mother cried out, 'Oh, my God! my poor son!' and feinted." So perfect
was this reign of terror that not even slave-owners, in many cases,
dared to protest against this wholesale butchery. The repeated
whippings mangled the bodies of many so badly that they were taken to
the gallows in a dying state. One man died while being taken upon the
scaffold; his sides were cut through to the entrails, and even a part
of them protruded. I visited the calaboose, which had two apartments.
The first entrance was large enough for two persons to be fastened to
the strong iron staples. There was room for two men to each victim,
one on each side, who, seated on a stool, could alternate the strokes
upon the writhing sufferer. The floor of this calaboose was of hard
wood, but it was so thoroughly stained with human gore that the grain
of the wood could not be distinguished. Into the second room not a ray
of light entered except on opening the middle door.

Frank Susetts was a millionaire in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
and made his boast that he had no fear of Yankees, for he had gold
enough to cover his front walk from the door to the gate, and could
buy up any Yankee who might attempt to trouble him. "There are two
things," he said, "they can never do: First, make me poor; second,
make me take the oath of allegiance." He owned nine plantations,
besides very much city property. Though hundreds of his slaves had
left him, he felt himself secure in the abundance of his wealth. The
government engineer, who had been casting about for the best place to
locate a fort, had been looking over Frank Susetts's place and said it
was the most elevated and desirable location he had found in the city,
but he rather hesitated because of the magnificent buildings it would
destroy. When Susetts's independent words reached his ear he at once
decided, and took his men the second time to look over the ground.
Standing near the palatial mansion, and within hearing of the owner,