HENRY SNIDER SWORN. Examined by Mr. FERRIS Answer-My name is Henry Snider; I am twenty-nine years of age; by occupation an engineer; reside in Blackford county; have resided there for about fifteen years; I have a family—a wife and two children. I was arrested at Hartford City, on the day before the last October election, by Captain Stretch, and brought to this city; spent but one night in the Bastile, and was released the following evening. I asked the cause of my arrest, but was not told it; paid my own expenses home. Politically, I am a Democrat. I asked, at the time of my arrest, for the authority therefor, and was answered that they had none; that he had no warrant, but that he had authority to take me to Indianapolis. HENRY SNIDER. THE SWITZERLAND COUNTY ARRESTS. GEORGE H. KYLE SWORN. Examined by Mr. BROWN Answer-My name is George H. Kyle; aged forty-five years; by occupation an architect; reside in Vevay, Switzerland county; resided there for twenty-seven years; have a family-a wife and seven children. I was arrested at Vevay, on or about the fifth day of June last, by a squad of eight armed soldiers, under whose immediate command I do not know, but presume by order of Captain Nicklin; and subsequently, per order of Nicklin, I was put on board the steamer "Storm," after having been permitted to return home, under guard, to change my clothing. At Vevay, through Henry A. Denney, attorney, I made application for examination and trial; but he returned answer to me that "there was no chance." My house was ransacked and searched by forty or fifty armed soldiers in my absence, as I am informed by my wife and daughter. From Vevay I was conveyed to Louisville, Kentucky, and placed in the military prison, where I remained about seven weeks. From others, my friends, I learned that it was required of me by Boyle and Dent that my release depended upon the condition that I would give bond, and take an oath abjuring and denouncing the Democratic doctrine of State's Rights. This oath I refused to take, though I was willing to take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and that of Indiana. On the day preceding that of my release, I received a telegraphic dispatch announcing the dangerous illness of my son. I then forwarded to General Boyle this telegraphic dispatch, together with the following note: "General BoYLE, "MILITARY PRISON, "July 23, 1862. "DEAR SIR: I would respectfully say to you, that I have been confined in this place for seven weeks without being informed of any charges. I have been made the victim of personal prejudices of men of no character, and those who also deserve. the scorn and contempt of all honest and truly loyal men. Such being the case, I would respectfully ask the privilege to vindicate my character from the keeping of such men. Let my accusers come forward and confront me, and if any man of veracity will state that I have done any thing disloyal or detrimental to my country, then I will accept your terms. Until that is done, knowing my innocence, I can not accept any terms which will in future reflect upon myself or family. I am willing to take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of my own State; but to acknowledge that I am guilty when I am innocent, I can not, in consideration of myself and that which I owe my family. My release was a sort of parol, limited to the 10th of August, in which time I was to file the bond required. I took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and that of Kentucky. I reported on the 10th of August, but was informed that they had no use for me. If there existed any warrant or charge against me upon which I was arrested, I have never been able to ascertain it. I had no examination or trial, though I often demanded and insisted upon the same. I paid my own expenses home, as also on the trip to and from Louisville, when I reported according to the terms of my parol. The food furnished in prison was such that I could not eat it, and I therefore purchased and paid for my own provisions. I am a Democrat. Question by Mr. BAKER Have you not been in the habit of expressing yourself in opposition to the war? Answer-I have been in the habit of expressing myself against the policy of the war among my friends, but not with a view of embarrassing the Administration in the prosecution of the war. Question by Mr. BAKER Did you not, on a certain occasion, at your own house, in consultation with Captain Thomas T. Wright, express sympathy for the cause of the South, and say that you hoped that Beauregard would drive General Grant, or his army, into or across the Tennessee river? Answer-I did not. Captain Wright and myself were discussing political measures, in a friendly manner, and in that conversation I maintained the doctrine that the General Government had no warrant, under the Constitution, for coercing a sovereign State of this Union. In answer to me Captain Wright said, I was as bad as any rebel in the South, for that was the doctrine they taught; and I replied, that if entertaining the opinions I expressed as above constituted a rebel, I was proud of being one; that I would have my right arm cut off before I would aid the rebellion in any way; that I was an Indianian, and had always observed its laws, and intended to do so; but that the right to criticise the Administration I could not abandon or give up. GEO. H. KYLE. FRANKLIN DUFOUR SWORN. Examined by Mr. LASSELLE Answer-My name is Franklin Dufour; aged thirty-nine years; by occupation a river trader; reside at Vevay; born and raised there; have a family-wife and seven children. I was arrested on or about the 5th of June last, at Vevay, by a file of fifteen or twenty armed soldiers of the Thirteenth Indiana Battery, under command of a sergeant whose name I do not know. Captain Nicklin had command of the company. My arrest was accompanied by volleys of insulting, coarse, and scurrilous language, and a dozen pistols pointed at me. I was then taken to the boat by force, which was the steamer "Storm," then lying at the wharf, and placed on board. I demanded their authority and the cause of my seizure, at the time of my arrest, and was answered that it was none of my business. On board the boat I met Lieutenant Hall, and asked of him the privilege of returning home to change my clothes, as those I had on were wet and uncomfortable. I was not allowed to go home. On board the boat I again demanded, and this time of Captain Nicklin, the cause of my arrest, or his authority for it. His answer was that he was acting under the military authorities of Louisville. At Louisville we were taken to the military prison, and incarcerated in a room with some sixty other prisoners, where I remained some three or four weeks. Our fare in prison was bad, insufficient, and unhealthy. I was released upon giving a peace bond in the penalty of four thousand dollars, and taking an oath with a death penalty. The oath, I think, was administered by Major Harney. I paid my own expenses home. I never had any trial or examination, and never knew what I was arrested for, unless it was because I am a Democrat. I have every reason to believe that Governor Morton ordered my arrest. My impression is that I was arrested for saying that I would vote for no man who would not, in the Legislature, favor the return of Hon. Jesse D. Bright to the United States Senate, and that he had been expelled from his seat by a pack of scoundrels. Question by Mr. LASSELLE What reason had you for believing that Governor Morton ordered or was the cause of your arrest? Answer-While we were in prison, Mrs. Kyle came on a visit to her husband, and stated to Mr. Kyle that James H. Titus knew who had caused our arrest. Afterward Titus came to Louisville and told Mr. Kyle that Oliver Ormsby, Fred. Courvoisier and Frederick J. Waldo had pointed us out. Others informed me that a letter had been written from Ghent, Kentucky, by one James Robison, of that place, to Governor Morton, stating that certain men in Vevay should be arrested, and that that letter was returned by Morton, with an accompanying slip inclosed to said Ormsby, telling him that if there were such men in Vevay to have them arrested. This information I had from reliable persons. Question by Mr. BAKER— State the names of the persons who gave you information of that letter? Answer-Charles Goldenburg was one; Julius Defour stated that a letter had come there, but did not say where it came from. I understand that Julius Dufour is Provost Marshal of Vevay; and others I do not recollect. Question by Mr. BAKER Did Mr. Goldenburg tell you that he saw the letter? C. A. A.-5 |