The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, December 09, 1904, Image 1
LJNO. .)()." ^ : UNION, SOUTH CAROLINA, FRIDAY, MCKMBKR -?. I!MM. ^ ^ ^ ^ \ ' .;
W .*iW / --- ?5
Qu/CKLY WE
1 People/sometimes dreac
is singly because they
the csstoms of busines;
embc/rassment quick!
thos? who deal at this
to h?ve it so; we want
easy and at home.
Wm. fl. KIGHQLSfi?
? ?' : '
?3?BMBWIiFWV.WVVU
FORTY HOURS
IN R DUNGEON.
A Thrilling Story of the
fc- Capture, Imprisonment
and Treatment of a
Confederate Soldier.
tBy B. M. Hord, in "Confeder,e
Veteran," reproduced in The
MES by request of William
enlace Chapter U. D. C.
j (Continue'cTTrom last
I Dart was the name of our post*
J: , sutler. He was a kind-hearted
I fellow, had made many friends
among the prisoners before JohnJ
son began his starving process
I and stopped us from trading with
I us, but now he was permitted to
resume business with the recruits
y in the "calf pen," and frequently
numbers of us would gather
along this space, as near the dead
line as we dared get, to await
the arrival of Dart's wagon with
supplies for the recruits just to
catch a glimpse and get a whiff
of the odor of fresh bread, meats
and pies as they passed from one
gate to the other. Ah, the odo*
of those pies! I will carry to my
rv/1
^lavc men uuwi.
Dart had a dog that would
sometimes follow his wagon into
the prison. We were assembled
one evening, "as usual, to smell
the pies and things, when the
front gate swung open and Dart
drove in; the dog came in also.
The best of us, man or beast,
sometimes make mistakes. . Dart
and his dog were not exceptions.
In allowing the dog to follow him
was Dart's mistake. The wagon
stopped a moment in our midst
. for the sentry to open the gate
' to the "calf pen;" the dog took
I position midway beneath the
R wagon?wise dog; a wink, a significant
nod at the dog passsed
Jtt between a halt dozen prisoners;
two stepped around on the opposite
side of the wagon, and unob'8
fA?erved- made a Pass at the dog;
'rathjlhe dog instinctively dodged to
- J&nc other side?this was his mistaiw
He didn't understand the
advantage of a flank movement.
In an instant a bony, brown
hand had him by the back of his
neck and another clutched his
throat; he was tucked under the
skirt of a long-tailed coat, and a
moment later three men, walking
closely together as if to conceal
something from the crowd behind
them, disappeared around the
O corner of the nearest barrack.
I wish to state emphatically
that I did not catch Dart's dog,
neither did I tack the skin to the
big oak tree in the main avenue
that was found there next morning
with a note attached, requesting
some one to "send in
another dog," but I've always
conscientiously felt I was indebted
to Dart for the hind quarter
of a dog. My bunk mate, Charlie
Goodwin, however, had no
conscientious scruples about it.
He thought the fruit was overripe?that
if it had been pulled
greener, say in tne puppy stage,
it would have been more palatable.
But Charlie was a bit fastidious.
Ife was head clerk in a
confectionary establishment
Memphis, Tenn., when
/ War began, accustomed to
jflPr? bonbons, fancy candies,
^^HpCakes to ladies, and naturally
/^KT taste had become more or
'^less vitiated for the substantial
\ of life.
Having sampled the regular
prison fare for more than ten
months, with suoh side dishes as
I could get, as our rations contracted
the price of rats expanded
until one could not be had for
love or money, I determined to
make another effort to relieve
:ARS AWAY. j
J to enter a bank; this |
arc not familiar with |
s. But this feeling of g
y wears away with |
bank; at least we try |
every customer to feel |
3 8 S9M, Bankers. | :
mm . ........ , j
Uncle Sam of any further exr.ense
on my account. I had been
engaged in two unsuccessful at- ,
tempts to tunnel out, and I knew ,
a negro too well to trust him a !
bribe, for three comrades that J !
knew were shot and killed by the !:
negro sentinels at night after the ,
villains had accepted cash bribes, (
so I denided 1 waiiIH moi/n i
? ? ? ?. ?f VUIVA 1 i lev CI IC j 1
attempt disguised as a Yankee. |
Every morning afker roll call a '
detail or six prisoners from each j
barrack was made to carry out i,
the slop barrels through a little j'
side gate, escorted by a Yankee j
'.guard, empty the barrels in the
ri^er, and return to the prison. ,
MyMtiea was, disguised in a Yan-'
kee uniform, with a citizen's!
