Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-02-07

auspices of Frank M. Thomas post. A.
p. Thayer, Of the Times Republican,
was cousin of the deceased, as were
also John and Matt Irwin, Mrs. ]. M.
Reynolds and HI. M. Thayer.
Captain January, several years be-
fore his death, wrote his life history in
an interesting style. 1t told of his
personal experience during the war,
and is as follows:
II was born in Clinton county, Ohio,
November 80, 1s45; emigrated to 1lli-
nos in 1852, and located near Henry
on farm. In the spring of 1861 re-
moved to Minonk. ILL.,, where I have re-
sided since, except while in the army.
In the fall of 1862 the Fourteenth Hill
nois cavalry was organized in Peoria,
and | enlisted in Company b, and
served until captured on Stoneman's
Raid in July, 1864, upon retreat from
Macon. l was captured by six rebel
soldiers, sent to Andersonville, and
there kept until the fall of Atlanta
made it necessary for us to be removed
to prevent falling into the hands of the
union forces. | was taken to Charles
ton, S. c., with Others and placed by
the enemy under fire of our soldiers
and gun boats; remained here ten days
and was taken to Florence S. c., where
we passed the winter of 1864-5, and on
or about February Is I was stricken
down by an attack of swamp fever"
and for three weeks / remained in a
delirious condition; the fever abated
and reason returned.
Il soon learned from the surgeon
after a hasty examination, that l was
victim of scurvy and gangrene, and
was removed to the gangrene hospital.
My feet and ankles, five inches above
the joints, presented a livid, lifeless
appearance, and soon the flesh began
to slough off, and the surgeon, with a
brutal oath, said that would soon die.
But l was determined to live, and
begged him to cut my feet off, telling
him that if he would do that I could
live. He still refused, and believing
that my life depended on the removal Of
my feet, secured an old pocket knife
u have it now in my possession) and
cut thru the decaying flesh and severed
the tendons. The feet We're unjointed,
leaving the bones protruding without
covering OF flesh for five inches.
AT the close of the war / was taken
by the rebs to our lines at Wilmington,
N. c., in April. 1865, and when weighed
learned that I had been reduced from
165 pounds (my weight when captured)
to 40 pounds. Every one of the union
surgeons who saw me said that could
not live; but, contrary to this belief,
l did, and improved. Six weeks after
release. while on boat en- route to
New York, the bones of my right limb
broke off at the end of the flesh. Six
weeks later, while in the hospital on
David's Island, those of my left had
become necrosed and broke off SIM
| ilarly
zone year after my release was
able to sit up in bed, and was dis
charged. Twelve years afters my re-
lease my limbs healed over, and strange
to relate, no amputation has ever been
performed upon them except the one
performed in prison. There is no
record of any case in the world sim
| liar to mine. My one theory of the
cause is this: While delirious I was
so weak that the pulsations Of my heart
were too feeble to throw the blood to
the extremities, and below the point
of circulation death took place"