New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-21


verge of insanity, though l tried hard to
retain control Of my Senses To protect
myself from madness deliberately under.
took to number my own pulsations. and to
calculate the probable duration of the vital
forces which still asserted themselves in
my physical system.
1t seemed to me that had already lain
for hours in my narrow prison, and mar
veled, not only at my own powers of en-.
dnrance. but 1t the apparent freshness Of
the air, after had breathed it again and
again in place Of such limited dimensions.
Eventually was startled by noises more
dreadful than any had ever heard. The
loudest artillery of heaven seemed to be
be discharged directly in my ears, and l
expected in an instant to be crushed out of
existence by forces that could not COM
prehend.
Relieved of an agony which had become
intolersble by . merciful unconeciousness,
l knew nothing moro till discovered men
engaged in releasing me from my dark and
perilous place of confinement. The lid of
my coffin. like chamber had been raised,
and Mr.. Glover and the mill workmen ten
derly lifted me back into the sunshine of
conscious existence, and promptly minis
tered to my necessities.
The mystery of my disappearance and
experience is easily explained. When the
food from the mill dam rushed into the
fiume, the workmen, aware of the charac-
ter Of the danger, managed to escape. For
may part, happened to be seated on .
small block of wood in front of the open
gateway of the sluioe employed to convey
water to the independent wheel by which
logs were hauled from the pond into the
mill. This suice was two feet wide and
probably eighteen inches in height where
it bra nched off from the fume, but at the
point where it discharged its water into the
wheel it was reduced in size to six or eight
nches square. With the first rush of the
water into the fume l was instantly sucked
cad first into the sluice. and the gate clos
ing behind, left me there imprisoned. For
tunately, my whole body got into the box
before the gate was closed, or my legs
would have been broken; if not, they would
have prevented the gate from closing, and
the sluice would have been kept go full Of
water that should certainly have been
suffOcated. A. it was, the water was shut
off behind me, and q supply of fresh air
was furnished through the small end of the
sluice, toward which had been forced as
far a. possible.
From Mr.. Glover learned that when the
accident occurred, none present could &C.
count for my disappearance. They all
thought that had in some manner got fast.
ened to the bottom of the fume. and, sup
posing me to be drowned, spent b alf an hour |
corpse. At length the possibility that had |
been sucked INTO one of the sluices was
suggested, and thereupon the search for nv |
poor remains was turned in q new direction.
Sluice after sluice was dismantled, and it |
was the descent of weapons on the one in
and crazed me with q din that, to my be-
wildered senses, seemed absolutely Internal.
Though welcomed back to life as one
who had witnessed come of the most
gloomy shadows Of "the dark valley" /
was really surprised at the speed Of my
own recovery. True, my injuries were not
as severe as might have been expected; but
it can net be denied that my escape was
was somewhat bruised about
the shoulders, and the nervous excitement
occasioned by my mysterious imprisonment
could not easily be shaken off; but never
had reason to suppose that my involuntary
dash through the sawmill gate and the ter
rors of the middle passage were perman-
entity detrimental to my health.
Mrs. Glover seemed to be as much re-
oiced at my deliverance as if had been
her son, and her husband was kinder to me
than ever. but ! found that for months af.
terward the horrors of my Imprisonment
we're strangely renewed in dreams. From
ny waking consciousness the impression
loon wore away; but in the slumbers of the
hight ! was often forced back to the mar
:ow isthmus which connects the eternity of
he past with the eternity of the future
ENLIsT-CAMP LIFE-wAR REMrNIsCENCEs-
THE FORGET-ME-N oT-THE Welded bull
LETs-MUsTERED OUT.
When the war between the North and
south became inevitable l was filed with
he fever Of patriotic enthusiasm, and en-.
listed on the first call for troops. To me
he Union had always been regarded as
omething sacred, and the national flag as
he symbol of a sovereignty which should
ever be questioned or disturbed. The de.
aand for secession on the part of the South |
eemed at once political and moral crime,
nd to make that demand because of the |
dvance of abolition principles, and for the
urpose of establishing an Independent gov
rnment, in which the protection and per-
etuatiOn of slavery were fundamental OBJ
3cts. was considered by me as not only a
rhine, but as q challenge to the patriotism {
nd courage Of the entire North and West. I
felt that freedoms spirit should go guide I
he impending storm as to thoroughly &C. G
rent the Union and destroy the danger of i
secession for all future time.
The novelty of camp life was at first at.
ractive, but that feature wore off with the
loss of my first regimentals. My desire to
erve my country continued. however, with c
zeal, and in studying the conf e
alities of the camp and the serious actuali.
es Of the conflict my mind was kept ef- l
actually employed. t
Before being mustered into service had | b
ecome tolerably expert as q short hand
ritter, and kept up the study with more il
1oco nf onnf;n 1o,:r- l