Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-04-28
The Libby Prison.

n. rrlson, IN Richmond, on the 9th inst
v and gives his impressions of what he sa
"a in the following language:
!. Libby Prison! What horrors hav
,e been witnessed within its walls! WIS
- signs and groans What prayers an
:. tears What dying out of hope an
=, wasting away Of body and of. mind
What nights OF darkness setting on bu
man souls ! Its door an entrance to a liy
ing charnal house---its iron grated win
dows the loop holes OF hell Death wa
the warden. Whoever entered Their
stood on the verge of the grave and me
Death face to face.
This morning, accompanied by friends
| visited the prison, which now contain
about five hundred rebel prisoners
They were peeping out from the grated
understanding intently and sadly up
on the scene Of desolation around then
IA city in ruins-still smouldering anc
smoking. A large number were upon
the roof, breathing the fresh air, and gaz
ing upon the fields beyond the James.
green now with the verdure Of spring.
Union prisoners never had such liberty.
Whoever approached the window bars
or laid his hands upon them, fell dead
the next instant.
There was a crowd of women with
pals and buckets at the windows, giving
the prisoners provisions and talking free
I " with their friends, who came not onl,
to the windows but to the door, where
the good nalured sentinel allowed con,
versation without restriction.
The officer in charge conducted our
party through the wards. The crowd of
filthy wretches gazed upon US with curl
osity, wondering what WAS the purposrI
of ouryiSt. The air was fetid with VIII
odors arising from the unwashed crowd
from old rags and filthy garments
from choked up urinals and sinks-from
puddes OF filthy water which oozed from
the leaky conductors, dripped from tn,
floor, ran down the walls, sickenng to all
the senses. From this prison, on Sun
day last, fifteen hundred men We're bur
red to the hag-of-truce boat. that they
might be exchanged before falling irtol
our hands. Many thousands of men
have lived there month after month /
wasting away, starving. dying of fever,
Of consumption, of all diseases known lol
medical science-from insanity, despair.
and idiocy-having no communication
with the outer world, no food from friends.
no sympathy, no compassion--dvnied
everything, starved TO death, tortured to
death by rigor Of Imprisonment; by mrn
whose hears grew harder from day to
day till they became liend5 in human
form.
please give me bit Of bread, aunty,
| am starving, was the plea made ont
day by young soldier who saw negro
woman passing the window. lie thrust
his emacinted hand between the bar,
and clutched the biz which the Kind
hearted colored woman cheerfully gave
him; but before it had passed between
his teeth he saw the brains of his bene-
faciress spatered upon the sidewalk bs
the sentinel
Where on the page of history is there
such damning record of crime as tia, c
written in chmond-at Libby, Bile g
Isle, at Castle Thunder, the jail and the .
Andersonyilr, and Sal c
,bury, and Milen are parts of the Rich !
nond record Of crime-for all order-
were issued from here. tt
At the Jail Major Stevens, and Provost
found crowd of starving y
women and children.
Jacks and whites, incarcerated for petty
.rmes.
"What are you in here for?" he asked IT
# little girl. "a
For stealing piece of bread, sir, :"
vas hungry and my mother was starving" n
he replied, the tears starting down her
heeks. Ct
Major Stevens ascertained that nearly
Il were imprisoned for petty offenses- HI
riven to crime by necessity-and OPEN st
1g the door, told them 10 20 where they 70
irased. II
Barbarity and inhumanity are charac u
.risiiCs OF siavery-wlich have shown -
,emselves on the plantation, in the slave "
lart and in the prison-to slave and WI
risoners of war alike. '"'
81 intend to treat the prisoners we'll
hey have murdered our men but I shall
ot retaliate except with Kindness" said
~ officers who condncied ns