suit underneath, to take charge ,
of a detail, march out with it, (
discard my uniform as soon as ,
possible when safely outside, and :
in citizens clothes the greatest I
danger would be past. The
prison was constantly searched (
for contraband articles, especially
.Yankee clothes.. I had managed
to keep concealed a Yankee <
blouse and cap, but had no pants, i
no pisto\, attno scabbard, $hese .
last werdtStenapessafy as "the
pants, fowBSgraards !
qubfcid tolWHrpisfote wh#n Thay <
rarr^in t hdUfrbritl Yan"?| ]
keedSW^'wIref^Taptu^ed, which
had not been taken from me, ;
and the pistol and scabbard I :
soon provided. A thick piece of !
I pine board furnished the material i
nilt' of urVlinli T iwUitfl/iJ ?? ...^..-..1 I
vmv nmvii 1 v? iiniicu ti );ouu ,
imitation handle of a pistol, i
which I stained with ink and
glazed over with a lead pencil to
give it the appearance of steel.
The scabbard I made from the
knee flaps of my cavalry boots, a !
fine Yankee pair that my best j
girl had smuggled out of Helena,
Ark., for me under her hoop ,
skirt just before our fight there;!,
but it was a month later before I ,
secured the pants. 1 was stand- '
ing one morning near the main
entrance when a two-horse ;
wagon, loaded with coal and
driven by a green-looking Dutchman,
came in. The driver's big
blue Yankee overcoat was lying ,
back on the coal, and I determined
to have it. While he was
fumbling- in his pockets to find
the ticket showing: the number
of barrack that had made requisition
for the fuel, I advanced !
and roughly asked what had de- 1
tained him, that I had been waiting
an hour for the coal; taking
his ticket and signing my seargeant's
name to it, I mounted the (
wagon and directed him to my
barrack, number twenty-four,
on the far side of the prison.
Throwing the coat on the wheel
horse as I jumped down, I bade
him wait and I would have his
wagon unloaded. I went in, informed
my sergeant, John Smith
- John Rodgers was his real
name, but he belonged to Quantrell's
command, and had this
been known his life would not
have been worth a day's rations
?of my intentions, and asked
| that he send out a detail to uir
i load the coal. I then posted two
| or three of my friends, and, while
i the men were unloading the
I wagon, they were attracting the
driver's attention on the far side
! from me by urging him to buy
' trinkets they had made out of
shell, bone, etc. Unobserved I
jsnppea ine coai under my overcoat,
carried it into my barrack,
lifted up a loose plank in the
door, dropped it underneath, and
went back to watch developments.
Of course the Dutchman
missed his coat when he started
to drive away, and appealed to
the sergeant, who called up the
men; all declared there was no
coat on the wagon- in truth,
they had not noticed it. Then
the Dutchman got mad, and they
\
began to come back at him with
unbiblical language. Being in
the midst of five or six thousand
half-starved rebels, he curbed
his tongue; but within twenty
minutes after he drove out the!
bugle sounded the assembly, and j
the entire prison was searched, :
though without results. Two!
nights afterwards, when all was ,
quiet, the coat was ripped up,!
washed in our cooking kettle. :
wrung out dry as possible, the j
pieces placed smoothly over the ;
planks in the bottom of my bunk, j
my oilcloth over them, my i
blanket over that,.and my bunk !
mate and I slept On them for a |
week (no patent for either washing
or ironing on this p&rt was
applied for). I took thc-m out at
night and, rpping up an old pair
of my pants, placed the pieces
over the blue cloth on our kitchen
table, cut out the pants with my
pocket knife, and in thieeor four
nignts hart them made. No
slouch of a job was it, either,
considering it was my first pair
made without thimble or scissors,
and much of the thread drawn
from my old pants. All tne work
had to be done secretly with a
shaded light at night,, for the ,
prison was full of spies, hut ftt
last I was ready for business.
