The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1880-11-27
LIBBY PRISON AT AUCTION.
Sale Of the Famous Confederate
Stronghold at Richmond.
"reminiscences Of Place Whose Name
is Still Terrihls--The Odd Dis
appearance Of q Lot OF
Yams.
Ricbmond Cor. New York Sun.

military Jail OF the confederate govern
ment. was sold at auction under deeo OF
of trust. The auctioneer stated that the
property is now being rented as TOBACCO
factory at $50 month. The building was
started at $500, and went up by slow de-
grees TO Sc, 600. The auetioneer SAID re-
Droachfully that it cost over half this
amount TO put down the piles upon which
the building was erected. lie then sug
Rested that such was the value OF the his
torical associations of the building that it
il were pulled down the bricks could easily
be sold at the north for 81 apiece, and as
there was 100000 bricks, thu building
would bring $4,000. He would however
be satisfied to sell it for less money.
This appeal sent the bidding to Sbr12o,
and it was knocked down to Mr.. James L.
Gray, young capitalist OF TINS CITY
The building is now occupied by Mr.. I.
M Rovken az tobacco factory. 4 crowd
of negroes looked through the upper story
iron bars, interested spectators OF the
sale. =,
Llbhyl prison was the most famous OF
the confederate military prisons, and by
the confederate government it was ranked
as the most secure, although the success
of the tunnelhng enterprise OF Strelght,
Rose, and others rather deprecated the
idea Of its safety. and caused Maj. Turner
to double his guards. The Libby in out
ward appearance has changed little since
the war. Even the sign, although now
much weather stained and rather indlstinct
is there still-"Libby Prison" The iron
bars have been taken away from the win
dows and sold as old iron. Soon after the
war the prison was without tenants. bat
finally O northern gentleman rented It and
fitted it up as q sumac warehouse. Sub
seouentIy il was used as a tobacco steam
ery, and then as a tobacco factory, Inc
building has q front Of 40 feet and depth
los feet. When it was used as prison It
was divided into nine rooms, each l02 1eet
long and IS feet wide. The partitions
have been knocked down. In many
places on the walls there can still be seen
letters and dates carved in the bricks Dy
federal captives Scattered about there
are designs by those prisoners who were
artisncally inclined and had turn for the
sculptor's art. Skulls. crossbones. Scofhns,
chains, are mixed up with more ambitious
attempts in the shape of thin-legged ami
mails, which the beholder's fancy can take
for horses, COWS, or dragons.
Men who were confined in the Libby
are scattered all over the union. and yet
it NAV be doubted whether there is one 10
hundred who knows the history OF LlbDy
prison. 1t was built as a warehouse by
an old citizen of Richmond, Mr.. Libby, and
up to ten years before the war he occupied
the building. When the war began the
sign, Libby Il Sons, ship chambers and
grocers". was over the entrance. and re-
manned there up to the year 1868. Many
a federal prisoner will remember seeing
it. Old Mr. Libby lived on Church hill,
in the lower portion of the city, near the
historic St. Johns church, in which
Patrick Henry delivered his immortal
Grafton. concluding but for me, give me
liberty or give me death" This hill, over
looking the river, since the war has been
turned into park, and is known as Libby
Hill park. In his warehouse Mr.. Libby
amassed large fortune.
Libby prison was not the first choice of
the confederate government as military
prison. Soon after the commencement of
hostilities the authorities began to look
around for suitable building as a prison
for union soldiers They fixed ppon a
large building in what is known as Lump
kin's alley. This was the first military
prison in Richmond, and. perhaps. the
south, and was called castle Goodwin"
1t had been built and used as Jail for
the housing of slaves before they were
sold. Lumpkin's alley was filled with
these large houses called 'jails", and here
the slave sales took place. Castle Goodwin
had not been 10 use a year before it was
found to small for the accommodation of the
prisoners and the confederate authorities
fixed upon the large warehouse of Libby
d Sons, ''on the dock"
Castle Goodwin was nearly mile from the
river and in a low and swampy portion of
the city. lt is q singular fact that none
of the Libby prison officials are now in
Richmond, There is quite q number of ex-
confederates who acted as guards at the
prison still living here. Maj. Turner, the
commandant of the Libby, was one OF the
youngest officers in the confederate service.
ana his rank was owing TO the fact that
he had been at West Point When the
states seeded he was a cadet there, and
at once resigned and came south He
hello the position of commandant of the
Libby until the lose OF the war, when he
went to Mexico and experienced an adven
tureus life with Macmillan. Afterward
he returned to Mississippi, studied
dentistry, and one of his guards says that
he is now successful dentist in III emphis,
To-day in speaking of the,Bale Of the Libby
Mr., Joseph Wingfeld, an ex-guard, told
his experience on a memorable hight while
standing sentinel over the prisoners there.
80 the old prison is sold. is it?" he
said. w ell. gentlemen, / never go by
that place without laughing now. | can't
HSlp tHiUkiD& VI tue CuIe LTlck piayod by
lot of Yankees there. The fact is it was
so good that, although had been ordered
to shoot in among them. | disobeyed
orders. Ii was about '63.zand the Libby
building was SO crowded that it wouldn't
hold any more prisoners, SO they put a
large lot Of them in the second
story of the building across the street.
Soon after these prisoners came the prison
0thclais got large supply of sweet
potatoes Irregular yatns) from North Caro-
lima and stored them on the first floor OF
the building in which those prisoners were
confined, Big sweet potatoes were luxur-
les in those days, and Turner and those
fellows kept strict watch over the build
ing, can tell you. The third day alter
they had been slowed away it was noticed
that they were disappearing at the rate
OF about bushel day, At first it was
thought that tie rats took them, but a
second thought showed that the idea was
absurd. Sentinels were posted all around
the building with orders TO shoot any
man they caught stealing those yams, but
they don't see any body to shoot, and
although they were posted there day and
night, and no one was allowed to enter the |
room in which the potatoes were kept, they |
continued to disappear at the rate of q
Dushel a day, The confederatcs cav
their yams disappearing ia this way, and
were fQrlnnS Tho thin,r xuao