A smile flickered about his thin mouth, "This camp mattress, Doctor," he
slowly replied, "I find a little thin. The slats beneath chafe my poor
bones. I've a frail body--though in my youth and young manhood, while
soldiering in the West, I have done some rough camping and campaigning.
There was flesh then to cover my nerves and bones."
The doctor called an attendant:
"Bring this prisoner another mattress and a softer pillow."
"Thank you," Davis responded cordially.
"You are a smoker?" the doctor asked.
"I have been all my life, until General Miles took my pipe and tobacco."
The doctor wrote to the Adjutant General and asked that his patient be
given the use of his pipe.
On his visit two days later the doctor said:
"You must spend as little time in bed as possible. Exercise will be your
best medicine."
The prisoner drew back the cover and showed the lacerated ankles.
"Impossible you see--the pain is so intense I can't stand erect. These
shackles are very heavy. If I stand, the weight of them cuts into my
flesh--they have already torn broad patches of skin from the places they
touch. If you can pad a cushion there, I will gladly try to drag them
about--"
Dr. Craven sought the jailer:
"General Miles," he began respectfully, "in my opinion the condition of
state-prisoner Davis requires the removal of those shackles until such
time as his health shall be established on a firmer basis.
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