The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-01-26
CHAPTER XVII.
nOOnrrD,

DOOMED
Others of our party Joined us in bands
OF two or three at short intervals and told
Us the thrilling story Of their adventures.
After little the East Tennesseeans were
removed from the lower to the upper
room as others OF our number were
brought until at last we were all below
and they Were all taken out, so that we
had the. dreadful place to ourselves.
Buftum, with grim Ielmor, would greet
the new arrivals, saying In his nasal way:
well, boys, they took you in out Of the
dewp'
Every one was brought in chained in
some manner, but expected when put
into such q dungeon that these irons
would be removed. In this we were mis-
taken. Either from an excess Of precau-
ton or from the wish to punish US the
irons were retained. Some were fastened
together by neck chains and others by
handouts. 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 or the other being locked to-
gether. Reddick was the first to whom I
was strongly attached for some time, but
was afterward glad to exchange him for
Buffum, who had very small hand and
was able by a little painful squeezing to
draw it out altogether, leaving me with
simply pair Of cuffs dangling from my
left hand.
That this terrible place was swarming
with vermin, not only rats and mice, but
other kinds, smaller and worse, will be
understood without further statement, as
well as our helplessness in guarding
against them while in the dark and in
chains, with not even as much water as
we needed for drinking. One OF the
grievances OF the jailer was the great
amount of water we drank, or rather
wished to drink, for our persuasions
shouted up through the trap door could
not induce him to greatly increase the
allowance which he deemed right, but the
officer OF the guard would sometimes
order him to bring US moro, 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 it 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 to try to buy additional food.
Accordingly Swims was asked If he would
buy for us. He asked the guard, and,
finding no objections, said: eyes; you can
buy, If you have the money" We had q
very earnest consultation as to the form
in which the money would go the fur
thest, and finally settled on wheat bread
anu nlO1h5SCS1 dS luC A1bDcE ndo very
cheap. The money was handed up In the
evening, and we made great calculations
on having q royal breakfast next morning
all we could eatl 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 porki
| Some one called out: 'Sw1ms, how about
| the wheat bread and molasSes?n He
leaned over and said, in his slowest and
most provoking tones: Boys, lost
that monayr' Could we have reached
him, am not sure that he would not
have been lost alsoi 1t IS hard to imag-
inc how angry starving men could get
under the circumstances. We called to
the ofacer OF the guard, who came to the
/ trapdoor and heard our grievance, but
only laughed at us, saying that If we
trusted Swims with our money we would
have to take the consequences. Fortu-
1 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 be
given the reader il he imagined that we
spent our time here in nothing but help
lessly bemoaning our misery. There were
times when our situation seemed over
whelming; but usually we kept our minds
busy during waking hours in 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 a little longer the chances Of de-
liverance 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 a league against fear and
fretting.
Every precaution was taken to preserve
our health that we might be able when
there came q chance for escape. No one
was allowed to stand so as TO obstruct the
ventilation through the wall holes; the
exercise possible in such a limited space
was taken; and the help and good will OF
all was O wonderful relief; but we needed
every possible support.
When all Of our party were brought
into the prison we carefully reviewed tins
situation and ascertained how much the
enemy had learned in regard to us. Mos
had already given names and regiments
and had claimed to be American soldiers
Nothing could be gained, therefore, b.
denying what we had done. or our tru'
character. The first could be proved b!
, those who saw us on the train, by on
captors or by our own admissions; tn,
latter, so far from wishing to deny, wa
our only possible defense. We therefor
resolved that we would say, when ex
annined, that we had been appointed b,
our officers to serve under q man whom
We had never seen, but whom we sup
posed to be an oificer from some othe
l regiment or brigade; that the nature o
; our service was not clearly made know
: to rs further than il was 70 destroy som
: line OF communications In the enemy
! country; that we were In citizens clothin
only that we might not alarm the citizen
among whom we were to travel; that "
did not see any picketS of the enemy o
pass them at any point; that we were I
! 100 camp; that We supposed our expedl
ton to be within the rules OF war an
9 ourselves entitled to protection as prison
! ers Of war: that VIC had ooeyed Andrew
, as We considered ourselves bound in dut
e to do; and that If we nads false repr'
! sensations, Il was only what We were le