Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-02-23

me: : on We been shouting, TN to
Richmond for long time, and to
Richmond you shall go We went
there.
Finally we stood outside the walls
of Libby prison, waiting for some
one to come out to notify us to come
in. A gentleman finally came out
and invited us in. There was a big
book on the table. He said it was
the registry book of Libby hotel. We
were taken into another room and
searched. All we possessed was talk
en- out of our pockets. If worth any
thing it was kept, if not it was return
ed. | had $50. That is vast sum
for preacher to have. | will ex-
plain how I had it. 1t was not mine.
| had it in trust for the boys, who
gave it to me for their wives, think
ing | should get safely through the
lines. | said to the man, "That don t
belong to me- He said, Il know
it. 1t belongs to me-" He gave me
a receipt for it and when | came
away | was given $3.50 Confederate
money for it. 1t took $500 of the
money to buy a pair of boots and
81 900 to buy a barrel of flour. l
was cook for twenty men. I made
soup. When it ran low l put in more
water. | wanted to give it home
taste one day and put in an onion.
1t cost $5, The boys thought it
cheap.
The next man searched was q col
onel from New York. He had 500
hidden about him. They said, "Col-
onel, have you any money!" I knew
he had, and | wondered if he would
be forgiven for lying. But he didn't
lie. He said, Look and see." They
didn't see, and the 500 went up
stairs. How [ blessed him. | bor-
rowed some afterward. We went up
stairs. A genuine surprise awaited
us. | had conjured up picture of
men dead and dying, care-wor and
sad. There was a smile on every
face and shout rang out as we en-
tered. They sprang up with cheer
and shouted, ssFresh fish," One of
them.came up to me and said ''How
are -you?" Pretty well," | said.
Why did you not come sooner?' he
queried. Then addressing an imag-
mary person, he said Jim, come
take the gentleman's baggage and
take him to room sc. See that he
don't want for anything" l was as
tonished, but no Jim came.
"Where shall we sleep?" was the
question in Libby. Put your heads
against the wall. The place was
crowded all around. We laid our
heads against the door; l wanted to
go to sleep-I was weary with a
march of hundred miles-suddenly
some one roared, ''Right wheel !"
and every fellow hurried over on his
left side. | asked what that was for.
My next neighbor said, '.When your
bones get tired and you want to turn
you give the command and all wheel
over together" / had seen military
movements in perpendicular but new
er in horizontal before, Morning
came. We were counted. 1t made
one feel funny. 1t was done to see
that we were all there. There was a
sutler there, named Starks. He was
favorite. When his right eye look
ed on you, you could not tell where
his left eye was ranging. Starks
looked at me, and said, ''Sometimes
we are here, sometimes we are not. !"
| found out to escape was a dream
by night, and conspiracy by day.
One night some of the men escaped
through a tunnel. sixty feet long.
More would have escaped, only fat
man got jammed in. 1t was the
grandest escapade of the campaign.
When a man escaped he was hunted
with bloodhounds. / have seen Nero,
the head of them, myself. / tried to
cultivate a friendship, but did not
succeed. A colored man told me
there was no trouble getting rid of
the hounds. All you had to do was
to dig hole with your heel, fill it
with cayenne pepper, and when the
dog shifted it he would give up the
pursuit.
We started a school in the prison
and had lessons in German, French,
Latin and Greek. and we had law
school. The only graduate was B.
F. Black, member now of Beecher's
church. When l left the prison he
told me to tell a young lady in Gin
cinnati that he would not 90 to col
lege again, but would marry her as
soon as he got home. | did so and
she was glad to hear it. l met her af-
terward on Fulton street He had
carried out the programme. We
started weekly paper. Every Sun
day we came together to hear it read.
The articles were written on all sorts
of paper, in ink and in pencil. The
crowd would roar with laughter and
the guard would say "They are hav-
ing good time" We resolved not
to have our funeral before we died.
One day we were called down
stairs; several captains and two chap
lains. There was little table with
box on it; we were told two men
must be selected for execution. We
were to nick ont the names from the