The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-13
GOSSIP OF WASHINGTON
Continued from Page IL
ing to prey upon the wounded ard the

ing to prey upon the wounded ard the
dead.
PLACED IN A POORHOUSE.
The poisoned exhalations from the /
field. for the bodies remained long I'M
buried aggravated the condition of the |
prisoners and Captain Ricketts, lowered |
between life and death. At the end of |
two weeks gangrene forced his depart |
ure, and with his wife and a number |
of comrades he was conveyed in box
car to Richmond, Colonel Jordan, Cen |
eral Beauregard's Adjutant, attending
personally to his comfortable placing
for the journey. Upon his arrival he
was assigned to the poorhouse, used as
the prison hospital, where Mrs. Rick
etts, occupying ward with fifteen of
ficers and separated from them only
by a blanket shawl hung across an
angle of the wall, attended him. The
prison fare consisted OF bread and rye
coffee for breakfast and supper, with
bread and meat and the greasy liquid
| in which the latter was boiled for din
ner. 1t was served to them standlng
two men passing along the line, one of
whom carried basket of provisions
while the other followed with bucket
and lineup. The prisoners were OBJ
\ jects of great interest to the towns
! people. who came in parties to see each
new consignment.
| A FRIEND IN NEED.
II had no change of clothing" Mrs.
| Ricketts, says, and was obnged to
wash one piece at time, and, having
restored 1t, to carry the next through
the same process, a feature of my situ-
! alton which so appealed to beautifui
young creature who visited the hospi-
tai soon after our arrival, that she shed
tears as she repeated: Only this one
| Dress
| ..Ir q fau- doys che "a mo ooaio bring
ing concealed about her bundle which
she slipped under my cot. 1t proved to
be a wrapper, and folded in with it was
| a roasted chicken and loaf of bread
deiicacies very grateful to the invalids
able to enjoy them"
A short time after this an order for
bidding citizens to come to the prison
was issued, and the visits of Mrs. Rick
etts new friend came suddenly to al
end. AIDED by the surgeon in charge
of the hospital DIR. Charles Gibson, o.
Philadelphia, who, having married. a
Virginian, had settled in Richmond, she
sent her, on each recurring Sunday, a
basket of provisions sufficient to serve
the inmates of the ward for the re-
mainder of the week. A popularity OF
the contents, at which Mrs. Ricketts,
marveled, was that each article was
partially consumed: The breast would
be cut from the fowl, bottle of sauce
WOulu De TdlI gone, ana SO on lnTOuSi
the whole.
THE STORY OF HER LIFE.
Meanwhile the days ran into weeks
and the weeks into months. Toward
the close of their stay, while anticipat
ing the amputation of his leg, Captain
Ricketts, was one of the number desig
mated 10 be drawn by lot as hostage'
for the Confederate privateers impris
oned in New York. His wounds, to
-,-t. l. 80 1,
II had excited great sympathy in tn
prison, and when his name was draw
Captain Thomas Cox of Kentucky nobl,
offered to take his place in solitary con
finement. The exchange of prisoner
| was not recognized, however, and
through powerful influence, after
confinement Of more than six months
they were released.
On the evening before their departur
DIR. Gibson came to Mrs. Ricketts,. say
ing that the lady who had shown her S
much kinuness wished to see her agaiI
and that he had arranged meetin
for them at midnight. At the appointe
hour she came, therefore.
''As she approached me-" Mrs. Rick
etts says, "she fell on her knees at m
feet and burying her face in my lap sol
bed convulsively. She had with her
box of jewelry which she wished me |
give to her daughter in New York, fc
mother liveu in that city. and brokenl
and with bitter weeping she told me til
story of her life.
"A few years after her marriage sh
,e had met at Cape May a certain Soutf
erner-handsome, fascinating and vi
n scrupulous. Attracted by her beaut
~ he sought her. and she in turn BEGAN
:, infatuated with him, the result bein
- that, forgetting every tie, she fled wit
him to his home. He kept in Richmon
It gambling establishment known E
The Saturday Night Club and in a
u instant the mystery of the PARTIAL
consumed provisions sent to the prise
every Sunday was explained. The
were the remains of the feast spread c
the evening before for those who fr'
quented the club
THE END OF HER ROMANCE.
;, After prolonged suffering. CAPITAL
Ricketts,, as brigadier general, returne
to the field his wife being constant
with him in camp except when bait
was imminent. During all this Tin
their house in Washington was ope
not only to wounded officers. but to pr
Yates as we'll 1t was there that Gel
eral Augur was nursed back to healt
and the ganant Kirby, to whom Mr.
40 Ricketts, ministered With a sisters tel
derness, died. She was untiring in h
attentions TO the sick, visiting the no
pitfalls with home made uencacies, al
frequently remaining all night with Il
dying, impersonating wife, mother
sister for the comfort of the deliriol
sufferers.
. AT the battle of Winchester Gener
Ricketts, received what ultimately pro
\ ed his death wound, but his wonderf
O VIII power enabled him to be present
4 the fall of Richmond. While there
x Catholic priest came to him one evenir
Y saying a woman in great destitute,
y and dying of consumption wished to e.
O trust a message to him for friends
4 New York. The whispered name r
x vealed her as the same who had visit,
Y them at Libby prison nearly four yea
\ before. and together they FASTENED
q her side.
4 1t was too late.
x Deserted by the man for whom 81
Y had sacrificed so much, she had PASS
away, anu. slipping into the hands
@ the priest all that she would ever aga
4 need, General Ricketts, turned from Il
x melancholy spot.
\ SOUVENIRS OFsTHE WAR.
O During the war society held no cou
4 at the national capital, but from 4
x first administration of General Ora