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Doc. 176.-self-mutilation in Connecticut.

The following note from the surgeon of the Eleventh Senatorial district of Connecticut, gives an account of the measures resorted to, to avoid the draft:

To the Editors of the Evening Post:
I see by an article in your paper, (August 13,) that three individuals from Danbury had cut off each a fore-finger, to evade the draft. There is a mistake in one particular. These persons were not from Danbury, but from New-Fairfield, an adjoining town. Instead of three there were five, besides some have had all their teeth extracted for the same purpose. There is no trick or dishonest device to which they have not resorted to escape helping to maintain the best Government under heaven. I find men can be loyal — yes, very loyal, vociferously loyal — when it costs nothing; but when the hour of trial comes they show the white feather, and like miserable cowards as they are, resort to the meanest acts possible to escape.

Ezra P. Bennett, Examining Surgeon for the Eleventh Senatorial District, Connecticut. Danbury, Ct., August 16, 1862.

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