Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-18


VIWylMN THE people who are
NV creating riot now do
not know what prim-
| tive spirit of retrbu-
| tive justice dwells in the American nature.
| DID L ever tell you the story of how a mob
hanged six men in Andersonvile stockade ?
II Is a good Illustration of what law-abd-
| ing men will do when they are driven to
extreme measures to preserve their lives
ard their property. Come up and see me
some day and I'll tell you about it," In re-
| Spouse to that invitation 1 called on Mr..
| McElroy one afternoon last week and he
| told me the story-a story, like many of
| the strange incidents of the war, always
rev and always interesting.
You know what Andersonville was?'
| said MIR. McElroy. TT was big stockade
entirely without shelter, built in the most
remote part of the confederate territory
about sixty miles south of Macon. Ca 1t
was in a pine forest. 1t ran about LOO
feet one way and about 800 feet the other
They took twenty-five-foot timbers and
| planted them five feet in the ground and
made stockade twenty feet high. Per-
maps hundred yards away was a fort
with eleven guns trained on TIE Enclosure.
That, was at the southwest. At the north
west On a piece of rising ground, was an
other fort with five guns. At the 9th er
two corners were lur cites with two guns
each. So there We're twenty guns trained
on the prisoners all the time. The guard
was composed of about 10000 troops. AS
to the prisoners. there were 25,VO of them
In June, 1864. But in the latter part of
July and in August of that year there were
$4,000.
Il ought to explain to you how some of
the prisoners came there before 1 tell you
my story of the hanging. There were "a lot
of bounty jumpers in cur army-people
from the slums of New York-and when
they thought that 1t was not safe to stay
any longer with us. they deserted to the
rebels At that time we held a preponder-
ance of prisoners, and the southerners,
wanting to make the best possible ex-
change for themselves. were prepared to
offer these deserters as prisoners of war
and exchange them for some of the south
ern prisoners whom we held. Meantime
these men were confined in Castle Light
ming, in Richmond. They were rough,
bad crowd: Well, early In 1864, when it did
not seem likely that there would be any
more exchanges, they built the Anderson
vile stockade and moved all of the prison.
ers down there. / in the first squad
that went into ,Andersonville, February ii,
1864.
A Good Deal of Trading.
"Of course, the first men who went into
the stockade had very little property of any
kind. / remember that five of us had
blanket between us. l had a set of chess
men had made for myself, but beyond that
was without property of any kind. You
see most of us were taken in the field, and
about all that we had to bring with us was
a blanket. perhaps. and a few cooking
utensils. l cooked my rations In little tin
can. But the later prisoners came in such
numbers that hey managed to slip in all
sorts of property. And everything had an
extraordinary value among US. blanket
was not only valuable to form a shelter,
but it was good to exchange for food and
luxuries of different kinds through the
guards. Even buttons were valuable, for II
there was one thing the southerners could
not maize 1t was buttons. Their home
made buttons weighed about two ounces
apiece. Talk about taking buttons from
dead mans eyesi / suppose / have cut
more than hatful of buttons from dead
mems coats and used them in trade. The
spirit of barter is strong In some men; and
even in this prison there was constant trad
ing going on. man would get small
sack of flour from guard for So in green
backs-oh. some of the late prisoners brought
in a good deal of money concealed in their
clothing-and with this -four he would make
some biscuit and perhaps sell them at three
for 81 to a poor devil who was sick and
yearning for something better than our
re, ular retionS. There was this constant
exchange of property and of money going
on. But there was another form of ex-
change These New York rouShs of whom |
have spoken were known among us as the
raiders They camped by themselves on one
side of the creek, and almost every night
they made raids on the other peopIe i'm the
prison: They did not stop at taking life.
Sometimes we would wake up in the morn
ins to find men with their threats cut and
their pockets stripped.
of course, TO the late Corners the Older
prisoners were all alike. They did not know,
bit that we-were all in the same business
But we knew who was doing the dirty work
and finally II got SO bad that nv comnanv
organized for protection. AS the first com
ers, we had chosen spot in the southwest
corner of the Enclosure, and here we es
tablished a guard. But one day when we
mad gone to get our rations the raide 3
came down on our camp and wher we got
back Marion Friend, whom we had left on
guard was lying there with a cut in his
hand and big hole I'm his neck danperous,v
close to the 1ugular vein. and $40 of green
backs gone from his pocket That inciden,
determined US to do something to ston Tho
business. WV
Like Vigilance Society.
THE whole credit of the movement no.
longs to Leroy l.. Key, a member of our
battalion. he planned the attack md or
ganized our forces and led us against tho
enemy. 1t was necessary that we should
organize secretly. because the rniders haa
friends and spies all over the camp ma u,o
wanted to tsket them by surprise. So the
word was PARSED around as quietly az nos.
sible. and we organized into COMPANIES T,
was necessary for Key to yet nermis,,an
from Wirz 10 make the attack, beca,,sa
there was lfuld that not more thnn nI.ns
men should xatffer together in ono n,aca ~
rs many as 100 men We're seen together IN
gunners on theshill had orders TO open IRE
without wathing' and some little things
which had hhpfened from time TO time had
made us believe that they would follow
these orders STRICTLY. Key therefore Uo,
permission from wirz to carry out our plSn
"On the ~ d July the raiders rot ,vin1
OF the afrairs ana that night three ~ tha ,,,'
armed with blnSseons and slung shots came
over 70 kill hey, He was ready for them.
smuggled into Ithe prison, aud he blufSad i
them on. Bat u was then plain we Womb
have to make the attack immediateIv If rVa
wanted II to DO successful. So Il was made
the next day. W." '''ue
1T was remarkable scene and ono that
j Will never forget. The authori,tas , aaa
not absolutely sure that We We're acting In
good faith, and they prepared for n sur
prise. The guns were loaded and The enn-
ners stood at their posts. Between the two
forts on the west line of infantrv ,yoo
drawn up. The other prisoners In the stocL
ade vera massed together, and as 7 iooLaa
back for moment II seemed as though The
sloping ground was painted with faces
There were five hundred of as armad u,,.I
.lvx.l Il tAt..I o.