The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-02-07

About the middle of May /, with num-
Ger of other officers and enlisted men-the
latter strong. hearty young fellows fresh
from Grants army-was sent TO Charles
ton in charge Of young lieutenant named
Lewis.
/ may add that my story is true in every
particular, and that though there are
great many "Ps" scattered through it,
which is inevitable in a personal narrative
/ am not at all eager to figure as a
hero. Still | think that can honestly say
that, like the tens of thousands of con-
scientious men who fought on both sides, /
tried TO do my duty as a soldier, though l
was not yet old enough to vote.
1t would really take as long to tell of the
Incidents that occurred between Richmond
md Charleston, as il did TO make the trip
orty-eight hours.
At Charleston we were confined in the
,ailyard, where we were under the ire of
our own batteries stationed on Morris is
land, and not M hour Of the day, and fire.
quently Of the night, passed that we did
not hear the whirr and explosion of the
shells sent into the city by General Gil
more's famous Swamp Angel"
The tent in which 1 was CHARTERED in the
lailyard was directly in the noonday
shadow Of a permanent gallows, on which
many men had been hanged, but neither
the sight nor the dismal croaking at night
brought horrible suggestions 20 my mind.
1t would have been very difficult to in
crease, through the Imagination, the awful
reality OF our situation.
After being in the jailyard about ten
days, an enlisted man who looked like a
living skeleton, for he had been in this
wretched place for four months, advised
me to play sick and get sent to the Roper
hospital
1t did not require much ability as an ac-
tor to play sick, for if l had been in nv
own home l should have been in bed with
at least two doctors in attendance. But az
the Roper hospital was represented by nv
friend to be perfect PARADISE in com
parison with the igilyard, l determined to
exhaust every effort to get sent there
/ asked my comrade if he was sure the
hospital was better than the jail, and he re-
piled:
''You bet it is. Why, it's regular up
and down heaven compared with this in
fernsl hole. To be sure it amt out of the
range of shells, but we don't mind them no
more, but 1t gives you a view of green
woods 70 the west and blue water to the
east"
''Views are all very fne,n l replied, "but
they don't appease hunger What advant-
ages has this hospital in the way OF extra
grubp'
"F'ine?" exclaimed nv informant "Tt.
CDdIltE.
MODEST lot OF women you ever saw. and all
TIE rooms and blankets are clean. and if
you play II sharp you can get white bread
ard meat and milk, and all that till Won
can't rest. All, if was back there again 7
wouldn't leave unless they carried me
away on a stretchern And the man shool.
his mead and compressed his lips as if he
were Gliding himself for neglected oppor-
tunities.
There was no resisting this tantalizinp
picture OF abundant food and luxurious
surroundings. l had played sick with great
success in Libby, and 1 determined to en-
set the same role again. Nor did it REQUIRE
acting. Ii 1t were not that / kept mad
right straight along when / wasn't asleen
should have dropped down from sheer
weakness, for the pains and exhaustion of
dysentery and incipient scurvy were
added TO the ever present fortunes of
hunger.
AS a matter Of form, for | never saw
them administering any medicine, two mr.
three doctors, all In Confederate uniform
came In every morning and made tour of
the yard and the prison. The next morn
Ing 1 waited near the jail door till they
came down, and then, with much of the
desperation of Oliver Twist when. i'm
PEELED by the same feeling he held nm
his empty bowl and asked for more. u +
placed myself in front of the doctors and
seluted.
"Well sir" said an elderly doctor whose
face indicated that the milk of human kind
ness in his heart had turned sour before ar
soon after the breaking out of the war
"whst do you wantl"
Il want to go TO the hospital" said.
sick, sirl'
Eyes, DOCTOR"
"Where2"
"All over, think" And spoke of the
scurVy and the dysentery. but out of re-
spect for his feelings, which / was particu-
larry anxious not to offend, l said NOTHING
about the hunger. He felt my pulse and
dropped my hand. Another man felt NV
pulse and looked at his watch-a fine gold
one-in professional way that seemed
more like business
Put out your tongue" commanded the
elderly doctor
did SO in good shape and turned about to
the others that they might look at it. and
wondered the while if they could read in it