The National tribune., 1882-09-02


water in our wards. Some of them are flied
with gangrene, and we are compelled to fold
our arms and look qui stly upon its ravaGes,
not even having slim ulants to support the
system under its dep, essing inauence-this
article being so limited in supply that 1t can
only be issued for cases under the knife.
would respectfully call yeur earnest atten-
ton to the above .acts, in the hope that
something may be done to alleviate the sut-
farings Of the sick" Nothing whatever was
done. The following is a portion of the testl-
mony of Surgeon bates: The men would
gather around me aud ask me for n bone.
= found the men, as a general thing,
destitute, partly naked sick and diseased.
Their disposition was to get something to
eat 1 understood that it was against the
orders to take any thing in TO the prisoners,
and hence I was shy in slipping anything
into nv pockets for them. The
efiuyia from the hospital was very offensive.
If bv accident my hand was abraded l would
not 90 into the hospital without putting
plaster over the affected part. If persons
whose systems were reduced by inaniticn
should perchauce stump a toe or scratch the
hand the next report to me was gangrene,
SO potent was the regular hospital gangrene.
The prisoners We're more thickly confined
IN the stocbade-like ants and bees. The
dogs referred to were to hunt prisoners who
escaped. Fifty per cent of the prisoners who
died might have been saved. ! feel safe in
saying seventy-five per cent. might have been
saved if the prisoners had been properly
cared for All lived each for him
self 1 suppose this was sureriuduced by
their starving condition. / remarked TO my
student, L cannot resuscitate them; the
weather is chilling; it is a matter of impos-
sibility' l found persons lying dead some
times among the living, and thinking that
they merely slept went 10 wake them up,
but found they had taken their everlasting
sleep. This was in the hospital. Judge it
was the same in the stOckade. The daily
ration was less in September, October, No
vember, and December than it was from the
1st of January to the 26th of March, 1854
The men had not over twenty ounces of food
for twentY-four hours. X The scurvy
there was next to rottenness. Some of the
patients could not eat because there was no
mastication. Their teeth were loose. In
consequence of the paucity and unwhole-
sOmeness of the rations some of the men
starved to death. The amputations and re-
amputatiOns owing to gangrenOus wounds,
were numerous. Saw men crawl On the
ground with tin cups in their mouths be
cause they could carry these articles in no
other way" These reports entitle their
writers to respect and honor; but no living
man, friend or foe, could adequately depict
the scenes of that revolving prison. In the
month OF August alone three thousand dead
men were carried out.)
Oct Gib.-The bright page in the history
of AndeIsonviile is the heroism displayed by
the prisoners. All that any of Us need to do
10 he Immediately marched from this abode
of death is to inform rebel sergeant that
we wish to enlist in the rebel army. Every
inducement is held out TO us to do so. Even
commissions may be had by the talented.
Your Government has abandoned you" is
the periodical shibboleth we hear, until we
deicst the very words embodied in the
phrase. And yet, while thousands and
thousands and thousands have been borne
from this stockade TO the graveyard, not
twenty men have violated the oaths they
took to their country. The Spartans died
speedily az Thermopyl9, led by a king, with
arms in their hands, with the bright sun
died deaths of honor and won imperishable
fame. Here our comrades have died in the.
mud and flth despised and scofed at; died
long, lingering deaths of torture that drove
hundreds of them mad before they died
and they chose such deaths with delibera-
ton rather than dishonor the humble names
they bore. They are dying around me now
in the same way, and hundreds are entering
upon the slow decline that they know will
terminate in death. Thermopyle is not TO
be compared to Andersonvillei
oct. Th.-It appears to be natural for hui
man society TO produce aristocrats. We
have them even in here. A policeman, for
instance, who performs his duty for the sake
of getting an extra daily ration, puts on as
many airs as a major-general, and regards
an ordinary prisoner with lofty contempt.
The same thing will apply to the well-tc,do
owner Of a sutler stand, or any other upstart
who has been shrewd enough to make q lit
tie money and keep his stomach from com
planning Widespread animosity is develop
ing against the police force, now under q
new Chief, by reason Of the harsh and des-
potic administration of affairs There would
be fight right away if the police were not
so well organized, and so superior in physi-
cal strength to the other prisoners. A ck ange
in the administration can only be brought
about by a regular revolution, accompanied
by hard fighting. Our supply of fuel il now
q very liberal one, and last night the stock
ade looked quite cheerful with many even
ing fires. We have gathered up all the tent
stakes and rubbish left by the departed pris-
oners, and Wirz has commenced to allow us
to send out daily details to gather up loose
wood and limbs in the adjoining forests
With boughs, pine-tops and mad, many pris.
oners have constructed very serviceablC
shelters. "Give the devil his due"
oct. Sh.-The reason there is always
money in circulation in this stccl:ade is
chiefly because the new prisoners. before
entering, outwit the rebels who search them
Coat buttons are often pried apart and made