The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-11-07
NOV. a, 1867.
THE SENTINEL AND THE REBEL
SCOUT.

SCOUT.
B!oun.'s Gully wild pass or run, opening
from the South Aleghanies into Tazewell Swamp.
During the war in West Virginia this place was
used as picket station and got bad from cer-
tain tragedies repeated there For three successive
nights the sentines posted tie spot had failed to
report themselves in the morning. Of the two first
no traces could be found the strictest search
Their disappearance attributed to desertion,
though the soldiers of the army corps stationed in
that region were known to be intensely loyal, and
such crime in any of them appeared utterly unac-
| countable.
On the third morning blood was found on the grass.
Other tokens about the place led the comra 1es of
the missing sentnes to search the Stream that ran
through the gully. The water black and slug
gish and quite deep, besides being obstructed with
snags and fallen logs. The examination was couse-
quently SLOW and difficult, but length body
found-thc second one of the poor fellows lost the
fatal picket,
lie had fallan by foul hands So had also the 9th
two, beyond doubt, though further than this the
evidences which appeared tended rather to deepen the
| mystery.
The discovered body showed wound in the head,
but it was plainly made by bullet. The fact that
no report of firearms had been heard there would of
itself have made that certain Neither could it have
been made by knife, club. or an ak. The most
skilful surgeons failed to ndentfy the weapon which
had been used in silence and darkness to smite down
| three brave men.
w hen the time anne to post another sentinel many
hearts in the company whose lot it furnish
felt for the first time 1ualm of fear. They could
face open, honorable DEATH but be crept upon in
the night, and without any chance of defence,
snated, was than they could contemplate with
| composure.
! soldier selected who had been hunter. His
long acquaintance with the stealthy prowng of wood
land lie supposed to qualify him well for watc b.
ing fer and successfully coping with stealthy prowl
ing enemy
Scornng to turn his back duty, the brave fellow
manned himself to the service, and at dusk, gun in
hand, he was keeping guard at the fatal spot.
Marking the point at which the other sentineis had
stationed themselves and where they had evidently
fallen, he carefully dvested himself of cap and coat
under covering of a neighboring thcket With these
he made the figure of sentinel, exposed just enough
10 give the discoverer impression of intended
cealment. stick to which he tied his ramrod so
that it glittered in the moonlight completed the lu-
| sion.
Satisfied with his trick the soldier crept to con-
siderable distance lying fat the grass and securely
grasping his gun. He chose place n toleradly open
ground, but darkened by the long shadows of cliff
or perpendicular reck, that rose like giants pillar
| over the sluggish run.
Here he waited. Though believing himself safe
from the reach of any weapon short of rifle, still he
was obliged to confess to certain degree of
ness. He realized keenly the fearful possibilities of
deadly cunning to which he was exposed from his un-
known for.
He could see from his concealment long stretch Of
| water. Every tree and bush, Ind inequality of the
stream banks within fatal distance for any
Gus missile, that could cover assassnin ambush.
was in view; and alternately watching these, he
| crouched in the grass and counted the minutes as
| they passed.
AT intervals the plunge of muskrat, the splash
and croak of frog, the twtter oi a bird in it's
sleep among the branches of the old mosshung trees,
startled him: but beyond this the silence un-
| broken about him.
As the night deepened and brought his position
and into the moonlight he began fear
for the result of all his precautions and onged pain
fully for demonstration that would end his sus-
| pense.
| Suddenly he detected movement in the water.
He watched it with strained eyes, Ia slight bend
across the stream where quantity of boughs, barks,
and leaves had lodged, he something slowly
moving. Several bits OF bark slid noiselessly into
| the current one by A of dark rubbish
that had till then seemed only the drifting debris
took the shape of and raised itself cautiously
| upright Not sound accompanied the figures move
mentse Our soldier heard nothing but the audible
thumpng of his own heart. He getting excited
In minu e, what seemed to be a bow and arrow
came in sight. This the hum,n figure carefully lifted
| and bent forward towards the spot where, with the
moonlight glancing his ramrod, the counterfeit
tinel sat holding his make-beIieve vigil. The twang
of the string sounded, the pierced the cap and
| the effgy rolled into the grass.
| The soldiers eyes never moved for instant from
| the enemy on the log. He saw him slip into the wa
ter after dschargng the arrow, and swim silently to
the hither bank where, drawing himself up, he pre-
sentcd in the moonlight the lank, wiry person of
halfbreed Indian, dressed in the rebel uniform.
| The picket waited longer. He could have no
farer mark; taking aim with his leveed rifle, he
fired, and the assassin fell, throwing up his hands
and giving single groan.
| He was recognized mopgrel poor white" no.
torous through the mountains of Tazwel county for
his guerrilla raids and murders, to the somewhat
we're cost of the Union army
No further trouble experienced by the sentinels
at Blount's Gully, so long the regiment remained
to which hunter soldier belonged.
The brave fellow his cap through the war,
and the pride he felt in exhibiting the hole made by
the scouts arrow only equaed by the praise his
generous comrades gave him for his success in solv-
ing the mystery of that bloody picket station.
A manufacturer at Lynn, Mass, made this season
| 80 600 pairs of canvass base ball shoes.
Statements received from all parts of the South
that the yellow fever is abatng.
Over $500 900 worth of real estate disposed of
at auction in Chicago Thursday last.