The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-01-02
Radical. ATROCETY.
Lirervie,c ,cith Dying Ka kinr Prisoner
Just PardoHed Ont OF Albany
Penitentiary.
Correspondence New York Herald.

/ w ASt1NGIOSs 11tt- Ia 10 g.
Reuben q. Young the hu kiu> p s'nel
| who has been pIrdohed by the Prr-f ff, ar
| rived here to-day from the Albany Peni-
Tertiary. He was on his way home Il
| 1oungsville, Ala. but missed the railroad
connection, and had To stay over. lie will
continue his journey tomorrow ii he has
| strength enough to do so--tor his life lamp
| Is pickering family, and will probably give
out before he can reach home. Mr.. Young
was man OF property and good social
standing in the place named after him. He
had an interesting family, consisting of "A
wife, four daughters aud two sons. One OF
| the latter was tried on the charge of being
implicated in the ku kluX outrageS, and,
ike MS father, sentenced to ten years i'm
prlsonment in the Albany Pententiary,
where he is still confined. As soon as Mr..
Dung arrived member of Congress kindly
took charge of him. His clothing was too
light and Scant to protect him from the bit
ter cold, and he has since been provided
with an overcoat and money to pay his
travelling expenses. The gentleman who
had befriended him conducted me To the
cloak room of the House of Representatives,
where found Mr.. Young asleep on sofa.
did not wish 10 wake him, bat stood for
two or three minutes in silent contempla-
ton of the feeble, emanciated form of the
poor old man, who was broken down under
the grevious burden inflicted upon him.
He appeared to sleep in death. His face
had leaden. CHASTITY look, with wrinkles
deeply and rigidly set, as if void of sense
and motion. NV companion touched him
lightly. He raised his head slowly and cast
languid look toward me. 1t seemed to
me the look of galvanized corpse. He
was dressed in a suit OF homespun. His face
was thin and ashy, with three weeks
beard upon it; his eyes and cheeks were
sunken in. and thin gray hair struggled
down upon his forehead.
''Have you been asleep, Mr.. Ioung@ L
inquired.
Il have been trying to sleep, but cannot
[ have not had nights sleep for many
weeks"
"What is the cause of your sleeplessness 20
IL have had terrible cough. My lungs
are all gone, and thinking always OF my
home and family. l could not sleep. l was
IN pretty good health before they took me
to prison, but now | fear | shall never re-
cover from this"
"HOw did they treat you in prissn?"
"All the Officers treated me kindly, except
one overseer, who was harsh TO me. When
was too feeble to work l had to remain
in nay cell, which was very cold. l some
times asked him to let me go to the stove in
the corridor to warm myself but he refused.
Don't be hard on an old man. would say,
but still he wOuldn't let me go out. | was
confined in the same cell with my sou
Ringgold, who is still there. he has to
work in the shoe shop from daylight till
evening; but he has been in good health.
Never missed day in the shoe shop. If it
had not been for him / should lave been
dead long before this. He took good care
of me.
sYou have never been concerned in the
ku AUX outrages 20 | inquired.
mo, sir, never. L have never been a Kn
KluX nor have had anything to do with the
outrages. Never saw any ku klUX but
once, and then they came to me in disguise
at midnight. They took me out, and when
they had made me walk about four hundred
yards they asked me how far off was the
graveyard l replied, about tour miles
from my place. Then they told me To go
back and behave myself. That is all |
know about the kn Klux."
''Who had you imprisoned?"
1T was all the work of man named
Barnes. He hated me and wanted to have
me put out OF the way. For this purpose
he went to John ID. Young, u ku kluX
prisoner now in the Albany Penrentiary,
but no relation Of mine, and asked him TO
turn States evidence against me- but John
refused. The next day he was arrested and
tried, and, like me, sentenced TO ten wears
This man Barnes was a United States Com
missioner and had unlimited power in my
county. He was on the grand jury which
wanted TO convict somebody. and they Sc
lected me and my son, Ringgold T. Young.
There are now six Ku KluX prisoners in
the Albany Penitentiary-three from Talla-
poosa and three from Randolph county.
One of them. Chas. howard. is a perfect
idiot; another, named Blanks, Is IA boy"
These remarks i elected from the old
gentleman at lucid intervals for at times he
talked so incoheTently that it was painfully
evident he was on the verge of insanity.
He showed me the pardon granted him by
the President, for which he expressed much
gratitude, saying that he would like to see
Gen. Grant to thank him personally.
When / took leave of Mr.. Young he said,
with the old impulse of hospitality, that if
should ever pass through Youngsville he
would be happy to entertain me. Poor
man! 1t seems scarcely possible that he
will ever reach his home alive. He is in
the last stage of sumption-bodily and
mentally a complete wreck. 1t is "A singu-
lar decree of Providence, that this poor old
man should, after his return from prison,
rest his weary, dying limbs in the same
Honse of Representatives which framed the
law that sent him to the Albany Peniten-
tiary and laid him at deaths door