Show STORIES OF SPIES SPES By Albert Payson Terhune Terhune- Terhune BOYD THE SOUTH'S S MOST DARING SPY jS A West Virginia woman and her hr year old daughter sat on he step of ot their home one summer on in the first year of the Civil val car The mother was an invalid the theM ce aL-ce M of ot a Confederate officer drunken Union soldier came lhing along the street from a earb camp He spoke insultingly to he hesick sick woman She answered him in harp rebuke The The- soldier strode over overo 0 o where she sat and struck her across he iter Iier daughter laughter with a c cry of fury arted into the house snatched her herbs bs nt fathers father's revolver from a a. desk I rawer ran back to the porch and shot he soldier dead HANGES CHANGES GIRL TO TO WARRIOR The year old girl was Belle Bo Boyd dr es ned to become the most any famous sp spy of the Civil war The to her mother had changed Belle Bellen n n Q moment from a child into a seeking warrior She ofer oferl of- of er erl erTher her her services to the Confederacy le Ie wit and her dauntless courage In Jn- won for her a position In the Southern secret service Sh She e won the confidence of many im- im young Union officers in inVest inVest i iVest Vest V Vh-ginia Vh ginia and und elsewhere inside he lines Adroitly the girl led hese to tell teU precious military ec to her These she promptly to her employers at Rich Rich- nond As a result one Union plan fter another failed Belle Belte was at last suspected She was laced under arrest and sent to pris prison n it Lt W Washington After three months In cell there she sie was exchanged for a u Union fo 1 colonel and nd once more he took up tip her hazardous task of py ng I For her services now she received a as captain in Stonewall army and was made an aide aidele I le Ie pamp camp to the general For a time 1 he M brilliantly in this odd ca- ca Presently she fell In love with I 1 major on Jacksons Jackson's staff The two vere married early in September of On their wedding day her bride- bride oOm n-oOm o m was killed at the battle of An- An To drown drow her grief Belle plunged into new perils She did spy service in Tennessee and hen in the Gettysburg campaign risk risk- US' US her life a thousand times She it once too often orten for after Lee nade his at sout southward ward from ett she was caught It This time 3 Bello ell 0 was was formally tried as as a spy at and was condemned to be behoC shot hot hoC Abraham Lincoln hated the idea of utting a woman to death even evan even If it she vere vere a spy So Belle Belie was exchanged this this time for a captured gen- gen ral 1301 With secret papers she sailed In InIa Ia May 1864 for North Carolina on a lockade running boat The blockade was overtaken and seized by he United States warship cut aut in command of young Lieutenant Samuel Harding CAPTURE FOLLOWS ON FLIGHT Belle turned loose upon Harding all the powers of her bewitching charm Under the spell of her love the lieutenant lieutenant lieuten lieuten- ant forgot his loyalty to the old flag Ho He not only released the captain of of the blockade runner at Belles Belle's pleading but bu t also turned over to the girl all his own official signal books papers etc Belle privately gave these valuable Union documents to the blockade runner runner run run- ner to send to the Confederate authorities authorities authorities ties at Richmond Harding begged her to marr marry him She consented on condition he leave the service of the United States The infatuated fool did so The couple were caught and taken to Boston Harding was kicked out of the navy Belle was sentenced once more to be shot as a spy Again mercy came to the rescue of the imperiled woman Lincoln to the disgust of War Var Secretary Stanton commuted her death sentence to ban ban- Belle Belle- hurried to England where Harding joined her There the two were married narried in great splendor the Prince of Wales afterward Edward VII being guest of honor honorat at the cere cere- mony But a life Ufe of safety had no charm for the war eager bride Back to Richmond Richmond Rich Rich- mond she came at the very first op op- op She brought Harding along and coaxed him into joining the Confederate Confederate Confederate Con Con- federate army When the Civil war ended she di divorced divorced di di- Harding and married Colonel Hammond a Massachusetts officer After Hammonds Hammond's death she married N.B. N. N R. R High son of an Ohio clergyman For the rest of her days she lived until 1900 she eked out a a living as an actress and as a G. G A. A R. R lecturer and by writing of her thrilling war Four times married three times imprisoned twice sentenced to death Belle Boyds Boyd's career was one of the most sensational of her time Yet at ather ather her death her once famous name was wasal wasal al alt but forgotten by the world at large |