Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-03-15
THE RAPE CASE.

The execution of ten men at PALMYRA, on the
Goth day OF October. 1862. by order of General
Men ei!, attracted the attention of the whole
country Importance was added 20 il by the
rebel President. Jefferson DAVIS. who. throue h
Lieut. Gen Holiness commanding the Trans
Mississippi Department, demanded that General
Mcneil be surrendered TO the rebel authorities
tor trial AMI punishment. In other words, it was
a demand Tor Gen McNeil's lie The Govern
ment paid LITTLE no attention 10 the demand 30
fir a know, except % put star on General
Mcneil where before an eagle had perched From
that time To tins nut title has been id about il
ana II would not be mentioned now. were it not
intimately connected with one Of the principal
charges against the accused in this case
a citizen by the name ot " IN. I Humphrey
was one Oi the ten men condemned TO be hot for
the non-return of Mr Altman, a citizen of Pal
myrt, active Union man. Who had been alb
Quoted from his home 10y Porters guerrill,S and
ans who has not been heard from since He was
unquesiiouaby murdered However, Hum
phreys was one % the men selected to atone for
Aitman> supposed death. HumDhrevs a. the
testimony shows. had been with Porter al one
time for a few DAYS, but out of Gear or other
motives. left Porter, and taking steps to re-
turn 10 his allegiance He was arrested and nut
upon his paroe-his limits were the town of
PALMYRA. While under arrest, Porter came into
hiBfits anu IlhtnIUftNS, IL appears, ui0 not
olate MS parole. but remained true to its cond-
tons
Humphreys lived twenty-four miles from Pal
mpra. and during the time of his imprisonment
Wa absent from his family Mary I Humph
reys, his wife learning perhaps Of the order %
execute the ten men in that Altman was
not returned, knowing that her husband was IN
jail. ana likely TO be OF the number, FASTENED to
Palmyra, 10 ascertain in regard 10 the safety and
"a -f.aitt ,f bor I'm Ia
ter she left Palmyra has been. peth p. well
and briefly told by her in the testimony. 1t is
substantially a. follows:
Al the time those ten prisoners we're shot ut
PALMYRA, came to see my husband, who wa
was then prisoner; the night arrived ! was
informed that he OF the number; | went to
see Strachnn To see Il there could be ANYTHING
done 10 Sptre biz life: he gave me TO satisfaction:
then went to Gen Mcneil, told him INV hus-
band was a; Palmyra on parole 1T the tine Pur-
ter came 20 town. ana refused To leave: he said
that fact had never been made known To him:
my little daua hter then ent to him and begged
HIM to spare her fathers lite; he wrote lew
lines 10 Strdch,n ami sent it by lieutenant:
when WAS informed Of what had been done
returned 10 my boarding house, that night Mr.
Reed, the tailor. told me that he thought it |
would Try Strachan | could get my husband re-
leased next morning; | went to the ,ll where
with him. | started with NV little daughter 10 see
Strachtn: found him in his Office living down
oa - lounge; went IN and told him | had come
To see II could make ans arrangement To have
my husband released he made me 10 answer at
first, but directly told To send NV little
daughter ont OF the room and heS ould talk To
me: | repied that he could L,ik TO me "a we'll
before her not; he insisted on sending
her out, and finally told her 10 90 out himself,
which she did; ne then told me if | would
comply with his request. he would release INV
husband: knew from his actionS what he
wauted. and begged him not Ike such an
unre s>on,ble request OF me; he declared thft he
would not release nv husband II | did not nc
cede TO his demands: | rotes,ed and finally he
became ezra Eeu, and Swore thar he wOud put nv
hush ihi where would uever zee him. or would
send hun fpae to me some DAY nelOre long,
winch iuiged from bis appearance ami conduct,
lie me,nt that ne would xii him AMI send him
nom corpse He took hold al ne violently,
and said II / would ,anot Ia min be would re-
lease nay husband; ! replied | ~oglu nor. he then
sw"re he would put my u>b,nd where | would
never see hm any m1re. Ny heart NaS almost
broken la think my husband should be thas muir
dered aud fearing that be might be, submitted
TO rs brutal lie hands
The witness stated on re-examnaton that it
~aS aooui SIX weeks after the occurrence that
she told her huso md aboati, That it was some
three or iour days ait-r. also. that lie vas re
leased
l pon this state Of facts two separate charges
anu one spec 'iicttIon under each. respectively,
have been prelerrel against the accused J he
first of the i rape