New Orleans daily crescent., 1859-06-30

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through their territory, dad have stopped snd PUN.
dered transport It is necessary to mako terrible
example. The inhabitants Of the sforssaId vllage,
with the exception OF old men, women and chidres,
are al condemned to death, .od their houses y =
| Set on hre. Naumburg, Oct. l6th, 1867
When Grosman understood the state of adtirs sn6
the impending dsnger, be had conference With ~
French oicem 10 which be forcibly repFssented ~
their attention to the mistake through which thsy
were to suffer. Grossman's warm repreosuta1icu
made deep impression on the commsndaas
Ggigner De Rsvel, and he wished 70 march his bss
taliou on without executing the nafshsl1 orders
AZ was only prevented from pursuing this pian by
nis smcers making new proposal. They wishd -
seno messenger 70 Naumburg 70 inform Mazl1eI
Davoom that the village Of PTiesnz sppeased b ~
innocent e the alleged crime that there wers osher
villages WIN somewhat similar names, and that h
seemed dssnble to suspend the execution of ~
| horse was accordingly brought, and Lieut.. sieo
mounted and rode "a but who can depict The terror
which was felt during his absence. al seven In the
morning t6e people had been driven out to the spot,
| before Sico could return.
Meantime, more men and women, who had con.
cealed themselves, were driyes out. Children cried
for bread an old man Of eighty, leaning against
hedge, seemed almost frozen lie women, moetIy
halfclad, wept aloud i and even strong men trens.
bled, for . cold wind blew, and thick hoer.ffost
| covered the ground.
At length the returning ofBcer was sees approsct
ing at full sallop. Did be bring with him lie n
| death he dismounted, and that other ollcefe
| gathered round him. And what was the ansWW VI
order Is Immediately to be exeeuted The unfofta.
nate people OF Presnitz were scarcely Ieas dimayed
than the commandant GuigneT. He was In Most
difficult situation for be could not come to the Yes
luton Of executing the order and yet be did not vs
to be openly disobeSent. Then the happy thought
occurred to me" writes Govean in his letter u Gro
man, TO say that he could march off, and lesys Ne
to execute the order, for that and ~ company
would remain 8
The commandanf Immediately retired, and only
Capt Govean and bis company stayed behind. Hs
some OF his men with burning torches round the VII
age, to set fire to few houses and barns On that
side where the wind could do the least damage. The
flames burst through the thafeted roofs Wills thfn
was going on, the terrified Inhabitants wers weeping
and wrnging their hands they witnessed the d.
arnetIon OF Their property. Goyean's grenadierD
quickly returned to the assembled crowd. 50 that no
one any longer doubted that they were all going TO-
be shot together. Govean, however, only wished to
frighten the people away, while he ordered his gEeua
diers to take some young men prisoners and detafn
| As soon as the miserable beings saw that they
might fee. they breathless into the country with
cut looking round. Seven young men only were
taken, and driven back to the former spot the Place
Of Terror "What they internally felt no Ianguago
can describe With burning terror they fell to the
ground, and one of them embraced the knees Of the
captain.
them and the grenadies, and then gave the word to
load and present Ii my men shot as expected, alf
was right if not i should fall with the unfortunate
creatures whose lives had endeavored preserve AZ
any rate differentiation the pride OF the French army
remained untarnished. And now, waving my sword,
said, Fire. The grenadiers shot away over their
captain as he had expected and over the po0T cTea-
lures who were kneeling behind him. Immediately
alter the discharge, and before the smoke had sub
sided, Govean quickly said, Turn to the right and,
without waiting, he led his company back TO Naum-
berg, and announced officially, The order Is exc
cuted.'"
The unfortunate seven who had been so near
death, knew not how it that none of the shots
had taken effect, but that the French were gone Il
was long before they dared to STIR At last they ros
and standing beside wild thorn bush under q large
pear tree, one of them opened his lips. It was the
son OF the schoolmaster. :" Let us fall down ON our
knees" said he to the Others and pray an earnest
prayer, since the good God has preserved us.n And
the seven young knelt down together and prayed
| and thanked God for their deliverance, while the
flames were raging behind them in the village.
On the Place Of Terror, simple memorial was af-
terwards erected and every year. on the 18th OF Oc
tober, the deliverance was commemorated, without
its having been, up to this time exactly known how
it took place. Now, however. they will especially
remember the manly deed of Goyean, who thus con-
cludes bis letter to Grossman I would willingly
not have spoken of what did myself on that unfor-
tnnate occasion, but it could not be avoided. was
compelled to relate what happened, and in what
manner The kind remembrance of . natural deed
, glad that acted as did. The commandant, Guig-
ner de Revel, born at Chambery, died five or six
months after the occurrence, at Thorn, the Wis
tula /; and Lieutenant Sico, Piedmontese, died
about fifteen years since at Mertz. alone remain,
at the end of a long career, in which I have been
near to all the sntferings and sorrows attendant
war, and have often had occasion to testify that il
leads to Savpritv