The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-01-09

for many long and weary days and nights
afterward, seriously afflicted with an at.
tack of the bloody aux, In this condi-
tion was harried into carriage, and
during the remainder of the night driv.
en- to Columbus, and just at daylight
placed upon the cars and taken in my
sick and exhausted condition, without
moments delay, to Fort Lafayette.
The order for my arrest charged me
with the commission Of no crime known
to any law of my country. Nay, more;
it charged me with no crime whatever.
You may well imagine then my surprise
and indignation when, on arriving at
Fort Lafayette, / was ordered to strip
myself that / Imight be searched. To
make, If possible, such an insult greater
to a free born american citizen, I was
taken into a sideroom where around me
lay in heaps manacles, chains and hand.
cuffs. With such surroundings l was
stripped and searched, and my watch,
my money, my Spectacles, my shaving
apparatus, and even my medicines, were
all taken from me, 1 was not permit
ted to retain even an oldnewspaper or
bit of waste paper of any kind. ..,-
After this degrading operation had
been performed, and before conducting
me from the comman lant's room to my
dungeon, all the other prisoners about
the fort were locked into their rooms
that mightnot be seen and recognized
lest peradventure information might be
given to the world and my friends of my
whereabouts, and the cruelties about to
be .practiced upon me. One of the
prisoners having learned o few days af-
terward,, through the medium of the
newspapers, who the mysterious stranger
was, wrote to friend of his, "that DIR.
Olds, of Ohio, had been brought to Fort
Lafayette and placed in solitary con-
finement." His letter was returned to
him by the commandapt, requiring him
to strike out SO much ofit as referred to
the case of DR.. 0lds. rf. l.
My dungeon was on the, ground, with
brick pavement or floor over about the
one half of it; and so great was the
dampness, that in very short time q
mould would gather upon any article left
upon the floor. My bed was an iron
stretcher, with very thin husk Of mat
trass upon it--so thin, indeed, that you,
could feel every iron stat in it, the mo.
ment you lay down upon it. The brick
floor with allits dampness, would have
been far more comfortable than this
iron and husk bed, had it not been for
the rats and the Vermin that invested
the room. Ithad also in my room a
broken table and a chair: achuEk of
Government bread, with an old, sinking
rusty tin of Lincoln coffee, with slice
of boiled saltea pork; was ssuhyFsfareSA-lEl
My only drinksother than their nasty
coffee, was rainwater. l was furnished
with no towel, neither could any entirely
procure one for me. Neither could |
induce my jailorS to let me have can
die during my loug, tedious sick nights.
No entreaty could procure for me the
return of the medicine which had been.
taken from NE when / was searched ~.
Again and again | begged for the little
bit Of opium to- relieve my suffering,
which had been taken from my pocket
with my other medicine, but all in vain.
After ten doys,of such treatment aud
such suffering, late one night the SER
geaut of the guard brought me some
medicine, which, he informed me, the
surgeon at Fort Hamilton had sent me.
This surgeon knew nothing about my
case, having never seen me, or been in>
formed by me of my condition. With
no light in my cell, with no one to give
me even a drink of my water, you
can well imagine that ! would not take
the medicine. / did not know but that
my jailors designed to poison me. Their
previous treatment justified such ON opin-
| ion. made up my mind that, If I died
| in Fort, Lafayette, Iwould die a'natural
death, unless, indeed Lincoln ordered
me to be tried by drumhead court mar
tial and shot, which felt he had just as
much right to do as he had to arrest and
imprison mesin the manner be had done.
Under such treatment, and by this time,
you may well imagine that | had gotta
"big mad" on me; and this, / think,
helped to save my life, for the truth is, !
had got to be too mad to die and no
thanks to Lincoln, but under a kind
Providence, began to get better from
that time on. af
You can we'll imagine that after such
treatment,s when my son was permitted
to visit me, hefound me ''emsciated and
careworn.p The only wonder is that he
found me.aliye,
If any thing gcould add TO the cruelty
inflicted uponme during these, long days
and nights Of my sickness and suffering,
it was the refusal Of the commandant to
allow me the use Of the Bible; Day af-
ter day / begged the Sergeant to procure
one for me. His constant answer was
"The commanding officer says You shah't
have one.n / begged him to remind
the commanding odicer that we lived in
q Christian, and not heather, land |;
that / was an American citizen, and not
condemned feloh, Still the answer
was: "Thc commanding officer SAYS you
shant have one, and you need not ask
any more p and it was not until after
sixteen days ofsuch more than beathen-
ish treatment that Colonel Burke, Of Fl
Hamilton, upon the importantly Of my
son, sent an order to the commanda1t Of
Fort Lafayette to let me have a Bible.
Itwas upon the sixteenth day Of my
lonely tmprisonmentth that my son, upon
An order 6fthe Setretary&cf War, was