Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-22


greeting; to her and her dear children. May
this New Year bring to them Gods best bless
ings." T. W. MArTISaLY
MEMORIES OF PRISON LIFE.
Comrade Who Preserves an Interesting
Relic of the Club in Libby.
To read of ex-prisoners of war is to call up q
narrowing memory and revive recollections in
the minds of mary who have tried for thirty
years to put them away-to forgive and forget
the past. They reminded Of Salisbury,
where the poor boys burrowed like prairie dogs
in the filthy earth, Of Andersonville and tho
infamous Wirz. They remember how Sherman
marched into Millen and found inside the stock
ade there 100 bodies buried in ''lots Of fifty"
unmarked, unknown and records burned. It
calls to mind Castle Thunder and Libby with
despicable Dick Turner, the turnkey, and Belle
Isle and all the other places where Union pris-
oners were huddled like hogs to wallow in filth
and go cold and hungry. Gen. Harrison once
said Of these memories: 1.-THE annals of the
war fail to furnish sadder story than that of
the host of Union veterans who suffered wars
greatest hardship-captivity. The story of
rebel prisons was one Of grim horror. On the
field our armies, always brave. we're generally
chivalric and humane. But the treatment Of
the captive Union soldiers surpassed in fieHd-
ish cruelty the best achievements of the saw
age. 1t is the back spot without any lining of
silver or any touch Of human nature"
ut was ali bad enough, God knows" said an
ex-prisoner of war recently. II feel about my
prison experience good deal as felt about
hell when l was a small boy growing up in the
shaf IF fr,,lv oyA fntb
whose deep-rooted belief in lake of birthstone
and fire reached clear through his soul and
clinched its twin, that 'sparing the rod spoiled
the child was SO thoroughly picked that
1 made up my boyish mind that he'll or no hell
would have good time, for it certainly could
present to me at least no new tortures Since 1
spent eighteen months boarding among the
rebs whore the hospitality was SO insistent that
they built stockades to restrain our departure,
and where the cost of the grub and lodging for
the year and half would not liquidate for one
bang-up day out at Chamberlin's I'm pre.ty
sure that I'm fire proof. And yet"-he said re-
Aectively. as he tipped the ashes from
fragant cigar and watched the sunlight
play in the facets of his diamond ring-.and
yet there were side lights that made even
rebel prisons endurable If it hadn't been for
these diversions nobody would have lived
to tell of the atrocities perpetrated there.
Bodily aiment was bad enough, but as
long as we kept our minds from broodng and
our hearts light We managed to get along,
1t was when fellow got melancholy and low
spirited that we knew his time was short We
had dramatic clubs with the leading man as
ignorant of dramatic art as a mule is of music,
and there was where the fun came in, Our
glee clubs were constructed of slightly better
material. but from the standpoint of a profess
| sionai there was probably much to be desired,
Prison life developed sculptors, wood carvers,
v1,nI az 90. = 4
almost every calling and profession received
additions when all the bars were let down and
| We stood before the world free men once more.
To keep ourselves from gong crazy we tried to
do something all the time, and our employ
| ment naturally took the bent of our inclina-
| tons, hinging OF course upon tho adaptability
of the tools at band. I have among nv col
lection OF curios a sanitary commission
envelope with the back torn off. Upon
| that smooth yellow surface one OF
my chums drew picture of one
corner of the hiiiieu stockade. It is lust a
struggling tree and under it low mound,
which we had piled above my twin brother.
who couldn't wage the fight with starvation
| any further. There are two or three poor
| ragged devils in the foreground and beyond
them one Of the burrows where bunked
with a dozen others. I'm not quito q million
aire. but million in gold couldn't buy that
| bit of old envelope. That comrades signature
| today on a picture scarcely larger than tina,
No. envelope is worth $25, whether he does
| it in etching or oils Yet he would be steady.
going wagon maker today but for the chance
that made him an artist He still has one OF
the precious bits Of pencil which he sketched
with in Millen.
| I'VE had club in Libby which I have moi
| heerd much OF since came out, but it had a
| good big membership. I have my sheen
skim" and from big leather pocket book he
took piece of time-soiled and dirt-stained
paper about six inches long and four wide II
| one corner was written in good round script:
'Dave Hall, illinois," Then follows verse
Of doggerel:
And when We arrive in the land Of the free,
They will smile and welcome US joyfully,
And when We think Of the rebel band
Well repeat our motto: "Bite and be d
"The motto referred to was drawn with 9
pen in the corner OF each certificate Of mem.
bership and represented two rows Of gray
backs, said the veteran as he finished hi
cigar and put away the precious bit Of paper
II don't think there are many Of these in ex
istence today. Probably not above half
dozen; and, unless by some unforeseen fate
should be doomed to another eighteen months
in southern pens, the reserve ii the treasury
couldn't place price on this piece of dirty
paper. To save myself . repetition Of that ex
perience-well, might part with it for Less.
| A Nameless Grave.