Radical rule : military outrage in Georgia, arrest of Columbus prisoners ; with facts connected with their imprisonment and release

Appendix 1

page [184]

page [185]

Part 1

Columbus , April 7, 1868.
General William Dunn:

Dear Sir--I represent Mr. Chipley, Dr. Kirksey, William and Columbus Bedell, and some others who have been arrested, they know not upon what charge, but suppose that information may have been given at headquarters charging them with complicity in the brutal (and, for our town, unfortunate) assassination of George W. Ashburn.

In this, as in all cases of gross outrage, the innocent are apt to suffer for the wrongs of the guilty. The gentlemen whom I have named are above suspicion as being in any way connected with the transaction; several of them are men of family, and if public justice can be satisfied, as I trust it can, by an examination here without taking them from their families, it is very desirable that it should be done.

An examination, I am sure, would acquit them of any participation in the assassination. They can give any bonds that may be required for their appearance, and if you can influence this matter, I hope you will consider it advisable to allow these gentlemen to be bailed, until such time as their appearance may be required.

Your ob't serv't,
R. J. Moses.

To Gen. Wm. Dunn, Advocate General.

Headquarters Third Military District,
Department of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama,
Office of Judge Advocate, Atlanta, Ga., April 9, 1868.

Major R. J. Moses,

Columbus, Ga :

Dear Sir--Yours of the 7th inst. was received this morning.

I am directed by Gen. Meade to reply that he does not deem it advisable to interfere with the action of Capt. Mills.

While there is a determination here that the parties who murdered Mr. Ashburn shall, if possible, be arrested and punished,

Major Smythe, of this office, is now in Columbus, and I suggest that you confer with him fully and freely.

Your ob't serv't,
Wm. Dunn.
 

Georgia,
Muscogee County.

Know all men by these presents that we, whose names are hereunder signed, are held and bound unto Gen'l Geo. G. Meade, or his successor in office, in the penal sum of fifty thousand dollars, for the payment whereof well and truly to be made to the said Gen'l Geo. G. Meade, or his successor in office, we hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, firmly by these presents.

Witness our hands and seals, this 10th day of April, 1868.

The condition of the above obligation is such that, whereas, Gen'l Geo. G. Meade has arrested and confined Wm. R. Bedell, Christopher C. Bedell, Jas. W. Barber, Alva C. Roper, Wm. L. Cash, Wm. D. Chipley, Rob't A. Ennis, Elisha J. Kirksey, Thos. W. Grimes, Wade H. Stevens, John Wells (col'd), John Stapler (col'd), and James McHenry (col'd), who have this day been released by order of Gen'l Geo. G. Meade, on condition that they would each give security, in the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, that they would each report and appear before the military authorities of the United States, at such time and place as the commanding officer of the Third Military District may direct. Now, then, if any of the said parties, so released, shall fail to appear and report to the military authorities of the United States, at such time and place as the commanding officer of the Third Military District may direct, and the parties

page 186

Witnessed by

R. J. Moses,
Notary Public.

• Christopher C Bedell
• Elisha J Kirksey
• Thos W Grimes, jr
• Wm Dudley Chipley
• Wm R Bedell
• Alva C Roper
• Robt A Ennis
• Jas W Barber
• Wash H Stephens
• W L Cash
• John Wells (col)
• John Stapler (col)
• Jas McHenry (col)
• R J Moses
• James M Smith
• Lloyd G Bowers
• Wm A Bedell
• Robt A Ware
• J Ennis
• L M Biggers
• John Munn
• George G Rucker
• R F Sankey
• Thos Gilbert
• Alvah Trowbridge
• Wm N Jones
• J T Lokey
• W M Jepson
• W S Freeman
• Jno N Barnett
• Thos G Pond
• Geo W Dillingham
• Chas T Crowder
• J W H Ramsay
• J W Barden
• J T Colbert
• Wash Roberts
• Moses Bell
• Milton Martin
• F M Brooks
• G W Gafford
• M Connor & Co
• Thos S Young
• Wm J Watt
• Jas Meeler
• J G Burrus
• B B Fontaine
• G W Radcliff
• J S Pemberton
• C B Taliaferro
• C A Klink
• D B Thompson
• F S Chapman
• F J Abbott
• J W Ryan
• W H Jackson
• J L Mustian
• A V Boatrite
• E S Swift
• P A Clayton
• J E Deaton
• Wm Fee
• Aug Davis
• J Affleck
• E Kurniker
• Jacob Greenwood
• J H DeVotie
• A Pond
• W K Wright
• C G Holmes
• Mont J Moses
• J T Coleman
• C E Booher
• G Landon
• H W Chandler
• J W Williams
• T T Moore
• W H Perry
• Wm F Hall
• J T Blount
• Wm C Cherry
• Jas A Cody
• J H Sikes
• S M Dixon
• John Swed
• John King
• S H Hill
• Jos F Pou
• W J Chaffin
• W K Banks
• Wm Mehaffy
• J M Hughes
• Jno Cargill
• Robt W Ledsinger
• R C Pierce
• R W Coleman
• J A McNeil
• J M Bussey
• J A McNeil
• Jno Fitzgibbons
• F W Acee
• R M Gray
• Thos J Chaffin
• Oscar Lee
• Henry C Pope
• Sam Cherry
• P H Alston
• F K Donnelly
• J W Pease
• John McCarthy
• Jas K Redd
• Lawrence Rooney
• T J Word
• C E Johnson
• Zac Mayo
• J R Clapp
• A F Johnson
• W B Jones
• O C Dibble
• M D Hood  
• Geo R Flourney
• A M Brannan
• H Middlebrook
• J N Ramsay
• C R Russell
• T Markham
• Sam Meyer
• S W McMichael
• R C Roper
• S E Lawhon
• Aaron Hurt (col)
• G Delaunay
• J L Dozier
• J D Stewart
• J Chaffin
• J G DeVotie
• W C Coart
• E W Terry
• T F Ridenhour
• L P Aenchbacker
• F G Wilkins
• M Joseph
• R W Milford
• E F DeGraffenreid
• N N Curtis
• H J Thornton
• N L Redd
• Jno McIlhenny
• Thos W Grimes
• W W Garrard
• R J Moses jr
• Adolphus A Coleman
• Jno Johnson
• M M Moore
• H H Starr
• W H Young
• Ben May
• J F Bozeman
• B F Malone
• F C Johnson
• S A Billing
• T J DeVore
• L I Harvey
• O M Stone
• Cliff B Grimes
• Jas E Roper
• Wm Perry
• L Harris
• Peter Preer
• F Reich
• R M Gunby
• Alex Stanford (col)
• J A Corbally
• Jno A Frazer
• Robt B McKay
• J P Illges
• F M Thomas
• H M Jeter
• Milo Booher
• A W Allen
• Jno Peabody
• W H Brannon
• W H Wells
• G J Peacock
• Chas J. Moffett
• Jeff Taylor (col)
• Sydney Smith (col)
• Elb Cunningham (col)
• Willey Milburn (col)
• M Woodruff
• W H Crane
• W S Lloyd
• L D Lester
• G M Williams
• N J Bussey
• G B Young
• Wm M Snow
• W P Ramsay
• Joe Norris (col)
• Jack Brooks (col)
• R W Milford
• R Hugh Nesbit
• J T Daniel
• J B Stewart
• J G Thweatt
• A J Welch
• T C Carmichael
• Jno W Murphey
• Thos Sweet
• O C Howe
• H Moseley
• Alfred Holmes (col)
• Van Marcus
• Richard Scott (col)
• Jas Kivlin
• D L Booher
• D F Grant
• J L Dunham
• C C Cody
• W A Barden
• T S Fontaine
• A A Dozier
• W P Turner
• W L Tillman
• A G Bedell
• J J Clapp
• Thomas, Redd&Hatcher
• R M Gunby
• Jno E Bacon
• A C Flewellen
• Thos Harris
• C S Harrison
• Jno W King
• R B Lockhart
• J J Bradford
• Henry McCauley
• Jos Kyle
• Thos Ragland
• W W Flewellen
• Jno Quin
• E F Colzey
• Wm B Hudson
• C T Johnson
• F Meyer
• A G Redd
• Toney Fuller (col)
• Thos Rhodes (col)
• Chas Gwinnett (col)
• D F Wilcox
• Jas Britton
• F Landon
• E A Fisher
• J W Brooks
• L G Schuessler
• Wm Snow
• Chas E Estes
• Wm H Robarts
• L P Warner
• Jno L Hogan
• Perry Spencer

