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A Yankee Bastile

--Rats are abundant in Fort Lafayette. It is stated that as the unfortunate prisoners lie in their uncomfortable cribs at night they are literally covered with the disgusting vermin. One case is reported, in which the unhappy occupant of one of the cells was aroused, as by a nightmare, to find six of them revelling upon his breast, and of another who felt something nibbling at his pedal extremities, and, immediately kicking, a rat was thrown to the ceiling and fell with a thud upon the floor. This is a part of the punishment inflicted by a paternal Government upon the unfortunates who incur its suspicion, or the comity of its subordinates. Not a single prisoner in that fortress has been confronted with his accuser, or tried by his peers. Many have languished there almost from the beginning of the war.-- Boston Courtier, April 11.

The Daily Dispatch: June 6, 1864. Richmond Dispatch. 2 pages. by Cowardin & Hammersley. Richmond. June 6, 1864. microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mi : Proquest. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

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