Next morriing at roll call my
sergeant reported me sick; and
when the Yankee sergeant came
in to verify the report, he found
me in my bunk with a blanket
drawn close up under my chin,
suffering from a severe chill (?),
but a moment later when the
bugle sounded break ranks 1
threw off the blanket, sprang out
of my bunk in Yankee, uniform,
the butt of my pistol showing
bravely in the scabbard belted
under my blouse- allwhich I
expected to discary^ soon as I
was at a safe distance outside,
foj the citizen suit I. had on
^ivderjieath. Passing out the
btfek door of our banrack as the
rfi^h came in fhe f*onl, JLsotfV
found a squad (six'
three barrels) waiting ntf * a
Federal guard to escort them out.
Assuming authority, I ordered
them to take up the barrels and
move forward. We had to march
to the far side of the prison, and
when we arrived at the little side
gate found all the scavenger
force in line, the first squad
standing at the edge of the dead
line, the others extending back
in the prison probably a hundred
yards. Glancing from under the
visor of my cap, I saw the officer
of the day on the parapet directly
over the gate, a negro sentinel
on either sitle, watching the
liiip fnvm Hp pnllafl mo ao T
came up, asking if I was the
last. Replying that I was, he
ordered the guard below to open
the gate, and we began to pass
out. Up to this time it had been
nothing but pure bluff on my
part, but as we moved toward
the dead line my nerve began to
leave me. From the furtive
glances I gave from time to time
at the officer and sentinels I imagined
they were giving me
special attention, and the nearer
I approached the greater became
my fear that I had been betrayed
or they had penetrated my disguise
and were only waiting for
me to step over the dead line to
shoot. Had it been a dash or
rush with other comrades, I could
have taken my chance with the
Knn/?lo Imf nnltr ai-*a of o 4 I ^
Munvii, win/ v/nijr uuc at a tunc
could pass out of the narrow
prate, and to be slowly moving up
foot by foot to a line that I knew
was certain death to cross, with j
two negro guards watching1 mo;
and anxious to shoot, sent a ting- j
ling sensation downrriy back and
a sharp pain in my jaws, as if I
had bitten a sour pickle. A j
dozen times I was tempted to
spring behind a barrack before
they could shoot, and give up the
attempt, but it was too late now.
I was within ten feet of the line,
and the least wavering or false
step would confirm their suspicions
if tliov b:td ;mv nml rv>?\.
tainly draw their fire; so, pulling
myself together as; best I could, ]
1 stepped over with my men, j
marched them out the gate, and j
saw, for the first time in ten
months outside of a prison wall,
the broad Mississippi and the
city of Davenport beyond.
(Continued next week.)
WHY ITALIAN
COLONIES FAIL.
Agriculturally, They are
of LIHIe Benefit to the
South.
The recommendation recently
made by the Italian commercial
agent at Washington to the It'll- !
ian Emigration Commission that!
colinization societies be formed |
in order to check the massing ot' i
Italians in American cities and |
aid their transformation into'
landed proprietors has caused the ]
former ambassador to this conn j
try, Baron Severio Fava, to break j
silence as to previous efforts in '
this direction, and the causes oft
their failure. The Nuova Anto- j
logia (Rome) presents his ravelations
and views in an artiel > I
entitled "Italian Agricultural I
Colonies in North America."
Baron Fava says that voluminous
records in the embassy at'
Washington will show that ha I
called attention to the need and
proposed similar remedies as far
back as J883. He deemed it
necessary to establish a bureau
for the protection of emigrants
arriving in America, with a labor
bureau attached. He intended
to establish this by means of a
fund of eight thousand dollars,
offered by the banker Cantoni.
with the use of certain premises;
a legacy left by Mr. Massa.
twelve hundred dollars allotted
by Minister Crispi, and the formation
of a society whose members
should give gratuitous services
and monthly dues. The
leaders of the New York Italian
colony, however, failed to give
the promised aid, in spite of their
having met twice with the ambassador
to agree on terms. The
ambassador, therefore, presented
his wishes to the then Secretary
of the Treasury, Carlisle, and
gained his hearty assistance. He
.gave the Jireeuse of a large hall
on Ellis,all details
had been" arranged, the bureau
was placed in charge of Cavaliere
Egisto Rossi, under the immediate
direction of the ambassador.
It cost J:he Italian Government
$6,000 a year, even with
the Massa legacy. It protected
the emigrant from all kinds of
extortion and exploitation, and
guided him through the difficulties
of first, experience in a
strange land. The labor bureau
was not founded because the
Italian Government refused the
necessary funds, and did not
even authorize the acceptance of
twelve hundred dollars yearly,
offered by the American banker,
Mr. Corbin, for this purpose.
