The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1877-06-21
A Renaissance of Libby Prison.

| 1uO WHO VI utHcFdl hlCh0ILS ma
just returned from Boston, where sh,
has been making a visit. Mis-. Rick
etts, besides being one of the clever
est and one of the handsomest of oul
society leaders, is the heroine of .
series of such spirited adventure
that | cannot refrain from giving ;
few of them as | heard them from
her husbands lips.
AT the breaking out of the wal
Captain Ricketts, was ordered t.
Washington, whence he proceeded
almost Immediately to the front
His command was one of the few
that stood by their guns during the
Bull Run disaster until the gray
wave of battle, with its crest of smoke
and blood, dashed up the little height
on which this battery was placed,
overwhelming the gunners with
death, and turning the still hot can.
non on the retreating soldiers. The
captains horse was killed, and at
the same moment o ball struck his
leg, breaking it, and obliging him to
fall helplessly with the horse, the
broken limb bearing the weight Of
the animal. AS matter Of course he
was captured, and as they dragged
him along to an ambulance, his spurs
caught at every step in the grass and
earth, jerking the wounded leg and
causing exquisite agony, Finally he
groaned aloud and young lielten.
ant loosed the spurs and took them
off, and he tainted, waking up some
time after to find himself in Libby
prison, confined in a small, close
room with fourteen other unfortu-
nates. There he lay day after day,
his wound undressed, himself un-
washed, unkempt uncared for, list
lessly watching the light creep out at
night through the window bars and
scarcely caring whether he saw it in,
return next morning, for death
seemed the only release from this
living grave, until one morning he
heard u little hustle at the door, and
O few minutes after his name was
called in a voice he had ceased hop
ing to hear again, and then his wife
threw herself on the floor beside him,
and gave way to uncomfortable emo
ton for few minutes.
But like tho brave woman she is,
she saw that tears would not help
the case, and drying her eyes she set
about making him more comfortable.
Unrolling heavy travelling shawl
she spread it on some straw, and
with the help Of two or three of her
husbands fellow-sufferers laid him on
it. Then she unpacked a bundle and
took out some clean linen, in which
she dressed him: then a bottle of
cologne, with which she bathed his
head and face; then pair of scissors,
with which the wild beard and hair
were clipped, and brush and comb,
with which they were we'll dressed;
then a clean handkerchief, which
was saturated with cologne and put
in his hand, and when all this was
done he felt, he says, Gas happy as
a king" 900.
Leaving the prisoner for half an
hour, she went and brought tea and
coffee, q stove with a spirit lamp,
bread, and dozen little things; call
ed on a surgeon, former intimate
friend of both, secured his services,
and was back before the captain had
persuaded himself it was not all a
dream.
And then began her ministry
among those fourteen prisoners, sew
eral of whom had bad flesh wounds
in horrible condition from want of
and to all of whom she
was as faithful sister. Declining
the invitations skowered upon her
by her former friends, calmly meet
ing all objections and remonstrances
offered to her plans, she lived in the
prison for three months, sleeping on
the floor, with only a shawl between
her body and the boards, divided
from the rest of the room by screen
of blankets, and subject to the de-
mand of her selfchosen patients at
any and all hours of the day and
night, washing and dressing disgust
ing wounds two or three times aday,
and making sunshine for them all
until an exchange ofprisoners set her
husband and herself free. Two years
afterward she got into o car at the
corner of Broadway and Fifth avenue
in New York, with her mother. 1t
was full, and she stood a moment
without seat. Suddenly great
six-footer sprang up at the endof
the car and sung out: "Gentleman,
stand up, every one of you, and take
off your hats; for this is Mrs. General
Ricketts,, who nursed fourteen of as
in Libby prison for three months.
God bless herw And they did stand
up, and led by her former patient,
cheered until the street rang, she in
the meantime, half provoked, half
:, ~ ,,cad oD6 vUho w .,,,,1a az ,a ccod