Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-04-05
YrRoER INTERVIEWED.
vyts Life I'm the jackson JaiI-What
he Says for HIMSELF.

: large WINDOWS, WniCnf "o hotScui WI
!. entirely free from those customary al
pendages so suggestive Of an unwhol,
some restraint, afforded an amount {
light entirely opposed to all our precor
ceiyed ideas of felons cell. In
corner stood q comfortable, well-dresse
bed; near by, stand covered with book
and writing materials; scattered abou
the room were several chairs, including
a couple of large rockers; while at tn
opposite end from the bed was good
sized table, Upon the same was has
ket well filled with goodly store of com
I forts for the inner man, ms well as severa
glasses, and, what appeared from the va
riety of bottles, fair assortment o
! LIQUORS. That the latter were of accept
able quality we were frequently assured
BY the prisoner, as an inducement to par
take. As we sat down the jailer closed
the door and went about his duties, with
out as much as turning the key upon us
Shortly after an elderly uncle came in
bringing with him several late papers, an
evident daily offering at his hands,
A little later, and sprightly son OF
the prisoner of perhaps twelve years
of age, entered, bearing another we'll
filed basket, and bottle of fine old
sherry wine. The boy announced his
mother as soon to make her daily visit,
as also several other visitors for the af-
ternoon, among whom we noticed the
name of Miss Price, leading actress
now here, and claiming, with apparent
pride, to be a daughter of Mississippi.
1t is thus seen that, barring little I'M
wholesome restraint, the prisoner has
little of which to complain in the way of
the comforts, at least, if not the Injuries
of life.
We were received with the utmost cor
diality, and an evident desire to create
as favorable an impression as the circum-
stances of the case and surroundings
would afford OF the general appear
ance of the prisoner, it would be hard,
perhaps, to give a more correct descrip-
ton in a condensed form than that APP
pended by the Secretary of State to the
proclamation promulgated at the
time of the late escape
The imputation OF being excessively
vain,' however, was laughingly alluded
to with: "Well, damn that Jim Lynch,
don't he know that vanity and pride go
hand in hand as necessary in making up
a man.
We could not, in view of all the cir
cumstances, but be forcihly struck with
the perfect ease and gentlemanly bear
ing of the man. One could but forget
the cell and its connections, and enter
into the spirit of social intercourse with
a highly cultivated and master mind.
With the certain evidences fan intensely
nervous temperament of volcanic pas
sions, that, SO far from having been
taught control, had been rather forced
to fruition by having been petted and
spoiled from infancy to mature manhood,
as child of fortune, and of family
that assumed to be of right the ruling
spirits Of Mississippi, il was easy to
imagine the influences that prompted
the fatal shot. That he is naturally of
cruel, vindictive nature, no one at all
versed in physiognomy will for a mo-
ment believe. His is simply a represen-
tative case of the fruition of that system
of training and moral education formerly
prevalent among the Southern chivalry.
While naturally disposed to repsesent
the bearings of his case in as favorable
light as possible, we found him disposed
at the same time, to talk freely of all
that had occurred in connection with
himself.
As might be expected, while he admits
the killing, and the circumstances in the
main, as elected in the testimony, he in
dignantly denies all imputations Of in
territorial murder, and scouts the idea Of
personal malice toward a man he never
previously met. He claims, in fact that
he has, since the killing, been held up to
the world as representative man, an
embodiment of that fell spirit of fiendish
hatred supposed 10 exist IN the hearts of
the leading men of the South for the
agents of the Government; so, therefore,
he alone was singled out as the one to be
Inundated, and forced to bow in abject
submission to the illegal behests of an
autocrats will He insists that from the
first he has constantly been abused, Wilt
fed. and pergistently misrepresented by
the press, and says that, Of all accounts
published Of the killing, q letter in the
Cincinnati Commercial, over the sigma
ture of Justice" is the only one he has
ever seen that could lay even claim TO
impartiality Among other correspond
ents he is particularly severe on Don
Piatt, whom he characterizes as I'M
principled, cold-hearted, and malevolent,
10 the last degree. Aside from his
unpfipoipled character, too, said he,
Don Piatt Is a miserable plagiarigt that.
without an original idea or bis own, steals
those Of others. He may be compared
10 human blood-sucker; a sponge that
laps up ideas; that mixing in intellectual
circles. by its inherent powers d ahsorp-
ton. gathers the fruits of other brains, to
be rehashed again, as the product Of his
own
The prisoner claims, t'0, that so far
from having had an opportunity 10 offer
anything in vindcatiOn of his course,
from the verdict of the coroner's jury to
his GepYiotion by a military tribunal,
his case has bsen prejudged to the preju-
dice Of himself A fair and impartial
trial. be says, he has courted from the
first and asks for rothing more; com
plains Of having suffered every imagina-
bic indignity at the hands OF the mill
tary, and Of an evident determination
on their part to hang him, right or
wrong, regardless Of all law: and il per
fecty confident that upon the FIRST ex-
animation he viii certainly be released
on bail aud ultimately acquitted.