The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-09-22

Inc suppression VI newspapers o"u Sn0
imprisonment of men innocent Of the com
mission of any crime, have been so frequent
during the past four unhappy years that
they have almost ceased to attract public
attention or form topic Of public thought.
The American people have suffered them>
selves to be so far led astray from the vir.
tues of their fathers, as that they seem
content to cast carelessly away the rights
and liberties for which those fathers shed
their blood. Nevertheless, in resuming
the publication of the REGISTER, it will
not be deemed improper for us, in this
first issue, to present, in calm words, brief
history Of tho circumstances attending our
arrest and the suppression of our newspa-
per- .a.
About three o'clock in the afternoon Of
the ninth day of last July, our Office was
entered by Capt. EwALD OVER, Command
ant of this Post, and Lieut.. HENRY KNAPP,
Provost Marshal of the city of Wheeling,
attended by two armed soldiers. They
produced telegraphic order signed by
Gen. B. F. KELLY, though issued in obedi.
ence to the command Of Gen. d. HUNTER,
then the Major General commanding the
Department Of West Virginia, directing
them to arrest the editors Of the Wheeling
DAILY REGISTER, confine item in the mill.
tary prison and suppress the further publi>
cation Of the newspaper. Accordingly we
were taken in custody, and lodged in the
Atheneum, our compositors and other en-.
ployes compelled to leave the office and an
armed soldier placed before the door to pro-
hibit all ingress. Notwithstanding our re-
peated inquiries, We could elicit no expla>
nation of these summary proceedings. No
cause for the arrest was specified in the
order, no charges OF any kind were com
municated to US, and We were left in total
ignorance of the nature of the offence
whereof we were accused. Demented as
we knew Gen. HUNTER to be, We could
scarcely conceive him capable ofthe villiany
of the imprisonment of any citizen without
at least some form of accusation against
him; hence we waited in daily expectation
of receiving some notification of the cause
of eur arrest. Nearly two weeks had
elapsed without bringing us any informa-
ticn as to the object of our imprisonment,
when we wrote to Gen. HUNTER demanding
to know why we had been arrested and
were still held in confinement We re-
ceived no reply.
After some days, learning that General
HUNTER had been relieved of command,
we wrote to General CRooK, his successor,
asking to be informed what charges, if any,
had been filed against US, and what meas
ure it would be necessary for us to adopt in
order to procure our release. Still receiv-
ing no answer, we wrote to Gen. KELLEY,
and second and third time to General
Crook; finally one of our friends succeeded
in having personal interview with Gene
raj Crook, and calling his attention to our
case Lacking the requisite authority for
the revocation of HUSTER's order, he being
only temporary commander Of the Depart
ment, he referred the matter to General
SHERIDAN, and personally, presented a
statement of the affair. General SHERIDAN
at once denounced the arrest as very
gross outrage, and ordered our immediate
and unconditional release. Accordingly, on
Tuesday, August Both, after having suffered
more than seven weeks of an Imprisonment
more vigorous and severe than that to which
convicted felons are usually subject, we
were permitted to breath asgin the free
cir of Heaven, and resumed the exercise
Of our constitutional rights.
After We had been one week in pris
on, it was intimated to us that if wei
would consent never to resume the publica.
ton of our newspaper, we would speedily
be released. 1t is needless to say that the
proposition was Indignantly rejected. We
were unconscious Of the commission of any
offence. and were unwilling to make any
such confession of guilt, as our assent to
such a condition would imply. And it may
not be amiss to state here, that, although
We never received any official notification
of the cause Of our arrest, and had no hear
ing, no trial or anything of the kind, yet
the popular opinion and impression seems
to be that We had incurred the personal
dspleasure of General HUNTER by com. /
mentiug upon the cruelty and vandalism
ne displayed during his disastrous Lynch,
burg raid" and that he sought to wreak
upon US his private vengeance. This we
believe to be the true animas of the arrest |
as we know it to be in accordance with the
hA- f<,R ~ fhn