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Show H . ? : An Escape : m- I On &n Iron 1 fl ' Horse H i $ B,i ; I 3 - Memorial Day Story H'-f? 8 - 2- By F. A. Mitchcl PPH'.'li' '( Copyrlslit by Aniri PfM Ao- B .1 .TTTT7VT7TV7TTTTTTVTT7VTV H t'tit Starlet about the war between the K t i ' fit Men lire Kcltlni; seiiivclhnt Ik, stic B'f 'j rU'. I old by moil wln cniu-ti'd tho H,,f. j S i !vciitM narriilcd, Time whh when vet- H. I' ,M uraim tued to moot mill xwni yarns hy H'' ' the ilnzrim-all true too. Hut now H' i 5 (hey lire too old to net together very B i ' wfti-n mill when they do they llnd their HT j i ': mcmoi-lci itre ho defcrthu that It U B ' ' U .lllliciilt for them to t:ct through n con- BBv ' ' i itnuoiiK narrative. They mix up dates BB ' 3ind places And armies no Unit It Hpolln BB. 4he story. BB A M'lrran whoie lmlr wnn white ns BBi Hiiow, whimu ( heeUH were hollow, told BB 3ne this story It wim dllllcult for niu BB r i 4o realize Unit he was thu hiuiiu man BB I I -who ns a hoy nearly half n century ago BB Hook part In the adventure, ho nnrrnted. BB 1 1 "I'd been u prlxoncr o( war ho Ioiik," BB. 1 5ie h:i!(1, "Unit I felt I'd ralher.dle than BB , " ntuy Any longer In that pr)iy)iApon. So BB one diirk night t got two men to Hlnnd BB' I iip against the fence, tlm one on thu K i ithcr'H shoulder, and I climbed up ito thu shoulders of tho top innn, clutched the fence nnd pot on top of It. V l How 1 did It I don't know, for I'd had BB little or nothing to cat for months nnd ' BB was weak ns n kllten. I ijropb'ed over BBi , '' into soft mud, and liickHyth'iVKciitry BB " -didn't hear me; If lie hud JLMibfo'b been BB BB' ' "Some lipgroei took me in early tho BB , . next morning, hid mu and gave mo BB' plenty of corn pone, with nu occasion- BB 1 feed ot calt pork. Having cot nnnie BB strength In me I concluded to Unlit out BBjj northward. One of 'cm told me about I ' ' Uk ; ' i - j-i: BB S Rv B f "I HAW Till- AOKNT LOOKINd AKntU UK." B n (lend Confederate xoldler he'd hocii K In the. woods, and 1 nuked him to net B me "Ids rlottics. They were nothing B but butternut, but there whh a brnxs B Jielt buckle nnd xome other things with B O. 8. A. on them, nnd thnt xerred me BH ja well ax n uniform Bl "1 xt artcd to travel ulghtx and lie hid BBl timong thu niggers In daytime. In the B morning after xtnrtlug, "hen the dawn K -,na lironhlni- mid 1 WI1S looking llbollt ft, for n retiring place, 1 eaiiie upon BB railroad stntlon. A lmomollve wax BV "ntAndlng on n xlde track coupled to BB: i two or three empty freight cam. The BBi ilro was burning low ni'il there wax BHl t .onn steam on. I Judged that the eu- BB ' 3-lueer nnd llrcnuin hnd arrived not BBl long before and turned In either in the BB Htntlon or In one of two m Uee BBi liousca that were xeattered about BB "I lived near a railroad yard as a BB, j )Kiy nnd used to get thu eiiRueerx to BB I let mu run with them, sometimes flr- BB Ing for them; xo 1 knew tfouiethlng BB jibout a locomotive. I got up Into the BB nb, opened the furnace door and xaw BB that the fire wax nearly nut. I calcu- B Inted tho possibility of getting a ride BB Ttorthwiird on thu machine, but I'd BH I liave to lire up before trying It I B -ivflx pretty desperate and ready for BB. .any llik. So I dropped one lump of B) j val rfler another Into the lire box, BH mil ir to mel.i the noise of stun. H 41lug It I uoikcd half nu hour at B ! Ibis. Mil uded that whoever was K c must be pretty H p'i no " ipi'i'iired to later- 1 fi-e li Mtinu'd leive ral.eil out H the r ') 1"" 1 dtdn'l dare do thnt, BBBh for t'e- tm si h would uial.i,'. l'rctty K , oooii '.! ' x'i-,iu Ix'K.iu lo make a uuixe H- ' nui':ii.. ami I illda't I'litr'lefer my B ' alepal'ture any lon&er I uiir.ynplcd the B '"'x ''l'1'"- mounted the cab mid made B 'l" uotsflesx a sta't ax posihle. B "'My heart was beating wildly. 1 kcep- L log my lo the rear, but when I Hir enme to a turn around a rise In tho BK l ground without seeing any one behind y nie I gatheied oiirnge mid, lot her go. BflflflH 1 got over Mime live mllex .'ji about BH fifteen minutes, when 1 seppcd and, BJBb' taking a file from u tool bo'x In tho I B ' nb. climbed a telegraph pole and cut the wires. This wax to keep any one Irym heading me off hi "Considering that I woro butternut I j I 'had u pretty fair shou to pax along Bjj I UP road without being stopped that B ' 'la If no telegram hud been Bent to B ntop mo before I'd cut tho wlrra and BMB T didn't think any oue would nuspoct 1 n Ynnheo hnd stolen the engliip. Aft- ( .er i'had rnsl .the first Htntion I A wouldn't likely he '.'ulled back or stop- ., lieil'by telegraph. If 1 could lmv B V- ) " free rond 1 irouldn't fear getting on, BB f , but nit ttiosM southern roads had but n Hl,''.?, -uliigle truck In those days, and I would KNi''lAtfflB myo to stop nnd switch to let trnlna KLll ,vn Hkk where ;jSBsed n omall utatlon. H, w.tlll early, though It wns Urond- daylight, nil no one was up nnd, about' I knew hy thl.i thnt no Information about mo hn' (tot through nt Icnut to (life point' -from tho oue where I hml 'tiiken tho engine. I pushed on, but slopped after aft-er going a few miles