Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-08-28

those on the lower floors In some Of them are
secession prisoners, and In some others runaway
slaves aud negroes In for petty offences. In the
men confined for disloyalty, &c. some lying on
the bed, some sanding, and others walking the
floor impatiently, all looking with some curiosity
at their Sunday visitors
fined, and In one we noticed about 1e or 20 run:
away slaves, all looking cheerful and contented
az IL they were In palace. They greeted our
entrance with broad grin all round, and when
our escort playfully remarked, "These boys, you
see, look comfortable enough; they have just
finished their breakfast-warm cakes, and ham
and eggs" loud guffaw bore witness to the
truth Of the FIRST part Of the assertion, while the
ivory teeth Of small darkey sitting in the win
dow, seemed TO throw a ray Of doubt over the
"ham aud eggs" joke which they all seemed
to relish aTa.insy The room In the sGu t,aS
two white men I'm bed and half dozen walking
aoout-all here on the charge Of secessionism, and
all genteei In appearance. The Kirbys and Others,
was noticed In this paper, are here Being asked
how they were, one Of them replied, Comfortable
eaough; but the id nigeers make such a noise
In the passage nobody can rest" The guard re-
proved the darkies lnstanter. IL was naturally
trying to the nerves Of folks with secession pro-
clivities to have the despsed nigger, s.the cause
Of all our Woe" In all In phases free and slave,
10 the adjoining rooms and ranging through the
passaRes The passages, be IL known, are In
common to white and black, though the rooms
are separate One Of these prisoners In the room
we were speaking Of was urgent for a book to
read, but the establishment 1t seems could not
afford one. The evils Of these ''secesh" prisoners
must be aggravated too by the sight Of an i'm
mense American eagle drawn on the wall Of the
room by some illustrous artist prisoner. who
executed his work with such spirit that 1t 10 sug-
gestive of Yankee Doodle and Hail Columbia all
over We noticed In several Of the rooms very
creditable drawings, some colored and some
plain, great slany life size, and the majority
religious subjects, such as 'tThe Crucifxion,n
CANCELS at the Cross" &c.
Having fully gratihed our curiosity inside, we
came down and passed into the jail yard, which
10 on the north side. We were glad to get in the
open air again, even though Ii was In a prison
yard. This Is the only yard the prisoners are
allowed to use, and IL where they procure their
water, pump being in the center of the yard.
ngb, ana dsv sbs .ohs,,
corner Of the yard 10 the place where the gallows
Ii erected, when II Is necessary to use one. We
entered the prison ogain. called for the guard on
duty, passed through the grated door into the
corridor, were locked out an we bad been locked
In, and visited the eastern kitchen) yard and the
western, similar to Ii, both inclosed with low
walls Bill Woodward escaped BY finding the
grated door unlocked, passing along the corridor
Into this west yard and scaling the low wall with
a piece Of scantling. In climbing this wall, or
the fence beyond, he received the wound which
caused his death
We are Indebted to the courtesy Of the Jail OH.
GERS for sordng every facility to visit all parts
Of the prison IL 10 badly arranged, dark, damp,
and unsafe and entirely too small to accommodate
there. 1t would be inhuman TO confne convicted
criminals there, and what shall we say OF innocent
persons incarcerated In these gloomy cells await
ing examination? The prison was probably about
as clean as could be expected.
The jailor, Mr.. John III Wise, and his assist-
ants, no doubt do all In their power to keep 1t So
but they would need the ewes Of an Arc us and
the hundred hands OF Briareus to accomplish 1t.
The prisoners nave to wash their own clothes in
side the prison. II Ia whitewashed every week or
ego throughou and the floors regularly cleaned
which would be enough and more than enough
In proper building; but here 10 only tends 10
keep the filth from being offensive. The pipes
for Potomac water are now laid through the
building, and that no doubt will tend greatly TO
purify the atmosphere ''wthin these walls stfed
by damp and stencil" But what 10 wanted Is a
new Jail, bult with some regard for the health of
the prisoners whether they be guilty or innocent.
LIouoR CASES j. Reynolds and c. p McCar-
thy were arrested yesterday afternoon, for selling
liquor to soldiers. Reynolds was fined S25 by
Justice DOM, and Mccarthy, who was only In
the house at the time, was dismissed. The law
makes no provision for costs, as In other cases;
consequently the bulk Of these arrests are made
by the soldiers themselves, and not by the civil
officers This accounts for the fact that the liquor
law 10 SO openly violated, daily. Congress, I'm
passing the law, was not aware. probably, that
our county officers who deal with United States
cases make 1t a rule ''to do nothing for nothingn
Chas Haburn was arrested this morning and
taken before Justice Dom, for selling or ri wing
liquor to members Of the Sturges Rifle Corps, for
which be was ordered to pay nne Of s25
ARRzsT OF COUNTY CONSTABLE IL. KKEsE.
By request OF the officers Of the Provost Guard
we yesterday RETAINED from mention of the arrest
Of County Constable Reese. As the fact, however,
has been made public by city paper, we sup
pose that nothing will be gained by further reti-
cence In the matter. Some surprise was &C.
the fact Of his having been OF the three month
volunte. rs, District and from his many elab-
crate displays Of loyalty Further inquiry seems,
however, to have satisfied the inquifers that the
arrest was based on Information that could not
pass UNDECIDED by the authorities.
Row IN GEoRsBTowN.-Yesterd evening two
soldiers entered the premises OF Mr.. Jos Nichol-
son, on Bridge street, Georgetown, near the canal
and drove hts wife from the house Mr. NIchol.
son, who was near at the time, Immediately came
to the rescue, when he was seized by the two SOL
oilers, but being an athletic man he caught up
pick handle and 30 belabored the men that 10
will probably be q life lesson for them When
our informant passed there, one Of the men was
standing on the pavement bleeding freely about
the head, and the other apparently "used up"
was being brought up the steps Of an area by
three men.
DkUNkEs EkAMsfER.-l 6sterdaY afternoon,
Government wagon drawn by fine team passed
down Seventh street about half-past Ave O'Clock,
and by their motions the horses seemed inclined
to run away The attention Of pedestrians was
attracted to the driver, who was jerking and pull
Ing the line, and yelling to the leading horses
He swayed from side to side In the saddle and IL
was evident that he was drunk. Fortunately,
the animals were clearer headed than the driver
and kept to the middle Of the carriage ways and
avoided collision with vehicles.
FATAL ACCIDENT ssterday afternoon, while
some soldiers Of the Thirty seventh New York
Regiment were performing picket duty mile or
two beyond Arlington, they entered house, and
while inside heard firing, which they supposed
was by secession pickets. They ran out, when
the gun Of one OF them was accidentally dis.
charged, fatally wounding member Of company
b, named Thomas Rosney. The ball entered his
spine and passed entirely through his body. He
died In short time after being brought to the E
street hospital.
ASSAULT AND BATrBRY.-L. Straus was arrested
yesterday by officer Turner for assault and bat
terv on small boy named Robert Reese. The
assault was fully proved, and the accused at
tempted to justify his conduct by insinuations
against the boys honesty. The boy produced
evidence, however, of an excellent character; and
Justice johnson, who tried the case, rejected the
plea, lectured the accused on the impropriety Of