The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-01-27

| handcuilS. They economical in the use
Of the latter by making one pair serve
| for two men, the right hand of the one
and the left Of the other being locked to-
gether. Reddick was the first to whom
| was strongly attached for some time, but
was afterward glad to exchange him for
Buffum, who had very small hand and
was able by II little painful squeezing to
draw it ont altogether, leaving me with
simply pair of cuffs dangling from my
left hand.
That this terrible place was swarming
with yermin, not only rats and mice, but
other kinds, smaller and worse, will lie
understood without further statement, as
well as our helplessness in guarding
against them while i'm the dark and in
chains, with not even az much water a.
we needed for drinking. One OF the
grievances Of the jailer was the great
amount Of water we drank, or rather
wished Ia drink, for our persuasions
shouted up through the trap door could
not induce him 10 greatly increase the
| allowance which he deemed right, but the
officer Of the guard would sometimes
order him to bring us more, which he
would do with great grumbling. Usually
the water buckets would be empty long
before the time at the giving of food
when he judged il proper to replenish
them.
Hunger was also very pressing. and as
one or two of the number had managed
when searched to secrete a little money
all the rest had been taken from us-we
resolved 10 Try to buy additional food.
Accordingly Swims was asked il he would
buy for lis. lie asked the guard, and,
finding no objections, said: eyes; you can
buy, if you have the money" We had a
very earnest consultation as TO the form
in which the money would go the fur
thest, and finally settled on wheat bread
and molasses, as the latter was very
cheap. The money was handed up in the
evening, and we made great calculations
on having II royal breakfast next morning
all we could eat. The time came, and
we Were more eager than usual for the
lowering of the bucket, but when it was
seized there was only the starving allow
ance Of corn bread and spoiled pork!
Some one called out: ''Swims, how about
the wheat bread and molasses:" He
leaned over and said, in his slowest and
most provoking tones: Boys, j lost
that money! Could we have reached
him, | am not sure that he would not
have been lost also! 1t is hard to imag-
inc how angry starving men could get
under the circumstances. We called to
the officer of the guard who came to the
trapdoor and heard our grievance, but
only laughed ut us. saying that il we
trusted Swims with our money we would
have to take the consequences. Fortu-
nately we had not put quite all our funds
on this one venture, and the officer tried
his hand with better results; but the
amount purchased was too small to be of
any considerable benefit.
A very erroneous impression would he
given the reader if he imagined that we
spent our time here in nothing hut help
lessly bemoaning our misery. There were
times when our situation seemed over
whelming; but usually we kept our minds
busy during waking hours i'm telling
stories, in specializing on the prospects Of
the war, or planning escape. We had no
idea that the rebellion would last much
longer; the great armies of Mcclellan and
Halleck, we thought, would soon crush
their opponents, and Mitchell would be
upon Chattanooga, and thus deliver us
from our horrible confinement Could we
live but little longer the chances of de-
iverance were good.
We also talked much of home life and
friends, and thus became really acquainted
for the first time. Hitherto we had known
little of each other; but now this inter-
change of thought and history brought us
close together, and caused the hours TO
pass very much more pleasantly. We
talked of future plans when we should be
released from this place. We permitted
no one to get dOwnspirited. Had we been
confined in solitude the dread and fore
boding would have been more terrible.
But we made league against fear and
fretting.
Every preCaution was taken to preserve
our health that we might be able when
there came chance for escape. No one
was allowed TO stand so as to Obstruct the
ventilation through the wall holes; the
exercise possible i'll such a limited space
was taken; and the help and good will of
all was a wonderful relief; hut we needed
every possible support.
When all of our party were brought
into the prison we carefully reviewed the
situation and ascertained how much the
enemy had learned in regard to us. Most
had already given names and regiments,
and had claimed TO DE American soldiers.
Nothing could he gained therefore, by
denyin. what we had done. or our true
character. The first could be proved by
those who saw us on the train, by our
captors, or by our own admissions; the
latter, so far from wishing to deny, was
our only possible defense. We therefore
resolved that we would say, when ex-
amined, that we had been appointed by
our officers to serve under q man whom
we had never seen, but whom we sup
posed to be an officer from some other
regiment or brigade; that the nature of
our service was not clearly made known
to us further than it was to destroy some
line of communications in the enemy's
country; that we were in citizens clothing
only that we might not alarm the citizens
among whom we were to travel; that we
did not see any pickets of the enemy or
pass them at any point; that We were in
no camp: that we supposed our expedi-
ton to be within the rules of war and
ourselves entitled to protection as prison.
ers of war: that we had obeyed Andrews
as we considered ourselves bound in duty
to do; and that if we made false repre-
sensations, il was only what we were led
to do by fear Of discovery. We were not
to say anything about Campbell being only
citizen; and were to refuse under all cir
cumstances to tell who our engineer was.
Admitting that we were under the or
ders of Andrews would not in the least
proved from what he was actually seen to
do on the train, and he had already de-
clared as much when captured. But we
never revealed anything that would throw
light on his employment as spy in our
service. The story which We thus planned
to tell was so closely adhered to that the
enemy never learned that we were volun-
teers and intelligent participants in the
enterprise.
None of us knew just the line of de-
Tense taken by Andrews, or upon what he
based the hopes he did, certainly, to some
extent, entertain: hut the following is the
most probable:
He was known to the southerners as a
blockade runner. This trade, if he could
only persuade the Federals to permit it,
was of great advantage to the Confeder-
| ates. He might afford to do good deal
for the Federals, and the balance of ad-
vantage be still on the Confederate side.
Now he claimed that he was offered by
Gen. Mitchell, who greatly wanted an en-
CINE, the privilege of trading south to the
extent of $1,000 per month as long as the
war lasted on the simple condition that
he would seize an engine and carry it
through, he tMitcheD supplying the men
for the enterprise. andrews did disclaim
to the enemy that he intended to burn any
bridges, or do any harm beyond the COM
paratively trifing one of carrying off this
| engine.
The defense was but feeble, though it
was possibly as good as could be made
under the circumstances. But the enemy
had no notion that n Federal general like
Mitchell would send his men away down
to the heart of Georgia for an engine,
when, as experience showed, he had been
| able 10 get them 10y the score in Kentucky