to' rake out the zltidcr. When this whh done I knew 1 would soon get steam enough to go ns fast as the road lied would permit, which wn not very rapid, for there had boon no Work done on It since the war commenced, and It was very lough. Bo long as I hnd stopped I concluded to do xome more cutting of tho telegraph' wires, and, climbing n polo, nipped them again. "In n few miles more I enme to another an-other Htntlon, This one wub open. I slowed up mid called to n man Inside: " 'Ilrlng mo n time table, quick.' Vile took n polled tnble from his pocket nnd hnnded It to inc. " 'Anything coming'' I naked. " 'You'll meet No. Ii nt n.,' he replied, "'Next stntlon?' " 'Next but one.' "'Any sldo trnck nt tho next?' " 'Yes. Whnt you doln' riuitiln' wild this way?' " 'Government business,' wns my reply re-ply ns I rolled nwny. "I glanced at the time tnble nnd found' the mnn wns right. In two miles thcro wns n stntlon. Three miles further on wns II. I resolved to go to tho next Htntlon, got on n sldo trnck nnd wait. I soon covered the two miles separating mo from It, got on to the switch nnd In ten minutes n passenger pas-senger train went by. I saw the conductor con-ductor lennlnir out nnd looking back nt me, but ho didn't seem to think It worth his while to Inquire what I wns doing there. "Of course I couldn't get on this wny very long. I wns sure to bo stopped In tlmo nnd called upon to give nu account ac-count of myself. So I bethought my-Beff my-Beff what story I would tell. I might say I was benrer of dispatches from ono general to another, but I knew nothing nbout the southern command-erx command-erx of that region. While I was thinking think-ing I passed another stntlon. A man was-.slttlug on a box rending a morning morn-ing p.iper. I slowed down and asked him (he news. " Tlinr'M been n light on tin Clpirles-' ton mid Savannah railroad ut l'oeo-talego," l'oeo-talego," he mild. " "Who's In command of our fellows?' I asked. " 'fionernl Iteauregard.' "This was enough for me. I would pretend to be going for ammunition. It was well that I had found some story to (ell, for at the very next stntlon stn-tlon I readied 1 found a freight train standing on the track stopping my way. I pulled up In front of the locomotive. loco-motive. The engineer of the freight was sitting In Ids cab, reading about the battle the day before. I yelled to him lo back up and take the siding He called the conductor, who asked who I was. " 'You'd ought to know by my uni form,' I snld. 'that I'm n Confederate soldier. You gel your train out of my way pretty quick.' " 'What right have you to order im about?' "'What right? I'm making a quick run for ainmuultlou by (!eneral rienure-card's rienure-card's order. If I'm delayed I'll let the general know who delayed me.' "That was too much for hint. He ordered or-dered his engineer to hack up to the siding, mid I slnrted putting on full speed nx I proceeded. "I wns In such luck about the battle hnvlng occurred Just In the nick of time mid In thinking of my ammunition ammuni-tion scheme that I considered It probable prob-able I might get through the network abend of me. I knew thnt certain parts of North Carolina were full of Union people who would hide me and help me get on northward. "Koiluuntely for me (here wasn't many trains coming southward, and by working the ammunition story I managed to get on till noon without being stopped. -Then I snw by smoko nlieud that I was coming to n city, which by my time tnblo I Judged to be Hnlelgh. It wns ono thing to pass small stations, where the ngent had little to do with the running of trains, nnd another to get through n city where the dispatching wns done. While Urn country wax yet open I H pulled up at a station The agent wnn H sitting nt n telegraph machine with IB the window open, and he halted me. H " 'Say,' he snld. 'I lust got word over i the wires that tle-re't n wild loooino- I tlve cnvurtln' over the road, and I'm I ordered ,ln stop It. Are you the fellow that's running It?' "'Yes. I'm after ammunition for tlin troops below. I've got to git Into rtalelgh right olT.' "With that I opened her up. nnd nwny I went. Looking back. 1 saw the agent standing on tho platform gaping at me. "I know now that my run wns ended, Hut I wouldn't leave my locomotive until I had put It on a sldo trnck, since I didn't w Ish to bo the cnuso of nu accident. lint near tho city sldo trucks were morn frequent, nnd, coming com-ing to one of thorn, I put tho machine on It nnd look to tho woods. "My Confederate trappings were a protect Ion to me. and I felt comparatively compara-tively safe. I told a lioy I mot thnt I wax looking for n Union man whoso name I couldn't remember, and ho told me to go Into tho tioxt haralot nnd Inquire. Ho said they woro nil Union peoplo there. "I went to tho houxo, found thu own-or own-or and, buying mode .sure thit Jio.wni on my. side, tol4 hlui what I tmil been doing lie took' me out to n deserted bnkwy aud hid me In- the ovens.- remained thpre till my friend told mo that It would be snfe to go farther, q; and then I worked my way, traveling I by ojght nnd hjdluc hy day, over the mountains Into emt Tounessee." 0 |
