Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-07-08
SnTarinrs in Ahrssinia.

We cut the following from the New
York Times. which paper prints itfrom
a private letter from Cairo.
The close coincidence of the mar
rative with what we have ourselves
read in private letters convinces us
that the officer thus treated was our
friend, DR.. T. d. johnson, of this
place. His friends will read it with
earnest sympathy for his sufferings and
the warmest congratulations upon his
escape:
ITO an American tbs only necessary
to say that the American staff officers
connected with the expedition did their
duty Enthusiastically. Three were
wounded, one of whom was captured
though afterward released, after some
suffering from ill-treatment.
You may form some idea of his suf-
fering, the horrors of his dreams night
and day, when | tell you that he was
severely wounded in the leg, then cap
tured, stripped to the skin, arms tied
behind his back until the pains from
theswelling became excruciating; made
to walk thus for days without meat or
drink, in the unobscured sun of Abys-
sinia, with the full conviction that if
he did not keep up with the horsemen
he would be murdered. Hewas made
to sleep without cover (naked) in the
mountains, where the nights are so
cold that two wooden blankets, in ad-
dition to the ordinary night clothing,
are but comfortable. Then, several
days after capture, to see in all direc-
tons prisoners and friends forced by
the pricks of spears to flee for their
lives, and then barbarously shot down,
with the fear every moment that his
turn would come next; yes, in the midst
of the frightful massacre to be seized
by three or four Abyssinians and hur-
ried to a neighboring hill where the
foul deed could be more privately ac-
complished-more in harmony with
the usages of the people; and in as
cending to be halted at large rock,
behind which he thought to say adieu
to earth, and on which two of his
guardsmen and executioners sharpened
their semi-circular shaped sabres,
whose grating suggested thoughts of
such horrible mangliDg by their scimi
tars, dull and awkardly welded, as to
find pleasurable emotions at the sight
of an Abyssinian with gun near, by
whom he begged to shoot him. Every
large rock they came to was the same
thing repeated, until they got near the
summit, when horseman, it is sup
posed from King John. ordered their
return, and our friends escape from a
barbarous death. For two weeks he
was guarded by boys whom he was OBJ
liged to follow, and who delighted in
tortnring him by treatening motions of
mutilations and death. To be brought
up in the Injuries of American high
life, and then suddenly transformed
into a naked Abyssinian, living in the
tropics during the day and in frigid
atmosphere during the night, living on
foul water and barly broken between
stones, with constant fear of death
for forty.eight days, is an experience
to which many constitutions harder
than that of our friend would have
succumbed. Don't you imagine the
friction on the nerves would have be-
come audible by this time? or would
they have become inaudible?
OF the headquarters staff three
were killed and eight were wounded.
Among the wounded are Col. Dye,
Major johnson, NJ. D., and Major
Wilson, M. ID. DR.. johnson has
quite recovered; the other two will in
time. Let me assure you that if the
expedition did not meet the expecta-
tons of those persons who thought the
subjugation of Abyssinia was intended,
it was not the fault of Americans.
They were under orders, and contrib
uted far more than their share in car
rying the expedition to a successful
close"