   

  page 187

   
• Dav Armstrong (col)
• Chas A Green
• R J Hunter
• Homer M Howard
• L Meyer
• B H Crawford
• A M Allen
• C D McGehee
• J H Whittlesey
• W H Chambers
• R C Jones
• Reese Crawford
• J H Bramhall
• Wm Munday
• T M Barnard
• Oliver Cromwell
• Frank Gunby
• W E Barnard
• R G Mitchell
• T W Bradley
• G W Bates
• Chas Rogers
• S B Cleghorn
• Francis H Ellis
• Seaborn Benning
• W B Langdon
• L Gutowsky
• J D Johnston
• A Gammel
• J S Roper
• W J Pike
• D E Williams
• Dr E B Schley
• Hal Mitchel (col)
• C Shepperson
• Thos Chapman
• J S Acee
• Geo P Swift
• Wm L Matthews
• J C Andrews
• Wm L Afflict
• Wm H Mims
• Chas E Dexter
• Wm E Pond
• J H Smith
• W Rynehard
• W L Salisbury
• R M Norman
• C H Law
• J T Langford
• W L Robinson
• J F Burrus
• T A Cantrell
• Robt Knowles
• J L Morton
• Thos Names
• B T McKee
• Wm A James
• J E King
• J J Wood
• W H Williams
• J B Hogue
• J Kurniker
• Jno Foran
• W C Hodges
• Sandy Alexander (col)
• D Y Ridenhour
• F McArdle
• Rich'd Porter (col)
• Wm Pane (col)
• Arch Crane
• Jno Johnson
• Jno McDuffie
• V H Taliaferro
• E E Yonge
• C Northrup jr
• J A Sellers
• D Wolfson
• N Crown
• J A Kirvin
• A Illges
• E G Stewart
• Jno D W Rindenhour
• W R Kent
• S B Papy
• B A Thornton
• D P Ellis
• W C Gray
• R B Murdock
• R Carter
• J J McKendree
• Jery Reed (col)
• W Fleming
• T S Spear
• Geo Hargraves
• I Joseph
• J A Bradford
• B H Mathis
• W A Drufas
• J L Howell
• L F Watkins
• J D Clarke
• W C Bellamy
• E Barnard
• L R Hoopes
• J F Iverson
• J J Grant
• A C McGehee
• Carlisle Terry
• C Y Holmes
• R B Murdock, jr
• H H Epping
• G H Betz
• J A Morgan
• S B Warnock
• J J Whittle
• J B Collier
• J W Barden
• Arthur Ingmire
• Jas A Bacon
• Jno W Aven
• R H England
• D W Champagne
• Jno F Howard
• H W Blair
• Jno H Connor
• E G Woolfolk
• R H Estes
• C H Jones
• Barney Hawkins (col)
• Jas Aven
• Jno A Johnson
• Jno R Ivey
• Wm Stringfield
• Jas E Cargill
• P E Bedell
• D. F Cargill
• Francis Fontaine
• E S Roberts
• M Pleasant  
• Wm Lane (col)
• N Rosenthal
• G E Andrews
• Jas J Slade
• G W L Mathis
• O S Acee

Part 4

Columbus, Ga. , April 10, 1868.
Capt. Wm. Mills--

Dear Sir: I would have returned the bond sooner, but the citizens of Columbus, confident of the innocence of the parties in confinement of any offense against either the civil or military authorities, insist on going on the bond, as an assurance to the parties arrested that they have the entire confidence of their fellow-citizens, and are above any well-founded suspicion of criminal conduct. It is with difficulty that I am enabled to close the signatures, even at this point.

