The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1899-01-12
C"HE center of prison ro


Ohio penitentiary at Columbus. There
were thousands of Confederate soldiers
in the prison camp. and scores of mys-
terious. notable or notorious prisoners
of another grade in the pententiary.
Many of the latter, described as mill
tary or state prisoners. were not treat
ed as conyictS, and yet most of them
wore the prison dress. There was. in
the last year of the war. in the Ohio
| penitentiary the most interesting az
gregation of adventurous spirits and
| plOtters against the National Govern
ment ever assembled at any point,
North or South. There were men under
Indictment for treason or conspiracy.
leaders Of insurrectionary movements,
draft fighters. bushwhackers. men un-
| der sentence Of death, men held by the
| Government on suspicion. and others
in the belief that they were spies. The
| fact that Gen. John Morgan and his
associates had escaped from the prison
| made the authorities careful and ex-
acting but there was nothing akin to
persecution.
lone day in passing through the large
| exercise room given up to the political
prisoners l came face to face with the
handsomest man l ever saw. He was
in the striped prison dress. but every
article fitted him as If 1t had been made
to order. Trousers. blouse. shirt and
cap seemed of finer texture than the
ordinary convict garb because all were
clean and were worn jauntily. He was
the tallest man in the room, and had
the best figure. He was not lounglng,
as were most of the others. but had
been walking easily back and forth the
full length of the room. AS l crossed
his path he. absorbed in his own
thoughts. almost ran against me. He
stopped short. bowed with easy courte-
sy, retired one step. and. with the
greatest cOmpOsure, motiOned me for
ward with look that was mixture Of
apology and amusement.
"As DR.. Byers came forward, two
steps behind me. the handsome fellow
raised his cap and asked a question.
He was in prison as n suspected spy.
and had forwarded an explanation to
the General commanding the depart
ment. This had been returned with
the request that 1t be made more ex-
plicit as to the presence of the accused
at 4 certain point on day named. 1t
also demanded that the prisoner give
his real name. The prisoner would do
noifhnr Nv friar,I ocG
stantly came the answer: innocent
myself. l might involve others. or
would put myself in the position Of ex-
citing suspicion against others. l will
try it awhile longer and. with smile
and bow, he moved away.
The next time visited the peniten-
tiary my handsome prisoner was not
there. He had been released by order
of the Government. and no one knew
where he had gone. Several years |
after that was in Chicago. and was
crossing Randolph street In front of the |
Sherman House. on a muddy day. when
L ran against a tall man coming from |
the other side. He stepped aside with
out the slightest show of irritation and |
with bow and smiling 4 beg your
pardon passed on. The next minute |
1t came over me that the very polite |
gentleman was my handsome prisoner.
Two years after that l was in New
orleans, coming up street new to me.
1 asked man standing on the corner
the way to the st. Charles. He bowed.
touched my arm as he turned me in
the right direction. and pointed out the
way.
His face. figure. and manner were
those of the man had seen in the pen
itentiary. had started away, when
the thought came to me that there
would be no harm in trying to solve the
mystery. and l returned TO where the
was standing. asked him If
he had ever been in Columbus or Chi
caSo. explaining that he reminded me
of an old acquaintance. He was smok-
ing. and he looked me over politely and
and after a minute said.
with smile that had in it the sugges.
ton OF n challenge: 4 never lived
either in Columbus or Chicago saw
aim again after that In Washington.
but that proved nothing" g."-Chicago
Inter Ocean.