Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-08-20

IFrom te UIeveIand PlAn Dealerl
Hi gil Handed Outrage nj tbc
Provost Marshml's Omcc--A
Man Receives Fifty Basbes on
the Bare Bnck-.An Investiga.
lion Demanded.


city yesterday by a report Of high.
handed outrage committed on the person
of man named Joseph Hagen, at the
Provost Marshal's Office on Fourth street.
From all we can learn concerning the
matter, II would appear that Hagen en-
listed in the 63d regiment some time ago,
and deserted A few days since X is al
legged, he offered himself as a substitute
for citizen Of the First Ward, who was
drafted, and after receiving his uniform
was sworn in and sent to camp. He re-
mained but short time in camp, and
nothing more was heard Of him until yes
terday, when, as is alleged, he presented
himself at the Provost Marsbaps Office as
a substitute for a man who had Just paid
him $3.50. This is the statement of the
clerks in the office themselves, but wheth-
er it is correct or not we cannot say
Hagen had passed examination and was
about being sworn in the second time,
when he was recognized, whereupon or
ders were given to take him up stairs and
give him fifty lashes as punishment for
his attempt to impose upon the board
Our inforination-does not state precisely
from whom this order eminated, but as
Captain Foster was present and either
gave it himself or heard it given, he, of
course, must be held responsible.
Hagen was now seized by the guard
aud taken to the rendezvous in the third
story, where preparations were at once
made for carrying the order into effect
The man, as we are informed, was strip.
ped naked, gagged and handcuffed. A
raw cowhide was procured, and soldier
named George Palmer, corporal Of the
guard, under direction of Deputy Provost
Marshal McHenry, who was present, pro-
ceeded to lay on the stripes, Hagen,
comparatively powerless though he was,
resisted, and McHenry, as is alleged, cal
led on the soldiers present to hold him
while the stripes were being laid on
This the latter refused to do, whereupon,
as the report goes, McHenry himself
seized the wretched man, and held him
until the entire fifty lashes were admins.
tered. Hagen struggled violently in his
agony. but before the sentence was half
carried out he fell PROSTATE on the floor.
and while in this condition the balance
OF the lashes were administered on him.
His condition when taken up was pitiable
in the extreme. His back was like a
piece of raw beef, the cowhide having
cut through the skin, and he was so ex-
hausted that he could not support him
self. A gentleman who saw him to-day
while the doctor was dressing his wounds,
states that he must have received shock
ing foging, and that had he not been a
man of very strong constitution he would
have died under the inhiction,
An outrage SO high handed as the
above has seldom been committed in any
community, and it is due to the public
that the Government promptly repudiate
the actions OF its officers in the matter, by
the dismissal or suspension from office OF
all concerned. The Conscription Act,
Heaven knows is unpopular enough,
without bringing it into the odium which
high-handed acts of tyranny like the above
are calculated to create, and it behooves
the Government, then, to be careful how
it employs men to execute the law whose
course begets but irritation and complaint t
where moderation and conciliation are
required. We do not, of course, justify,
or pretend to Justify, Hagon's conduct.
The law, civil or military, permits no such
severe and barbarous punishmet as fog
ging on the bare back, but even if it did,
and no matter how guilty the man may
have been, the Provost Marshal had nc
right to take that law in his own hands
| Il In,n anf, afu t,,,t
on his part. His business was to hav,
reported the man as deserter, and thel
let a court martial deal with him as hi
case might deserve. The matter is talke,
of good deal out of doors to. day, aac
some anxiety is expressed to learn wha
steps, If any, the Secretary of War will
; take when he hears of the affair. o
course great latitude will be allowed Gen
Moorehead's appointee, but if an outrag
so wanton and tyrannical as this is ovel
looked, there is no telling where the thin
may stop, or what may come from it,
P,ttsJurg Eve. Chronicle.
i. EDroR PLAIN EALER.-The above az
g count of an infamous punishment inhicte
r on white man, is from the Pittsbur
= CWTONtcfe, u ItepuuilCdH paper. uup
pened to be in the Office of the Provos
Marshal, at Pittsburg on the Sd inst, anC
! heard Captain Foster, the Provost Mar
shall, himself. give the order to take thc
man up stairs. Perhaps your readers
may be curious to know something abou
this Captain Foster In 1874 he wa
editor of the Pittsburg Spirit of tie 1ge
have copy of that paper with his nam,
as editor in which he says, referring tC
| the report that the treaty for the anrexa
ton of Texas had been ratified
eff the Senate had dared thus secretly
to bow the knee to the dark spirit of sla
, very, if Texas has indeed been annexed
t to our heretore happy Union, the Nortl
must forthwith diSSolVe the Union. 1t il
. the extreme remedy, but the only ont
) which the imminent danger allows us
and an immediate dissolution we doubt no
will be called for by the whole Nortl
should so shameful treacbery to all on
{ interests be cohsumated."
The Italics and capitals are exaetl
| as in the originals Capt. Foster after
h wards became Editor and Proprietor O
the Pittsburg Dispatch sufficiently attes
y that be has always adhered to the disun
ion he avowed in 1874. Being an init
o mate acquaintance Of Secretary Stanton
and the editor of widely circulate
Z ,,o,reponar hie diaupinn san n i'm ants w n,