Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-12-10

! ITS PFEARANCE--EXTERIOR AND INTERIOI
-DEsCRIPTIoN OF MAJOR TURNER, IT.
KEErER-DAMP, DARK, pEsoLATIoN.
Edmund Kerke," who, it will be remem
bered, visited Richmond early last summer
as an ametuer peace commissioner, gives il
the December atlantic an account of hi
visit to the far.lamed Libby Prison 1t j.
so well written, and gives such clear ides
of this living g-tomb to so many of our brave
soldiers, that we do our readers an injustice
if we do not present them with its leading
features. "Kcrke" had visited the State
Department, talked with the magnates there
suppcd, slept, and breakfasted at the SPOTS
wood, and early in the morning he strolled out
through the deserted streets, in the dircc.
tion of the prison, accompanied by Judge
Oud. At last, he goes on to say, we reach
ed dingy brick building from one corner
of which protruded a small sign, bearing
in black letters on a white ground, the
words:
LIBBY AND son, sIIrr CHAMBERS AND
GRoCERs.
1t was three stories high, and, ! was told
eighty feet in width, and a hundred and
ten in depth. In front, the first story was
on IA level with the street, allowing space for
a tier of dungeons under the sidewalk; but
in the rear the land sluped away till the
basement floor rose above the ground Its
unpaintCd walls were scorchcd to rusty
brown, and its sunken doors and low win
dows, filed here and there with a dusSy
pane, were cobwcbbcd and weather stained,
giving the whole building IL most uninviting
and dcsolatc appearance. y ilaXen haired
boy, in ragged butternuts and Union cap,
and an old man, in grey regimentals, with a
| bent body and linplng gait, were pacing
| to and fro before ii, with muskcts on their
shoulders, but no other soldiers were in
sight.
Opening a door TO the right, we went in
| to Il large high studded apartment, with a
| lare floor and greasy brown walls, hung
round WitIi battle scenes and cheap litho-
graphs OF the rebel leaders. Several officers
III secession gray" were lounging about
this room, and one of them, a snort, slight
" built, Nouthtu, looking man, rose as We
entered and in Il halfpnmpous, hali-obsequi
uns way, said to Judge Ould:
"Ah !.Coioncl Ould, am very glad to see
you.'
u
stat, illness tat was in striking contrast
with bis usual frank and cordial manner,
d hen introdut ID the officer to us as
"laior Turner, kee,'e Of .he Libby" |
hau hea II of him, and twas with some re-
uctance that took his protlcrcd hand.
However, | did take it, and at the same
tim" inquired:
"Are yuu related to Dr. Turner, of Fayctte-
vlr"
"Nc, sir. am of the old Virginia fami-
~" Il never met "A ncgro-whipper nor Il
legro-tradcr who did not belong to that
famiIy.) "Arc YOU North Curoinian!"
NO, sir"
Before | could say another word the
Judge said: 40 Major these gentlemen
hail from Georgia. They are strangers here,
and I'll thank you TO show them over the
prison."
Certainly, Colonel, most certainly. I'll
do it with great pleasure"
And the little man hustled about, put on
his cap, gave few orders to his suhordin-
ates, and then led us through another out
side door into the prison We entered
room about forty feet wide and IL hundred
feet deep, with bare brick walls, II rough
plank floor, and narrow, dingy windows. to
whose sash only few broken panes were
cllnging. \ row OF tin wash basins and Il
wooden trough winch served As n bathing
tub were at one end of it, and half II dozen
cheap stools and hard bottomed chairs were
| Uttered about the floor, but IT had no other
furniture. And this room, with five Others
( OF Il smaller size and appointments, and two
| Easements ttOOrcd with earth and filled with
debris, compose the famous Libby prison, in
which for months together thousands of the
best and bravcst men that ever went to bat
| tie have been allowed to rot and to starvc.
AT the date of our visit not more than
hundred prisoners were in the Libby, its
contents having recently been emptied into
ii worse sink in Georgia; but almost con-
stantly since the war began, twelve and
sometimes thirteen hundred of our officers
have been hived within those half dozen
desolatc rooms and filthy cellars. with a
| space OF only ten feet by two allotted TO
each for all the purposes Of living. Overun
with vermin, perishing with cold, breathing
a stlied, tainted atmosphere, 70 space al,
lowed them to rest by day, and lying down
at night "wofmed~ and dovetailcd together
| like fish in a basket"-their daily rations
only two ounces of stale beef and small
| lump of hard corn bread, and their lives the
| forfeit, if they caught but one streak of
| Gods blue sky through those filthy Win
dows--they nave endured there all the hor-
\ rors of middle passage. My soul sickened
as l looked on the scene of their wretched-
ness. And while these thoughts were in
my mind the cringing, foul-mouthed, bru-
tai, contemplate ruihan who had caused all
this misery, stood within two PAGES of me
| could have reached out my hand, and with
half an effort crushed him, and--I did not
do l.: Some invisible power held my arm,
for murder was in my heart
| This is where the Yankee devil, Streight
that raised hell so among you down in Geor-
gia, got out" said Turner, pausing before a
! Jut In the wall of >the room. "A flue was
here, you see, but we've bricked it up.
They took up the hearth, let themselves
down into the basement, and then dug
through the wall and eighty feet under
ground, into the yard of deserted building
over the way. If you'd like to see the place
step down with me-"
| We decended a rough plank stairway and
entered the basement. 1t was a damp,
dismal place, and even then-in hot July
weather-as cold as an ice-house What
must it have been in midwinter
The keeper led us along the wall where
Streight and his party had broken out, and
| then said
sit is three feet thick, but they went
| through it and all the way under the street
! with only few case knives and a dust-pan.'
"Whars the keep'sl" l asked, adopting
y. s..s nlsAan af