With thanks for your courtesy in my intercourse with you in this unpleasant business, I remain,

Your obedient servant,
R. J. Moses,
 

From the Congressional Globe.

Mr. Beck. I submit the following preamble and resolution:

The Clerk read as follows:

"Whereas, it is asserted by William D. Chipley and others, citizens and residents of Columbus, Georgia, that they have been arrested and imprisoned without cause by order of General Meade, commanding the third military district, and that the cause of their arrest and imprisonment has been withheld and refused, as shown by the following letter:"

" Office of Blount & Chipley,Grocery and Commission Merchants,Columbus, Ga. , May 18, 1868.

" Dear Sir: I may be presuming in troubling you with the facts which I will herein relate, and if so, can only offer our utter want of representation as my apology; and yet it may be that you will think that outrages concern every citizen of the country whether he lives North or South. As long as such can be committed with impunity, no man can feel safe. It will not do for one to expect his character to protect him from such attacks, for virtue is the favorite target of such marksmen. On the 9th of March, ten white citizens of this place, and three colored, were arrested by order of one Capt. Mills, commanding this post, and placed in confinement at the court-house, where they were detained under guard until dusk on the evening of the 13th ultimo. At the expiration of

page 188

I remain, sir,
Yours very truly,
W. D. Chipley.
 

During the reading of the preamble and resolution,

Mr. Driggs said: Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of order.

The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, in the Chair.) The gentleman will state his point of order.

Mr. Driggs. I understand that debate is not in order on this resolution, and that being so, I wish to ask whether it is in order for the gentleman to make an argument in favor of the resolution in the preamble with no opportunity on our part to reply to it.

The Speaker, pro tempore. It is in order to recite papers as part of the resolution.

The reading of the preamble and resolution was then concluded.

Mr. Beck. I demand the previous question.

The Speaker. Resolutions calling for executive information, under the rules, must lie over for one day unless there be unanimous consent.

Mr. Kelley and Mr. Upson objected.

So the preamble and resolution were laid over.

DR. CHIPLEY'S PETITION TO CONGRESS.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States:

Your petitioner, Wm. S. Chipley, respectfully states that he is a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Lexington, in the State of Kentucky; that he is the father of Wm. Dudley Chipley, a citizen of Columbus, Georgia, who has been arrested and imprisoned by order of the military authorities of the United States, without cause and in disregard of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and carried out of the district in which any offense charged against him was committed, to Atlanta, Georgia, some two hundred miles distant from his home, and is now confined there in a cell which is wholly unfit for the confinement, even as punishment, of a criminal. He is denied the privilege of seeing or consulting with either his family, his friends, or his counsel, and deprived of all information as to the nature of the charge against him, without power to summon or procure the attendance of witnesses in his defense. In short, he is utterly at the mercy of his persecutors, and deprived of every right which the Constitution and laws secure to the citizen. He is not, and has not been, either in the naval or military service of the United States. He is a commission merchant in Columbus, a married man, and a good citizen, as all who know him will testify. Your petitioner does not know certainly what the charges against his son are, and can only surmise, from the statements of discharged negro witnesses, who were arrested, confined, and examined touching his connection therewith, that he is imprisoned for complicity in the murder of one G. W. Ashburn, who was killed in a house of ill-fame kept by a negress, in Columbus, on the night of the 31st of March, 1868. These negroes, since their release, have voluntarily given affidavits as to the mode of examination resorted to--the torture, starvation, and threats against their liberty and lives, to which they were subjected in order to extort false testimony against his son and others, which affidavits are filed herewith, and made part hereof as fully as is copied verbatim herein.

Comment on the facts stated in said affidavits is unnecessary--indeed, can only be fitly made under the right of discussion

page 189

But whatever means may have been or may hereafter be resorted to to procure conviction, your petitioner, conscious of the entire innocence of his son, does not desire to elude or evade, but on the contrary desires the fullest, freest, and promptest investigation of his conduct, either in regard to Ashburn's murder or anything else. All he asks is that he be tried before the organized courts of the country, in accordance with the principles and rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution and laws of the land; that he be treated as a citizen and protected by the presumption of innocence till his guilt is established; that the spies, informers, suborners, and perjurers who are seeking his life may be required to swear to such facts as they may state before a court competent and willing to punish perjury. The courts of the State of Georgia and of the United States are open and uninterrupted in the district in which Columbus, Georgia, is situated, and impartial justice can be administered therein without sale, denial, or delay. Such a trial can be obtained through the intervention of your honorable bodies, and your petitioner prays for such orders or resolutions as will procure it for his son and the other persons similarly charged and imprisoned.

Very respectfully, your ob't serv't,
W. S. Chipley.
 

From the Atlanta Constitution
THE INQUISITION REVIVED.

If Innocent III, who instituted the punishment of the Albigenses and Waldenses in the twelfth century, or Gregory IX who in the Council of Tolouse, in 1229, gave final form to the inquisition, and committed to his Bishops the management thereof, could awake from their graves and revisit the haunts of men, they would recoil with horror at the relation of the atrocities perpetrated upon free born citizens in District III.

Gregory thought his Bishops too indulgent, and gave to the Dominicans the direction of the inquisition. Grant, in 1868, concludes that his soldiery is too indulgent, and to a set of spies, pimps and detectives transfers the offices of infamy and the responsibility of torture.

