The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-02-14

ent OF his and that he has spSnt one sum-
mer at famous resort within eight miles
OF his home. Tarsney opposed the bill
which was introduced into the Fifty first
Congress to give two dollars a day to all
surviving soldiers who had been in south
ern prisons for the length of time they
were in such prisons. Speaker Crisp re-
ferred to this bill and to Tarsney's action,
and said that Tarsney had told him that
though there was 81 100 in the bill for him,
ne could not support IL, for the United
States government had already paid him
thirty three and one-third cents day for
the grub which he had received in that
prison IN way of communication Of rations
and he really thought this was more than
the food was worth.
l talked with Representative Tarsney
last night about his prison experiences.
Said he:
prison life is bad in any shape, and the
southern prisons were terrible. The south
was very poor itself and its soldiers on the
field were
ALMOST STARVING.
The rations we received were miserably
small and of the poorest quality, and at
Belle Island, Andersonville and Milan we
had mighty poor fare, 1t was terribly cold
at Belle Island during the winter of 1854,
and l was one of the first of the men sent
from there to Andersonville and was in
Andersonville when the stockRde was
first opened. The stockade was built in
the midst of forest and at first we had
plenty of fuel TO cook our corn meal and
after this had gone we had bakery which
served out our mush and molasses.
Throughout my prison life, l managed to get
enough TO keep me alive. and during the lat
ter part Of IL l succeeded in getting num-
Der of extra rations. In the first place, let
me tell you how our prison organization
originated. While [ was in Andersonyille
there was q large gang of robbers among
the prisoners, who made practice o. fall
ing upon and robbing the new men as they
came in. They were set of thugs, made
of bounty jumpers and stragglers and had
been captured along with our soldiers.
They had an organized band in the prison
and they committed murder as well as rob-
berry. At last vigilance committee was
formed and with the consent of Wirz, the
commander of the prison, this committee
arrested the leaders Of this gang, held a
court and tried them. The result was that
they hung six of them in the prison with
the consent of the rebel authorizes and
after this we had
REGULAR POLICE ORGANIZATION
inside the prison, and this afterWard was
extended to the other prisons, the prison
ers being divided up into hundreds, and
pFISOuSE was dppOluleu, having ZIG
charge of each hundred and bringing them
forth for roll call and being TO certain ex-
tent responsible for them. Every now and
then we would have new patches of men
come into the prison, and new hundreds
would be formed. During the latter part
of my prison career, | got in the habit Of
getting near the gate when these new COM
panies came in and as they marched up L
would fall into line and give O fictitious
them. Then when that hundred was up
for roll call and for distribution of rations
would appear and answer to this name
and get my ration. In another hundred l
answered as John Tarsney and got ration
there, and l continued this until at last
was drawing five different rations, which
in addition to my own, was six and l not
only kept myself but poor fellow soldier
who was too sick to play the same game.
| was one of the first men In Andersonville
and Milan, and | saw that these companies
in which registered were far enough apart
so that [ could skip from one to the other
and answer my name in all. l began to
fatten up and was doing splendi3ly when a
number of other prisoners got TO playing
the same game and the authorities discov-
covered US. One morning after had been
called in No. 500, no order came to disband
and / could not get to any other companies.
| That day it was discovered that 600 men
were absent and that 600 more rations
were issued than there were men. The Of
fcers of the prison then said that they
would not issue more rations until these
600 men were accounted for. There were
900 men in the prison, and | was not
going to let these thousands of men
sTARvE FOR ME
so l told the officers how l had been cheat
| them. The result was they took me to q
! blacksmith's shop and fastened thirty-two
pounds of iron to my leg by way of punish
ment. [ lugged this around for awhile and
then one of the officials seeing that l was
but a boy asked me what was the matter
/ told him and asked him to have it taken
off, saying that l would not cheat them
again If they would remove the iron. This
was done, but l couldn't keep my promise
My stomach was stronger thad my con-
science and | was soon drawing three or
four rations under different names. Well,
/ they caught me again and they now put
thirty two pounds of iron on each leg.
dragged this around for ZONE time but at
1 last a Massachusetts man who had file
cut the chain so that l could take the balls
off, and fixed them in such d way that
could tasten them on with string when !
! had to go to roll call. The result was that
! l got around very nicely and the authori-
| ties never suspected that l was not drag
girg this load of iron all the time"
what was the story of your escape, Mr.
Tersney?" l asked.
at was curious one" replied the con.
gresham. According TO the records Of
that prison l am numbered with the dead
and the United States government which
has erected headstones over the graves Of
the prisoners who died during the war. has
probably put up one with my name on 1t in
the cemetery outside the prison of Milan
| The way it came was this. A large mum
Der of prisoners were to be EXCHANGED anC
according TO the principle followed by the
southerners, the poorest, the diseased, the
lame, the halt and the blind were pickeC
out for exchange. / was too fat to ge
among that number and l had no idea tina
| would be taken. The night before the
exchange was to be made in walking dowr
the hill which was on one side OF the prison
l heard voice. Il was about dusk.
looked and on the ground was an emaciatec
soldier who had attempted to drag uimsol
across the stockade, but had fallen and wa.
helpless / lifted him up, gave him some.
hing to drink and made him as comfort
able as could. l talked with him and h,
told me the company that he belonged t,
and all about himself. He told me that b;
was TO be exchanged on the morrow bu
with his consumptive cough, | could Sc,
that he would never get to the north. FL,
gave me the number Of the company b,