Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, and rebel ventilator. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1863-1866, 1865-01-11
Spcrry...FO Ramsey!

1Nuu nNll Military lIlnolli w wv UA'o W i'euteH-
mt Violet u yigant, brave, and fearless officer,
who will keep them snc, and adorn thoir legs with
prison jGcciJyi A false impression Is sought to be
made by rebels and rebel 'ympathzer', by giving
out that they ARE taken thore 10 he mobbed or OK
ocutcd in violation Of law, They will be treated rs
prisoners having committed hcnioH otIenso', such .
rs the cruel treatment unlawful imprisonment, and
hanging of Union men, They will be tried by n
Military Commission, md that upon the Evidence Of
their crimes and no violence will be offered TO them,
but what Z, inflicted in obedience 10 the sentence Of
the Commission, The friends Of justice, and Of the
Union cause, protest against their being tried in
the Civil Court, where they believe the Lawyers in
consideration Of tcc' either paid in hand or secured
to them, will procure their release, The military
authorities will not surrender these men to the civil
authorities, unless We are wholly mistaken in thor
Grmncss, and determination to do their duty The
State Is in rebellion, and under martial law and
the army who Is charged with the defense Of the
country, and tho Government which foots up the
heavy expenses of such defense has right through
the military to look into and to punish guilty o.
tenders
The loyal people of East Tennessee wish know
whether there is any court civil or military, under
Federal direction, in which leading traitors can be
punished who have been active agents in the arbi
trary arrest, cruel imprisonment and ultimate mur
der of many of our best citizens both old and
young This is now the issue; these cases present
it clearly and the loyal men Of the country look
with intense interest to the result In the FEDERAL
Court, under the operations of the Amnesty 9th,
and the interpretations given TO tho several act OF
Congress, we have no expectation of single ,on-
viction not even of the worst men that have taken
part in the rebellion the robbery Of Union families,
the incarceration of men, or their cruel murd,r-
The friends of justice of the Union, and of tn, OPP
pressed, must therefore look to the military autIor
ties If these fail to right our wrongs, let the cum
try be at once abandoned and turned over to tn, hui
name conservative and kind-hearted Union men,
and their rebel friends who feel more concern for heir
own future promotion than for the suffering witow,
and orphans made such by the cruelty, crimes, and
vllonies of the men now sought to be released
With these few general remarks. by way of pre-
liminary we will proceed to notice in detail some of
the reasons why the three exceedingly bad men
named Mt the head Of this article should be dealt
with by the military and why they should even be
punished. We class them as they are named
:. A. sPERRY.
We do not propose to try this man because he was
once cowhidcd in the State of Pennsylvania for
stealing gold watch We do not propose to bring
against him the disgraceful charge of having absn-
iii 4
icM negro ,oe5ch. This was mere matter Of
tast and as an intensely Southern man, in search of
lost rights he had here chance to right
his marriage obligations were depriving him of
Nor do we propose to urge against him the humili-
ating fact that he was chastiscd here in n grocery
by Bill Lackcy-that he was knocked down and
thrashed by Parson Charlton,tw of his own party,
and cherished rebel associates We do not propose
to bring against him the well known fact that he
has been football for blackguards, grog-shop bull
lies and Southern traitors, for years and that he is
mean and low-Aung in all his transactions and as
sociations
his rebel sheet in which he advocated disunion, the
arrest, imprisonment and hanging of Union men
And we propose to show up his close connection
with the untimcy deaths and cruel murders Of good
men, who were put to death for their principles !
The influence of his paper was very great, and the
more potent because of the character of the man,
whose crimes won for him the esteem and conf
dence Of the rebel authorities. He had shown his
faith by his works, and when his paper, the Knor-
ellie Register, took ground in favor of the arrest
imprisonment or hanging of Union man, no
earthly influence or power could save him This is
but brief outline Of the character and services of
j. austin SPrry the man that rebels on these
streets are 50 deeply concerned for and with whom
a class Of Union men-by large odds meancr than
he is-arc in sympathy
ROBERT p. FOX.
We do not propose to bring against this aban-
doncd villain the charge of his once having swim
died the corporate authorities Of Knoxville out of
money by means Of forgery. Nor shall We urge
before the Commission who may try him. the well
known fact that he abandoned the mother Of hi.
children and took up with negro wench, and that
his lawful wife sued out and obtained a divorce
These, and many other gross offenses, were commit
ted before the rebellion, and eminently fitted the
guilty author for position in the front rank. Of an
organization Of traitors, robbers and cut.throats,
banded together to destroy the United States Gov
ernment
We shall urge against Fox that he was the Con
.tetrate Deputy Marshal who arrested number of
Union men and thrust them into the Knoxville jail
We shall urge that he was the rebel TAILOR and that
he treated Union prisoners with more cruelty than
n savagc would have done; that kecpinga dirty and
greasy hotel, paid by the rebel authorities SO much
per head for feeding the prisoners it was his interest
to starve them, and save his provisions. We shall
urge and prove that he fed the prisoners on short al
lowance of beef necks bones and rotten livers and
coarse, dirty corn bread. We shall urge and prove
that he took from every prisoner entering the jail
his weapons, pocket knife and money, from one to
five hundred dollars-that he confscated il for his
own use and put thousands into his pockets We
shall prove that he tied the prisoner arms behind
them and sent them off in squads to Tuscaloosa, and
withheld their money from them We shall prove