Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-04-29
MILITARY PERSECUTION
A Record of Monstrous Outrage
and In justice-The Case of
Thomas E. Courtney.
fFrom The ChinARo :

arrest ny the military authorities, Oh sat
urday last, was mentioned in the Times
Of tho following day has been again re-
leased snd is now at Liberty. The event.
ful experience of this individual, during
the last Elk weeks, furnishes record Of
persecution and tyranny which almost
equals the doings of the ipfsroa. Jcfreys,
whose Judicial crimes blackeaed the his
tory of England. Called to Cincinnati as
witness in the case OF the sccnsed Chi
cago couspirators, Courtney had hardly
closed his testimony when, in obedience
TO the imperious caprice Of petty judge
advocate, he was seized by soldiery and
consigned to the company Of miserable
crowd ofrebes, spies and villainous boun.
ty jumpers confined iu loathsome barracks.
No one had preferred charges agains. the
unfortunate man not even the judge ad.
vocate, who had ordered bis arrest, could
recite an explicit accusation against the
prisoner, bu, in strange and arbitrary
and unlawful manuor, was Courtney kept
10 ares day alter day, till, the days hav.
iug heightened into weeks, be was finally
sent under guard back to Chicago.
Here for the first time Courtney was
assured that lie was not accused OF having
committed any offence against military
law but learned to his surprise that the
Cincinnati judge advocate had reason to
believe that he had committed last fall the
crime of importing voters. Tbs military
authorities offered tina, single excuse for
his arrest in the witness stand in Ciuciu,
natl and his subsequent incarceration In
Mclean barracks. They, therefore, com.
miited him to the charge Of the civil au.
thorities in this city, by whom be was
straightway released. A. liberty sgain,
but without reparaton for the indignity
h. had suffered or the anxiety which had
overwhelmed his family with alarm
On Saturday last Courtney became the
victim Of another arrest. Visited by Jno.
Nelson, captain Of police, be was ordere d
into the custody of squad OF soldiers
from Camp Douglas, and, taken thither
was again consigned to the company Of
as villaiuous crowd Of felons as ever
disgraced prison walls. Nelson had ul
warrant only the request Of Colonel Sweet
that he should arreat Courtney, and, ir
violation Of that sacred principle Of law
which secores every man agains, arres
without warrant performed the task witt
ready aud characteristic subserveuce t,
the mercIess dictates of military author.
ity.
The victim of ell tns persecution wa
kept 10 custody at the camp until Sunda,
evening, when hs was ordered TO prepsr
for journey, to ST, Lewis. To prepare
meant &C = to bare his wrists for pair o
handouts. AS though he would not b.
secure, srrrounded by an armed guar'
aud hemmed in by bayoue!s.
Arrived n St Lewis, Courtney wa
escorted to th. Office of Provost Marsha
Baker, and there for the first time wa
nfor med of the cause Of his arrest.
then trauspired that the provost marsha
in that department bad mistaken his man
IN short, he was cot the man Courtne,
whom they wanted, II was another Court
{ ncy, a former citizen and ex.sheriff Of ST
} Louis who had been a Confederate Office
and was suspected Of having, after his re
turn from the ConCedrsey, been concern
ed in plot to burn government steamers
Accordingly the prisoner was again re
leased, and, being again at liberty, has re
urued to Chicago,
The readers Of this secital are left /
form their own conclusions concerning th
strooity which has pursued Mr.. Courtne
and made him the helpless victim of arb
trary power, But concerning the Grim
oil the man Nelson in yielding himself I
be the wiling agent Of such monstrous il
iouity, there out to be neither silence nc
i, pallia:ion. Not only has he perpetrate
. great wrong against a private citi:el
for the preservation OF whose security ar
the protection of those rights be is hire
but has also committed 6Agran' VioIatc
= oflaw.
How TO MAEEA PARADISE Buy oil
acre of ground. Fence it. Build ne
r cottage on it. Marry an angel in hoop
d and take her home to the cottage. {
y home to the cottage yourself. Absta
l. from all spiritual drinks, JOIN the chur
lie and become a good christian, live U