Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-10-30

The sick and wounded under charge OF
DR. VOCAL. e humane and exemplary gem
tleman. were well fed and cared for in
every respect, and he governed his camp
with leniency and was loved by all. L
belonged to a detail to flush the sewer
bitches around hospital rooms with water
every morning. This only took one-half
hour. Then my old friend Guitars and
myself spent the balance of the day max
ing trinkets and selling same to said ex-
cursion parties and earning for day S
work from eight to ten dollars every day.
our fare was beef, loaf bread, vegetables
and lemonade. just as the sick got
The Yankees allowed two minstrel
troups, gotten up entirely by the prisoners
that gave performances once week
each. Tuesday and Thursday nights. They
dressed beardless in ladies' apparel, had
nice uniforms all around. and gave SPLEEN
did performances. cracking many witty
Jokes on Yankees, which were very much
enioyed by the Yankee officers, who at
tended in body every night special seats
being reserved for them. Guitars ana
myself with many other prisoners, attend
ed also every night The performances
were splendid, music and all. 1t was a
great relief to the monotony OF prison
life. The Yankees furnished the house for
the MINISTRIES gratis.
Guitars and myself also bought fld-
die, whitfield and made out of cracker
box by a prisoner with his pocket knlte.
We bought strings from the Yankee but
Ter who kept almost everything or would
order it, With this fiddle we had a deal
Of fun We would lay of work from our
trinket business late in the evening and
with our fiddle in hand (for we were both
country fiddlers) we would get out OF
our tent and strike up quadrille and
have a regular stag dance by the priso-
ners. After and in addition to this, we
had employed an old phrenologist who
was a good talker. at a dollar a day, to
give chronological examinations of heads
and read character by the sciences or
chronology. This performance was free
to any one who would submit to an eX-
animation. And with the fiddle and our
scientist we had much fun.
My article is too long. 1 must pass from
incidents of prison. which constituted the
silver lining to my cloud of prison life
and relate my ocean voyage from Point
Lookout to Savannah, Ga, and to home,
but in this voyage / am alone, or at least
my old friend Guitars is absent, he hav-
ing received his parole before did, as
his name began with and mine with ,
alphabetically arranged Let me add here
that the regular prison was the dirtiest
and flthiest place it ever fell my lot to
live in; dirt and vermin abounded, the
prisoners had no change of clothing and
il was impossible to keep clean, though
we were allowed to battle in the Chesa-
peake Bay. Let me add before passing,
that / saw Masonic finger rings, made
of guttapercha, inlaid with Masonic i'm
elements of gold plate. readily bring %
dollars of course in greenbacks. These
rings were beautifully carved and made
by prisoners who were professional jew
elers at home. The ingenuity displayed
by southern prisoners in trinlSet work was
simply wonderful and exploded the idea
that American ingenuity belonged only to
Yankees The confinement of one in
prison had about the same effect upon
his mechanical genius as the confinement
of the other by the northern winters
snow. sr
But yet before passing out of prison.
candor compels me in making true re-