Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-04-03
The Salisbury HOrrOP.--Trial or Ma
j0r John HI. Gee, at Raleigh, N. G.

Special Correspondence or the Cincinnati Gazette.
RALEIGH, N. c., March Is.
The Commission met on Friday last
John J. Geer called and sworn for
prosecution, testified reside at
Springfield, Ohio; in the Spring of 1865
/ was Chaplain Of the 1881 Ohio Vol
unteers, and in March, of that year, vas
stationed at Wilmington, N. c., in the
Geer Hospital; we had 300 patients at
one time; twelve of them stated 10 me
that they came from Salisbury prison !;
they were suffering from gangrened feet;
their feet were black, and perfectly dead
when they came to rs, and there seemed
TO be plenty Of vermin; finally I took
the feet of.
Counsel for accused here objected to
all the testimony of the witness, and
moved that it be stricken from the rec
ord, unless he could state positively, Of
his own knowledge, that the men came
from Salisbury. After consideration,
the Court struck out the testimony from
record. OF
James A. Gault, witness for prosecu-
ton sworn, -Testifed as follows: re-
side at Buffalo, ~ Y; 10 1864 was Cap
tain in the 104th New York Volunteers;
was taken prisoner on the Weldon road
on the 4th Of October and confined in
the brick building-the peniteutiary-
and staid there till October 19th; the
supply of water furnished the officers
was very limited We were not allowed
TO 60 out for water, but il was brought
10 us--not anything like sufficient for
our wants even to drink; | suffered
very acutely while there from thirst,
and seldom, ifaever, washed. The sup
ply of rations was about ten ounces of
wheat. bread each day, / think about
four ounces of boiled beef, and some
times, in lieu of that, ABOUT gill OF
sorghum molasses, besides sometimes
small quantity of rice soup
Q. What do you know, If anything, in
regard TO the shooting Of Lieutenant
Davis2
A. On the morning of the 18th or 18th
OF October Lieutenant Davis approach
ed q tree which stood some twelve feet
from the outer wall Of the prison, for
the purpose, suppose, of urinating, and
without hating him, the guard lifted his
gun and shot him, the ball entering bis
shoulder, and passing diagonally through
the heart. Some of the officers came
out to pick him up, when the guard said
that it they approached they would be
shot. heard some one from. the other
side of the wall asking, "Did you kill
himf" and the boy who shot him an
swered, "Of course | did," Shortly
after this Major Gee came into the pris,
on and made stir about it, and de-
msnded an explanation Owing to the
request of the officers, we were, soon
after we arrived there, removed to the
other prison ward, where there were
some rebel convicts confined with u.s.
While the officers were there they had
wood enough, but have seen four small
loads of wood being brought in when
there were eight or ten thousand pris-
oners there, and there would always be
= great seranbling among them for it.
CRoss-ExAMIEED Il did not see Lieu
tenant Davis when the shot was fred,
not knowing anything was going to hap.
pen, but saw him Immediately after
wards; | did not hear Major Gee express
any regrets, but heard other officers say
that he expressed regret; so far as /
saw Major Gees demeanor toward the
prisoners, il was that of a. gentleman
toward gentlemen. I heard it said
among the officers that they were re-
moved from the Penitentiary from the
fact that Major Gee feared an insurree-
ton; know. of no definite day fixed
for the prisoners to break out, but we
were watching for chances all the lime i
l believe that only one-third Of the men
that composed the guard were fit to be
soldiers, physically and BY age. They
were very prompt in firing on the pris>
oners for supposed violation of orders.
have seen one of the sentiuels dis.
charge his piece at man who approach.
ed too near working party, who were
digging well in front Of the house in
shich | was quartered; the bullet missed
him, but wounded another man near
him,