Atlanta, to-day, has within her limits, a bastile wherein tyranny revels and riots in wanton punishment of innocence; prisons where liberty is scoffed and laws are perverted to the tastes of blood-hounds and brutes; dungeons whose bars and bolts are proof against Magna Charta, and cells that bid defiance to the last appeal for personal liberty. O, what a shame upon civilization! What a deep, damning blot upon the American soldier! What a stigma upon the escutcheon of "the people's" government! General Meade, do you know the extent of the misery inflicted on the inmates of McPherson prisons? Can it be possible that you knowingly permit the inhuman severity there practiced by your subordinates? You, a brave soldier, a gallant representative of a proud and powerful government--is history to write you down "the tyrant," and transmit your name to posterity blackened with crime and besmeared with infamy? We are informed that you are not the author of these infernal atrocities; but you are in command, and can prevent them; and refusing to do so, when you have the power, is a crime but a grade below that of positive action. It is said, we know, that the prisoners are under the control and management of detectives, and that they, acting under orders from the head of the army, are responsible for the fiendish malignity and racking tortures visited upon the victims who have fallen into their hands.

It matters not, just now, where the responsibility rests--a great crime is being committed, a burning, blistering shame is fastening itself upon the military of the Third District, and the commanding General must answer to the country and to his God for the outrage. In the name of humanity, of christian civilization, of common sense and common justice, of the power and glory of the American flag, we enter our solemn protest against the wanton, wicked, revengeful treatment of the young men confined in the cells of McPherson

page 190

STATEMENT OF JOHN WELLS,
FREEDMAN, made June 11, 1868,
at Columbus, Ga.

I was taken, with the other prisoners arrested at the same time with myself, to Fort Pulaski. We were all stripped and examined for weapons and money. All money was taken from the prisoners, and has not yet been returned so far as I know; nor has the clothing been given back to them. Each prisoner was put into a cell by himself; the cells are four feet by six feet, with a very narrow opening above for ventilation; one vacant cell was left between those occupied by prisoners, so that no two prisoners occupied adjoining cells. Soon after our arrival persons apparently in authority inquired, in the hearing of witness, whether "the razors" were ready to shave the heads of prisoners. Being answered affirmatively, witness was blindfolded and taken off to another part of the fort; his head was lathered; two men held him, while others, standing around, prepared to shave his head, and spoke of what was to be done. They drew his head back, and in an effort to put himself in a more comfortable position, the bandage was pushed from his eyes, when witness discovered he was in a casemate or other large room, and that a cannon had been trained upon him, and that a man seemed to be in the act of firing it directly at him. Witness was very much alarmed; supposed they were about to kill him, and begged for a little time to make a statement, and meet his fate. They replied that there was but little time then, but they would give him fifteen minutes. Witness stated all he knew of the occurrences on the night of Ashburn's murder; where he was at various hours of the night; how and when and where he heard of the killing; and affirmed most positively his own innocence, and his entire ignorance of any fact or circumstance going to implicate others. He spoke of his own previous character as a citizen and member of the church, saying he had told them the truth; that he could not utter a falsehood to implicate innocent persons, and that if for this they still persisted in taking his life, they must do it.

Witness was finally taken back to his cell; was left there for some days longer--during which he was repeatedly interrogated--and was finally permitted to walk out, and, at length, was allowed the freedom of the fort. This privilege was granted, as he was informed, because the parties examining him believed that he was innocent, and knew nothing against others. Witness was put to work about the fort.

The persons who blindfolded witness and interrogated him, he understood, were detectives, perhaps officers in the detective force.

John Stapler, another prisoner, witness learned, was put through the same process as himself. One of the detectives subsequently said to witness that Stapler had told two tales which contradicted each other. He (Stapler) was finally put into the "sweat-box," and kept there from Saturday morning until Sunday night. Does not know whether the answers finally extorted from him were satisfactory to the inquisitors or not. Heard, however, that Stapler stuck to the last tale he told, which, witness was informed, referred to Barber, another prisoner, and amounted to but little.

Witness was told that if he divulged anything he saw or heard while at Fort Pulaski, they would put him in there for five years. There was some lumber at the fort, which, the prisoners of the garrison told witness, had been brought there to erect a gallows to hang the prisoners from Columbus.

Ex-provisional Governor James Johnson, the present Collector of the port of Savannah, visited the fort while the prisoners were there. Heard him ask Barber who killed Ashburn; said he [Johnson] knew every one of the damned rascals, and so did he [Barber]. He denounced Dudley, Chipley, and Dr. Kirksey, and other prisoners, as damned scoundrels and assassins, and said they were the leaders of it. Johnson was very violent and denunciatory. Barber made no reply that witness, who was standing above, could hear.

It was reported at the fort that Alex. Stanford, an emigrant to Liberia from Columbus, while detained two weeks in Savannah waiting for the ship to sail, made several visits to Jas. Johnson, and for the

page 191

The white prisoners, at least Daniel and Betz, were taken off and examined also, but what was said and done witness did not learn.

A soldier prisoner, or one who appeared to be such, told witness that the authorities intended to hang five or six of the principal prisoners, and send the others to prison for ten or twelve years.

For nine days witness had no meat to eat, and supposes the other prisoners fared no better. His breakfast consisted of bread and coffee, without sugar; his dinner was rice soup. Supper same as breakfast. After the nine days meat was given to the prisoners.

Some of the soldiers of the garrison were kind, others were not. Of the latter class were two who used to gather up the food for prisoners, and throw it to them as if they had been dogs.

When the prisoners were taken to Atlanta from Fort Pulaski, witness was brought along with them, though in a separate car, as far as Macon, when he was told he could return to his home in Columbus.

The two detectives, who seemed to have chief control in the examination of prisoners, said they had come from Washington.

