The National tribune., 1899-02-16

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SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS.
The famous Corp'l Pike, of the 4th OH
Cav, had life of almost continual ad
venture. His services TO the Union cauS
in the civil war were very valuable. Nhe'
young man, in 1859. he left Missouri 10
Texas and became Il Texas ranger. Nhel
the civil war broke out he at once plunged
int its most active and dangerous opera
tons. He gives us a story OF wonderful
deeds, innocen1y recitcd and appearing
10 have been looked upon as a matter o
course. While his command was a
Brownsboro, Ala, in October, 1863, he wa:
sent alone with a dispatch om-trant Il
Sherman down the Tennessee River owe
the Muscle Shoals 10 Iuka. 1t was this
message which fastened Sherman {
movement TO Chattanooga. Pike and ;
comradc set out on an expedition TO Angus
ia, Ga, TO burn a bridge and are captured
CHAPTER XXXIT.
AT Augusta we were put in close con
finement again, under the tender au
spices of man named Bridges, a New
York Yankee. He can certainly boas
hereafter of one thing: the discovery o.
the smallest amount of food which is re-
quired TO support human life. We were
In the Jail at Augusta 50 days, and at the
end OF that time were SO starved as TO be
mere shadows of what we were. l could
no longer walk steadily, and felt as weak
as when just beginning TO walk after a
severe attack of typhoid fever.
At the end of that time Capt. Brad
ford, the rebel Provost Marshal, came to
px,I I, i II
versaton. He said that he used to be a
scout in their service, and had been pro-
NOTED for meritorious service. He in
formed us that our case had been sub
mitted TO their Secretary of War, and that
the order was 'clOse confinement during
the war" Capt. bearing also used to call
and see US once in n Wink, and the
Catholic priest there, Rev. Father Dukan,
once called to see me. Aside from these,
We never saw anyone but the turnkcys-
unless 1T was a prisoner or someone
who wanted TO see prisoneI-while we
were there
In the cell opposite mine was a man
confined for whipping a negro TO death /,
while in that on my right was a negro
charged with murder; in a neighboring
cell was Yankee confined for bigamy;
nearly over my head. in the second story,
was negro woman, held for attempting
to poison her mistress; and somewhere
ALN0t hCt NdS Ill 1tdfidI1 StfUft9, III Tie
Federal service, whom the rebels claimed
as deSerter from their army. The "big
room" was filed with rebel deserters,
thieves, pick pockets, and all sorts of
petty villains.
THE wHIPPING-PosT.
In the next cell above mine was an
institution" which has been a curse to
our country and a disgrace to our own
character as freemen, an institution"
which has been the witness of more agon-
izlng torture in the South than any of us
can imagine-the whipping post; that
ready means of infiicting terrible and
summary punishment without any trial
or other law than the caprice of the mas
ter or mistress.
i did not see this machine, because i
never got ~ there; but managed to draw
an accurate description Of it from Luck,
a negro, who was undergoing sentence
upon ii, and had been whipped upon it
repeatedly. He described il as bein
made of heavy square timbers in the
form OF cross, and al the ends of the
arms were iron letters, made TO clasp |
around the wrist and hold them out |
stretched, and at the bottom were SINH |
lar irons to secure the feet.
The victim is first stripped naked, then
stretched upon the cross ard made fast, |
when the turnkey plies whip with short
handle and broad, heavy strap punched
full of holes for a lash, and which is, al |
together, about two feet and half long. |
The strap strikes fatwise, and wherever
there is q hole through it a blister raises |
in the skin, and if il be heavy blow the |
edge OF the leather around the openings |
cuts the skin open around the blister, |
and the wounas bleed profusely
mere was Bcarceiy day that there /
was not one whipped while was in that |
jail, and some times there were as many
as SIX EfgssH IN one day, and generally |
from three ~ I've. ! have counted the |
blows at times, and once they numbered |
1o1, when the punishment was stopped |
by the victim becoming insensible He /
must have been a very robust man for |
most generally when they were whipped /
so hard they woulo faint under from 20 to |
40 lashes, according TO the force with
which they were laid o., 1t was the GUS
tom, the turnkey said, for the careful
master to stand by TO reguls &c that matter I
TO suit himself.
could generally give n cl0se estimate
OF the age OF the slave they v ere punish
ing by the sound Of the vaice Some
times the pleading would be heavy and /
strong, as though il came from large |
man; at other times could hear the wall
ing cries OF feeble and sometimes of a |
healthy young woman; occasionally !
heard children screaming under the terri
bic TORTURE, and once in while would
recognize the trembling voice T5f an old |
man. Their struggles would at times be
almost superhuman as they wrilhcd in
their iron manacles. and | have often
stopped my cars TO shut out their heart
rendlng applications for merrv.
This whipping was generally done bv a |
young man named Evans, a turnkey. and |
the head iailor, Bridges. The Young man
who was in jail for helping TO whiD the
negro 10 death said that they only struck
the negro Is blows, but that after he was
let down they allowed him to drink TOO
much water, and that killed him.
80" he said, they kin stand several
hundred ct you don't let 'em git too much
water while they are hot"
PILED as this Jail was with all sorts
OF villains, guilty OF every degree of crime
II was certainly hard place for any man
70 find himself
MEAN REEEL GENERAL.
When we had been there 81 DAYS NO
were taken by Capt. Gum. under a
strong guard, TO Charleston. and there
turned over To Mai.-Gen. Jones. who
am sorry to have TO say it, robbed ms
oil $3.50 IN Confederate money. Well II
wasn't much M quantity, and was worth
perhaps less IN value, but il really locked
mean for Il Ma OF General 10 steal from, nc
what even the militia allowed us 10 Keen
Al Gen. JoncS's quarters Capt. Gum
In