The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-04-01
The Rebel Account or their
Treatment in the Ohio Peni.
fentiary. t.y L.

Nlti-DhiNEhS Of i hE NOhIh. l-Ts.LL
From the Richmond Examiner, March IT.:
The experiences of this war have afford :.
ed many examples Of Yankee cruelty which
have produced an impressions mores or less
distinct upon the enlightened portions sof
the world. But the statement which We
proceed to give taxes precedence of all that
has ever yet been narrated of the atrocities
of the enemy; and it is SO oremarkable, both
on account of its matter and the credit that
must naturally attach to its authorship,
that We doubt whether the so-called civil
lied world of this generation has produced
any where any we'll authenticated story Of
equal horror. I'm
The statement We give TO our readers is
that we have Just taken from the lips of
Captain Calvin @. Morgan, brother Of the
famous General Morgan, who arrived in
Richmond under the recent flag Of truce,
which covered the return Of several hun.
dred of our prisoners. Captain Morgan
was among those Of his brothers expedi-'
ton, who, in last July, were incarcerated
in the Penitentiary of Ohio. On entering
this famous abode, Captain Morgan and his
companions were stripped in reception
room and their naked bodies examined
there They were again stripped in. the
interior of the prison, and washed in tubs
by negro convicts; their hair cut close to
Tie scalp, the brutal Warden, who was
standing by, exhorting the negro barber to
''cut off every id lock Of their rebel
hair After SO ceremonies, the officers
we're locked up in cells, the Dimensions Of
which were thiriy.ei4btaipches 10 width,
6} tcet in length, and a65d the same in
height. Iusthese narrow abpA our brave
soldiers were lefs TO pine, brsn as feions,
goaded by s'conylct. afiyers 3nsulted
6y speeches which eqps&e9 9f5S spmsaSd1
them OF the weak ana cfnst - lsekof that
fsosernmsnt on Rhesa befnIE st i'm
psrilling their lives tAsy were nv suffer,
ing a fate worse than des<h But even
these sufferings were nothing to what was
reserved for them another invention of cru
city without parallel, unless in tue secrets
OF the Internal.
.Itia upcars that after Gen. Morgan's escap,
suspicion alighted on the WardeD,a certain
Captain Merton, who, it was thought, might
have been corrupted. To alleviate the
suspicion (for which there were really no
grounds whatever) the brute commenced
a system Of deviish persecution OF the un-
ioreunate Confederate prisoners who re-
manned in his hands. - &c part Of the sys-
TEN was solitary confinement Iii dungeons.
These dungeons were close cells, false
door being drawn over the grating, SO as to
exclude hight and air. The food allowed
the occupants of these dark and nolsome
,,laces was three ounces of bread and halt
:, pint of water per day. The iour walls
we're bare Of everything but water.bucket
tor the necessities Of na;lIe, which was lett
for davs to poison the air the prisoner
breathed. He was denied blanket; de-
nriycd o.: bis ovcfcoat, il he had one, and
TT standing or stretched with four dark,
ao,d walls around bim, with not room
,unrrb anon to walk in to keep up the circula.
r;on of his blood, stagnated with the cold,
and | the silent and unutterable horrors OF
~ confinement IN these dungeons was the
Worden,s sentence TO-" the most trivial OIL
fan.., On one occasion one OF our PRISON,
,rs was thus immured because ne reiuseo
70 roll Mer,on which one OF his companions
nod wh,stled, contrary TO the prison rules.
But the most terrible V'sitaHon VI tu,'
demons displeasute occurred DOT n'o'e 'uS"
six weeks ago, - .ho
some knives had been discovered IN tne
nrisoners' cells. and Meron accused the oc-
.cupants uf meditating their escape oe'ou
.,f them. all officers, and among them Cap''
Norran, we're taken TO the west END oi the
building and put In the dark cells 'hefe'-
TLey we're not allowed blanket er over
.t and the thermometer was below zero
There vas no roum to pace. Eaen prisohe'
bad +, ST, pggle for life, as the cold benumo-
al him ht ;, ,|smplng his feet, beating 'pe
Ill, nny catc%ipg few minutes oi nor
r;r,,, % Jeen On RI, odd floor, and then start
ing up to continue, in 'pe "a' d MP
for life ,.. 5;so.ssn
q had been suffering frop hea'' u''s' ss:h1u
says Captain Morgan. ''lt was IS th.
aggravated by the cold and h"ro, y
dungeon in which was placed. "a "a
wet towel. one end of which l presseu "
mv side the other would freeze ana 2aI
to nut Its frozen folds on my naked SKIN. l
stood this way all night, pressing the frozen
towel to my side and keeping my feet go
;nc up and down felt | was struggling
for my life
Cant. Nc rgan endured this confinement
for l8 hours, and was taken out barely alive
The other prisoners endured it for saGfeen
,jnus and aights. In this time they were
,r;sited at different periods by the physician
of the Penitentiary--Dr Loring-Who felt
the;r nulses and examined their condltons,
20 ascertain how long life might hold out
nnder the exactiug torture. 1t was awful
This ceremony Of torture, this medicsi e1,
animation of tho victims, The tramp OF the
prisoners, feet up and down there was no
room to walk as they thus worked for life,
was incessantiy goir on, This black tread
min Of the dungeon could be heard though
all the cold and dfeaty heafs-of the n'Eas.
DrsLoring Desought Merton to relesse the
..I.,nx men said they had already been