The success of the Italian bureau
of protection had aroused j
other countries, and Austria. 1
Hungary asked permission to es- j
tablish a similar bureau, but was1
refused. Other demands were
made, and when the Ellis Island
buildings were destroyed by fire
the regulation was made that,
foreign bureaus might be established
on Ellis Island, but not in
the federal buildings, as the Ital- j
ian office had been for six years.
After mentioning the great
success of the Irish, German, i
Scandinavian, and Swiss labor1
uuieciuo III 1'icii.Jii^; Cin tr> UII
land by taking advantage of the
homestead laws, Baron Fava
considers the question of whether
Italian emigrants will lend themselves
to such operations. The
first condition must be that tlie
emigrants go to America intending
to remain. IIow many Italians
have such intention, he asks.
They are so sure to return to
their native soil when they have
accumulated a little that Americans
call them "birds of passage."
Under such conditions,
what Italian-American or American
capitalists would undertake
to form Italian colonies? The
Italians of the "colony" at Vineland,
N. J., started a quarter of
n /invitn m r /iK !
<i tcniiujr a^u kjy v/avaiiuiu oliuiii
di Casale, founder of the Eco
d' Italia, do not possess an inch
of soil. The so-called colony at
Asti, Cal., founded with bonds of
small denomination mostly acquired
by Italian-Swiss, had to
be transformed into a capitalists'
enterprise because the peasants
refused to become partners and
preferred receiving wages to be:
coming landowners. Finally, the
colony at Lodi, Cal., has been
too recently founded by Mr.
Ghigliera to predict results, es
IF. Al. FARR, President.
T I
Merchants and Plai
Successfully Doing Busi
R is th('OI,l)KST Hunk in
f U lltlK II OUI'ill'i III I ^'lll'lll
'?? D H is 1!i:? oil' v N\TI< ?N A <.
? HI kits |?if<l ill vidctitls in
M H I ays For it |if>r ocut.
S R ffl is ilu-mily Hunk in I'ni
y n M '"is liiii'trlur i't'ouf vuiil
H w |>tt.V8 imirc tu.vi's tkuu \
y WE EARNESTLY SOL
pecially as the peasants have required
the stipulation that they
may seek work elsewhere during
the six months of slack work in
vine culture.
PROSPECT OF FUTURE COLONIZATION
SOCIETIES.
Certainly, there are among the
Italian-Americans many who
might, subscribe funds to coloni~?cieties,
properly so
caue't,- out who of them, after
having gained a competence by
hard work, is going to risk loss
by founding societies based on
the work of peasants who refuse
peremptorily to discount the purchase
of land with agricultural
labor, but demand, instead, immediate
pay?
As for societies founded with
exclusively American capital,
facts speak louder than theories.
II ? recounts the history of "Sunny
Side," the cotton plantation
of Mr. Corbin, on which he attempted
to establish an ideal
It dian colony, aided by the ambassador
and Hon Emanuele Ruspole,
then syndic of Rome. The
plan iucluded a subdivided tract,
with houses and complete outfits
furnished, artesian wells, school,
lioarary, church and savingsbank,
narrow-gauge railway and
co Ton press. After twenty
years, ttye colonists we~~ be-,
?ome~-proprietary of thpir piots, >
and the plantation buildings were
to be common property of the
whole colony. Fifty or sixty
families were brought from Italy
at the expense of Mr. Corbin.
They went to work and were
paid the wages agreed. All
promised well. Trustworthy
persons were sent by both Mr.
Corbin and the ambassador to
satisfy all just demands. Very
soon, for no valid reason, after
getting their pay, the colonists
began to disband gradually,
drawn by the fatal allurement of
quick profit to the great cities.
In the present state of things,
Baron Fava thinks, it will not be,
easy to found real colonization
societies in this country, with
either Italian or American capital.
He thinks it possible that
Brazil and Argentina, with climate,
language, and customs
more in harmony with those of
Italy, might offer more encouragement
of success for the proposed
colonization societies. Review
of Reviews.
o
Crowding Out Negroes.
