Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-04-10
AUGUST 2Jth, 1871.

II MARION, MCDOWELL Co., JAIL
On Sunday morning last, (the 20th)
Andy ScngG!ns notified SIX OF my fel-
low. prisoners and myself, that We must
lie ready to start for Raleigh in Ten
minutes. Imagine OR diSmny, We
had been assured repeatedly that we
should have ample notice of any
orders for our removal; there
fore were unprOvidcu with money,
extra linen, travelling bags, or any Of
the many little articles necessary IL a
lengthy soiOurn in distant prison
Our keepers had deceived us i'll this
manner de.ignedIy, as they were aware
ii the movement on the proceeding
DAY hut fllsehood and meanness are
So characteristic of the mOngrels that
w made no reprOacies or complaints.
! NV comrades were called ont one by
one, AMI an ominous cIaclling Of chain Is
il the adjoining room told me that the
climax OF outrage and cowardly perse-
ciitiOn was being enacted. When my
turn came L found young Padgett,
John Cooley, J. II. Sweezey, VIM.
Edgerton and my brother, already
IsttnGcllU; q Il q citGiI, and five or SIX
mongreis, armed with sevcn-shOoting
carbincs, standing guard over them
! negro blacksmith, with hinge ham
mer, stood ready to rivet the bolts
NV brother could not restrain lis III
GignatiOu, but declared it q shameful
piece CT political malice to treat as fell
ons respectable men, who had never
been SO much as examined before Il
magistrate. This was indeed the truth,
but it was Inwise for him to say it :;
because the brutal Jim Scoggins took
advantage Of the situation to bluster
and insult us all, Oh the strength OF it.
When ordered to submit my wrists
| to be handcufied, ] said: 81 solemnly
protest against this indignity : it is
unnecessary, cruel and cowardly. =
| But as a matter of course the brave
| fellows. armed with seven shooters,
| were indifferent to the protest of I'M
| armed prisoners.
A great asselnblagc Of negroes, and
| their white interiors, were at the jail
door, Sunday though it was, to see the
| delectablo spectacle OF a number OF
| respectable citizens being carried
away from their homes i'll irons.
We were placed in tHo covered wag-
ons, with about forty armed scala
wags and negroes to act as an so)rt.
| The village seemed deserted as VIC
slowly moved through it but [ well
knew that hundreds Of indignant eyes
were flashing from unseen points OF
observation. Col. Cebe Harris led the
cavalcade.
The ride Of twenty-eight miles thro
TIC 5,h:. ) i.s>asg + phc mountain. occ1
pied the entire day, and Ill tic twilight
of the Sabbath evening we were lodged
in the little two STORED jail of Marion,
the county seat of Mcdowell county.
And now we found ourselves thrust
into another cage similar to the one
occupied at Rutherford, except that il
is much smaller, and filthy beyond de
scription. One Shehan, thief, wa!
already in possession of the only bit O
clean flooring in the cage, and the ad
dition Of our party filled the cage Sc
that it is just physically impossible fol
ali OF us TO lie down at once.
Later in the evening, the laliel
brought us some cold green beans ane
scraps for supper but being afraid
or too lazy, to open the cage door, he
placed the platter outside the bars
compelling those, whose hunger over
came their dignity, to claw the foot
between the bars, like monkeys reach
ing for cilesnuts.