The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-11-03

all day and preach a beautiful ser
mon at night.
Afer remaining about five months
in Camp Chase we were removed to
Rock Island, III. l will never forget
this trip. as l came nearer freezing
than ever before. 1t was in the dead
of winter. and we were in boxcarS
which had at first a diminutIve stove
in each. but the home guards who had
US in charge soon kicked these ou1.
During the night some Of our bo.s
! sawed out and made their scape
When the hole in the car was disCCv-
cred we were all made TO lie down side
by side, the guards swearing they
would Kill the first man that raised
his head. We made the balance Of the
Journey in this position.
We had thought camp Chase a hard
place. but il was a paradise compared
to Rock Island. Smallpox was ragIns
| when [ arrived. and after a few weeks
l contracted il and was sent to the
| hospital. which vas virtually a hell.
l was put into a bun with another
| patient in the most loathsome stage
Of this lOathsOme disease His head
| seemed to be sWelled beyond Its nor
NAL size, and the eruptions OF his face
had made it almost one solid seas.
The blankets and bedding were in
tested with things thai creep and
| lnl!4SS lII1 I"N d4ll IClIISlilps1
making a mental estimate that there
was a pint of them divided between
US.
In this dungeon Of horrors l re-
manned several weeks. amid Shrieks
Of the delirious and groans OF The
dying. For ten days 1 did not drink
a drop of water. q~uenching my thirst
as best l could with teas. sometimes
hot and sometimes cold. I had bee.
told that if I drank cold water It
would Kill me. and l didn't intend to
die. If | displayed a particle of hero.
ism during the war. 1t was here, fol
by all rules l ought to have died, bu7
lived from sheer force of will. Wh=n
others died who were not as i'll as l.
! had never heard of mental or Chris
tan science, but l guess it was some
thing of the KIN that saved my life.
In the early spring of 1864 1 was re-
turned to barracks. only to be attack
ed by chronic diarrhoea. Our hunks
We're built on tiers of three. one above
the other. l first occupied a top berth.
| then took the middle one. and becnm-
ing too weak to crawl up to it, took
| the one at the bottom. ] suffered no
| pain. except the pangS Of never-ceaS-
ing hunger. but am convinced now
that l was slowly dying. One day
there was a game of town ball in pro-
| gress among the stronger ones, and l
asked the man at the bat to let mo
run around for him. 1 ran half \
dozen steps and ended with about the
| hardest fall l have eve experienced
l did not stumble. but my knees
dropped from under me from sheer
| Weakness. I have never tried to play
ball since.
In the summer the visiting physI-
clan concluded l a consumption as
| we'll as the other diseases I have men,
toned, and sent me again to the hos
! pital. Here I remained several months
and Jared much better than before. 1t
wasn't consumption or diarrhOea TINT
was killing me n at night l dream
ed oftener of having enough to eat
than of mother or home. The ratiOns
in hospital were as Scant as in prison.
though of better quality, but l was
able to supplement them by waiting
on men too sick to eat all that was
given them, and there was a better
chance Of foraging than inside the
| prison proper. Nightly 1 would prowl
around the kitchen hunting for scraps
thrown out, just as the lean dogs now
prowl around my kitchen at nome,
and sometimes I would fish down INTO
the sWfll tub at the kitchen door in
the hope of finding a morsel of food
thrown IN with the slop. Sometimes
| was fortunate enough to find in the
ash heap a lot Of bones with consider
able meat on them. / would carefully
hide them until morning, and then
| steal out behind the hospital building
and gnaw them. while the sentinel Oh
the fence would whistle to me and
call me like l was a dog.
From the above it will be seen that
l was reduced by starvation almost to
the level of an animal. and no one
can wonder that | have never told THIS
story before. and am reluctant to tell
it now.
This hospital was we'll managed, aud
We were fairly we'll treated, barring
the fact that we were experimental
on with different kinds of medicines 20
test their effect, and nearly every man
who died was dissected. For the lat
ter purpose. there was no lack of sub
jects, as the mortality was greater
than from smallpox.
The occupants of the cots each side
of mine died. the one in front, and so
on through the ward. n each night
as l went to sleep I knew there would
be one or more vacant places in the
morning. Strange how calous we be-
come with familiarity with death. l
do not remember that the passing of
my comrades particularly saddened
me, though being of a reflective turn
Of mind. / often watched their disSO-
luton to study the phenomena of
death. | have never dreaded it greatly
since. for none seemed to fear it, and
to many it was a welcome release.
In the fall of 1864 / was sent from
the hospital to the prison again, aid
when l entered the gates was at
once impressed with the sad. WOe-be-
gone expression on the faces of my
comrades. Up to the time l had left
-