Prisoners had no bedding or blankets.

John Wells.

Witness:

• P. W. Alexander.
• E. T. Shepherd.
• Wm. King.
• John McKendree.

STAPLER'S AFFIDAVIT.

State of Georgia,
Muscogee County.

John Stapler, being duly sworn, says, on the 14th of May, 1868, he was driving a wagon in the peaceful pursuit of his

When the bandage was taken from deponent's eyes, he saw a soldier standing near a brass cannon with a string from the cannon to his hand, and wherever deponent turned the cannon was ranged upon him. Deponent's head was then lathered with two scrubbing brushes; there were two or three razors lying on the table. Deponent was made to stand up and be measured against the wall. During this time he was asked by Whitley if he knew, or had ever heard the people say anything about the

page 192

his
John X Stapler,
mark.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, July 13, 1868.

John King,
Notary Public.

SANDY NELSON'S AFFIDAVIT.

Muscogee County,
State of Georgia.

Personally appeared before me, this 6th day of June, 1868, Sandy Nelson, a colored man, who, being duly sworn, deposes and says that on Monday, June 1, 1868, about eleven A. M., deponent was arrested on the streets of Columbus by one Thomas Grier and a Federal soldier, and carried to headquarters of this post, and delivered over to Capt. Mills, commanding post; that in the room were three other United States officers, names not known, besides Capt, Mills; that he was first accused of being a Democratic negro, and a book was produced and referred to, in which were written names, among which deponent saw and read his own name. Deponent at once protested against this arrest, and told one of the officers: "Captain, I am not a free man;" to which the officer replied that "Yes, he was; but he was trying to make himself a slave again by his vote;" that questions and remarks were rapidly addressed to him by all these officers, not giving deponent time, if he could have so done, to have answered them. Finally Capt. Mills asked deponent, "When did you wait on Cliff Grimes?" to which he answered "Two years ago."

Mills--You need not be lying; tell me where Cliff Grimes was on the night Ashburn was killed?

Deponent--I do not know, as I was not here.

Mills--Where were you, sir?

Deponent--I was on the steamer C. D. Fry as a boat hand--Abe Fry, master--on the river. We were coming up to Columbus, and were met by the steamboat Shamrock near Bellevue, and by her were told of Ashburn's death.

One of the officers then asked him about Cliff Grimes' character. Deponent said: "He was a perfect gentleman; did not know anything else about him. He treated deponent very kindly."

page 193

After several questions and cross-questions to same effect by said officers, Capt. Mills told deponent that "all this lying would do not good;" that he (Mills) knew all about the matter, and was determined to get the truth out of deponent, and he might as well own up.

Deponent again asserted he knew no more than he had stated, when Mills asked him if he could write his name. Answer: "I can." Mills: "Here! write your name on this sheet of paper, so I can know you tell the truth;" at the same time giving him pen, ink and paper. Deponent said he was too sharp to write his name to a blank paper; but taking the pen wrote Capt. Mills' name. Mills: "You are sharp, Mr. Nelson." Deponent: "I am not sharp, but I am honest." Mills: "I'll have the truth out of you, sir." That deponent was kept in a guard-room under the court-house, all that night with nothing to eat; that on Tuesday Capt. Mills and the same three officers visited him in his cell and propounded substantially the same questions as before, with same results as before. This was about ten A. M. They left him again; he was locked up, and kept without one mouthful of food, and none was offered him by the guards. An old negro woman, Mary, brought him some food, but it was not allowed him by the soldiers. That he was so guarded and kept till Thursday morning, when Capt. Mills came again to see him, and asked about the same questions, with result as above, and as he was about to leave, deponent asked leave to go to see his sister, Nancy Nelson; he was allowed to go under promise of returning again that afternoon. He went, and reported back at about five P. M. same day. The food he got at his sister's was the first and only he received during his said confinement from June 1st to June 4th.

That he was again questioned by Mills same as before--same results--when Mills said "he would have the truth out of him?" Again he was put in the guard-house, where he stayed till Friday morning, 5th instant, at about 7 A. M., when he was released, Mills saying: "Mr. Nelson, you may go; I believe you are an honest man."

Sandy Nelson.

Sworn and subscribed before us, this 6th day of June, 1868.

• Wm. A. Guerard,
• D. P. Ellis,
• R. J. Moses, Jr., Notary Public.

Georgia,
Muscogee County,

Before me personally appeared Abner Griffin, who, being duly sworn, deposes and says that on the Wednesday, the third day of June, 1868, in the county and State aforesaid, being then in the employ of Colonel E. T. Shepherd, on his place in Winton [Wynton], Georgia, he was arrested by two Federal soldiers and taken under guard to Captain Mills' headquarters; that he was kept a prisoner there from 11 a. m. to 6 p. m.; that he was examined by two men, one in the uniform of the United States, and the other in citizens' clothes, with a military cap; that he was asked what time Dr. Kirksey came home on the night of the murder of George W. Ashburn, and he replied, between seven and eight, and that then one of the officers called him a damned liar, and said that they would send him to Fort Pulaski, with a shaved head and a ball and chain on him; that he was greatly frightened, and in exceeding fear of his life. Deponent testified that he got the Doctor's horse the next morning; did not notice anything different about the horse. The harness and buggy were in their place, where they had been put by deponent the night before; and that he was not then allowed to go out of the room; he was kept there all day, and before leaving he was again called in and asked the same questions over again, to which he gave the same answers. He was then told he might go, if he would be at his place when they sent for him again. Deponent promised, and was then permitted to go home. Deponent further says that he did not know any cause why he should be arrested, and asked, but no information was given.

his
Abner X Griffin.
mark

Sworn to and subscribed before us, this 6th June, 1868.

