The Portland daily press., 1894-02-08

away, W1GnOuC leGtluS uS hhO" nS9nS.
she was friend or foe The other incident
occurred. when we were at sea, and
shortly after dark. My orders from the
commander of the war vessel were Ghat
all the prisoners should retire TO thelr
staterooms at dark and remain there
until morning. Mr.. Davis, however, one
evening overpowered the guard az ms
on the deck. The guard, not having
orders to fire in, case of resistance, called
for his officer and as l was near by
[ went and inquired the cause or Ine
call, and on being told I went out on the
deck and found Mr.. Davis sitting on the
rail. l then explained to ME: Jaws my
orders that all should remain IN their
quarters after dark, and politely asked
him to retire to his room. He answered
surlily that he should do as he pleased;
thereupon I took him by the collar, and,
as he then resisted, | forced him rapidly
and rather roughly to his room. After
this incident | had no further trouDle
with him while at sea.
We reached Fortress Monroe about ~
a. m., and waited for orders from wash
ington. After waiting two days we re-
ceived orders to land Davis at the iort
and place him in close quarters. Whlle
the rest remained on board, or were senI
to other prisons in the North. The part
ing of Davis and his family and the
ing. They all regarded it as the final IN
terview with the late President OF the
Confederacy, and there was no douDt
about his punishment by death. In fact
/ and my men firmly believed thai tnere
was no doubt about the hanging OF
Davis, and I solemnly aver that nao we
not been of that belief the prisoner on
the voyage would have surely gone
overheard for the crimes perpetrated py
his authority, or by his. .tacit permission
We were all aware of his connection WIN
the prison atrocities upon our comrades,
and would have avengedaGhem WltnouS
any hesitation had we not been sure OF
his conviction by court martial ana
speedy punishment. l Landed Wign
Davis and guarded him with details
from my company about two weeks, US
ing the steam boat as barracks LOT my
men. Davis was placed in cell, ana
given bread and water as food; Gnls ne
refused, and threw it in the face OF one
of my men, who at once Informed me OF
the fact. I felt indignant at the act,
| and went to the commander of the Tort
| and stated the. facts with some warmth.
| The commander, upon hearing my story,
! authorized me to place him IN 1rons' un-
| til he promised obedience to ORDERS.
went at once. to Davis land told MIN OF
my instructions. He at once new lh1o '' "a
towering rage and told me that he knew
| his rights and would demand them at
| ali hazards. He furthermore told me
| that he was soldier before / was born,
and that was ignorant OF military law.
| I replied that | had been long enough IN
military service to know how to obey
| orders from my superiors, and that was
| Going to carry them aout. l also told
| him that had no sympathy for him, as
| I believed that it was due to his cruelty
| that my brother was starved to death
at Andersonville, and that if he had had
| only the bread and water which Davis re
fused he would not have starved. Davis
denied any completely with the prison
atrocities, but his remarks made no I'M.
preston upon my belief, and this belief
! was quite universal .among the old sol
diers of the army. Davis still refusing
to submit, and threatening me, seized
him and threw him heavily to the hoor
and placed the irons upon hlm, aimost
| before he was aware of it. After he was
| ironed he became silent and surly, but
caused us no more trou BILE. According
| to nv memory of the circumstances
Davis in few hours promised obedience
| to orders. and the irons were then re-
| moved ] remained with my men at
Hampton Roads fol about two or Jhree
weeks, keeping guard, with details IRON rom
| my company While there two ofhcers
came from Washington and demanded
the property which l had in my possess
ion and which had been brought on the
steamer with the prisoners. On asking
for an inventory and detailed statement
of the property / replied to them that
had 20 knowledge of what the boxes anc
packages contained, as had not beer
authorized to look into them, thereupor
they opened all packages and searched
all of the male prisoners and told Mrs
Davis that they must search her and hel
sister, Whereupon Mrs. Davis drew
pistol and told them with much firm
ness that if they laid their hands upor
her she would shoot them. They ther
informed me and asked what should b'
done. and 1 replied that I did not fee
willing to attempt such an act, but sug
pested that two women from the shor'
he sent for to make the search, and ther
| thought Mrs. Davis would gracefully
weld to the orders The women wer'
brought from Hampton. or the shore
and Mrs Davis and her sister were eX
amined without objection.
Shortly after this we were ORDERED
hack to our regiment in Georgia and Tn
family of Davis were sent back IN th'
same steamer to Savannah. Before W.
left HAMPTON Roads Mrs. Davis came tt
me and said that she had letter sh.
wanted me to give MIR. laws, anu IL
would bring back an answer she Woult
Give me $500 in gold. Mrs. Davis hat
considerable gold which was her own
and had no doubt of her ability to- pa.
what she said she would. Furthermore
Mrs. Davis had been quite polite. to I'M
during the voyage, owing, perhaps, t,
NV Kindness to the children, of whom
was wa very fond, but plainly told he
! that my duty forbade any act OF tina
Kind. and that I could not listen t.
any such proposition.
On arrival at Savannah Mrs. Davis ant
sister and children were released fron
custody and took up their residence il
, the city. Mrs. Davis was always YER
: lady-like and polite to me at all time
: and when we parted at Savannah sh
gave me number of gifts TO remembe
her and her children.
q On reporting to General Grover he in
, formed me that my regiment had beel
a ordered to return from Augusta to Sa
E yannah, and thatI should remain ther
/ to await its arrival. In the course OF tw
e or three days the regiment appeared an
i Col. Bolan received me with joy and sur
v nrise. Neither the officer in charge q
Augusta nor General Grover at Savanna
i had informed him of my detachment fo
4 the duties assigned to me, and he ha
n no knowledge whatever of where an
q nv company had gone.