The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-10
TAKES SHOT AT MILES.
Daughter of jefferson Davis Gives
Out = Bitter Interview.

Colorado Springs, Colo, Feb TO-
Mrs J. A. Hayes. daughter of Jefrer-
son Davis has given out the following
interview to a Gazette reporter, with
reference to the statement made bv
| General Nelson A. Miles:
was surprised to receive a mark
e ga edition of the Richmond (va.)
5, with an article by Lieutenant Gen
eraI Nelson A. Miles, headed, Miles
says Davis Tried to Escape
The article is a tissue of falsehoods
from beginning to end. General Miles
is right in saying Jefferson Davis did
not surrender when Richmond was
captured. It would be a poor leader
or his people who would do So as
long as even the ghost of hope re-
NAMED, as long as there were men
lett with spirits as dauntless as his
! and their rights.
When Mr.. Davis was captured and
ieht with but one man to guard him,
ne did make an attempt to escape, and,
but for an unfortunate accident, he
would probably have succeeded
General Miles, however, with his
usual evasion of the truth neglects to
say where this effort was made. and
! leaves 1T to be supposed it was made
IN his cell at Fortress Monroe, instead
| of in the woods of Georgia.
Immediately after his Incarceration
Mr. Davis was Ill enough to make it
necessary to have Mr.. John J. Craven
in attendance, and was guarded dav
and night so vigilantly that even a
younger, stronger and healthier man
would nave found escape impossible.
Mr.. Davis was brought by General
Miles to Fortress Monroe on the 23rd
of March.
"Mr. Davis requested Lieutenant
General Miles not to shackIe him, not
believing the United States govern
ment had ordered shackleS put upon
prisoner of state. Captain TftIow
a. 1rrfer 80 r~-sA I,
thence, as he, being soldier, was
bound to execute orders. Mr.. Davis
then answered: These are not or
ders for a soldier. They are orders
soldier wearing a sword should accept.
tell you the world will ring with
this disgrace. The war is over, the
South conquered and it is for the honor
honor and life that I plead against
this degradation. Kill me, rather than
inflict on me and on my people this
insult worse than death. There must
be some mistake, General Miles can
telegraph. No such outrage as you
threaten me with is on record in the
history of the nations
Captain Tit1ow, feeling he was pow
erless to do anything but obey the
orders General Miles gave him, say
ing they were orders he had received
from Washington. told the blacksmith
to do his duty. Captain Titlow called
in a sergeant and a file of soldiers,
and the sergeant advanced to seize
Mr.. Davis. Mr.. Davis resisted him,
and, so great was the agony of shame
he endured, it lent him an extraordi-
nary strength. so that only after he
was assailed and held down by four
powerful men. could the blacksmith
rivet on the shackles.
General Miles refused to have the
sIackles removed, in spite of the fact
that he was allowed by Assistant Sec
rotary of War Charles A. Dana, to use
his discretion, as General Miles him
self states in his article.
"Mr. Davis would certainly have
died under the fortunes General Miles
inflicted upon him. in denying him
the necessary quiet his extreme ner-
vous exhaustion demanded. as well as
from the starvation incident to his
inability to eat the coarse food Cen
eraI Miles ordered, had not DR.. Craven
insisted on General Miles allowing him
to send properly prepared food from
his own table.
'I am sure the testimony I offer
proves General Miles unmanly, brutal,
crue1-all that an American soldier
should not be, and a disgrace to his
state