R. J. Moses, Jr.,
Notary Public.

W. A. Guerard,
Rymer O. Moses.

Clara Brooks, a colored girl, ten or twelve years of age, employed on the plantation of Col. Edward Shepherd, testifies that she, in company with several other negroes, was arrested by Federal soldiers, taken to headquarters, and confined for a short time, and was questioned, under

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Charlotte Hall, a negro woman employed as a servant in the house in which Grimes, one of the parties arrested, lives, testifies under oath that she was arrested, taken to military headquarters, placed in close confinement, not allowed communication with any one. She was kept in close custody for three days, and during this time was subjected to repeated long and severe examinations by the military officers; was cursed and threatened by the officers. She testifies under oath as follows: "Just before leaving, one of the officers told me I was lying all round, and that I would rather rot in the fort for three or six years than to tell the truth on my damned Democratic friends; that I might as well tell the truth, for Frederick (a Frenchman who waited on Mr. Wright) had told all about it and that when I went to Atlanta and met Frederick he would catch me in a lie. One of the officers then took a piece of rope and put it under my chin, and said that when they got me to Fort Pulaski they would do me that way until I told the truth on my Democratic friends. Was re-imprisoned, taken out again, and re-examined in the same way. One of the officers was writing at a table when I was being examined. I do not know what he wrote. Before being discharged I was asked if I was not the mistress of some of the young men. One of the officers proposed to send me to Fort Pulaski, but the others objected, and, after being warned not to let my Democratic friends run me off, I was discharged."

Cicero Johnson, a colored man, testified that he was arrested, taken to military headquarters, and was examined by Major Leonard, of the Freedmen's Bureau, Capt. Mills, and another officer. Had several long and severe examinations, and was repeatedly cursed and threatened; was put in prison without food, bedding, or lights, and was taken out from time to time and examined and re-imprisoned; one of the officers said to me, "We are tired of your lying and will have to send you to Fort Pulaski, where you will have your head shaved and wear a ball and chain." The same officer asked me if I knew how long I would be alive; was accused of being a Democratic negro and was questioned as to my reasons for quitting the Loyal League; the officers told me they knew all about the matter, and their questions and threats were to make me implicate the young gentlemen arrested for the killing of Ashburn.

From the National Intelligencer.
PUTTING NEGROES TO TORTURE.

We have conversed with several intelligent gentlemen from Georgia, delegates to the New York Convention, in reference to the extraordinary cruelties perpetrated by the military commander, Meade, in that State, and his infamous satellites and coworkers. Two men were assassinated on the same day, not long since, in Georgia. One was a southern citizen, prominent, respectable, but no Radical. He was assassinated in open daylight, on the public highway. The military authorities offered a reward of two hundred dollars for the apprehension of his murderers. The murder of this citizen, from whatever motive, did not move these officials from their equipoise. But that night, in a low negro brothel, at Columbus, there fell, also by the hands of assassins, (most probably of his own party,) a low Radical tool, Ashburn by name. Ashburn was an inmate of this degraded haunt of vice, and had his own feuds with his own low personal and party associates, whose path he had crossed. It was a murder like the other, however, to be duly investigated by the appropriate and ordinary modes of civil tribunals. Yet it suited the purposes of the Radical faction and carpet-baggers in Georgia, who thrive upon whatever of malignity and prejudice they may excite against the southern people, to ascribe this assassination to prominent citizens, men of good repute as orderly and quiet citizens, and enjoying the entire respect and esteem of the community. All of a sudden, numbers of these were thrown into prisons--small, narrow cells, destitute of proper light and ventilation--denied the privilege of seeing relatives, or counsel, or of meeting or learning by an open preliminary investigation what were the crimes actually laid to their door Whilst thus cut off from all human intercourse except that of their cruel captors, still greater barbarities were practiced upon negroes, in order to make them accuse and criminate these gentlemen. We omitted to state that in contrast to the reward of two hundred dollars offered in

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Two infamous "detectives," of the Baker-Stanton sort, were summoned, coming, it is said, from this city, and went down to Georgia. They were told that they could earn this forty thousand dollars if they succeeded, and then the military gave them carte blanche to arrest any citizen of Georgia, and full power over the unfortunate negroes, to bribe, threaten, starve, imprison, and torture these wretched creatures, who swore in the presence of Almighty God that they knew nothing about the matter, until they should, to save themselves from further suffering consent to tell whatever stories foul monsters put in their mouths. That they have done these things can be proved by the testimony of the released negroes, who have been subjected to these infernal cruelties. We have published the affidavits of some of those, but they leave much to be stated.

Among the methods of torture employed by these wretches upon the negroes, to make them swear away human lives, was the instrument known as the " sweat-box." This, we understand to be a box of wood, inside of which the victim is made to stand. The wooden side of this box, by means of a screw, are compressed closer and closer, until the individual can scarcely breathe; then a stream of hot air or steam is thrown upon the victim; he is almost stifled; a pressure put upon his heart and lungs, until the agony of his position is such that human nature sinks under the infliction, and the poor creature cries out that he is ready to testify to anything desired. We assert that our information is positive and reliable, that these infernal cruelties have been practiced by the Federal military in Georgia upon black men, in order to make them swear away the lives of innocent white men and respectable citizens before a military commission, "organized to convict," and with murder in their hearts.

From the Columbus Enquirer.
A MISERABLE PRETENSE.

It is reported here that the military authorities deny their agency in the cruel statement of the Columbus prisoners, and the foul means used to extort testimony against them, saying that the whole matter is in the hands of detectives or agents sent from Washington! Who commands in this "district?" Who takes jurisdiction from the civil courts and assumes it for the military power? How could detectives or agents from Washington do such deeds here without the co-operation of the military authorities? The military being the ready executors of the orders of the agents from Washington, and military authority being supreme in this State, it is hardly credible that such a pretense has really been set up.

