Evening star., 1926-08-22

Gen. L. Thomas. adjutant general
United States Army: Brig. Gen a. b.
Underwood. Brig. Gen. T.. l.. Bragg,
Brevet Brig. Gen: John F. Ballier,
colonel 9Sth Pennsylvania Volunteers;
Lieut.. Col. T. Allcock, 4th New York
Artillery: Lieut.. Col. J Ii. Stibbs. 18th
Iowa Volunteers. and Brig Gen.
Joseph Holt. judge advocate general
The order directed that "the COM
mission will sit without regard to
hours and was signed ''E. ID. Town
send, assistant adjutant general" and
the process was taken by order Of
the President nt''-Andrew Johnson.
On Saturday. August 10, the court
assembled at 40 Fourteenth street.
That was the number under the for
mer street number system. and / can
not spot the place where the commits
sion met. Monday. August 21, the
court, or commission. plet again. Gen.
Francis Fessenden replaced Gen. I'm
tlerWood as a member of the court
and Col. y. =. Chapman was named
judge advocate i'm place of Judge Ad-
vocate General Joseph Holt. The
commission met for its second session
lin the room of the Court of Claims.
north of the west central entrance of
the United States Capitol" That was
the room In which the long trial of
Wirz was held. The court was called
to order by Gen. Lew Wallace, and
counsel for the accused were Messrs.
Hughes. Denver, Peck and Schade.
Nessrs. Hayes and Brown were sworn
as official reporters.
find this in The Evening Star OF
August 81, 1865. "At 25 minutes past
o'clock the prisoner was brought in
guarded by a squad of Veteran Re
serves and was seated on settee to
the right of the commission. two OF
the soldiers. with fixed bayonets, re-
naming with him..
The charges and specifications fill
two and quarter columns of the
old Star about $500 words. With
our larger type freer leading, para
graphing and subheading, that mat
ter would fill about five columns in
today's Star. We will take several
glances at the charges. The first
charge was that WirZ "maliciousy,
wilfully and traitorously. and in aid
Of the then existing rebellion against
the United States of America, on or
before the first day of March. A. ..
1864. and on divers other days be
tween that day and the 10th OF
April. 1865. combining, confederating
and conspiring together with Robert
f. Lee. James A. Seddon, John Fl.
Winder, Lucius D. Northrop. Rich
erd B. Winder. Joseph White, w. s.
Winder. r. r. Stevenson. - Moore
end others unknown, to injure the
health and destroy the lives of sol
diers in the military service of the
United States, then held and being
prisoners of war within the lines of
the so.called Conefederate States and
in the military prisons thereof. to
the end that the armies of the Unit
ed States might be weakened and inn
paired. in violation of the laws and
customs Of war"
THE first specification was that the
accused injured the health and
destroyed the lives Of prisoners "by
subjecting them to torture and great
suffering. by confining them in un-
healthy and unwholesome quarters,
by exposing them to the inclemency
of Winter and to the deWS and burn
ing suns of Summer. by compelling
the use of impure water and by fur
nishing insufficient and unwholesome
food"
Reading the thirteenth specification,
] see that WirZ was charged with fail
ing to furnish tents or barracks; with
taking clothing. blankets and other
equipment from prisoners which they
IdU Nutn WIN refusing 10
furnish wood for cooking In Summer
and for warmth in Winter; with COM
pelling the use of water fouled with
filth and garbage from the prison and
the prison guard and drainage from
the Cookhouse. with letting bodies of
the dead remain among the prisoners
without burial: with punishment by
hall and chain and binding large mum.
bers Of prisoners together with chain:
atrun1ent of torture called the
stocks, with the establishment Of
dead line" which was "a line
around the inner face of the stockade
or wall inclosing said prison and
about 90 feet distant from said stock.
ade. which was i'll many cases an
lima ginary line and in many other
places marked by insecure and shift
ing strips of boards nailed upon the
top of insecure stakes or posts; with
tnstructing the prison guard. sta
toned upon the top of said stockade
to fire upon and kill any of the pris-
oners who might touch. fall upon.
pass over or under or across the said
dead line
It was charged that about 900
prisoners were killed by the dead line
order and that "feroCious and blood
thirsty beasts. dangerous to human
life. called bloodhounds. were used
70 hunt down prisoners of war who
made their escape. One charge was
that about fifty prisoners died from
injuries from the dogs Another
charge WAS that prisoners were
inoculafed with poisonous vaccine for>
the pretended purposes OF vaccina-
ton. One charge was murder in
that Nirz shot with his revolver
o prisoner, name unknown. and kick
nd ,YAs
name unknown. doing injury of
which the soldiers died.
The Star reporter at the trial,
describing the prisoner wrote: THE
prisoner is a slim made man OF about
SO wears of age with dark hair and
whtskerS sprinkled with gray. and
was dressed in blue suit with white
shirt. On his way 10 the room from
the Old Capitol Prison he wore an
old fashioned silk hat"
Mr. Hughes of counsc! for defense
fled plea against the jurisdiction
of the commission. He maintained
that the accused was captured under
pledge that he should have safe
conduct to his home and that he was
included in the terms Of the conven-
ton between Gen. Johnston and Gen.
Sherman when the former surrender
ed to the latter near Durham, y. C.
x
THE Rambler notes in the report
of the trial on Thursday. August
"a. that Maj. Gen. Doubleday. with
party of ladies. was a courtroom Wis
ttor." COL. Chipman, the Judge advo-
cate, asked the prisoner If he had coun,
sci. Louis Schade stated that he would
remain as counsel for the accused
He said he had appeared in that ca
paclty on previous occasions with
Judge Hughes and NessIs. Denver
and Peck but they had left for rea.