The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-01-13

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THE swIMs JAIL AT CHATTANOOGA.
The jailer advanced to the middle of the
room, and knoelng down, took q large
key from his pocket, and applying it to n
hole in the floor gave it q turn and then
with great effort raised n ponderous trap
door right at my feet. A rush Of hot air,
and sitting stencil rs from the mouth Of
the pit, smote me in the face and l in
voluntarily rccoilcd backwards; but the
b9yonets of the guard were behind and
tiiore was no escape. The ladder was then
THRUST down, and, long as it was, 1T no
more than penetrated the great depth.
1he w1etches whose voices / could hear
cpnfusedly murmuring below were ordered
to stand from Under, and was compelled
to descend into what seemed more like the
internal regions than any place on earth.
Ii was hard to find the steps OF the ladder
for the candle of the jailer gave almost
no light. and had OH handouts; hut
went down, feeling for each step, to q
depth of some thirteen feet. 1 stepped off
the ladder, treading on human L,iugs
could not discern, and wedged in as beat
might Then the ladder was slowly draw.
mp, and in n moment more the trap fell
with Il dull and heavy sound that seemed
roy Of light vanished was shut into a
living tomb-buried alive!
could feel men around me and hear
dbeir breathing in the darkness, so that
knew the den was crowded full. Though
twas night and cool outside, the heat here
was more than that of n tropic noon, and
tho perspiration soon oozed from every
pore. The feted air and the stencil made
me for n time deadly sick, and, worst of oil,
there was an almost unbearable sense of
suff0cation. i wondered il it could be
possible that they would leave human be-
ings in such place till death came in this
horrible fOrm-death, which could not be
long delayed. / thought of tho Black
Hole of Calcutta, where so many English
men were suffocated in one terrible night
by savage East Indian; had heard of
negroes being burned alive or whipped to
death in our own south; but these horrors
were always, | supposed meant rs VEN
geance for some fiendiSh outrage. Yet Of
all the forms of death, that by slow sufTo-
cation had always appeared most dreadful,
and this now seemed immipent.
As had been brought to this place in
the dark, know nothing of its character,
and after the first moment of stupcfactivn,
resolved to explore its size and nature.
No one of my companions had yet spok eli
to me OF 1 to them. Whether they were
black or white, soldiers or citizens, chained
like myself, or with the free use of their
hands, l could not tell, and l scarcely
liked to ask, lest the answer should add
new misery. jambed my way through
the living throng to the wall and felt
dong it to learn ii there was door or win
dow. There was no door, the only en-
30 ha .ft,I - IL
trap door down which came. Neither
were there any windows, but found two
holes In the wall, opposite each other,
ehch little more than u foot square, and
filled with three rows of iron bars The
walls, as could be told at the holes, were
very thick, being made of an inner case of
oak logs and brick wall outside. Even
in day time, these holes gave little light,
for one was close under the outside stair
way already described, and the other be-
low the Level OF the ground. Yet q little
air could come through the thick set bars,
and served to revive ine-making IL pos.
sible to endure life here for short time.
When the first shock had passed and I
became partially Injured to the terrible
oppression Of tho atmosphere, tried to
ascertain something Of the condition of
my companions. The most fearful de-
sGiption of this place of torment that can
DO given is contained In the plain cold
fgures-thc number of tho prisoners and
the size and manner Of their lodging Be-
fore entered there were fourteen white
men and one negro. This evening the
number was increased to nineteen and
soon after to twenty-five, at which point
it remained for many days. The room
was just thirteen feet square, and about
the same In height. These numbers are
not approximations, but arc meant to b
accepted exactly and literally. Tho entire
of tho room consisted of four
buckets for water and slopsi And here
men had to romain day and
night, with no respite, and no power to
leave tho room for any purpose, for more
Lhan two weekst 1t was possible, rs will
be seen by reference to tho accompanying
sketch, for ell to lie down mt once; but It
required tho incest fitting and no small
logree OF crowding. There were two
rows OF ten persons each, occupying the |
space OF thirteen feet, and two persons
could rest between the feet of tho rows. |
But when one turned, all in his row wero |
obliged to turn likewise; and as all were |
,hnined In some manner, the crowding, |
he ordinations, and the clanking Of |
chains In the black darkness of this dun |
ycon presonted--cspecially at night-as |
good q representation of the realms of the |
n.