It is not, however, at all surprising if the instigation of these outrages upon the rights of citizens can be traced to Gen. Grant. To disobey his commands would be insubordination, and for this reason the chief responsibility may devolve upon him. But this does not relieve the military power of the agency in the matter. It only aggravates the case by showing that its highest officer approves the acts done, and that therefore one avenue of relief may be considered as closed. Can the people of the North feel secure against similar treatment of themselves, should Gen. Grant be elected President, with a Radical Congress to sustain him?

From the Columbus (Ga.) Enquirer, September
17, 1868.

GEN. MEADE'S "VINDICATION."

Gen. Meade's statement concerning the prisoners arrested and tried for the murder of Ashburn (from the National Intelligencer) does not exculpate him, or clear up some suspicious acts with which he must have had connection. That he needed such exculpation is virtually admitted by his declaration that he wanted the trial "for his own vindication." In what respect did its developments or its results vindicate him? Did it disprove the charges of the arbitrary arrest of citizens

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It appears from this report that Gen. Meade was, before the trial commenced, anxious for it to be by military commission (for "his own vindication"), and that he then claimed the right to carry on the trial to its conclusion, even if civil authority should be restored while it was pending. What produced the change that afterwards caused him to drop the trial as quickly as possible? It was evident before the "restoration" furnished a pretext for dropping it, that the military authorities were quite tired of it. The evidence for the defense was most overwhelming in its proofs of a conspiracy, of perjury, and its strong suggestions of subordination of perjury. There was to be no "vindication" of the Commanding General, or of any one else who had been active in the prosecution, by the continuation of the trial. That was plainly to be seen. At this stage of its progress, Gen. Meade's claim of authority to carry on the trial to its conclusion was abandoned; the trial was abruptly closed; those witnesses who had perjured themselves were sent far out of the State and beyond the reach of the evil authorities; the party unmistakably indicated as the chief suborner, was permitted, like the militia captain who was a "little lame," to start in advance and put himself far out of the way of civil authority or process. Was there any "vindication" of General Meade in all this?

What followed? One of the detectives "employed by Gen. Grant and Gen. Meade to work up the case," made a public confession of the infamous means resorted to

It will be remembered that when the Macon Telegraph, on the authority of a citizen of Macon, stated, a few weeks ago, that Gen. Meade had admitted the resort to the "sweat-box" and described the instrument, the General demanded the name of the author of the report, and made him state publicly that his (Gen. Meade's) allusion to the matter was made to a little child, and was probably only a piece of pleasantry. Now he has admitted the use of the sweat-box, and his description of the instrument corresponds with that which he gave to the child. Why, then, was he so indignant when his remarks to the child were made public? Why solicitous that he should be understood as speaking to her only in jest? The "vindication" evidently does not cover this inconsistency.

The laurels of Gettysburg! Have they not been ingloriously bedraggled in the politics of Georgia?

NOTE.

At the time Gen. Meade dissolved his military commission, convened to try the Ashburn prisoners, he remarked to the counsel for the defense that he would be compelled to publish a statement in his own vindication. Knowing that any report which would vindicate him in his deep and damning guilt must necessarily be replete with falsehood, this publication was postponed several weeks that his misrepresentations might be exposed. After it was put into the publisher's hands, the press dispatches of the 10th of September announced that Gen. Meade had at last been delivered. This work was at once suspended, and after ten days' delay the abortion has been placed before the country in the shape of a synopsis in the National Intelligencer of the 10th, and Gen. Meade's official communication accompanying his exhibits, and of date -- July, 1868. The review of the synopsis from the Columbus (Ga.) Enquirer, which has been made a part of this publication, fully

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"On the 30th of March last, a little after midnight, G. W. Ashburn, ex-member of the Constitutional Convention of Georgia, was assassinated at a house where he was boarding in the town of Columbus."

He does not add the fact that he was killed in a low negro brothel, where crime ran riot, and where, at least, two violent personal enemies had visited that night; men who had threatened to kill him, although members of the Radical party.

Gen. Meade goes on to state that "subsequently Capt. Mills reporting that the energy of the civil authorities was all show and merely assumed, and that he could place no reliance on them, I removed the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, together with the Marshal and his Deputy--appointing others, and appointing Capt. Mills Mayor. About the 6th of April, nearly a week after the assassination, Capt. Mills having obtained sufficient evidence to warrant his action, arrested, by my order, some ten citizens of Columbus, either as participators, accessories, or for having some knowledge of the facts of the case. These persons were subsequently released on bonds to appear and stand their trial."

Capt. Mills told the citizens that he did not know why the arrests of the 6th of April were made, and that he had no hand or part in it except to make the arrests by order from superior officers. He assured several of the gentlemen arrested that if the Ashburn affair caused it, they need not be troubled, as "he knew they were not guilty." When released on bond to stand trial, Mills declined to tell them what the charge was, or the names of their accusers. This portion of the report involves a question of veracity between Gen. Meade and Capt. Mills.

Gen. Meade further adds:

"Soon after his arrival at Columbus, Mr. Whitley reported he was satisfied Capt. Mills was on the track of the criminals, and had arrested some of the principals, but that it was utterly impracticable to obtain any testimony from any party in Columbus, as their lives would be forfeited if they dared to disclose what they knew,

This is simply stuff. With the military power of Third Military Kingdom at his back, Whitley pretends that he was not safe in Columbus. The whole matter lies in a nut-shell. Fort Pulaski, with its cannon, sweat-boxes, loathsome cells, and depressing climate, offered better facilities for " operating upon the fears" of prisoners than Columbus, hence the removal.

The nursery-rhyme General, the man who told the little child in Atlanta such very funny stories, rose even above his colleagues Smythe, Whitley, and Brown, when he penned the following:

"All these reports are herewith submitted, and it will be seen from them, and from the affidavit of the prisoners themselves attached to Mr. Whitley's report, that the exaggerated statements which, for political purposes, the press have given circulation to are false, and have no foundation beyond the fact admitted by Mr. Whitley that he did operate on the fears of two negroes, Wells and Stapler, whom he believed knew something; but soon finding they knew nothing, they were released."

