Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-04-25
ssRETALIATION,,
Singular ReeOgnitiOn-A 'Bushwhaek-
err Discovered by one of his Victims
The Ruflian Arrested.


ssRETALIATION.o
Singular ReeOgnftiOn-A "BushwhaeIk-
err Discovered by one of his Victims
The RufLian Arrested.
The sequal to the late rebellion is full
of strange incidents. Men who stood
foot to foot in the deadly fray on distant
fields OF, blood, are constantly encounter
ing each other 10 the business of life
Sometimes these recognitions are bright
ened with pleasant memories, and some
times, as in the case we are about to mar
rate, they are made terrible by the mem
ory of wrongs that have long been
brooded unreYenged.
On the 7th of January, 1865, Joseph B.
Thurber and comrade, Matthew Sum-
mers, both of company * !" 7th Indiana
volunteers, and both residents of La
Porte, Ind, being out upon a foraging
expedition. were captured near Tyre
Springs, Tennessee, by party of five
-bushwhackers." Marching some two or
three miles, their captors joined another
party of rufians, who had in custody
four Federal soldiers, two of them be-
longing to the 9Sth regiment of Illinois
Volunteer Infantry. The six hapless
prisoners were then taken about fourteen
miles, dismounted, stripped of their
clothing, tied in couples, and ranged in a
row beneath a tree, when they were in
formed that three of their number were
to be shot, and that they would be per-
mitted to cast lots for the impending
doom. No sooner was this promise given
than the whole party discharged Eolley,
killing every prisoner but young Thurber,
and wouuding him severely in the shoul-
der. To make sure their bloody work,
the rebels discharged second VolleY af-
ter their victims fell, but, strangely
enough, Thurber hidden beneath the
dead comrade to whom he was bound,
escaped further injury. The murders
being finished, the perpetrators affixed a
paper to the breast of one of the bodies, /
declaring that the deed was done in "re-
taliation," and rode hastily away.
When all was still, Thurber disengaged
himself from his dead companion, crept
out and walking backwards lest his foot
prints might lead to pursuit, escaped to
the woods, and naked, sorely wounded,
found his way at last to his regiment,
after a perilous and painful journey of
thirty miles. A party was at once set
out, who sought an buried his murdered
comrades and he recovered from his
wounds, was subsequently, mustered out
of the service and returned to the house
of his fathers, Alonzo B. Thurber, of La
Porte county, and one of its most
thoroughly loyalmen. His comrades
were mouldering In distant wilderness,
and he was restored to home and friends;
but often did the thought of those terri
BILE hours in Tennessee darken his sun
shine like heavy cloud. G
And now comes the sequal that throws
the coloring of romance over the whole
story. Mr. Thurber entered the employ
ment of Messrs. Graham & Murray, COM
mission merchants Of this city, who carry
on some sort of manufacturing business
at Holmesville, on the Michigan Southern
Railroad, fifty miles from Chicago. A
few DAYS ago, a man went thither, sent
by a member of the firm, and became a
fellow workmen with our young soldier
The moment Thurber set eyes upon him
he recognized him as one of the party Of
murderers in the tragedy of Tyre Springs
In the smiling face of his new compan-
ion he read the brand of Cain; on the
clean hands he saw great gouts Of blood.
Strange as it may seem, he repressed the
tempest of passion that set his blood a
boiling. and became the messmate of this
man. He led him into conversation
upon his past life and former residence.
He learned that he was from Kentucky;
that he had witnessed scenes of violence,
and that, though, by his own admission,
not a regular soldier of the rebel army,
he had done some rough service. Fate
seemed to draw him on, aud at last he
actually described the terrible scenes be-
meath the great tree in the woods of
Tennessee. Thurber thus had ''contirma-
ton strong as holy writ" He was bl cath
ing the same air with one of the murder
ers. He informed Mr.. Graham Of the
suspicious, now hardened into facts, and
declared his determination at once to
take his life. Armed with an iron bar,
he was fastening to the room where the
ex-guerrilla sat at supper, when Mr..
Graham interposed and pursuaded Thur
Der to consult his father, who lives some
three miles from Holmesyille. The in
terview resulted in the making of an ath-
davit setting forth the facts, and which
by the courtesy of Hon. Morgan 81. Wier,
before whom it was made, has been placed
in our hands. The arrest was effected
on Saturday last, by Sheriff Clay Brown,
assisted by Messrs. Closer and Robinson,
of La Porte, late of the Federal army;
and the criminal, of whose name nothing
is known but Charley" now lies in jail
at La Porte, awaiting the orders of Major
General Palmer, to whom the facts of
the case have been forwarded.
The prisoner had grown shrewd and
silent, but he had already admitted too
much, and to one of the very men whom
he believed yoiceless victim, erumbling
to dust in the distant wilderness. A
stranger case of recognition can hardly be
found even within the pages of fiction
They did not meet in a thronged city;
they did not catch a glimpse in some rail
way train, but they stood face to face IN
a little hamlet, guided, we must believe,
by an unseen hand, until, occupants of
the same dwelling, companions at the
same table, he looked, ,,as he believed,
upon the slayer, and laid his hand upon
his breast and said, Thou art the man."
If Banquo's ghost was the creation of a
heated imagination, this was an appari-
ton of flesh and blood. 1t was palpable;
no stars could shine -dimly through it
one of the murdered six stood forth bodi-
ly from the heaps of unburied dead,
and summoned him to judgment. How
it may result we cannot tell but there is
a terrible distinctness and particularly
about young Thurber's evidence tnat seem
more like a supernatural voice than the
doubtful testimony Of fallible witness
Toledo Blade.