The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-08-17

worse every day, and towards the latter
part of June Sergeant Leroy L. Key, OF
company NJ, of my battalion of the Six
teenth illinois cavalry undertook the or
ganization of force of regulators. There
was number of his old battalion in the
prison and the organization soon included
4 fifty able bodied boys who HAD
not succumbed to the pestilentia
scurvy, and other diseases of the
camp. This organization was made
very quietly as the raiders were
ready to crush out anything of the kind by
the assassination of the leader 1t was
Kept so secret that they got no inkling of i,
till the night of,the I'd of July, 1864, and ther
Key had 500 boys organized, who were
armed with clubs which were tied to theil
Wrists with strings. These clubs were
about the size of policeman's club They
were pine. with knots on the end of them
and formed very effective weapon Tht
raiders at this time had their headquarters
IL big tent made of blankets which they
had robbed from others. 1t was on thu
south side of the prison and was known a:
the round tent As soo1 as.they heard of il
they sent three roughs armed with knive:
ana brass knuckles to assault Key, but
KEY HAD GOTTEN A REVOLVER,
which had been Struggled in one of the
plymouth mems knapsacks, and he stood
them off.
| We then saw that the conflict was i'm.
minent and that night was spent in prepar
ing for it. Key went to see Wirz, the heaG
OF the prison. He told him the condition oil
affairs and Wirz agreed to suspend for the
next few days the order for the artillery &c
open upon us without warding in the event
OF our assembling inside the stockade in
any numbers for any purpose except roll
call. Wirz sanctioned Keys actions anC
agreed to take charge of the prisoners
whom Key should arrest. The whole prison
In the meantime had become aware that
something was going on, but they did moi
Know what it was. A great many though,
that there was fight between the Know
nothings and the foreigners and conse
Quenuy the sympathies OF the camp were
net with US. The most of these robbers
were, by the way, foreigners"
we formed on the morning of the Bird
OF July and moved up to the round tent
TO ATTACK THE RAIDERS.
Taey were really for US and in a short
tlfne there was some club practice there
That would have put TO the blush the con
tests of Donnybrook fair. We made it a
rule to hit with club every man who did
not belong to our squad that came near us
and we finally routed the raiders and ar
rested l25 of them. Wirz, though he he
had given permission for us to make the
arrest, did not take moments chance on
US. he had his guards in the rifle pits
surrounding the prisons armed with
muskets ana hand grenades and the
nineteen pieces of artillery were loaded and
the gunuers stood beside them with the Ian
yards In their hands. He was afraid to
open the gates to issue the rations to the
prisoners that night owing to the commo-
ton, and the result was that we got no food
till the next day, and then the mush was
all spoiled. We were then being fed upon
mush, and the Gays of corn bread were
played out. This mush was shoveled into
the wagons that were used to carry the
dead out of the prison at night, and bv
standing in the sun all day maggots were
bred In 1t and it was unfit for eating. We
got nothing to eat until the next day, which
was the Fourth of July.''
key in the meantime had given the
prisoners over to Wirz and towards the
evening of the 4th Wirz sent word that he
could not hold for him so many prisoners
and be must pick out the worst and he
would send the rest back into the prison.
Key then went in and selected the worst
for trial. He lectured the rest and turned
them back into the srockade. In the mean.
time the rest Of the prisoners had learned
"nfSe VIC hOIO uOluS anu IllSy We're all
with US. They learned that some of the
raiders were to be sent back and
THEY FORMED LINE
on each side of the gate where thew were
to come in. Nearly every man in these
two lines had suffered from their depre da
tions and they were ready for vengeance
Each man had club and the confederate
officers, who enjoyed the spectacle of see
ia oil
only one man in at a time. Everyone had TO
run this gauntlet and all received serious
beatlngs One man was killed He was a
sailor, and he had secreted a knife in hls
boot. He cut his way along until he came
to man VINO had rail He dropped this
on his head. The sailor fell and he was
beaten so that the bad food and air finally
killed him.
key now formed a court-martial con-
sisting Of thirteen sergeants selected from
the newest prisoners in order that thew
might be free from prejudice. l don't
know where any of these men now are
except the Rev. L. j. Sheppard of Kenton.
ONO, who is now a prominent Methodist
clergyman there. He was last year chan
lain and chief of the Ohio G. A. r. The
judge advocate was a member of the Third
Missouri cavalry and his name was Dick
Mccullough. The raiders were defended
were given fair trial. We had some fair
lawyers in the prison and upon the court
martial. The sentence, however, was that
six of the worst prisoners
WE'RE GUILTY OF MURDER
and should be hanged This sentence was
submitted to General J. H. Winder, the
rebel commissary- general. He considered
it day or so and finally confirmed it,
II had acted as a sergeant of my COM
pany in arresting the raiders, and | sup
posed that our work was ended when we
had given them into Virus hands. | sup
posed that Key would himself carry out
the rest Of the programme, whatever that
might be. On the morning Of the 18th of
July, however, one of the boys of my bat
talon came TO me and said: McElroy.
Key is going 10 hang the raiders to .day.
He wants yon TO get your company to-
gether and go TO the ration place on the
south side and guard the men who are To
put up the scaffold.' This message struck
me all ag5ast. | had talked very strongly
in favor of hanging the fellows, but had
no idea that would be asked to participate
in carrying il out. | was soon made to real
ize, however, that my only way out of the
trouble was 10 do what was asked of me,
or else to make huniliating back. down
and figure as a blackguard. | accepted th
less disagreeablc horn of the dilemma and
went on.
''There were two reasons for Guarding
the scaffold, first because we expected q
rush from the friends OF the condemned to
IN ovfora vx,ifh Tho ,r,a,l~ "a