The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-01-12

timony read was exclusively er Pdrte
testimony, taken while the gentleman
now on trial before the country was in
prison without hearing and without any
opportunity of hearing. If there was
any principle held sacred in the Anglo.
Saxon mind, it was that an Englishmsn
was not to be condemned until he
should be confronted with his witnesses;
but the testimony was not only erparte,
but it was mutilated, ingeniously mutt.
lated, palpabiy mutilated, most adrotly
mutilated. In this connection Mr.. Hill
referred to the statement of DR.. Jones,
one of the witnesses in the Wirz trial,
who had been sent by the Confederate
government to make report rs to the
condition of Andersonville, but whose re-
port had never reached the Confederate
authorities. That report had, in the
hands of the judge advocate been mutt
lated, and DR.. Jones had called the at
tenton of the court to the fact that one
of the suppressed statements was that
homesckness and disappointments
among the prisoners had been more de-
structive OF life than any physical cause.
During the whole three months OF the
Wirz trial the Federal government, with
a | the means at its disposal, had not pro-
duced q single witness to connect the
name of Mr.. Davis with single atrocity.
Even on the day of his execution, Wirz
had been offered communication Of his
sentence if he would implicate MIR. Davis,
| but WlrZ' answer to his counsel was:
"Mr. Schade, you know | have always
! told you that do not know anything
about jeff Davis He had no connection
with me as to what was done at Ander-
sonville / would not become a traitor
against him or anybody else, even to save
my life"
Mr.. Hill Creates Sensation.
But said Mr.. Hill what poor Wirzy
within two hours of his execution would
not say for his life, the gentleman from
Maine says to the country for the sake Of
keeping the party in power. Sensation.
Sir, christianity may be falsehood, hu-
manity lie and civilization cheatr but
the man who would not make false
charge for his life was never guilty OF
wilful murder.
Mr.. Hill went on to argue that the
logic OF Mr.. Blaine's speech (holding MIR.
Davis responsible for the acts Of Win
der) that President Grant might be held
responsible for the acts of Mcdonald
and Joyce, and he asked wheth'
cr Blaine meant to establish
rule of construction that would author
ize the country to arraign President
Grant for completely in the whisky
frauds. Was Mr.. Grant responsible
he asked, for the Credit Mobiler, for the
Sanborn contract or for the frauds in
the District of Columbia? And yet Mr..
Grant had absolutely sent to the Senate
of the United States TOR confirmation fo-
high Office the name OF man, (allud-
ing TO Alex. X. Sheppard OF
Washington who stood charged
before the country with the
grosscst populations and frauds on this
District after the charges had been
made and while they were pending. He
(HilD was neither the author nor DIS.
ciple of such political logic, but if the
gentlemans (Blaine) proposition with
regard to Mr.. Davis were true then by
the same logic General Grant instead OF
being entitled to third term, was enti-
tied to twenty terms in twenty peniten-
tiaries. Laughter.
The argument was false. 1t was Il
libel on the American rules of law and
was without precedent. No precedent
of it could be found in any civilized
country. He Hill acquitted General
Grant of completely in the whisky frauds
and revenue frauds, and the facts acquit
Mr.. Davis of completely with any attro-
cities anywhere.
Mr.. Hill proceeded to quote the law of
the Confederate government on the SUBJ
iect of the treatment of prisoners, in
which it is provided that the rations of
prisoners of war shall be the same in
quality and quantity as those furnished
to enlisted men in the
army of :he Confederacy. That
law he said was passed by the Confeder-
ate Congress and was approved by Mr.
Davis and was so far as NJ. Davis agen-
CIV was concerned executed. The gentle
man from Maine has gone so far us TO
saw that Mr.. DAVIS had sent General
Winder TO Andersonville for the purpose
| of orgsnlZinga den of horrors. The an
swer to that was an order TO change the
prisoners which Mr.. Hill proceeded to
read, which provides that it shonld be in
healthy location with plenty Of pure
water, a running stream and If possible,
trees in the immediate neighbornood of
grist and saw mills. That he said did
| not look like organizing den of horrors.
Personal "Reminiscences as Pris-
Oner.
Mr.. Blaine had said that no Conieder-
ate prisoner in the hands of the Federal
authorities had suffered, but that they hal
always been allowed to buy whatever
they wanted and the only answer he
would give to that was that he himself
had once had the honor OF beng in a
prison in the North, and the first day of
his imprisonment the officer in charge of
the prison had kindly told him he would
put him en- Andersonville fare, and would
not allow him to buy anything. He
(Hill) only got released from imprIson-
ment after ten days efforts before Gen.
Dix, of New York. He then proceeded
10 discuss the cause ot
The Horrors nj AndersOnviIIe.
He said that the first cause was the
want of medicine. But why? They
could not get medicine. They did not
have medicine in the Confederacy and
the Federal Government had made med
icine contrabsnd OF war, thing which
no country on earth had done before
Not even Duke Alva. Even the general
officers had issued instructions 10 exam
inc women passing the lines; TO search
their petticoa.s even. so as to prevent
their carrying medicine 10 the Confed-
eracy. Who me ssked) was responsible
for ths,2 There wss also another mis-
fortune. and that Was the want OF cloth
ing Clothing OF course had ooen made
contrsbsnd of war He declared that
Whatever horrors existed at Anderson
Vile. not one of them could BE- attributed
to single order OF the Confederate Gov
eminent and that every one Of them
grew out of tue necessity of the occs-
sion. which necessity was fastened on