16
Another Outrage.

OF all the brutal and savage outrages
committed by the rebels Of the South,
none has exceeded in rufian ferocity
that described below 1t is an extract
from an account published in the Wash
ington City Star, and furnished by John
A. Collins, of Virginia. Mr.. Collins is
q son of the venerable and universally
known Reverend John A. Collins, Of
Maryland.
MIR. Collins is a native Of the South,
and never lived in any other section
He is, however, a true Union man, and
that is the whole Of his ofense. In
March last he went to Memphis, in Ten
nessee, where, after time, his Union
sentiments becoming known, he fell un
der the suspicion Of the Vigilance Com
mittee. What follows we copy from the
Washington City ,Star, and ask for it
careful perusal. If any man can read
the account without having his blood
boil at the brutal atrocity, he must him
self have become totally deprived
Here it is:
"Mr. Collins was promptly waited on
by Vigilance Committee and he was at
once imprisoned in a most uoisome un
dcrground dungeon. From this foul
cell he managed to escape by the help
Of some friends, and after some hard ex-
perience finally reached more hospita-
bic region.
Amongst other instances of the afro
cities committed upon people simply for
the avowal of Union sentiments, the fol-
lowing surpasses in devilish barbarity
anything recorded of Haynau and his
band:
An accomplished young woman,
named Anna Giernstein, native Of
Maine, who had been engaged in school
teaching near Memphis, was Informed
she was an object of suspicion to the
Sscessionists and WAS advised to leave.
On the 18th Of May she left Memphis
for Cairo.
In the cars she found three Northern
men, named Tomlinson, Duffy and Nc
Grcgor, also en- route to Cairo, and said
to them, "Thank God, we shall soon be
in land where there is freedom of
speech and thought The remark was
heard by fellow named Firman, who
Immediately inquired to see her ticket
and those of her fellow passengers
Finding they were all destined to Free
States, he at once caused their seizure
by the vigilance committee. These gen
tlemen were then stripped naked and
whipped, the strokes being administered
by negro with knout some four
feet in length, each stroke of which
cuts the flesh in stripes an inch in width.
Miss Giernstein, who had expressed some
natural Indignation at these inhuman
barbarities, was then seized by the brute
who conducted the whipping arrange
mcnts, one John Duvall, "a native of
Cleveland, OhioD who requested her to
unfasten the upper part of her dress.
She Indignantly refused, when Duvall
said he would do it himself, and, laying
hands upon her, tore her dress away down
to the waist. Her feet were then tied
with straps, and person named Thos.
Nc cElroy formerly Of Syracus, n. Y.)
held her by the arms while Duvall ad-
ministered thirteen stripes to her bare
back While submitting to this ordeal,
the brave girl did not crafty her perse
cutors by single cry or tear, but Mr..
Collins noticed blood upon her lips, in
dicating that she had bitten them through
in suppressing any outward indications
of her agony. The right side of her
head was then shaved, and thus SCARED
and disfgured, she was permitted to re-
sumo her journey towards civilization" l."