Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-07-26
Cen. 1TitcbeII,r Accuser.

~ 10 ANNNAASN AANb W. s'NAfNAA1 N--N N'NN
ried to Washington the charges which
were, according to the Louisville Journal,
to annihilate Gen. MITCHELL is not to be
found. He has fed from the city and
Government officers have searched for him
in vain. He was very ready to assume
the responsibility Of condemning General
Mitchell, and was so anxious to have the
charges against his superior officer brought
before the public that he exhibited his
documents to the editor of the Journal,
and also, we believe, of the Cincinnati
Commercial, a species of forestalling mill
tary Judgment that seems to us to be very
unmilitary, at least, But a eOurt-martial
is different thing in his eyes when it
proposes to try Col. Norton from that be-
fore which Col Norton is to appear as the
accuser Of Gen. Mitchell, and SO it is that
when the order is given to arrest the
former, he is not visible or discoverable.
1t has been stated that portion of Col.
Nortons charges against Gen. Mitchell
were on account of alleged Outrages by
Col. Turchin's brigade. Upon this matter
a correspondent of the Washington Repub-
publican has the following exoneration of
Col. Turchin, who has certainly distin-
guishod himself by his sOldierly qualities
during the war, but who obtained the ill
will Of Gov. Buell. by refusing to cringe
before the aristOcratic rebels whom the
army found in its path;
"And now, having disposed of Col. Nor
ton, allow me to say few words in de-
fence of the noble and self-saorilcing Off
GERS and men composing the Eighth bri-
gade Of Gen. Mitchells division, and their
able and intrepid commander, Col. John B.
Turchin, and particularly the Nineteenth
and Twenty-fourth Illinois regiments. He
and the regiments above named have been
pursued by such semi-secession sheets as
the Missouri Republican, New York and
Quincy Heralds, and their coadjutors, the
officers Of our own army Of prO-slavery
and secession proclivities, with more vim
dietiveness than these papers have ever
shown against the enemies Of our country,
to say the least They have been SANDER
ed and villifed at every turn ever since
their first entrance into Missouri, more
than year ago, and for no other reason
than that they were unwilling to be turn
ed into bloodhounds to hunt down and re-
turn fugitive slaves. Col Turchin replied
to committees of citizens who visited him
in Missouri, that he did not come among
them TO enjoy the hospitaliies Of seces-
sionists, or make pleasant acquaintances
among them, but his endeavor would be to
do all he could to put down the rebellion in
the shortest possible way. -
"When he was ordered to this town of
Athens, Alabama, from which the only
Union citizen it contained had been driven
out months before, with a rope around his
neck, he was met with cards and boquets
of flowers on silver salvers. from ladies of
notorious traitors, inviting him to partake
Of their hospitalities, and which, Thank
God, he had the Roman frmness to refuse;
but whose Establishments the gallant Col.
Norton was not able to resist. Instead of
partaking of their hospitalities, Col Tur-
chin instituted a successful search in their
houses for the knapsacks and property Of
q part of one Of his regiments that had
been driven out only few days before by
cavalry that were pilOted there by those
very citizens, and who are nov the partic-
ular friends Of Col. Norton, and the only
witnesses against Col. Turchin. Yes, and
these very men, who few short months
ago attempted Jo hang MI. reallOr for being
IT ~ rho
the committee Of citizens spoken of by
Col. Norton in his charges, and, to the
eternal disgrace of the officers composing
the court-martial allowed to testify
against Col. Turchin without taking the
oath of allegiance and against his earnest
protest"