Referring to the movement of
Italians to the South, the Minneapolis
Journal, which tries to
take a broad view of Southern
conditions, shows how far astray
good intentions may go when it
says:
"What will be the result of
crowding the negro out of the
agricultural-labor market by the
introduction of a white laboring
class? So far, it is said that the
Italians on the plantations get
along peaceably beside the negro
and have little to do with them,
but if the displacement develops
into what the planters expect it
will, and the negroes crowd excessively
into the cities, there is
no doubt that the negro question
will afllict the Southern people in
a still more acute form. There
is danger, indeed, that a new
l'a^i'jl w ill 11!i t?l\r
velop between the Latin and negro
races. In getting rid of
negro labor on the plantations
the South will have another race
to deal with, which has a tendency
to combination and a tendency
to acquire land, and which may
prove more intractable than the
long-suffering negro."
Indeed, the Journal answers its
own proposition about "crowding
the negro out of the agricultural
????' I
MWMMMW?WMMR
J. D. ARTHUR, Cashier. g
J? E % h
iters National Bank, |
ness at the "Old Stand." '''
I'nion,
x ot $l<X),0m.
liauU in 1 *iii?>11, g
omit i ltf to V-IWSOO. ft!
illtrrrst oil ili'pnslts,
on insiH i ti cl 11v mi olticor, i
t, mill . site with Time- Look,
1.1, tin; It:i:ikin Union oomblnod. Eft
ICST YOUR BUSINESS. |
labor market bv the introduction
of the white laboring class,"
when it sneaks in the same editorial
of the drift of negro labor
to cities and towns, its growing
inefficiency in agriculture and the
losses in the cotton-picking season
because of deficiency of workers;
to the better work done by Italians,
ihe economies practiced by
them and their tendency to buy
farms as rapidly as they are able.
K there is any crowding out of
the negroes from agriculture they
alone are responsible for it.
Thousands have undoubtedly left
farms because of higher wages obtainable
in railroad construction,
mining, lumbering, cotton-seed
manufacture and other industries,
and other thousands have drifted
to towns and cities under the
spur of the natural instinct to live
with the least exertion*. Instead
of being crowded out the "longsuffering
negro" has beeilun demand
by whites who. for ?* <ra?_
oration or more, have, in the absence
ol' anything bettfer^ been
obliged to put up with^feor constantly
tending to grtfflAe^tinefliciency
under the infttfjimce of
misguiding educatiorial^wiethods.
The incoming to the,^outh of
and purpose to becomdrL^d-owners
at their earliest dTOortunitx^----,,-^,?,^N
is a blearing. ITnles^xne iWve-^
ment of 6j?Southern '
cities and towns dn tlheir way to
the North and West is not checked.
their places in the field will
be permanently tilled by whites,
the more desirable because they
will not be content to occupy for
long the dependent status which
satisfies the average negro. In 25
or 50 years, according to circumstances,
there may come a time
when the negroes in some localities
may begin to feel the competition
of the more thrifty and more
ambitious new-comers. Whether
the negroes will then be crowded
out will depend entirely upon the
negroes themselves.
Growing GM Gracefully.
No woman, whatever her age,
should be blamed for wishing to
look her best; indeed, I think she
deserves blame if she does nnt
There are few things which age
a woman more than an indifference
to her personal appearance,
whether of body or raiment. The
daintily and becomingly dressed
mother, sister, sweetheart or
wife, with pretty complexion and
glossy hair, is accorded far more
respect and admiration than is
ever given to the one in ill-fitting
black gowns, with frosty hair
I and sallow complexion, and few
things add move to the charms
al' n t ^ 1:
w ?>, iiuumii man <l leflinfj Ol
"looking1 well" to her friends.
As the years come, a woman
should take more and more care
of her "locks;" for her duties
should grow less and loss onerous
as her family cares grow fewer,
and she should not scruple to employ
&7v aids of (he toilet which
she Hn Is benefit her. It is said
that "happiness may depend
upon the hade chosen for a dinner
dress or the set of a hat,"
even though the hair may he
tinged with grey: the woman
past forty needs all (he help she
can get from dress, and the one
.past fifty needs it still more.
jWhen "age" becomes an aeiknov/ledged
fact, richness and
elegance of material and plaini
nessof cut and making should be
jthe rule, and if rich material
er.nnnt bo ntTnrilo/1 ir. ,.*:n
, ww., i?iv.ic id nun
j neatness and pood-fitting to be
had, and becoming colors should
always be regarded.?Let us
"grow old gracefully."