The Irish standard., 1906-09-01

that they themselves were e-fa,nine is
oficial-two years after the war was
over Congress appropriated million
dollars for provisions to save them
from actual starvation.
(c) The Administration, after being
notified by the Southern leaders that
| they could not properly care for the
! prisoners, refused an exchange. man
for man. for Secretary Stanton's rea-
son Was that he would not accept All
| exchange of skeletons for healthy
| men," SO TO prevent the South from
getting a little more strength he de-
termined to let the Union prisoners
die. Then Colonel Ould. the Con-
fcrcd early in August, 1864, in an Of
fetal communication to the Washing
ton authorities to deliver up all Fed
cr;ll sick and wounded, without any
equivalent in return, to the number
of between 10000 and $4,000. and inn
plOred the Administration to make
haste, knowing as he did that the
South had neither proper prisons nor
food, nor clothing. nor medicines for
all these men and could not get
money to procure them. as it's means
were exhausted. But it was not until
December that transportation for the
prisoners was sent to Savannah. 1t
was in that interval that most Of the
deaths at 1Andersonvillc occurred. The
men responsible for the horrors of
that period were then in Washington
and the principal of them was Edwin
NJ. Stanton.
To prove that Captain Wirz was
guilty rs charged, it would be ncccs-
sary to show that he had ample ac-
Communications for the captured Union
soldiers and deliberately coop"d them
up in narrow quarters; that he had
abundance Of food. and restricted
them tn the most mcagre fare: that
he had sufficient medicine and heart
leSsly denied them remedies for their
diseases. hut the truth is that he was
only Il subaltern officer, that he could
not help it that the prison was over
crowded, and that he did not have
supplies to give out.
When he was arrested. H.. WAS him
Golf I, laI .>r
cd in the surrender of General john
ston. poor. fricndless and wounded.
He was put in the Old Capitol prison
in Washington on May ., 1868. From
that day until his so-called trial North
crn newspapers r:lved over him until
they had made the public believe that
he was an ogre of inpuity. Hc could
hardly get counsel. Even his country
man. the Swiss Consul General, re-
fused to receive money to defray the
expenses of his trial. At last Louis
Schade. attorney ut law, consented ia
act for him. and stood by him until
the end. Later. in Il formal statement
to the American people in vindicatior
of his client Schade wrote:
"Hc was doomed before he was
heard. and even the permission to be
heard according to law. was denied
him"
He was taken before Il military COM
| mission. organized to convict, and was
$" feeble that he had to lie down on I;
couch during the proceedings. The
trial lasted three months and the
whole power and means of the Ad.
ministration We're used to rake and
scrapc the country for Testimony
against him. But there was nothing
substantiated against him to vcrif,
the accusations. Today no mans life
would be taken OH such testimony
Nevertheless he was condemned.
! On the very evening before his exc.
cution an effort was made to suborr
Captain Wirx against Jefferson Davis
Parties went to his confessor Rev
Father Boyle, and to his lawyer, At
t"rney Sch;,dc and informed them
that "a high Cabinet officer Ono doubt
Stanton) wished to assure Wirz that
ii he would impicate Jefferson Davi.
with the atrocities committed al
.\ndersonvillc his sentence would be
committed" But Wirz replied that Mr.
| Davis had no connection with him as
I" what WAS done at Andersonville
That refusal to be used against
Davis without grounds sealed tho
fate of Wirz. The bribc of life
was offered him temptingly in vain
and a few hours later he hung by tho
neck dead on Il scaffold of shame
Findictively he was pursued beyond
the grave, and was denied Christian
| burial. His body was thrown into q
| hole beside that of Mrs. Surratt II
! the yard of the former Jail of Wash.
ington.
From his prison cell. four days be.
fore the hanging. Captain Wrz wrot.
to President Andrew Johnson:
For six weary months l have beer
II prisoner: for six months my name
has been in the mouth of every one
by thousands I am considered Il mon
ster of cruelty. Il wretch that ough
not to pollute the earth any longer
| I f,,