Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-03-12
The Sacrifice Of a wife's Honor De-
manded as the Price Of her
Husbands Liberty. liH
A Provost Marshal Commits Brutal Rape.

One VIM. p. Strachan is now on trial he
fore military Court Martial In st. Ioujs.
From the st. Louis Republican we take the
following extract from the speech of the
Judge Advocate to the Court:
THE RAPE CASE.
The execution Of ten mem at PALMYRA. OF,
the Goth day of October, 1852, by order OF
General Mcneil, attracted the attention OF
the whole country. Importance was added
TO 1t by the rebel President, jefferson Davis,
who, through Lieutenant General Holmes,
commanding the Trans Mississippi Depart
ment, demanded that Gen. Mcneil be sur
rendered tothe rebel authorities for trial and
punishment. In other words, it was de-
mand, for General McNeil's life. The Gov
ernment paid little or no attention to the de-
mand, so far as i know, except to put star
on General Mcneil where before an eagle
had perched. From that time to this but
little has been said about it, and it would
not be mentioned now, were it not in
| timately connected with one of the prin-
cipal charges against the accused in this
case. f|
A citizen by the name of VIM. T. Hum
| phrcys was one of the ten men condemned
to be shot for the non-return of Mr.. Alt
man, citizen of Palmyra, an active Union
man, who had been abducted from his home
by, Porter's guerrillas, and who has not
been heard from since. He was unaues-
tionably murdered. However, Humphreys
was one OF the men selected to atone for
Altman's supposed death. Humphreys, as
the testimony shows, had been with Porter
at one time for a very few days, but out of
fear or other motives, left Porter, and was
taking steps to return to his allegiance. He
was arrested and put upon his own parole
his limits were the town of Paimyra.-
While under arrest, Porter came into. Pal
myra, and Humphreys, it appears, did not
violate his parole, but remained true to its
conditions.
Humphreys lived twenty-four miles from
Palmyra, and during the time of his i'm
prisonmentwas absent from his family
Mary L. Humphreys, his wife, learning per-
haps of the order to execute the ten men in
case that Altman was not returned, know
ing that her husband was i'm Jail, and likely
to be of the number, hastened to PALMYRA,
to ascertain in regard to the safety and
well-being of her husband. What occurred
after she left Palmyra has been, perhaps, as
well and briefly told by her in the testimo-
n.y.. 1t is substantially as follows:
AT the time those ten prisoners were shot
at Palmyra, came to see my husband, who
was then prisoner; the night arrived,
was informed that he was Of the number;
went To see Strachan to see II there could be
any thing done to spare his life; he gave me
no satisfaction; then went to General Nc
Neil, told him my husband was at Palmyra
on parole atthe time Porter came in town,
and refused to leave; he said that fact never
had been made known to him; my little
daughter then went to him and begged him
to spare her fa,her's life; he wrote few
lines to Strachan and sent it by Lieuten-
ant; when was informed of what had been
done, l returned to my clearinghouse;
that night Mr.. Reed, the tailor, told me that
he thought if would try Strachan could
get my husband released next morning; [
went TO the Jail where my husband was.
and after staying short time with him,
l started with my little daughter to see
Strachan; found him in his office, ly-
ing. down on a lounge; went in and
told him had come to see if l could make
any arrangement to have my husband re-
leased; he made me no answer at first, but
directly told me to send my little daughter
out of the room and he would talk to me;
replied that he could talk to me as well
before her as not; he insisted on sending
her Out, and finally told her to go out himself,
which she did; he then told me If would
comply with his request, he would release
my husband; knew from his actions what
he wanted and begged him not to make
such an unreasonable request of me; he
declared that he would not release my
husband If / did not accedc to his de-
mands; / protested, and finally he became
enraged and swore that he would put my
husband where would never see him,
or would send him home to me some day
before long, which Judged from his appea: 4
ance and conduct, he meant that he would
kill him and send him home corpse
He took hold of me violently and said, If ]
would submit to him he would release my
husband; replied would not; he then
swore he would put my husband where
would never see him any more. My heart
was almost broken to think my husband
should be thus murdered, and, fearing that
he might be, submitted to his brutal de-
mands."
The witnessstated on re-examination that
it was about six weeks after the occurrence
that she told her husband about it. That it
was some three or four days after, also, that
he was released. ..g 4
Upon this state of facts, two separate
charges and one specification under each,
respectively, have been preferred against
tho ACCUSED. The first of the two Is rape.