addressing the gentleman on the floor, "won't you roll over to let the corporal see how it is." Mr. Perry who weighed fifty pounds either under or over three hundred, I forget which, gave a roll and sure enough the building shook. "There, corporal," continued the spokesman, "if anything has happened down stairs, it came of leaving that man sleep on the floor." "Da-nd if I don't believe it's so," said the Corporal, and off he went satisfied that nothing wrong had occurred in No. 10. But we who knew better were all anxiety to learn whether any harm had befallen our friend Col. Kohler. Our fears were relieved by his appearance among us next morning by special permission. His first salute to us was, what the devil were you fellows about last night?" Seeing that he was not hurt we told him the whole story, and he enjoyed it as much as we had done. A large piece of the ceiling had fallen down, but fortunately missed both the Colouel and a Major who was his room mate. In No. 10, as in the other rooms during the hot weather, a portion of every night was spent in killing vermin. The sight of a party of inen in their night clothes with a candle in one hand, and the other occupied in destroying the tormentors of their rest was ludicrous in the extreme, and the conversation which accompanied the operation was not less. amusing. Nothing short of à representation of such scenes could do them any justice or give the reader more than a faint idea of the reality. NO. 16, AND ITS INMATES. Towards the latter end of September, those of us who had been left in No. 10 up to that time, viz. Allen, Sheward, Apple and Mahony were transfer. red to No. 16, with the promise that the change was made preparatory to releasing us soon; but this was not the design or the cause of our removal. The real cause of removing us was that the rooms on the third story were to be used to keep some prisoners who were expected s on in solitary confinement. When we were placed in No. 16, the following named persons were there before us, and were our room-mates till they were discharged, and some of whom remained till the 11th of November. ADDRESS OF PERSONS CONFINED IN ROOM No. 16, old CAPITOL PRISON. John H. Mulkey, Circuit Judge, Cairo, Ill., Attorney. A. D. Duff, C. P. Judge, Benton, Ill., J. Blanchard, Murphysboro, Ill., 66 J. M. Williams, Spring Garden, Ill., Merchant. John M. Clementson, Marion, Ill., Attorney. A. P. Corder, Samuel H. Bundy, 66 66 M. D. Attorney. 66 F. M. Youngblood, Benton, J. R. Brown, Shiloh Hill, Ill., Doctor. W. A. Haines, Tamaroa, Ill., Farmer. M. L. Ross, 66 16 Doctor. David Patten, Griggsville, " Samuel Stoutzberger, Rob Roy, Ind., Farmer. A. B. Hewitt, Chatham, Ill., Doctor. 66 Mehaffey & O'Dell, Eds. Dem. Standard, Paris. In addition to these, a number of others were incarcerated with us in this famous rooom. Among them were: Rev. J. D. Benedict, of Buffalo, N. Y. Dr. T. T. Ellis, Dr. Moran, Frederick, Md. B. F. Brown, V. R. Jackson, Washington City, D. C. Samuel Einmons, Philadelphia, Penn. Frank Blair, Jr., St. Louis, Mo. The doings of this room, among the victims of arbitrary power, beggars all description. A faint effort at describing the occurrences of this famous locality is attempted in other parts of this book, but not till the pen of some Dickens or Thackeray can be inspired by the various recitals of each one's history will justice be done to No. 16 Old Capitol. PRISON AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATION. The prisoners generally in the Old Capitol were permitted to spend a half hour at each meal time in the yard, or rather so much of that time as was not occupied in eating. The prisoners who took their meals in their rooms could so arrange the time of eating as to take the whole half hour allowed in the yard, in recreation. Most of the time, however during the months of August, September, and part of October, there was no room in the yard to indulge in any exercise. The yard was lumbered. up with tents during this time, and full of prisoners, both Federal and Confederate, so that all the recreation which could be indulged in, was to gather in a crowd together, and elbow one's way through it. Even this was made disagreeable by being dogged around by the detectives and spies who were ever on the alert to listen to the conversation and to watch the actions of the prisoners. No sooner would a few persons stand in a group to converse with each other, than one of these detectives, pretending to be a prisoner like the others, would approach and manifest the greatest possible interest in the subject of conversation. If it happened to be on the affairs of the Government, or the state of the country, or the outrageous course of the Administration, as the conversation often was, these spies became trebly interested. They were sure to put in a word which was calculated to draw out others. Sometimes one would forget that he was a prisoner and feeling as if he were an American freeman, would give such expression to his emotions and convictions as would thrill his audience, and load the detectives with valuable information for headquarters. Of course every conversation of this kind was carefully noted, and those who participated in them, were more vigilantly observed. During the most of October, and up to the time in November of the discharge of the Political prisoners, the yard was comparatively clear of rubbish, so that the prisoners had, during the half hour at a time allowed them, an opportunity to stretch their legs in a walk. This they did generally in pairs, one object of which was to avoid the detectives. In this way, the prisoners who were well acquainted with each other, would take what was called their recreation. Those who were not so fortunate as to have acquaintances, fell of course into the hands of the detectives, who, through these prisoners found out what they could of these whom they could not so familiarly approach. About the latter end of October, several balls and chains were placed in the yard. Their appearance there was regarded by most of the prisoners as sig.nificant, nothing of the kind having been seen there before. For some days no one ventured near these instruments of punishment, their very appearance in such a place being so suggestive of disagreeable emotions as to keep off the most reckless from any familiarity. At length, however, some of the younger prisoners ventured to approach and handle these iron instruments of punishment, and soon they were used by most of the crowd in gymnastic feats. The yard recreation, though monotonous, had nevertheless some variety, as there was something new occurring every day. Very often during the time of recreation some new prisoners would be brought in. The whole crowd would gather round the new comers to learn the news, and for the time being the scene would be quite animative. If the new comers happened, as was often the case, to be prisoners of war, more reliable information was obtained from them of the result of the battles in which they participated than the Administration news agents were allowed to publish. The scenes in the yard were occasionally enlivened by the antics of the contrabands, who were the only persons within the prison precincts who were allowed to enjoy their natural liberty. As they had a good deal of idle time, they would indulge in their favorite pastime of skylarking. The men would make a dash into the women's quarters, and after |