The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-08-06
MORE OF ANDEKSONVILLE.
Wirz, the Inhuman Jailer.

.sW Warren Lee Gross, formerly Ser
geant of Company III, Second Massa-
chusetts Heavy Artillery, publishes
in the Boston Traveller statement
shedding new light ON the rebel man
agement of Andersonville prison and
Wirz, the inhuman jailer. He says
Ny own knowledge of Wirz, not
called for on the trial, but given in a
narrative of prison sutferlngs which
has been published. .goesAto confirm
all that has been testified to relative
to his guilt in the sacrifice of thous-
ands of lives. On seeing him for the
first time at the entrance of Ander-
sonville. he said, in rage. 8 By Coil
you tam Yankees. you Won't laugh
ven We gets you into the bull PEN y
On the second day / was in prison I
was witness to- the shooting of "a pris-
oner by sentinel, as was the custom
on an approach to the dead line, and
e for which, as testified to, the
sentinels. were rewarded. This
poor fellow was one legged
= line to support himself while he got
his crutch, which had fallen to the
ground. In this position he was shot
through the, lungs, and lay there
writing in death through most of the
forenoon, no one daring to remove him
lest they also should be shot. Such
cases were common and were encour-
aged in accordance with an order
from Wirz. On one OCCASION, near
the southwest gate, man, wounded,
3 dizzy from heat starvation and
v wounds, placed his hands against one
of the dead line posts. when Wirz in,
@ , a vulgar and abusive manner said,
you gets back or | shoots you,
damn Yankee son of bitchl and
this was followed by a shot from
sentinel, which missed the object, but
wounded two men under their
blanket some distance from him.
III Il During the same month L saw a
prisoner killed by a sentinel, while at
=, a brook washing, near the dead line.
On another occasion | saw Wirz
knock a faintipg man in the head
with the butt of his pistol, when he
told me that .Wirz threatened him
....... with death. because, faintiBg from
heat, he attempted to leave the line
to get some water. These instances
came under my notice casually, and.
knowing the character of fWirz, |
e . kept out of his way as much as pos
sible. ~ ffs<f ~ -
As further evidence of in humanity,
when with others i escaped from
m prison, and was hunted by blood
hounds and brought back, Wirz ad-
dressed the hunter. we'll, did you
make de toys pite i'm goot?p and to
$ must next time" This hunter of ne
ls groes with bloodhounds, hardened
as he might be supposed to be, re- 4
piled to Wirz, Il thought they were
miserable enough as it was" 1t was
a common thing to put weak, half
starved men into chain gangs of if
teen or twenty outside Of the prison,
very few of whom survived their pun
ishment. AtA t->A &-3
In relation to the alleged want of
rations, the cause of much Of the
suffering and death, the rebels never
pretended to US that they had no food |
at such times, but on the contrary,
Boosted of plenty, and the fact that a
large army was afterwards subsisted |
on the neighboring country, ought to |
be proof that there was no lack of |
food. 1t is farther well known that |
Andersonville is situated where corn |
has been grown in great abundance,
and from its snearness to Florida. it is
believed that plenty of beef could be /
had, Short as were the rations pro-
vided, the misery endured for want of /
food was frequently aggravated by /
stopping those ratlons for twenty four
hours, at a time Another alleged !
want was that of obtaining timber for
the prison. If The timber was want
ed for shelter or frewood, there was
enough of it, for Andersonvilles was
surrounded by dense Tpine forest.
The prisoners would have been glad
to have been detailed to cut wood for
shelter and cooking, and much OF their
untold suffering was due to the ex-
+ posture to the hot sun and rains with
out shelter, and to eating knocked
( food. Another indisputable want
that of good water-the prisoners
being obliged to use the blakishE and /
filthy stream which was the sewer of
the prison, might easily have been
supplied. By accident a spring was
opened in the side Of hill, which
met this want to some extent, and in
dieated that an abundant supply
might be obtained had the prisoners
been allowed in their feebleness to
search and dig for such springs
THE INTERNATIONAL CoINAGE Re-
FORM" Malakoff," the Paris cor