The Portland daily press., 1865-05-26
BY TELEGRAPH,

TO THE DAtLYTPRESS.
me Washington Ta1aIs--xsepOrl
of TESTIMONY. 81 W. !.
s WASHINGTON, May rs.
On the opening of the Court for the trial o.
the conspirators this morning. at the reoues,
OF Mr.. Cox the record was corrected by ex-
Guiding from the evidence the oath of allegi.
ance, purporting to be signed by O'Laughlin
q inc witness could not swear positively to
the signature. 4S'sb '1ip
Testimony of WaIter Randall.
Walter Randall testified that he knew the
prisoner Arnold, and found in his carpet bag
somq papers, clothing, a revolver aud cart
ridges. o5@ $50 isas53 +.
Testimony of MOI. Marsh. :.
Maj. Marsh testified that he was an officer in
a Maryland regiment from 1861 to March 31st,
1854. He was o prisoner, and was confined In
Libby Prison from the 10Th of June, 1868, to
the 21st of March, 1864. oa4s sgaf
ee TO Judge Advocate Holt was detained
when captured, two weeks at Winchester on
account Of ill health. Ny health improving
was compelled to march to sStaunton, Was
treated kindly on the road by the escort. At
first the rations at Libby Prison were small
but tolerably fair. Half q loaf Of bread was
given to each man, with four ounces OF meat
and several spoonfuls of rice After tour
months meat as q regular thing was stopped
Then we were deprived of wheat bread, and
furnished with what is called corn bread, very
coarse. have known prisoners to be without
meat three or four weeks at time. We had
few potatoes of the worst character. A
meeting of the prisoners was held and remou.
STRANGE sent to the authorities. Col. Ould re-
piled that the treatment was good enough, and
better than that OF the rebel prisoners. After
being there ave months was taken sick with
dropsy from bad treatment, and sent to the
hospital While there, saw men brought in
from Belle Isle in starving condition, and
out Of forty, at least eight or twelve died. The
first eight, the surgeon told me, their condition
was produced by want of proper treatment
Two of our prisoners escaped, which made
Maj. Turner, ir charge of the prison, become
passionate and insulting. He removed us from
the hospital to Libby Prison into wet room,
and some OF the sick were in dying condi-
ton, and compelled us to remain there without
cots or morsel to eat for twenty -four hours,
as punishment for the escape OF the two officers.
A Col. Fowler, on being demonstrated with,
said, "the treatment Is too dam good for you
Yankees" A man could not possibly live on
the rations.i For days we lived on what was
called corn bread, which appeared to be meal
and bran mixed, and caked in rough condi-
ton, on that and water alone. n IS So
~ Testimony of Capt. Emery. igDs
Capt. Emery, who had been prisoner, tes-
titled substantially to the same treatment. The
money belonging to prisoners was taken from
them, and therefore they could not buy food.
The bearing of the keeper was very rude, ours
ing and abusing the prisoners. Alter the bat
tie of Chickamauga fifteen or sixteen Of the
sick were tied in ri, to keep them from fall
ing of, although there were ambulances near
by notin use They were tied on like sacks
Of grain. The Committee of the rebel Senate
knew of this horrible treatment, but did not
notice them on their visit He asked Turner
for medicine bat he said he had none to give
him. An Inspector of the prison named Tur-.
ner, said the object of the treatment was to
kill the prisoners, adding to it,ssIt is good
enough for you; You had no business to come
here. II l had command would hang all of
you.n s'.sqsssie9.s ssat q ee.sasi $40 sata Is.
Testimony Of Benj. Sweeney. % b
Benjamin Sweeney formerly color sergeant
In the army, and q prisoner of war on Belle
Isle for five months in 1868, testified that there
was about 10000 prisoners there. 1t was in
winter. About half had shelter, and had abou
half enough food to live on. He had sesnmen
starved to death. The bodies Of those wound
ed were allowed to lie in trenches without be-
ing buried. They would not allow US to bury
them. sgs g q q. Ai o7ail9s sw bus g g f9ees
Witness had asked special permission to dc
30 and been refused, He saw men shot down
without cause or provocatioD. His weight
had been reduced from 10 to 1913 pounds.
Didn't think he could have lived three months
longer. I'D IS silra 6ss1aefsi slsss sss.i ME-,
- Testimony of Mr.. Bun. NJ y s1.
Mr.. Bull, who was prisoner at Anderson
Vile for eleven months, Il titled that the treat
ment was very Door. The men had no shelter
put were compelled to live in . swamp, their
blankets, hats and caps, their clothing in gen.
eral and money were taken from them, their
rations were about half pint OF corn meal,
Two ounces Of bacon. and half spoonful of
salt for twenty-four hours. The bacon was
alive. Once in awhile we got hold Of . good
piece. but not very often. The treatment kill
ed the men off. The largest number of deaths
in one day to his recollection was 1888. Star
vation was the cause. The enemy said they
did not care a dam whether the Yankees died
DR. not. Howell Cobb made q speech there in
February. His remarks were very bitter. He
said the treatment was the best they could do; !.
that if the authorities looked after them lit
tie more probably they would fare better. He
only said a few words and did not seem to
care much about the pris. ners. The heat was
very intense. The water they had to drink
was made filthy by dead animals thrown into
the creek above. Their reply in Renaissance
thereat was, they did noteare a dam for Yam,
KEGS When the witness went in in June, as
many as six or eight were shot dead day. q If
a man got foot over the dead line or near it
he was shot,, It was said. they got q furlough
for thirty days for shooting a Z ankee. Cobb
in speech said something about a plan to
burn and plumber the North. l cannot tell
what were the words used. The treatment of
the sick prisoners was very poor, They got
no regular medicines, not cent of the prison
er's money was returned to them. For nine
months the witness had nothing to wear but a
pair of drawers and shirt, his clothes having
been taken away from him. he laid on the
open ground that time without bit of shelter.
Thousands were in the same fix. The corpse
of man who died in the morning could not
be approached at night within twenty feet and
pitchforks had to be used to carry off the body
to the trenches. Clothing sent there by our
government was taken by the rebel Captain in
Charge Over half the deaths were by starva-
ton. The food was the cause of their sickness
and after they got sick the food was no better.
He would not think Of eating such food now,
but a marin danger Of starvation might !
- Testimony of e. ". Ross.
J E. W. Ross, clerk, in the Libby Prison in
March. 1854, destined that the prison was min
ed at. the time Of Kilpatrick's raid. Had the
fuse in Major Turner's room. 1t was anseighsz
second fuse. Turner told him it was to set
the powder off in case the raiders got into the
city to blow up the prison and prisoners. The
powder was taken away in May secfetlya
Turner was subordinate Of the rebel depart
ment. 20 3 HTkDIO9 Tq89(1q
Testonsony of John Lateshe.
John Lateshe testified that Turner told him
Gen. Winder had been to see the Secretary of
War, and they were going 70 put powder into
the building. 1t was in twenty-five pound
packages, about 100 pounds in all. A hole
was dug in the centre Of the middle basement
and the powder was put down there. The
ground was. then covered over with gravel
took one of the sentries from the outside of
the building and placed him over this powder
that no accident might occur. The next day
Turner showed us the fuse in the office. The
powder remained there till May, when. the
prisoners were all removed. Gen. Winder
then sent forward to remove the powder SCI