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towards his fellow mortals in misfortune. This was the most charitable feeling entertained towards him. It might be inferred what those wished him who suffered their feelings to be influenced by his infamous course towards the Old Capitol Prisoners. It was established as a sort of rule in the prison, that whoever was released should send something in the shape of food back to his fellow prisoners. No one could know better the needs of the prisoners than those who had been subjected to the prison treatment. In accordance with this rule, Messrs. Kugler and Wright, of New Jersey, sent from home a box containing several pounds of fresh butter, tomatoes, and sauces. These were most acceptable to the mess, as it was then of Room No. 10. When the Prisoners of State were all placed together in Room 16, their means and opportunities of providing themselves and of being provided by their friends with such things as butter, meat and other necessaries were more abundant and frequent, and there was more system in their arrangements, so that they generally fared pretty well during the month of October, and till the Prisoners of State were discharged early in November. This faring better, however, was due to their own means, and to the favor of their friends and released fellow prisoners, and it ought to be added creditably to Superintendent Wood, that he gave the prisoners permission to provide themselves with such food as they could eat, and to receive such as might be sent them.

Appreciating the acts of generosity of released prisoners and friends, votes of thanks of mess in Room No. 16 were passed to Mrs. A. R. Allen and Mrs. V. R. Jackson of Washington City, to Messrs. Geo. W. Wilson of Upper Marlboro', Md., and

Hill of New York, and of mess in Room No. 10, to Judge Mason of Iowa, and Messrs. Kugler of

Frenchtown, N. J., and Wright of Milford, same State. A copy of the preamble and resolutions of thanks adopted in one of these instances is appended:

Whereas, The Government of the United States, under the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, has been used for the oppression of loyal citizens of the Northern States who have presumed to differ with the Administration on questions purely politic or political; and

Whereas, Among other grievous acts violative alike of the rights of persons and the Constitution of the United States, and of the Constitutions of the several Stat 8, numerous persons have been arrested by arbitrary and illegal means, under the orders and directions of the War Department, and these persons deprived not only of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus guaranteed to them by the Constitution, except when suspended by act of Congress, but also of the right to consult with counsel and to communicate with their wives and families, except in the presence of minions of the Adminis tration, or subject, as in the case of correspondence, to the supervision and approval of petty clerks who earn the favor of their employers by the rigor of their scrutiny, the harshness of their judgment, and the insolence of their official conduct; and

Whereas, The undersigned and many hundreds of others have been made the victims of the arbitrary power referred to, and some of us deprived of and denied for months our personal and constitutional rights, by being incarcerated in what is called the Old Capitol Prison, at Washington, and subjected to such treatment therein as is prescribed for military prisoners, except as we ourselves have been able to procure by our own means or the favor of

friends such necessaries and comforts as are absolutely essential to the preservation of health; and

Whereas, Among our fellow-prisoners incarcerated with us for some time, on some flimsy pretext which when investigated was found to be devoid of crime. or offense, were George W. Wilson, of Upper Marl boro', Maryland, and Hill of New York; and

Whereas, These, our fellow-prisoners, did not forget us in the re acquirement of their liberty, but on the contrary, recollecting the meagre fare furnished to us by those who have deprived us of our liberty, have sent us a bountiful repast, which for several days made us feel not only that we were not forgotten by the world beyond these prison walls, but made us comparatively insensible to the hardships to which we are here subjected; and

Whereas, Such an act of kindness, regard, and consideration deserves to be commemorated in such a manner as to show some appreciation of it on our part,

Be it, therefore, and it is hereby

Resolved, That the thanks, heartfelt, sincere, and grateful of us prisoners of despotism, confined in room No. 16, in the Old Capitol Building, is hereby expressed and tendered to our late room-mates, Messrs. George W. Wilson and Hill, for the bountiful supply of creature comforts furnished by them, and for the goodness of heart which prompted them to remember us, their fellow-prisoners, in the enjoyment of their newly-acquired liberty.

The prisoners generally lived or languished on the Old Capitol fare, the only redeeming quality of which was good bread; thanks to Superintendent Wood for that. The eating place was on the ground floor of a frame building extending eastward from the prison proper. The second story of this building was used for hospital purposes; the first, for eat

ing in, negro quarters, washing rooms, &c. The eating room could accommodate at one time as many as a hundred persons. There were two tables running the length of the room. Each eater was furnished with a tin plate, tin cup, knife and fork, of camp quality. Plenty of bread was furnished to each person, and more than enough of meat, for but few persons could eat that which was furnished generally. Soup was given out occasionally, made of dessicated vegetables, and once in a while boiled rice also was served up. Potatoes, a few times a week, formed a part of the fare.

When there were more prisoners than would fill the eating room one time, when the meal was called by the proper officer, a rush would be made by the whole crowd to be at the first table. This was owing less to the desire to be first to eat, than it was to avoid eating and drinking from the same unwashed plates and tin cups, and the used knives and forks of the first set. Sometimes there would be half a dozen sets to eat-all of those who came after the first set being obliged to eat off of dirty plates, and drink out of the dirty cups of their predecessor eaters. This became so disgusting to all but the roughest specimens of humanity in the prison, that it was a general practice of those of refined tastes and delicate stomachs to take the bread and meat in their hands and eat them in the yard, or in their rooms.

Most of the Prisoners of State were obliged to go with the crowd of deserters and criminals of the Federal Army, and lousy confederate prisoners of war to this feeding place. There were but few who had not to go through this humiliating and disgusting subjection to arbitrary power, tyrannically exercised the first days of their incarceration.

Can any American, innocent of crime, who has been subjected to this outrage, ever forget it, aye,

or ever forgive the tyrants by whom it was perpetrated. No being of sensibility inferior to God in perfection, can he so charitable as to forgive the tyrants Lincoln, Stanton, and their associates in despotism; who have thrown down the security and trampled under their heels the guarantees of the Constitution to American citizens, and outraged in person and property the victims of their displeasure.

BELLE BOYD-DEFEAT OF BANKS ATTRIBUTED TO HER STRATEGY-ARRESTED AND TAKEN TO THE OLD CAPITOL-SUBJECTED TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT-MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER-ROMANTIC SEQUEL.

Among the prisoners in the Old Capitol when I reached there was the somewhat famous Belle Boyd, to whom has been attributed the defeat of General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley by Stonewall Jackson. Belle, as she was familiarly called by all the prisoners, and affectionately so by the confederates, was arrested and imprisoned as a spy. She was said, by the confederates who professed to be acquainted with her family, to be the daughter of a respectable Presbyterian clergyman at Martinsburg, Virginia, and the sister of Mrs. Faulkner, whose husband was the late United States Minister to France.

The first intimation some of us new comers in the Old Capitol had of the fact of there being a lady in that place, was the hearing of " Maryland, my Maryland," sang the first night of our incarceration in what we could not be mistaken was a female voice. On enquiring we were informed that it was Belle Boyd. Some of us had never heard of the lady before, and we were all enquiring about her. Who

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