The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-09-17
LETTER FROM nIOULTRIE.
NEW YORK Santamher 1a. 1

New YORK, September 49, 1867.
Over the portals of the entrance to the Peniten-
tiary On BlackwelPs, is written in letters that he
who runs may read, if any man there may be who
would run into such place: ':The way of the
transgressor s hard" as we however are not trans
gressors and our way therefore ought not to be
hard, it is softened by an amable keeper, who
leads us around and shows us all that is to be
seen. The amount of this &c all is considerably
diminished BY the circumstance, that the larger
portion of tine conTcts are out at work in various
localtieAon the Island. The convicts are q most
unhappy looking set Of unfortunates, with coun-
tenances that suggest each and every crime in the
catalogue of evil doings, and look like wicked
clowns, or viciously disposed harlequins, attired
as they ara in their garb of dishonor made up-the
garb, not the dishonor-of white shirt and a
sassafras candy unmentonables.
To see these miserable creatures at work with
the ball and chain attached to their legs-many
of them, however, are ball-less, and chan-less-
or to peep at them as they crouch down on the
hard stone floors Of their cells, Gf We may speak Of
stone floors, as we'll as of wooden tombstones,) is
to make US resolved never to walk in the way Of the
6ioobOt, iCsl MT uuu II dIu iuucou,
One miserable sinner, who had walked on the
hard road, and followed it up by endeavoring to
run away-in other words, one Of the convicts who
had gotten into the penitentiary without trying,
and who not being pleased either with the fare or
accommodations, tried most industriously to make
his escape, and found, to his sorrow, that in the
lexicon of skylight scaling there is such word as
fail, had been placed in solitary confinement in
dark cell, the massive doors OF which, for the
first time in several days, had been opened, fortu-
nately for me, and fortunately for him likewise,
few moments before he was honored by visit
from Moultric. 1t chilled the blood to hear the
wretched creature describe the hours Of this soil
tary confinement in dark dungeon-no bed nor
bedstead, no chair, not a ray OF light, all sound
shut out; naught to recline upon but the cold
stone, and nothing to eat or drink save
bread and water once in twenty-four hours
no way Of computing time, no way even OF
ascertaining whether it be night or day.
and worse than all, the thought Of the possibility
of the keeper forgetting to come with the once-in-
twenty-four-hour allowance Of bread and water.
But the most torturing idea of all ESQ said
my friend the prisoner) is the fear that something
might happen whereby he would be left there
buried alive-a change Of keepers, fire, any
thing probable or improbable; and who can wonder
that fear even of the impossible should come to
haunt the mind of one thus shut out entirely from
the world without. On the strength OF this de-
scription, Moultrie, at his own request, was shut
up in one Of these cells and found the darkness
even as the prisoner had pictured lt-lEdeed, II
seemed to hang with tangible heaviness, and one
could actually feel it and to part it with the
hand. When the door was opened Moultrie came
out, and making the shortest cut for the place OF
exit left the penitentiary as abruptly as he now
leaves the subject.
The Fenians are again in the field. desper
stely fought, but blcodless engagement took
place yesterday at Jones' Wood, between mum
ber OF Fenians on the side as Fenians, attlred
in their jackets Of patriotic green and pants OF
cerulean blue, against an equal number OF the
sons OF Erin on the other side in the disguise OF
Engiishmen, and rejoicing temporarily In profu-
sion of red flannel shirts. The battle wss most
stubbornly contested, and there WAS no dlvlnlng
at one time upon which banner the bird OF victory
would perch, till the affair resolved itself into
hand to hand engagement, in which, OF course,
the red shirts succumbed, and the jackets won
the day. Upward Of three thousand spectators
witnessed the great sham battle, and paid hfty
cents each for the privilege of enjoying the same.
There are, therefore, fifteen hundred dollars more
Tor ought to be) in The Fenian exchequer, where
fore the cause still lives to tell pale-hearted fear 1t
lies, and so forth, and Ireland may yet be free.
The Radicals here are radically opposed to the
1,oJ5 loo NIGHT fOr tha
purpose OF protesting against the enforcement OF
it's obnoxious restrictions. resolution WAS pass
ed. requesting their brethren in the Syracuse Con-
yention to fight the pro-drinking battle braVey-
to which they will, no doubt, respond cheerfully
and promptly, for the fondness for innocent imbib-
ings ab i6Uum is principle or passion that finds
favor in the sight Of all parties no matter how, IN
other matters, their political creed may differ.
The thirty-second annual fair Of the American
Institute was inaugurated yesterday, at the Regi-
ment Armory in Fourteenth street, where an adj
dress was delivered by HORACE GREELEY, Who, In
the course of his remarks, in allusion to the me-
chanical resources of the country at large, paid
inst and honesttribute to the energy and skill or
the people of the South, as evinced during the
war, in the admirable construction OF their harDor
defences, which he allows to have been "the best
that equal material could have contrived."
In the race for the championship OF New YORK
evening newspaperdom, BEN. WooD's paper, the
NeaOs has far outstripped its rival, the Telegram
an od.shoot of the Herald, gotten up bv BENNETT
with the dog g-in-t -the-nanger and spiteful intention
of breaking up the little sheet; wherefore BENNETT
actually went to the expense Of getting up the
telegram and giving it gratuitously to the news
bows. AS they (the boys) cannot. however, con-
yeyiently under-sell the Ne,os which is one cent
paper, BENNETT has failed, and the Ne'os leads In
the race. AS the matter in the Ne,os is contne
almost exclusively to accounts Of horrible murders,
real and imaginary, togeth with spicy details OF
such important items as cases OF seduction, rape,
prize fights, &c., of course it suits the taste OF the
hot poAoi and the paper already rejoces in cir
culation in the city greater even than that OF the
Herald itself.
FoRREsrs Damon is by no means what it used to
be. The old man has literally played himself and
his voice out, and should retire on the laurels he
once deserved and wore. MOULThlE.
DR.. GEORGE B. LoRNa, the President OF the
New England Agricultural Society, tells what
scientific farming will do in the comparatively
Ill