Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-04-29

cl the eA peulllOH, anu the names OF III,
comrades, especially that of the engineel
who had run the train. Their purpose
was, no doubt not only to take the lite o.
the latter, if identified. but to do SO witt
every circumstance of humiliation and
| torture which they could devise.
Three times, in the progress of thi.
horrible fogging, it was suspended, and
/ Mr.. Parrott was asked if he would not
confess; but steadily and firmly to the last
| he refused all disclosures, and it was not
till his tormentors were weary of THEN
brutal WORK that the task of subduing
their victim was bandoned as hopeless
| This youth Is an orphan, without any ot
the advantages of education. Soon after
the rebellion broke out, though but eight,
cen years of age, he left his trade and
threw himself into the ranks of our arm
les rs Il volunteer; and now, though still
suffering from the outrages committed on
his person in the South, he is on his way
| to rejoin his regiment, seeming to love
his country only the more for all that he
has endured in its defense.
His subdued and modest manner. while
narrating the part he had borne in this
expedition, showed him to be wholly un-
conscious of having done anything more
than performed his simple duty as a sol
der. Such Spartan fortitude, and such
fidelity to the trust of friendship and to
the Inspirations of patriotism, deserve an
enduring record in the archives of the
Government, and will find it. am sure,
in the hearts of loyal people.
The twenty-five captives, when secured,
were thrust into the negro Jail of Chatt-
anooga. They occupied a single room,
half under ground, and but thirteen feet
square, so til It there was not space enough
for them all TO lie down together, and a
part of them were in consequence obliged
To sleep sitting and leaning against the
walls. The only entrance was through "A
trap-dOor in the ceiling, that was raised
twice day 10 let down their scanty meals
which were lowered in a bucket.
They had no other light or ventilation
than that which came through two small,
tripple-grated windows. They were COW
cred with swarming vermin, and the heat
was so oppressive that they were often
obliged TO strip themselves entirely of
their cloths to bear it. Add to this, they
were all hand-cuffed. and, with trace
chains secured 10y padlocks around their
necks, were fastened to each other, in
companies of two and three. Their food.
which was dealed out to them twice
day, consisted of little -four, wet with
water and baked in the form of bread. and
spoiled picked beef.
They had no opportunity of procuring
any supplies from the outside, nor had
they any means of doing so, their pockets
had been riaed of their last cent by the
Confederate authorities, prominent
among whom was an officer wearing the
rebel uniform of Major. No part of the
money thus basely taken was ever re-
turned.
During this Imprisonment at Chatan-
ooga their leader, Mr. Andrews, was tried
and condemned as a spy, and was subse-
quently executed at Atlanta, the Sth of
June. They were strong and in perfect
health when they entered this negro Jail,
but at the end of sometime more than
three weeks, when they were required to
leave it, they were so exhausted from the
treatment to which they had been sub
jected, as scarcely to be able to walk, and
several staggered from weakness as they
passed through the streets to the cars.
Finally twelve of the number, including
the five who have deposed, and Mr.. Mason
of Company K, 2lst regiment of Ohio
Volunteers, who was prevented by illness
from giving his evidence, were transferred
to the prison at Knoxville, Tenn. On
arriving there, seven of them were ar
Ranged before a court martial, charged
with being spies Their trial, of course,
was summary. They were permitted to
be present, but not to hear either the ar
gument of their own counsel or that OF
the Judge advocate
Their counsel, however, afterwards Wis
tied the prison and read to them the
written defense which he made before
the Court in their behalf. The substance
of that paper is thus stated by one of the
witnesses, Corporal Pittinger: "He 1.-THE
counsel) contended that our being dress
ed in citizens clothes was nothing more
than what the Confederate Government
itself had authorized, and was only what
all the guerrillas in the service of the
did on all occasions when it
would be an advantage to them to do so;
and he recited the instance of General
Morgan having dressed his men in UNI;
form of our soldiers, and passed them off
as being from the Eighth Pennsylvania
cavalry regiment, and by that means sue
ceeding in reaching a railroad and de
stroy ed it.
This instance was mentioned to show
that our being in citizens clothes did not
take from us the protection awarded to
prisoners of war. The plea went on fur
lher to state that we had told the sub
ect of our expedition that it was pure
ly military one for..the destruction of COM
and as such lawful according
to the rules of war.
This just and unanswerable presenta-
ton of the case appears 10 have produced
its appropriate impression. Several men,
bers of the court martial afterwards call
ed upon the prisoners and assured them
that, from the evidence against them,
they could not be condemned as spies
that they had come for a certain known
object, and not having fingered about or
visited any of the camps, obtaining or
seeking information, they could not be
convicted. Soon after all the prisoners
we're removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and
hey left Knoxville under belief that |
heir comrades, who had been tried, either |
lad been or would be acquitted.
In the meantime, however, the views
and expressed to them by the
of the court were overcome, it
bC safety aiSoulliCh, NhO
ngs of the remorseless despotism at Rich |
nond. On June 18th, after their arrival
1t Atlanta, where they reioined the COM
,ades from whom they had been separat-
ID at Chattanooga, their prison door was
opened, and the death sentence of the
ieven who had been tried at Knoxville |
vas read 10 them No time for prepara- |
ion was allowed them.
They were told to bid their friends fare
well land to be quick about it." They |
we're at once tried and carried out to ex-
ecution. Among the seven was private
samuel Robinson, Company G, Thirty |
third Ohio Volunteers, who was too ill to
walk. He was, however, pinioned like
The rest, and, in this condition, was drag
yed from the floor on which he was laying
10 the scaffold. In an hour or more the
cavalry escort, which had accompanied |
hem, was seen returning with the cart,
but the cart was empty-the tragedy had
Deen oonsummatad