Gen. Meade basely, maliciously, and deliberately lies when he states that the prisoners ever made such an affidavit as is represented above. He boasted some weeks ago that John Wells had made an affidavit that he had never made any prior affidavit concerning his treatment at Fort Pulaski. It will be noticed that this man's account, as contained in this book, is in the shape of a statement, witnessed by four of the most respectable citizens of Columbus. Of his suborned wretches no one can speak, but that such an affidavit was ever signed by Bedell, Barber, Hudson, Kirksey, Duke, Wood, Chipley, Wiggins, or Roper, is false. Dr. Kirksey did write a statement addressed to "whom it may concern," and intended for the agent sent out by the Secretary of War to investigate the outrage, which was signed by the other prisoners. This statement spoke of the personal bearing of the garrison officers as kind, and of Whitley as respectful. Not being such men as he could suborn, he dared not be otherwise. That statement protested against arrest without warrant--imprisonment

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"The character of the crime, the social status of parties implicated in its commission, and the doubts as to the guilt of of the several parties, had no influence on me except to increase my determination to bring the facts out, even at the risk of for a time putting persons to inconvenience who might subsequently prove innocent. Hence many arrests were made of parties who were subsequently released, on its being proved that they were neither participators or had any knowledge of the case. In all these cases these parties were well treated, and on being discharged were paid the usual witness fees for the period they were removed from their business.

Gen. Meade deprives his peers in everything, and his superiors in many attributes that mark a gentleman, of their personal liberty, and then insults them with such statements as the above. Grimes, Daniel Cash, Marks, Lawrence, Wm. Bedell, Ennis, and others, whose names there is not time to obtain, never received a dollar, but refused their contemptible offer with scorn. Great stress is placed upon the animus of the Columbus people and the status of the parties arrested. Consider the Duke alibi. He proved by the man he boards with that he was not in town. The man who carried him to the country swore to it; another acquaintance saw him going; one man slept with him, the night of the assassination, forty miles from the scene of the murder; a dozen others swore he was at the same place at dusk the evening Ashburn was killed, and early the following morning; one witness, a physician, knew he was correct concerning the time by the date in his record; another located it by a log sale which involved entries in the books of the mill-man and a blacksmith, who mended a link broken while hauling logs; several others were interested in a cotton transaction, and their recollection was fully confirmed by the books of the cotton dealers in LaGrange [Lagrange]. Thus was an unequaled alibi established, and not by Columbus witnesses. Yet Duke was sworn to more positively by the witnesses for the prosecution than any other prisoner.

"The trial has been in progress now some twenty days, and the evidence for the prosecution made public. It is for the Department and the people of the country to judge whether with the evidence as adduced on the trial, I was not only justified but compelled to arrest and bring to trial the parties implicated."

He claimed that this trial was necessary for his vindication. Why was it interrupted? While the suborned witnesses were trying to swear the lives of innocent men away, the Commission held long sessions, but when the defense commenced introducing their overwhelming testimony the Court held very short sessions. It was Gen. Meade's idea to place the evidence for the prosecution before the country and then turn the prisoners over to the civil authorities, but a dilatory Legislature disappointed him, and caused a portion of the evidence for the defense to be produced notwithstanding the short sessions of the Commission.

A few days after the trial commenced, General Meade declared to many persons that he would give his head for a foot-ball if he did not convict all or a part of the prisoners. This fact shows that he, Meade, was in possession of the whole secret of the manipulating of the perjured testimony manufactured by Whitley.

Very soon after the rebutting testimony had been gone into, Meade saw that everybody was convinced that the whole batch of testimony against the prisoners was a mess of perjured villainy, very blunderingly gotten up. Meade then at once determined to get the case off his hands. About the time Meade commenced this trial there were two resolutions before Congress, to-wit: "Arming the negroes," and the continuance of all trials began by military commissions by the same court, even after Georgia had been admitted into the Union by the adoption of the 14th Amendment.

Congress had been impressed, by Gen.

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When the rascalities of Howard and Meade, in regard to this trial, began to be exposed, how quick the Jacobins of Congress dropped these two measures, because the point they expected to make out of this thing against the Southern people was lost. The Georgia Legislature was slow in adopting the 14th Amendment, but Meade was in haste in getting the Columbus prisoners out of his hands. To expedite the passage of the 14th Amendment he manipulated the Legislature, and endeavored to have some of the Democratic members expelled. He failed in that. In the mean time the trial was progressing, and the further it progressed the more damning the guilt of Meade became apparent. Every means was resorted to to induce the Legislature to pass the Amendment, and relieve Gen. Meade.

One, or probably two, of the lady friends of Meade approached Mrs. B., a friend of Gen. Meade and a Southern lady, and appealed to her to do all she could with her Democratic friends to get this measure passed by the Legislature.

One of the counsel for the prisoners, against the expressed wish of the prisoners, absented himself from the trial for one whole week. The cause of this absence, as he stated to Major E., was to operate with Democratic friends to get the measure passed. Nothing was left untried to relieve Meade in this way, but the Legislature was dilatory. Meade finally, desperate at the continued exposure of his guilt by the developments of the trial, resolved to adjourn the Military Court, which everybody knew was a final dissolution.

The part that Grant, Meade, Howard, and Congress took in the trial of the Columbus prisoners gave it an importance that can hardly be appreciated. The villainy of the whole thing should be freely ventilated to the people.

Smythe, Whitley, and the perjured witnesses have been sent away from justice by Gen. Meade, and it will not be long before an outraged public will make Meade and Brown regret that they are not with their brother suborners.