The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-04-24

some of our men complained of not get
ting enough; but then, the fault lay VIII
their comrades. The rations, cooked
were put on long tables, meat, bread
coffee or soup for each man at place
The men were then marched in and haltet
so that each man would face ration
but some would face an empty place be
cause another as he passed had grabbed
the ration. This grabbing made severa
hundred men go hungry every day.
Confederate soldiers ran faro banks a
various points, and after mealtime thes'
stolen rations appeared at these banks a
bets on the cards. The complaint about
the stealing of rations became so con
slant that the Yankees broke up these
gambling concerns as far as poSSluie, Du'
they were carried on i'll the quarters Sc
cretly, in spite of all that could be done
to prevent it.
Then the authorities put the men from
each State in separate quarters, ana
marched them in TO eat by States. max
ing the State which marched IN hrSL nj
one meal march in last at the next. ms
did not break up the practice of stealing
rationS but it gave the men VINO mao
been robbed at one meal the opportunity
TO do their share of the stealing at the
next, The vast majority of the men be
haved themselves, but those who would
steal from their comrades made 1t hard
on all. They did not contIne themselves
to taking rations.
PUNISHMENT OF THIEVES.
At last the authorities gave the Con-
federates the right to organize courts and
try all offenders, and to fix the penalty,
which penalty the Federals carried out.
These courts had the unruly bucked-and-
gagged: drummed over the island, with
the offense painted on board which was
tied to them: had them half-shaved, beard
and hair, and various other forms OF pun
ishment were inflicted. Still the evil eX-
listed, till at last it was agreed to resort
TO force. If any man was robbed, he was
to find out the culprit and report to his
State division, when the cry was to be
raised Rally" on the State whose man
had been robbed All of the men were
TO rally. and then take the thief by force
from the State barracks in which he lived,
and kill him.
The raiders laughed at this, but the
men meant to do as agreed, unless the
Yankees stopped them by force, but the
Federals had been troubled by the thieves
almost as much as the Confederates, and
were not likely to object to the extent of
making the determination Of the men nu-
gatory.
One afternoon l was lying on my bunk,
looking out of q hole ] had cut through
the side of the house. Everything was
quiet The South Carolina division was
between the Louisiana and Texas divi-
sions, and my bunk was next to the par
tition which separated us from the Louis
lana troops. Quite near to this partition
was a window in the Louisiana division,
and a man was at work there making
bone and gutta-percha rings. A boy came
up carrying string of rings which he was
trying 10 sell. The man at the window
stopped him and requested him to hand
him the rings for inspection. The boy
unsuspectiDgly did So and then he waited
for the man to return them. After several
minutes he asked for his rings. He got
for a reply that someone IN the barracks
had ran off with them. The boy asked
the man to get them, but he said he could
not, as he did not know who had them.
The boy went away crying. l did not
know to what State he belonged, but L
said to myself that trouble would begin
directly | watched the bay and saw him
go into the Mississippi barracks; in
minute the Mississipplans came rushing
out, forming on the outside, shouting:
Rally on Mississippi for Louisiana.
Then there was a mighty repetition of the
cry as the men from the other States
poured out of their quarters and rushed
to the Mississippians.
l was not able TO take hand, but
was with the boy. In the crowd which
passed near me was a man who belonged
to the Texas barracks. He was running,
and just behind him was a siX-foot Miss
issippian, just out of the kitchen with
butcherknife in his hand. He and the
Texan were running i'll the path by the
edge of one of the canals. Just as they
got together the Texan shouted: 'Hurrah
for louisiana, and instantly the MisSiS-
sippian struck at his throat with the
knife. The Texan threw up his left arm
and caught the blow from the knife, but
the force of the blow knocked him into
the canal and under the water about as
suddenly as a ball from a gun. He dis
appeared under the water i'll the twinkling
OF an eye. The Mississippian kept on,
not stopping 20 see what he had done.
The knife cut the Texans arm to the
bone near the shoulder, and had ii not
been for some of the men, who got him
out of the canal as quickly as possible,
he would have bled to death.
In the meantime the crowd was making
a rush for the Louisiana brracks, the
door of which was soon blOckaded by
those trying TO get out. About the time
the men got to the door the Yankee
guards, with an officer, had arrived. After
long and bitter wrangle, the Federal
officer got the Infatuated soldiers to not
hurt anyone this time, provided the Louis
lana folks would produce the thief who
stole the rings and the rings. After Sc
curing this agreement, the officer told the
men i'll the Louisiana barracks to at once
bring out the thief and the rings; if they
did not, he would not intervene, but would
leave the matter TO be settled as the SOL
diers had determined. The thief and the
rings were found. The boy got his rings,
and the Federal officer stated to all that
the next time anything was stolen, he
would not interfere, but would leave the
better class Of soldiers TO settle the mat
ter. The evil-dOers were now face to face
with proposition that put a stop TO their
depredations.
The drinking water at Fort Delaware
was obtained by catching water in large
tanks by means of cutters in the roofs of
the buildings. The weather being warm,
the tar on the roofs was soft and conse-
Quently the drinking water was amber
colOred. The water, in addition to being
impregnated from the tar, was very warm,
as the tanks were uncovered and fully ey
posed to the sun.
1t was so hot on the island from the re-
Election Of the suns rays from the sur
rounding water that nearly all of the
fresh beef furnished the soldiers would
spoil before it could be cooked, especial
ly as 1t was furnished in such large
Quantities and was piled up, which intensi-
fed the heat in the mass. The beef was
the best ] ever saw, before or since, had
II been promptly delivered to us In con
sequence of the water and the tainted
beef which was sometimes eaten, there
was much sickness; the death rate aver
aged about 30 per day, the North Caro-.
lima soldiers dying faster than any other
The men We're allowed to battle in the
canals and in the river; they washed their
clothes in the canals. The great bulk OF
Them hnNVnTnF oil 70 h.s,sa 4