The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-03-28
WAS A DREAD PRISON
POPULAR MISTAKE ABOUT THE
....s.r DRY TORTUGAS.

| Climate Delightful Especially In " inter
Called "Dry' Because tho Island
Was Not Flooded at Every High Tide
Prisoners Confined There ~.
Morris Rodney, who died at Rodney,
N. Y, the other day was one of sew
eral life prisoners in the Dry Tortu-
gas whom kind fate removed from
the spot long before the original sem
tence expired. There are no prison
ers on the Dry Tortugas now, and the
fort where the prisoners were kept is
no longer even garrisoned. Popular
curiosity thirty years ago was eagerly
fixed on these far Southern keys, and
several conspicuous Northern enemies
of Mr.. Lincoln's administration we're
threatened with exile thither, though
about the only notable prisoners of
the place were the mon convicted of
completely in the assassination OF the
president, and of these only one served
out@his life sentence.
Popular fancy during the war paint
ed the Dry Tortugas as a. region of
peculiar horror, and the belief still
fingers. The adjective dry gave the
impression of desert where the
prisoner, tantalized by the sight of
salt water all about, suffered the
pangs of thirst for lack of fresh
water. The adjective merely means
that the group to which it has been
applied is not flooded at high tide, as
are hundreds of neighboring reefs
and islets. AS a matter of fact, the
climate Whereabouts is sufficiently
moist, and the fort when it was garri-
soned was surrounded by abundant
semi-tropical vegetation. Nor is the
climate especially unwholesome,
though the place is occasionally Wis
tied by yellow fever.
The group of the Dry Tortugas,
named for the abundance of monster
turtles Whereabouts, lies, 120 miles
from the main land of Florida,
seventy-one miles from Key West, and
only about ninety miles from Havana.
It was held at one time to command
the entrance to the gulf of Mexico, and
accordingly the United States govern
ment projected there an enormous
work of defense, Fort Jefferson. The
fort was begun in 1916 or 1S47, and
was destined to have in time, with its
subsidiary works, q circuit of many
miles and to mount 500 guns. Great
sums were expended upon the work,
as everything in the way of building
material had to be carried many hun
dreds of miles, and even the labor
had to be imported from other parts
of the union. When the civil war
was opened, Fort Jefferson was g.
picturesque and formidable looking
structure, with graceful masonry and
much architectural charm. It was
heavily garrisoned~ soon after,- and
! the garrison was maintained for some
years later . .-..- ..... 49,.
When Fort Jefferson was still i'm
portant as military prison Garden
Key was occasionally visited by others
than the soldiers stationed there and
the group had a population of between
200 and 300 persons. The night
blooming cereus climbed about the
officers quarters and doomed in the
tropic night, while other night bloom
ing plants were scattered about the
grounds, and Northern flowers bloomed
in the open air all winter long. The
fort had long been used as place of
imprisonment for soldiers convicted
of offenses against the laws of war,
but it had really few military prison
ers of distinction. A somewhat nota-
bio prisoner of the war period
was Colonel St. Ledger Green
fel, an Englishman, who en-
tered the confederate service and
after participating in several battles
came North, obtained the ear of Mr..
Seward, and deceived him as to the
strength of the confederacy in some
particulars. The colonel was after
ward accused of completely in the
Sons of Liberty conspiracy of 1864 to
stir rebellion in Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois, and after conviction was sent
for life to the Dry Tortagas He
4 managed to corrupt one of the SOL
diers and the two escaped to a neigh
boring island, whence, after lying
hidden for a little time, they made
their way to Cuba. Fort Jefferson,
despite the terror inspired by the
name Dry Tortugas, was not the
worst possible place for life prisoner
to begin his sentence, for the
fort seems to have been pecul-
iarly leaky. Another prisoner slip
ped out of window, got over
the moat, sixty feet wide, scrambled
Gown the low sea wall, and escaped
ON plank to the nearest inhabited
key. There he took one of the light.
house boats and sailed away to Cuba.
Several other prisoners escaped either
by eluding or corrupting their guards,
and the only notable prisoner to die
there was O'Laughlin, one of the four
sent to the Dry Tortu.gas for compli-
city in the Lincoln assassination plot.
He was carried off by yellow fever,
three or four years after his convic-
ton, while his three companions were
pardoned. One of them, DR.. Mudd
was for a time the only physician
| 1lracnnt H1rinr