h Judge Morris
and his wife were deeply implicated in the plot to release these men.
Their home in Chicago was a place of secret rendezvous for Southerners
who, in the interest of these prisoners, were secretly visiting
Chicago.

By some means constant communication with the prisoners was
established, and if they still suffered horribly, hope revived among
them for a while, and her blessed presence lightened their burdens.
Mrs. Morris well knew that by implicating herself in the plot she was
placing herself and husband in a position to suffer in their own
persons and property in case of failure. Death would be the most
probable consequence. Yet she risked it all. To use her own words,
copied from a letter which I received from her shortly before her
death, "I _did_ help my suffering, starving countrymen, who were
subjected to the horrors of Camp Douglas. I loved them with all the
sympathy and pride of a mother, and I did spend upon them every dollar
of my own money and as much of my husband's as I could _get_ by fair
means or foul in my hands.

"At the close of the war we found ourselves broken in health and
fortune, but my husband had still enough left for our support; but the
great Chicago fire swept our all away.

"Should my health improve, I wish to make an effort to send you a
fuller account, and to add my small morsel of praise to the gallantry
and patient endurance of the most bitter and maddening trials that men
were ever called upon to endure.

"One unselfish action I would like to have recorded of a member of
J.H. Morgan's command, the same to which my dear friend Colonel B.F.
Forman belonged, and he can tell you how proud all Kentucky was of her
brave boys. This is what I wish to write, because I like to have every
noble deed recorded. After my good brother, Ex-Governor Blackman (who
has administered medicine whenever I needed it), removed to Tennessee,
and I felt the attack coming on from which I have so long and so
severely suffered, I applied to Dr. R. Wilson Thompson for medical
advice, and, receiving it, put my hand in my pocket. He said, almost
sternly, 'No, no, Mrs. Morris, do not attempt that; you cannot do it,'
and, rising abruptly, left the house. Returning the second day, he
said, 'I fear you did not understand me, Mrs. Morris: I feel as every
Confederate soldier feels, or ought to feel,--that he could never do
enough for _you_; we could never receive pay from _you_ for anything.'
And so for