The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-21
By Carleton Poole.
In The Pfrayunc.

IN Ihc IfcaJunc.
When one IS talking 10 an elderly
gentleman VINO is In full possession
o: his faculties and who states that
his physical functions arc in perfec,
condition. and casually refers TO the
time when ne foregathercd an London
with Crabbe Robertson (who was war
correspondent of the London Times In
tho Napoleon!c wars), with John Lock =
hart tson-in- law and blographer Of Sir
Walter Scott and with George Cruik-
shank, the artist-one IS apt 10 sit up
straight in mis- chair and think rapidly.
True. Cruikshank lived to a great old
age but the apex Of his fame belongs
posed to call ancient
Having your attention abruptly riv-
eted in this manner you stammer,
When was this?" and the elderly gen
tieman replies. IN ls37-3S.' much as
one would say. ON, month or two
ago"
The man who foregathcred with
these WORTHLESS in London. in company
ri mis- friend and kinsman. John James
Audubon, three quarters OF century
ago. is one of the best-known and GER
tainly the most beloved citizens OF New
Orleans-Rev. 4. Gordon Blackwell. In
the ''nanse' adjoining Trinity Chapel,
on Rampant street. he moves about
hr!skly. despite the fact that he will
complete his ninety-nrst year next De-
ccmbcr. He is just now congratulate
ing himself on his complete recovery
from a catarrhal and bronchial at tack
contracted during the campaign that
eliminated in the battle of Shloh-end
that was something over half a cen
fury ago.
The span of human life is short
when measured by history. but some
lives are surprisingly long when one
considers the march OF events within
the scope OF their memory. For en-
ample, in the conversation referred
TO. DR. Blackwell mentioned-still cas-
ually-that upon his return TO New
Orleans from the London visit in which
he held daily conference with Lock
hart. Cru!kshank and Robertson, lie
found that the Nashville Railroad, now
called the Illinois Central. running
over the canal In Canal Strcct-now
the neutral ground-had been sold at
sheriff sale. and that the purchaser
OF the bankrupt concern was the firm
with which he Was connected This
on the Mexican Gulf Road which ia
still. under another name. running TO
Lake Borgne. but which his employers
let 30 OF" after relinquishng $500
600 in an effort to make il pay
And. memories Of his youth being
awakened. DR.. Blackwell told of the
days that followed his rcturn-days
when ne was what was then called a
swell a word which succeeded mac
aroni' as that word had succeeded
beau. and 10 he itself succeeded by our
dude" and paraded, the mold of fash
ion. In front OF the Hotel Royal ito
give IN the inclcgant slang OF the
day. the girls a treat" All Of which
was interesting to a degree. but had
come to the "manse'' for a special pur-
pose. and to see DR.. Bakewell about "A
particular matter, with regard TO which
nc is probably the best informed man
now alive: and so it was with n ques-
ton or two that | shifted the CONVEX
sation 10 the Civil War and to the
Confederate Prison at Andersonville-.
that prison which is so often and so
unmeasuredly denounced by Northern
writer's DR.. Blackwell served a few
eventful months AIT Andersonville: he
knew that unfortunate Swiss, WirZ
we'll. and from personal observation
can tell. as probably no other living
man can, what were the "horrors" OF
-Andersonville and what was that devil
fncarnate" who was executed by the
Federals for the crime of having been
in charge OF the prison. The recent
revival of the old discussion about
WirZ and the So called "Andersonville
atrocities" made my inquiry timely.
Many stories OF Andersonville have
been told, most OF them having for
their purpose the Justification or en-
cuse of the judicial murder of Major
ha nris
Andersonville was n horror no we'll
Informed person will deny, but no fair
minded person will hold WirZ respon-
sible for the conditions there. The
srue responsibility is not hard TO fix.
even though the witnesses he chosen
from among those who held briefs for
the prosecution
Or. Bakewell's visitor remembered
that he had heard that gentleman to-
warl the close of the Civil War. when
lhe prison was at its worst had been
sent TO Andersonville In his capacity
us chaplain in the Confederate Army,
and said to him.:
Doctor. were you not. chaplain al
Andersonvillc Prison in 1862"
YES" replied tho doctor, toward
tho close OF the war ] was ordered TO
proceed to Andersonville and to the
hospitals in that section to examine
into the condition OF the patients and
TO determine whether any OF those who
were reporting sick were i'm reality
malin pering and should be sent to the
front, where men were sorely needed"
While at the Andersonville Prison
] had ample opportunity to learn the
condition OF affairs there, and also
that OF the Federal prisoners confined
within the stockade. This stockade,
as 7 remember it, was parallelogram
1.64o feet in length by $50 feot wide.
formed Of the trunks OF trees twenty.
four or twenty-five feet long. tia butts
Auried IN ditch 1--WE feet deep, and;