Well, I was out from under rebel guard for an hour or so any
way. Hurt my side though, and caught a little cold. Am sore somewhat. Have
given up the idea of escaping. Think if Hendryx had been alone he would have
gotten away. Is tougher than I am. A man caught stealing from one of his
comrades and stabbed with a knife and killed. To show how little such things
are noticed here I will give the particulars as near as I could get them. There
were five or six men stopping together in a sort of shanty. Two of them were
speculators, and had some money, corn bread, &c., and would not divide with
their comrades, who belonged to their own company and regiment. Some time in
the night one of them got up and was stealing bread from a haversack belonging
to his more prosperous neighbor, and during the operation woke up the owner,
who seized a knife and stabbed the poor fellow dead The one who did the murder
spoke out and said: “Harry, I believe Bill is dead; he was just stealing from me
and I run my knife into him.” “Good enough for him,” says Harry. The two men
then got up and straightened out “Bill,” and then both lay down and went to
sleep. An occupant of the hut told me these particulars and they are true. This
morning poor Bill lay in the hut until eight or nine o'clock, and was then
carried outside. The man who did the killing made no secret of it, but told it
to all who wanted to know the particulars, who were only a few, as the
occurrence was not an unusual one.
SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p.
53
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