The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1866-09-27
A DAY AT FORTRESS MONROE.
Graphic Account by Col Giles NJ. Hinyer
Mr. Darts Rapidly Declining in Health-Hor
He Spends HIS Time

Courier, spent Friday, the 9Th instant, at
| Fortress Monroe, and the greater part of that
day with the illustrious State Prisoner Our
readers will be interested in the following
graphic account whieh! he gives:
There is but little difficulty of access in
the dav time to Mr. Davis There is of
course no access to the Fortress at night
Since the transfer of the second, but meaner
Sir Hudson Lowe. to some place where it Is
to be hoped he will be Miles away from civil
lied society, Mr.. Davis is at liberty 10 re-
eeiye visits from his friends. With this as
surance, the writer was enabled to spend
day with him
Mr. Davis has from sunrise to sunset, on
his parole of honor, the freedom of the For
tress. inside He avails himself of it, of
course His parole is not to escape, attempt
AN escape, or avail himself of any means TO
do So Those who know JEFF. Davis, equally
wei know that his word Is his bond and
law. Were it contemplated, an escape from
Fortress Monroe would be an impOssibility.
A moat, twenty yards wide; a wall on the
inside at least thirty feet perpendicular; an
inclined bank of masonry on the other side,
some ten feet above the water, so smooth
that no hand or foot can find hold ; II glacier,
well guarded beyond the m0at, would pre-
vent the escape even of the garrison of the
Fortress. if SO inclined, except over the main
or postern bridge. Sentries can command
them, against a regiment.
Mrs Davis, so well known, and so de-
votedly loved aud respected in this vicinity,
and in every place where the name and sut-
ferings of her illustTious husband, or the he
role devotion of woman, have been heard,
has comfortable apartments in the Fortress.
She, with a little child of less than two
wears OF age, occupies couple OF easements;
one fitted up as a bed room; the other as a
dining room. These apartments Mr.. Davis
IS allowed to occupy and use during the day,
as part of the freedom of the Fortress (iacRs
Il non IpccRdOt , After sunrise. he is unlock
ed from Carroll Hall, a hall where bird never
sent to Heaven its sweet carol: and at sun
set he returns to his solitary chamber So
reads the bond During the day Mr.. Davis
has tho liberty Of the Fortress; can walk
where pleases: and enjoy a. prisoner can,
what is the next best gift of Heaven, except
liberty, the sight of those he loves
At night he goes back to Carroll Hall. His
room is in the second story-about fourteen
feet square; three irOn-gTatcd doors on three
of its sides the fourth side solid, with Il fire
place. In the entries opposite two of the
doors, sentries pace continuously during the
night the third grated do opens to the
guard room, where the officer If the guard
is on duty all night with imp upon his
table. \ light was kept continuously burn
ing in Mr.. Davis dungeon, until lately
Humanity has been sufficiently aroused to
allow this State Prisoner sleep, even If II
does not allow him what decency and manly
respect should provide for privacy.
Those now in charge of Mr. Davis treat
him with personal kindness and attention.
He is no longer exposed to he vulgar insults
that that wretch, Miles, inflicted upon him
day by day; staring at him rs he took his
solitary walk between two sentinels and
inviting female attendants with their opera
glasses to gaze on him as a show, when he
tried for - solitary hpur n 1pol. on the lIi u,t
eye of heaven. They We're eats looking on
a king,
Mr. Davis prison room at night is fur
nished with an iron camp bedstead, as short
and as narrow us a regulation service can
provide. He has table, chair, "A shelf for
books; Il curtain in the niche between two
iron CRATES, by the aid of which he is enabled
/ to take a saltwater bath. These are luXu-
ricS, When first confined, he had 4 camp
hedstead; a chair, with one leg shorter than
the other tlrce-ingeniously constructed so
as to give the greatest amount of torture, in
the least possible quantity of time and
spacc-a table so low and so small, that to
call it a table We're Ridiculous; Il basin and
n pitcher. He received after a long time
! two tumblcrS; one of them, the guard bor-
Towcd and never returned ;~the other was
broken, and not replaced for many days
He was not allowed the use of knife and
fork. Even when his body was liberated
2 y
dressed his sores. had to tear the miserable
meat that was doletully fed ont by TAILOR
Miles to the great State Prisoner Of the
United States OF course, from purc dis
gust, JEFFERSON DAVIS had to 20 without
the food that common humanity would have
given to a felon.
