d:

"That will do for you;" and turning to a captain who stood by, he
continued, "take him to the hole; you know where that is."

With a nod in reply, the captain took me out of the room. As I passed
through the door, I saw an explanation of the General's smile. There
stood Andrews, ironed, waiting an audience, and Marion Ross and John
Williams with him. I did not choose to recognize them; for such
recognition might have compromised them, as I knew not what course
they would pursue.

CHAPTER VIII.

Negro Prison--Swims, the Jailor--Horrible Dungeon--Black Hole of
Calcutta--Suffocation--Union Prisoners--Slave Catching--Our Party
Reunited--Breakfast Lowered by Rope--Hunger--Counseling--Fiendish
Barbarity--Chained in the Dungeon--Andrews tried as a Spy and
Traitor--Sweet, but Stolen News--Removed from Dungeon--Pure Air and
Sunlight--Attacked by a Mob--"A Friend"--Madison--Daring Adventure and
Narrow Escape.

The captain now called a guard of eight men, and conducted me through
the streets for some time; at last we came to a little brick building,
surrounded by a high board fence. Those who have ever been in
Chattanooga, and visited the negro prison, will recognize my
description. A portion of the building was occupied by the jailor, but
the prison part consisted of two rooms, one under the other, and also
partly underground. This under room had no entrance from the outside,
but was accessible only through a trap-door from the room directly
overhead.

Chattanooga is not a county-seat, and, therefore, this prison was
built only for the accommodation of negroes by their humane owners.

The jailor, Swims, was a character, and merits a particular
description. He was an old man--perhaps sixty. His hair, which was
very abundant, was white as snow, and his face had a dry and withered
expression. His voice was always keyed on a whining tone, except when
some great cause, such as the demand of prisoners for an extra bucket
of water, excited him, and then it rose to a hoarse scream. Avarice
was his predominant, almost his only, characteristic. He seemed to
think his accommodations were vastly too good for negroes and Yankees,
and that when they were admitted within his precincts, they should be
thankful, and give as little trouble as possible. With such notions,
it was not wonderful that he managed to make the lot of the prisoner
an uncomfortable one. In addition to this, he was very fond of a dram,
and frequently be