Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-07-21

escape was Uaue from q moving udlH.
We were being taken by train TO Char
lotte, N. c., and two other prisoners and
myself cut a hole through the bottom
of the car. At the first opportunity we
slipped through the opening and made
q run for it. The night was a very
stormy one. with snow and sleet. None
of us had any shoes and l was bare
, headed, having lost my hat in getting
away from the car. We were thinly
! clad and were weak from long subsist-
| ence upon prison fare. We had gone
a considerable distance through the
storm when our strength gave out and
we agreed that we could not travel a
mile farther. We knew that pursueTs
were not far behind Us, but felt obliged
| to succumb to our fate. AT this mo-
ment we came upon a negro cabin, and
when the inmates responded TO our
knocks we told them who we were and
what straits we were in, and they took
US right in. They gave us warm food
and drink and good beds. When the
pursuers came up, our colored friends
| blandIy informed them the escaping
! prisoners had been seen running down
the road as fast as they could go about
half an hour before BY the help Of
these kind negroes we finally managed
to reach the Union lines
IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
Congressman Cobb, OF Alabama, the
| propOunder of the famous question,
"NIr. Speaker. where was I at?" has re-
lated his experience after his capture
in the battle of Gettysburg, and it is
an exceedingly interesting story. He
was the first lieutenant of a company at
tached to the Texas division under
Longsueet. "The second day Of the
fight July .. 1863" said Mr.. Cobb, Il
was cornered by the enemy in the
course of the engagement On one
side of me was a steep, almost perpen-
dicular slope. On the other was a
wood of heavy timber and thick unA err
brush | failed to hear the order for
retreat. and before l knew II l was sur
rounded and captured. | was first
taken TO Fort Henry, Baltimore harbor,
then to Fort Delaware for three weeks,
and after that to JOhnson's Island,
where ! stayed from the first Of August
until the February following. At that
time there was d call for 500 of us OFF,
| GERS TO be carried to Point Lookout at
the mouth of the Potomac. We were
joyful over the transfer, as we thought
il was made FOR the purpose OF eX-
change, and as a matter of fact 200 were
exchanged.
I'VE were eventually crowded out by
the wounded men brought in from somd
battle and were then carried back to
| Fort Delaware. Soon after our transfer
another call for 600 men was issued TO
60 TO Charleston harbor to be made the
subjects of retaliation. The Federal5
| charged that Federal prisoners in the
| hands of the Confederates had been
| kept within range of Federal batteries
and thus exposed TO the shots from their
| own men Whether this was true or not
do not know, but they took me and
! about 600 other prisoners among them
| Speaker Crisp, and placed us in posi-
/ ton between Federal and Confederate
/ batteries, where we were exposed to the
/ shots Of Of both sides The shots would
| fly over us occasionally. l don't re
member that any of us was injured, but
| il was certainly not pleasant to be con-
! stantly expecting a stray shot TO drop
| among us. After this ordeal cur party
was separated. some OF the 600 being
sent 10 Fort Pulaski and the remainder
! TO Hilton Head. | was among the lat
! ter and was some time afterward trans
! ferrel back 20 Fort Delaware, where
| remained until the cessation Of hostlli-
ties.
Il never saw any particular case Of
| cruelty in the prisons in which ! was
| confined The guards shot several pris-
/ oners at Johnson's Island, but | guess
! they brought it on themselves There
were severe punishments for insubordi-
nation-as, for instance. when priyates
were tied up by their thumbs and Off
| GERS were tossed in blankets. | helped
/ 20 bury many a poor fellow. Some
/ times as many as four or five were
| buried at once Their death was not the
| result of bad treatment, but of wounds
/ they had received in the field on Of con-
finement or inconsistencies. The winter
l spent at JohnSOn's Island was very Sc
we're. the thermometer registering some
/ times l. 70 20 degrees below zero. On
! New Years day of this year five men
attempted to escape through my room.
| They took TWO of the benches and made
a ladder by mailing pieces of wood be
| tween them. by the assistance OF which
! they made their escape through the
window Ordinarily there were sentries
stationed about every 800 yards, but
/ this night was so bitterly cold that they
could not remain on post. The five suc4
ceeded in leaving the prison, but one
! succumbed to the cold before he had
! gene a mile and was brought back the
next morning with his ears, toes and
/ fingers frozen. Three others were found
OF different distances near the fort, I'M
able to proceed farther on account Of
the cold, and were recaptured. The fifth
escaped to Canada.
Several other efforts to escape were
! made by the prisoners, with better sue
/ cess than the one l have just related.
One time a party occupying the hut
| nearest the fence took the floor up. dug
under il. and tunneled under the fence,
| carving the dirt off in haversacks This
was a long and tedious job, but it was
! finally finished. On the outside of the
| fence at the exit of the tunnel there was
! q thin crust of earth. Inside the fence
the tunnel had a downward inclination
and outside the fence an upward When
| everything was in readiness a dark
night was selected for the escape. A
! large number succeeded in making a
safe transit. but one large fat fellow
got stuck where the tunnel turned to 90
/ inward and could neither retreat nor go
/ forward His comrades tried TO push
mr. null him through the tight place, but
without avail and he had to stay there.
He was nervy fellow and made no out
crv remaining there all night until
revt morning. when the guardsman dis
/ 49,. 1,G~r,G IN che tunnel His