Thank God, these times are past The
tigers thirst for blood has been assuaged, or
perhaps the animal has been sent to Boston
for safe keeping for the present
Mr. Davis health Is fceble-prccarious in
the extreme. Long confinement and the
/ treatment he received during the first year
of his horrible Incarceration, have told ter
ribly upon his slender fran t. He was never
a man of muscle. The intellectual ever
predominatcd over the material He is one
of those gifted intellectual men. born only
once III "a century, whose brain is thought
and whose mouth is cloqueuce. In his
prison dungeon, he can almost he spoken
OF as hero of the past; and his acts,
principles aud ambition, have an historic
and heroic interest As State Prisoner of
the great Empire of the United States, he is
surrounded with more personal interest than
any other man can possibly be. The iron
mask of the Bastile was but a curiosity
1 The State Prisoner of the United States is a
wonder and an object Of glory!
1t would be difficult for an old friend of
Mr.. Davis to recognize him, were he not pre-
Sented to him rs the great State Prisoner!
Emaciated to the ektTcme almost walking
skeleton; little left but a great and stately
/ form; gray beard covering that peculiar
style of features and of mouth which i'm
other days has given life and Thought to a
nation an eye undmmed and full of the
fire of intellect; he yet might pass upon our
streets unknown t. former friends His
/ physical condition issuch that in walking
/ lie Is obliged to use acane, and the arm of a
( friend or attendant The writer does not
T l,a,E IL -
/ pounds to any mediea. mans report on the
/ subject, and Mr.. Darts weight can be as
/ certained. His lower limbs are as n mans
I wrists, and the Prisoners steps totter rs he
walks But, yet he is I"liant on his own i'm.
tegTity and on the Col whose favor and
mercy, with beautiful simplicity, he asks at
more hours than the Imprisoned Daniel did
MI. Davis, confined as he is, will not live
/ long. EnhaciatCd in the extreme, without
appetite and without hope he is gradually
going down TO the long mme where a mil
lion of manly and womaily tears will fol-
low him The first chill, TIE first attack of
any sharp disease will carry him away to
the great Judge who ruleul over all Tenn
pered may be the wind that blows over
Fortress Monroe May her brcathiugs he
sweet, and her wings soft
Mr.. Davis Is yet denied the use of pen
ink or paper. He violates the parole that
allows him walk inside tbs Fortress, if he
even gives his autograph. During the day,
he has little except as prisoner to complain
Of During the night he has grated doors,
guards and an officer, to watCh every time he
turns over i'll bed, or changes the position of
his pillow
In conversation, Mr.. Davis great intellect
Is as brilliant as ever. Unable TO write and
until recently, to talk TO others it seems
that the rich stores of his gifted mind are
only now allowed full expression. He is
hopeless for himself He sees not. nor can
any friend see for him, why he is kept in the
anomalous condition of State Prisoner
He is the first, aud for Gods sake. may he
he the last, tho country ever knows. Army
Head s:,rt sFs'T--fnov him not he cannot be
fe71c1cd 10y any orte Gen. Grant can give
The civil tribunals know him not; he cannot
be reached by any process OF hobods corpus
And yet, law and civil authority are said to
peTyade the land What a mockery
In all probability Mr.. Davis will never
see our people again He is an individual
victim whose lie by confinement VIII be
sacrificed to solve a great political embar-
rassment. Like the man who drew the
elephant in a lottery the Government knows