The National tribune., 1902-12-18

loving trust. He prayed tenderly 1or him
self and for his dear ones; f9H- me, O
stranger until now, and for my dear ones;
for the officers he had threatened haunt
and for his feilow-soldiers ono aM all.
1t was a gloomy ride by his EAe in a
cart. out of the sallyport towar4 Nte place
of execution. 1t was a dreary tramp on
through the mud beyond the roadway to
the newly dug grave, in the sight of the
entire division drawn up on thrreosides OF
square. His voice was firm and tender
as he spoke earnest words of prayer
kneekng by my side before thatEfave. and
as he bade me an affectionate. good-by
And then his young life went out there
Oh, if that could have been tlie' last OF
the evils of this system of bOunty-jumpinl
and deserting! But the end was not yet
BEFORE RICHMOND THE LAST WINTER OIL
TIE WAR.
The Provost -Marshal's prison of ouI
division, before Richmond, IN the last
Winter of the war, was within a close
stockade of pine logs 90 feet high, guard
ed on all sides. Men were brought .hero
after their trial by court-maptial, in igno-
rance of the verdict rendered in their case
or of their probable fate. At one time
more than GO deserters were there. Just
outside of the entrance to that .stockade
was small log cabin, used as the con-
demned cell. If man had been SEN
fenced to death he knew nothing of it un-
til the order came for his execution, and
he was removed to this cabin to pass q
few hours there.
There were anxious times in that stock
ade. So long as men remained there they
might have hope. At one time, seven men
who had deserted together, and against
whom the evidence was clear, were sud-
denly ordered back to their regiment, when
they had been looking forward to their
execution. The Commanding General had
noted vital error in the proceedings of
the cOurt-martial, and had disapproved its
findings. Then n man who had been re-
taken outside OF our lines had his death
sentence commuted to a years imprison-
meDt. These instances gave hope to many
who had before been in despair.
But again the current of feeling was
changed. A soldier arrested one day was
tried the next, and shot the third. Two
men who had been tried four weeks be-
fore, and had taken courage from the de-
lay, were brought into the outer cabin,
and thence to the gallows, being denied a
soldiers death by shooting because they
had added to the crime of desertion by
attempting to shoot their captors. A SOL
dier who had been tried some time before,
and was now cutting wood under guard
outside the stockade, in feeling of COM
parative safety, was suddenly called back
to enter the condemned cabin. Then those
inside the stockade, or the "bgll-pen," a.
it was generally called, trembled.
PITEoUs APPEALS TRo,7 PRISONERS,
The small outer cabin could be seen
through the entrance way Of the stock
ade. /, being the senior Chaplain in the
division, was likely to be summoned to
minister to man who was taken thither,
and my face became familiar to the pris-
0ners in the larger inelosure. One day
l entered the stockade for the purpose Of
speaking to prisoner. Instantly ! was
recognized as one who, in sepse, repre-
sented those having authority, while had
personally a kindly interest in .those who
were under condemnation, and there was
rush to secure my sympathy and favor
Men crowded around me by the score
They caught my hands. They elasped my
feet They clung to my garmehts., They
pleaded for pity, for mercy, for help.
20, Chaplain, hear my storyrr,
20, Chaplain, help mel" dt,
81 don't care for myself. Chaplain, but
it will kill my mother if I'm shot,.
won't you go to the General for me,
Chaplain? He'll pardon me il you ask
it. l know he will" e.'as
"Helpw -,
"Help!' ~ -
"Helpr' the cries came up on every side,
piteous, heart-piercing, despairing.
Yet was utterly helpless for the rescue
of any one Of the poor prisoners there. /
felt for the moment. however. as never
before in my varied lifetime, what it was
to be looked to in vain as e possible medis
ator and intercessor by those who were
appointed to die.
xva~ iuavifobla hot 20 %Lo r,,,1 -
effort to stay the scourge of desertion, in
that midnight hour of the Nations life
struggle, there should be eases where in
nocent men suffered with and for the
guilty. Men were executed as deserters
who had never enlisted, and others who
were technically guilty were denied the
that the circumstances of their
case would have secured to them in ordi-
nary times, because it was felt that the
certainty Of punishment for desertion must
no longer be in question.
As an example, in the range of my OBJ
there was a green Irish lad of
10, who came to America in search of his
sister, and was met On the dock in New
York by the runner of a substitute-broker,
who promised him work with good wages
if he would follow him. He was taken
to Connecticut, was stupefied with liquor,
and, without understanding what he was
deing, was enlisted as substitute. A
portion of the bounty money collected in
his case was given to him by the broker,
but was quickly taken from him by men,
bers of the squad of bounty-jumpers with
whom he was placed. Penniless, home
sick, bewildered, he was hurried to Vir-
ginia with party of substitute recruits.
Bent on finding his sister, he started for
the rear before he had learned anything
Of army service. He was arrested, and,
the second day after, he was shot as de-
serter.
PITIFUL CASE.
But the case of the last deserter to
whom l ministered was most pitiful of
all. A boy less than 16 years old, born
and reared in the upper portion Of New
York City, was enticed away to be sold
as substitute. He was somewhat un-
derwitted, but simple-hearted and childlike
in a peculiar degree. He said, and prob
ably with truth, that he had never passed
a night away from home until the sub
led him off When he found
himself with squad Of recruits in a
camp in Virginia, he wanted to go home;
and poor, tired boy that he was, he started
in broad daylight to 90 down the road to-
ward the landing from which he had
come. he was stopped, and brought back
to camp. Again he started to run. making
rearrested, tried as deserter. and SEN
fenced to be shot. .Igss
When ! learned his story l was sure
that he ought not to be executed. Il went
to my brigade commander and stated the
facts. He told me that he had no oypower
in the premises. An order from the De-
partment Commander for the immediate