Yankee deserter.
--Some months since, a fellow calling himself John Conway, and claiming to be a Yankee deserter, was placed in Castle Thunder, where he remained several weeks, and then asked and obtained leave to take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy. After this evidence of loyalty — no doubt coupled with the warmest professions for the cause of the South--Conway was released from confinement, and soon thereafter employed as a laborer at the Medical Purveyor's office, at a salary of $3 per day. Yesterday morning Conway was arraigned before the Mayor to answer the charge of stealing a gold watch from Captain Jackson Warner, and as proof of his guilt the lost watch was exhibited in Court, officer Kelly having taken it out of the prisoner's pocket at the time of his arrest. Capt. Warner stated that his house was entered in the night-time and his watch stolen from his chamber. Conway, on hearing the evidence, made no defence, and as a consequence was sent on to the Hustings Court, to be tried for felony.The practice of turning loose in the South Yankee deserters is a bad one, and may yet lead to serious consequences. There are now in the country thousands of wounded soldiers, who have risked their lives in the Confederate cause, many of whom would be glad to fill all the positions our Government has vacant, at moderate salaries. Would it not be far better to give such men the employment and pay instead of hiring Yankee deserters, whose feelings are with the Abolitionists, and who can at any time seriously damage our cause by the information they obtain by reason of their positions.
