Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-07

the statements Of Mr.. Gray and asso-
ciates.
Libby Prison is on Twentieth street,
cast side. between Cary aud dock.
Chicago Is go miles from Rich
moud-a pretty distance to move q four
story warehouse.
HISTORICAL.
The warehouses known as Libby
Prison were erected about 1870 by John
Fnders, father o! the present John
Enders. They may have been first
rsed as tobaccO-factories subsequent. =
the corner house was occupied iy Has
Lins & Libby, ship chambers Orchard
o. Hnskins AMI Cherries Libby). Mr..
Haskins was prominent local Demo
crat, and Libby gave his name to Libby .
Hill.
The Confedcrates used it mostly to
confine commissioned officers and for the
reception and registration OF prlyates
destined for Andcrsonyille, Salisbury.
and Belle Isle. In this way some 10000
or jO.0O1 prisoners probably crossed It's
threshold. The Office OF the cOmmandant
WAS Mt the northeast corner From this
prison in February. 1864, 100 prisoners,
led by Colonel Streight, managed to
escape. They got into the basement and
tunnelled under the east wall into the
PREMISES adjoining used for stable and
storage purposes. More than half OF
them were recapturcd.
When the Fcderals possessed them
selves OF the city IN April, 1860, they
caused the arrest OF q great number OF
" obnoxious Confcdcrates and kept
them confined IN the Libby. Colonel
Robert Ould, Confederate Commissioner
for the Exchange of Prisoners, and
Major Isaac II. Darlington, Confederate
Provost Marshal of the city, were two OF
the prominent officers thus confined, and
there they formed the co-partnership IN
law of the afterwards famous finn OF
Ould 4, Darlington.
Two regiments of local militia, Col
onels Thomas J. Evans and -- Dan
forth. and the Tweuty-fith battalion OF
local troops Gn which was the company
of Captain l.. l.. Bass guarded the
Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, Belle
Isle, &c.
The commandant of the prison was
Major Thomas p. Turner and the adIu-
tant was Lieutenant John LatOuche.
Removal OF the Prisoners nt the
Evacuation.
A recent wIiter who signed himself
Carter" and who was connected with
one of the flag -of-truce boats, recently
contributed the following, descriptive Of
the events OF Evacuation Day, TO a city
paper:
That there WIS something wrong was
evident to careful observer so, after
a late breakfast, l sauutered into the
Office of the Exchange Bureau to learn
if there were any orders for us. / asked
no questions, rs the officer gave me no
time. but intimated that 1 would 90 well
TO Get to my work, and that pretty
d. O." Hurrying past the Libby found
the inmates were being quietly filed out,
while in front of the building there
stood in line a body of some 800 prl-
soners lust brought over from the
Petersburg lines. Their speedy
transit back TO their own lines
must have been a surprise to them in
deed they were not for one hour regu-
larIy prisoners. Their bright uniforms
contras.ed strangely with the thousand
or more Of their compatriots who bad
for MANY weeks or months known the
lnxurics that a prisoner OF war had to
put up with
There were in all perhaps some sixteen
hundred officers and men, although no
rolls were furnished.
OF this large body the William Allison
Captain GitlorD took somo thirteen
hundred. while smaller craft, the W.
w Townes, commanded 10y Captain
Cuupingh .m, received the remainder.
TTb,s So two boats then comprised the
entire force available Tor transportation,
the A, H.. Schultz, commanded by Cap
tain ID. ]. Hill, having been blown up
some few weeks before by one of our
own torpedoes as she was returning from
Coxe's wharf, where she had landed three
hundred Federal prisoners, but luckily
brought back no Confederates IN return. ]
On our boat, the Allison, were some
fifty or more Federal officers, from lieu
tenants to major-generals. i was re-
peatedly asked by persons OF this party
the reason why no paroles had been ex'
acted of them. Not considering 1t my
duty to ask questions or answer them, !
replied in each case that new system oi
exchange had been adopted by, which
the entire body would be paroied after
landing.