" At this, one of the confined
stewards, a tall, good-looking mulatto man, ran his hand into a
large opening in the wall, and drew forth a little soda-bottle
filled with Monongahela whisky. Without giving reasonable time for
politeness, Daley seized the bottle, and putting it to his mouth,
gauged about half its contents into his homony dep“t, smacked his
lips, wiped his mouth with his cuff, and, passing the balance back,
shut and rebolted the door, after saying, "Good luck till yees, an'
I wish yees a merry time." The reader may imagine what provision the
State or the sheriff had made for the comfort of these poor men, one
of whom was imprisoned because it was "contrary to law" to be driven
into the port of Charleston in distress, and the rest, peaceable,
unoffending citizens belonging to distant States and countries, and
guilty of no crime, when we describe the room and regimen to which
they were subjected. The room was about twenty-six feet long and ten
feet wide. The brick walls were plastered and colored with some kind
of blue wash, which, however, was so nearly obliterated with dirt
and the damp of a southern climate, as to leave but little to show
what its original color was. The walls were covered with the
condensed moisture of the atmosphere, spiders hung their festooned
network overhead, and cockroaches and ants, those domesticated pests
of South Carolina, were running about the floor in swarms, and
holding all legal rights to rations in superlative contempt.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178