Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-03-05

luSy Wcfe uiuTTieu Ill Jue meTTy
month of June, and Allie wore the
diamond pin upon her bosom, and for
ever thanked God that she had wait
ed for Richard Crindall.
LIEUTENANTBRAIN.
His Onense ana the story OF sris
imprisonment.
The New York Tribune gives the
following sketch of Lieutenant John
G. Brain, the last Of the imprisoned
Confederates:
When that vivid fiction, "the Man
without a Countryn was first pub
lished, the American people were
startled at the bare possibility of its
truthfulness, and the very extrava-
gance of the conception contributed
to its plausibility. Philip Nolan has
almost a parallel in John G. Brain
Arrested In 1855 upon a charge of
piracy and murder, he is still in the
Brooklyn penitentiary In 1859, un-
tried and unconvicted. Seeing but
few visitors and constantly surround
ed by convicts, he is held In confine-
ment without trial when Andrew
Johnson's pardons have reached ev-
cry one beside, and opened wide the
prison doors to worse than he. Brain
has been repeatedly "written up" in
the newspapers during the years OF
his confinement; at one time he is
represented as In the Brooklyn Jail,
an arrogant and bitter rebel breathing
worn-out maledictions against the
Government, with faith like that of
the Richmond hack-driver, who said,
the other day, "Confedrick money
will be good yet. Kirby Smith Is
still a-fghten' across the Mississippi,
and he will bring 1t up" Atanother
time the story is that he Is languiSh-
ing in the penitentiary, broken in
health and shattered in intellect, an
object Of pity rather than subject of
punishment; and then the months
turn their weary round and he Is for
gotten, but still prisoner. The in
dictment SO long impending over jeff.
Davis, no longer hangs suspended
like the uplifted blade of the guillo-
tine, ready to fall upon the neck of a
proud and wilful traitor, conquered
but not subdued; Breckenridge, who
left the Senate of the United States
in n time of war to engage in the
struggle against the Government
which had cherished him, is free to
return to the country he betrayed f;
Semmes, the modern corsair, than
whom even Byron's Gaiour is no
worse, may clap with the loudest i'm
approval Of the Clarendon-Jo ohnson
treaty for the settlement of the Ala
bama claims; but one poor wretch,
not so bad as these, Is left to suffer
because he was not so prominent.
One who had first seen Brain at the
time of his examination before U. s.
Commissioners Newton, in September,
1865, yesterday went in search of the
prisoner whose confinement has been
so unusual. Calling at the Jail in
Raymond street, he found the prison
van at the door filled with convicts
tiary. Seating himself on the box
with the driver-a cheerful old cove
who does not look at all as If he had
delivered, upon an average, dozen
men per day to the keeper of that in
stitution for full as many years-the
van bore the entire party along Flat
bush avenue and through Prospect
park to the penitentiary. The vii
lainous smoke and sonbre looks with
IN We're In strange contrast to the fresh
air and cheerful skies without, but
arriving at the penitentiary all enter
ed that Castle of Delinquency to-
gether. The formality Of receiving
and disposing of the convicts being
ended, he then had an opportunity to
ask for Lieut.. Brain. After a brief
delay, the consent of Brain to the
visit having been first obtained, he
was taken for the interview into the
well-warmed and lighted corridor
The prisoner cheerfully reached out
one hand by way of friendly welcome,
while in the other he held his pipe
and toBacco-box, the solace of his
prison hours. The formalities OF the
interview being over, pencil and pa
per were soon at work tracing the
story which had been told in the
newspapers before, but this time ii
came from Brains own lips, and in
his own way. Long after the heat
and passion of the war had passed,
and with his proud spirit mellowed, II
not overcome, by confinement and
suffering, IL has new interest and a
personal charm.
He said: My name Is John c.
Brain-not Braine--and was First
Lieutenant, commanding in the Con-
federate navy. My commission and
orders were written on fly-sheet note
paper, and they We're either worn out
or lost. The archives of the Confed-
crate naval department being de-
stroyed by the Federal forces, 1t Is
impossible to obtain the original pa
pers deposited there, but have placed
afiidavits in the hands of the Attor-
ney- General OF the United States,
setting out all the facts I'm the case. -
These afiidavits are by stephen II.
Mallory, the Secretary of the Confed-
crate Navy, DIR. Jones, Auditor, and
Mr.. Tdhall, Chief Clerk of the Naval
Department, Admiral Semmes, Capt.
Maflit, and Others. In June, 1858, i
received orders from the department
at Richmond to 20 North with my
com mand, consisting of seventeen
officers and men, and take passage in
a steamer with the purpose OF captur-
ing IL upon the high seas. The Chess
apeake sailed from New York for
Portland ina December, and / took
passage upon her In obedience to the
oriers l had previously received
After seizing the vessel l was 10 pro-
ceed 10 seal Cove, in the Island OF
Grand Manan, OFF the coast of Maine
for coal, an there hand the vessel