Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-05-26
abe 9aIp spp dolureeste funOap 9Homng Nap g. 1882


naked floor, with not room enough for us all
to lie down at the same time-and you may
think what it must have been in December
and January-spclling each other, one lying
awhile on the floor and then another taking
his place so made warm, and that was the
way we managed uutil many became sick
unto death. number OF the prisoners died
Of pneumonia and typhoid fever and other
diseases contracted by exposure there. |
shall never forget, while my head is above
ground, the scenes l passed through i'll that
jail | recolect there were two venerable
Baptist clergymen there-Mr. Pope and Mr.
Cate. Mr.. Cate was very low indeed, pros
trated from the fever and unable to eat the
miserable food sent there by the corrupt iailer
and deputy marshall suitable representa-
tive of the thieves and scoundrels that head
this rebellion in the South. (Applause)
The only favor they extended to me was to
allow my family to send me three meals day
by my son, who brought the provisions in a
basket, and that was from motives of econo-
my. l requested my wife to send also enough
for the two old clergymen. One Of them was
put in Jail for offering prayers for the presi-
dent of the United States, and the other was
confined for throwing up his hat and cheering
the stars and stripes as they passed his house,
pNAAS " SOliileths Vi \ llOl NOlullttGlS.
When the basket of provisions came in in
the morning they examined it at the door,
would look between the pie and the bread to
see if there was any billet or paper concealed
there communicating treason from any out
side Unionist to the old scoundrels they had
in Jail; and when the basket went out, again
the same ceremony was repeated, to discover
whether had slipped any paper in in any
way. The old man Cate had three sons in
jail, One of them, James Madison Cate,
most exemplary and worthy member of the
Baptist church, who was there for having
committed no other crime than that of
refusing to volunteer, lay stretched at length
upon the floor, with one thickness of a piece
of carpet under him and an old overcoat
doubled up for Il pillow, in the very agonies
of death, unable to turn over, only from one
side to the other. His wife came to visit him,
bringing her youngest child with her, which
was but babe, but they refused her admit
lance. put my head out of the Jail window,
and entreated them, for Gods sake to let the
poor woman come in, as her husband was dy-
ing. They at last consented that she might
see him for the limited time of fifteen min
utes. As she came in and looked upon her
husbands wan and emaciated face and saw
how rapidly he was sinking, she gave evident
signs of fainting, and would have fallen to the
| floor with the babe in her arms, had | not
| rushed up to her and cried, 'let me have the
| babe, and then she sank down upon the
breast of her dying husband, unable at first to
| speak single word. | sat by and held the
| babe until the fifteen minutes had expired,
when the officer came in, and in an insulting
and peremptory manner notified her that the
interview was to close. | hope | may never
see such scene again; and yet such cases
were common all over cast Tennessee. Such
actions as these show the spirit of secession
In the south 1t is the spirit Of murder and
assassination-it is the spirit Of hell. And
yet you have men at the north who SYM
pathize with these Internal murderers. Gap
plause.) If owed the devil a debt to be dis
charged, and it was to be discharged by the
rendering up to him of dozen of the mean
est most revolving and God-forsaken wretch
es that ever could be culled from the ranks of
depraved human society, and wanted to pay
that debt and get premium upon the pay
| ment, | would make tender to his Satanic
Majesty of twelve northern men who sympa-
| tmZed with this internal rebellion. (Con-
| tlnued applause and laughter) In the Jail
where | lay they were accustomed to
drive up with Il cart, with an ugly, rough, fiat
| topped coffin upon it, surrounded by fifteen to
forty men, with bristling bayonets, as a guard
| to march i'll through the gate into the Jail yard
with steady, military tread We trembled in
our boots, for they never notified us who was
to be hanged, and you may imagine how your
humble servant felt; for if any man in that
| jail under their law, deserved the gallows, |
| claim to have been the man. | knew it. and
| they knew it. They came sometimes with two
collins, one on each cart, and they took two
| men at a time and marched them out. 4 poor
| old man Of SiNtV-fivp and his CON of trnDtv-
| five were marched out at one time and hanged
on the same gallows. They made that poor
old man, who was Methodist cass-leader
| sit by and see his son hang till he was dead
| and then they called him a damned Lincolnte
| Union-shrieker, and said, Come on; it is
| your turn next" He sank, but they propped
him up and led him to the halter, and swung
both off on the same gallows. They came,
after that, for another man, and they took j.
{. Haum out of jail-a young man of fine
sense, good address, and of excellent charac-
ter-a tall, spare-made man, leaving a wife at
home, with four or five helpless children.
When they took Haum out and placed him
on the scatfold they had a drunken chaplain.
They were kind enough to notify him an
hour before the hanging that he was to hang.
Haum at once made application for Il Metho-
dist preacher, Union man, to come and pray
said that God didn't hear any prayers in be-
half Of any damned Union shrieker, and he
had literally to do without the benefit Of
clergy. But they had near the gallows an
unprlnclped, drunken chaplain Of their own
army, who got up and undertook to apologize
for Haum. He said :-''Hhis poor, untortu-
nate man, who is about to pay the debt Of ma
ture, regrets the course he took. He said he
was misled by the Union paper" Haum rose
up, and with clear stentorian voice. said =
''Fellow- citizens, there is not word of truth
in that statement l have authorized nobody
to make such statement. What have said
and done | have done and said with my eyes
open, and, if it were to be done over, | would
do it again. | am ready to hang, and You can
execute your purposes" He died ike Il man;
he died like Union man. like an east Ten
nessecan ought to die. As God is my Judge.
l would sooner be Haum in the grave to-day
than any one of the scOundrcs concerned in
his murder. Great applauSe.) Time rolled
on. One event after another occurred, and
finally man of excellent character, by the
name Of Self, was condemned to be hung by
this drumhead court martial, and they were
kind enough to let him know that he was
to hang few hours before the hour
appointed. His daughter, who had come
down to administer to his comfort and
cOnsolauon-a most estimable girl, about
twenty-one years of age - Elizabeth Self
modest, handsomely attired, begged leave to
enter the Jall to see her father. They permit
TED her, contrary to their usual custom, and
tlelr savage Darbarity, to go in. A parcel of
us went to witness the scene. As she entered
| where her father was-whO was to die at four
| O'Clock that afternoon - she clasped him