Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1866-04-27
Selected 1flisrellanp.
RELEASE OF THE INDIANA
VICTIMS.

Upon the announcement that the Su-
preme Court of the United States had de-
cided that the spurious military court in
Indiana which performed the farce of try
ing Messrs, Bowles, Milligan and Hor-
sey for treason and conspiracy, had no
Jurisdiction in the case, and consequently
the prisoners confined in the Ohio Peniten-
tiary were unlawfully restrained of their
liberty, Mr.. Milligan, the lawyer of the
party, forwarded letter to the Warden,
respectfully demanding the release of
himself and his companions from duress.
This letter was forwarded through the
usual channels to the War Department,
where it would probably have remained
until all the prisoners died Of old age,
had it not been for other circumstances,
which quickened the attention ofthe War
Department to this affair. Mr.. J. r.
Coffroth, of Indiana, attorney for the
victims of military usurpation and out
rage, appeared in this city, in company
with Geo. L. Converse, and applied to
Judge John NJ. Pugh, of the Franklin
County Probate Court, for writ of
haJeas corpus, in behalf of their client,
Mr.. Milligan, which was promptly grant
ed. The prisoner was taken from his
cell in the Penitentiary to the Court,
where the Warden also appeared to com
bat the issue. Messrs. Coffroth and
Milligan presented the case to the Judge,
when the Warden begged for postpone
ment until he could hear from the War De-
partment, agreeing to take Mr.. Milf
gan's parole for his appearance. To this
Judge Pugh replied that he could not
agree and if the Warden had no other
cause to show for the detention, the
prisoner must go free The Warden had
nothing more to say, and Mr. Milligan
repaired to the Neil House free man.
Preparations were Immediately made for
the release of Messrs. Bowles and Hor-
sey, but by the time the attorney had
got to the Penitentiary with the writ Of
habeas corpus, the Warden had received
two dispatches from the War Department,
commanding him to release the prisoners
without further ceremony. and they
were accordingly given their citizens
clothes, unlawfully taken from them, and
they were again at liberty. A number
of friends, who sympathized with these
gentlemen in the terrible sufferings they
had endured, called upon them at their
rooms. to gratulatc them upon this first
instance of the restoration Of civilized
law, after four years of Punishment.
Mr. Horsey, whose case was particular
ly severe, repaired to his home the night
be was released. He is plain, COM
nonsense, laboring man, who was
victimized by his loyal ueighbors, en-
trapped by Government detectives, and
condemned to death by tribunal of
graceless, military vagabonds, for an
offense which he never had any idea of
committing. When he was first arrested,
his wife hearing Of the affair, became a
maniac, and died, leaving number of
small children to take care of themselves,
his oldest boy, and, indeed, the only one
able to take care of himself, being in the
Federal army, serving government
whose pinps deliberately conspired to
murder his father. From the night he
was kidnapped at his home, in Indiana,
by gang of outlaws, until the night
succeeding his release period of two
years, he had never seen his children
nor heard from them. In that time he,
with his companions, had stood under
the gallows, in momentary expectation
Of being murdered, and had only escaped
thence to work as a common felon in the
Ohio Penitentiary. The emotions of an
innocent man going home under such
circumstances may be imagined-they
certainly cannot be described.
Mr. Milligan left for his home in
Huntington, Indiana, last Wednesday.
Before reaching that place, he was met
by a committee of his fellow citizens,
consisting of the same gentlemen who
year ago, had been appointed the pail
bearers to go to indianapolis and convey
bis body home for burial, when it was
thought be would be certainly executed.
They accompanied Mr.. Milljgan to Hun
tington, where ten thousand Of his fellow
citizens who knew he had been unjustly
accused and wrongfully condemned, met
him with an ovation, which no one of
the parties to his arrest and trial need
ever anticipate from the people. The
venerable DIR. Bowles left Columbus on
Monday of this week, for Louisville,
Kentucky, where his family has resided
since his incarceration, having been un-
af,le to travel sooner.
Thus, after they had endured suffer-
ings such as few have bad the fortune to
relate, the crime perpetrated upon these
men has been partially atoned for by
their release. But how inadequate is
this PREPARATION ?-Who can estimate the
degree of their suffering ? How can such
popinjay as Darlington, answer to
Horsey for his dead wife and orphaned
children? How can such tyraunical
satrap as Hovey repair the injury done
to learned and sensitive man like
Hiiiioap1 How cao sueh a rn,,lin0 n n