The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-03-17

spared to get out Of there that, come what
| would, would find and kill him.
gloated over the different ways / conjured
| up to make my revenge more dreadful. I
would wait until he was in company with
his mother, or his wife, or his sweetheart,
| and shoot him down before her, after tell
| ing him just what it was for. Or would
track him till | found him in the midst Of
his friends and crOnies in some spree Of
jubilation, and shoot him down, so that his
blood would sprinkle them as George For
sythe'S had me. ] used to wake up in the
night and imagine ways to make my re-
venge more awful. When we broke over
the lines around Petersburg, the I'd Of
April, l began to look and to look hard
among the prisoners, which we were gath
ering in by the hundreds and thousands,
for that man. II had found him should
have killed him in hot blood, and he was
about the only man / really wanted to
kill. But l didn't find him, nor a single
one of the guards who used to pace around
the prison. I'm afraid none of them
! would have been used very courteously if
he had fallen into my hands I kept up
the search for the fellow after had been
assigned to duty here, and the place began
to fill up with men accused of crimes
against the laws OF war. By the way,
want to say that we have got inside there,
in close confinement Dick Turner, the old
turnkey Of the prison. He was the worst
scared man when arrested you ever saw,
and his jet-black hair turned SO gray in
few days that it startled me-"
s'Why didn't they hang him at once to
save feeding him!" inquired Monty.
'Oh, he wasn't so bad as reported. Ii
was the other Turner, Maj. Z. p. Turner,
the commander of the prison, who was re-
sponsible for its horrors. Dick was a mere
underling, who had to carry out his SUI
AL I>,4
fellow at heart. The main trouble with
him is his mouth. He is too noisy. But
his bark is worse than his bite every time"
"A little hanging wouldn't have gone
amiss in curing him of that" said Harry
Joslyn. "We were all in Andersonville,
and are sour down to our toepails on every
body who had anything 10 do with the
prisons"
Don't blame you a mite" said the Cap
tain; ''but if you had been here and seen
Dick Turner fallen from his high estate,
where he can no longer curse and rave
around at others, but have others curse
and rave around at him in way most in
furious to his feelings, You would think
that he was getting pretty stiH dose OF
punishment. Just think. for four years
Dick felt that lie was the almighty ruler
Of this roost, and the way he ordered about
Yankee prisoners, and st0rmed and swore.
filled his soul full to the measure of con-
u
Sergeant, in blue uniform, orders him
around. He won't have any back talk
from him either. and chucks him into the
cells where Dick formerly put those who
displeased him. ought to be ashamed to
say that l rather encouraged that darby
Sergeant to Backyard Dick, but | guess
he has had enough, and III let up ON it
now. One day when was sitting ont in
my chair in front Of the office there, which
used to be Dicks throne, saw a man come
down Cary street whose motions seemed
familiar. He looked up at the window
where poor George Forsythe was shot, and
then walked out into the street to precisely
where the guard stood when he shot him.
At once / saw that that was the man !
had been looking for. It took me only
about three jumps to reach him and knock
him down. My Sergeant here had followed
me, and immediately had the man, with his
hands tied behind him. That darby Ser
geant of mine is a daisy when it comes TO
handling prisoners-he is born policeman
| had the prisoner brought UP to my place
here, and put down in chair, while took
my seat. studied him over. and thought
what ] should do with him. Instead OF
being the cruel. bloodthirsty villain that /
had imagined him, I saw he was rather
shallow chunk Of soggshHess. who must
have been very stupid and green a year
before, when he killed poor George For
sythe. He was simply a big country
lnmpkin. with little brains, will or vim of
any kind.
sWhatd you jump on me fnr?' he COM
planned, with eyes shifting from my gaze.
I warn't doin' nothin' to YOU
WASN'T you on guard around this
prison last year, / asked.
No, / warn't on guard nowhere, cent
with my own rijiminf,' he answered. with,
what could see was weak equivocation.
1 was with my rijfment all the time, and
1t was ut the 'front.'
".What was your regiment? 2"
"sCunnel BlakesIee's
THAT was enough. remembered that
it was Col. Blakeslees regiment which had
been on guard for few weeks about the
time that George Eorsythe was shot. tt
WAS q regimeat which had seen some service
early in the war. and then sent into gari-
rison down On the coast somewhere. where
it had stayed 4 year. and then been brought
up to Richmond to join Lees army, and
had done guard duty while waiting Tor tn
sassisnfnent. asked: