Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-03-12
Doomed to Die.

upon the man before me-a man, fellow
being, doomed by merciless cOurt-mar-
tial to die; to leave the bright and beauti
full world around him, and to be ushered
alone into the valley of the shadow
of death" A noble looking man he was,
as he stood there unmoved amid the enc
mics that surrounded him, and haughly,
half sad, half defiant ex preston rested
upon his handsome, daring face.
He was Union spy, captured in the
Confederate lines, and bearing upon his
| person reasonable papers sufficient to have
| condemned regiment. He had made
| good fight, but was at last overpowered,
the papers found upon him, and. after o
| speedy trial, was condemned to die.
l had formed one of the court-martial,
and though k new that the crime of
being a spy was punishable with death,
| yet had l sought to have him spared. /
was young, for it was the first few months
of our civil war, and / was not as used to
! deeds of blood as / became in after years :;
and, besides, the spy was young and hand
some, by his department evidently a
gentleman, and his reckless bravery had
won my admiration.
Night-fall came upon our camp, and the
! following morning the spy was to be called
out and shot. 1 had been appointed to
take charge of the execution, and seated
in my tent, / was MISUNDERSTANDING of
the unpleasant duty was to perform on
| the morrow.
| Lieutenant, note for you, sir.n
I started as the orderly's voice broke the
stiffness of the night, and taking the out
stretched note, read:
Pardon me for disturbing your slumbers,
but as you command the detachment that
will tomorrow usher my soul into eterni-
| ty, l would see you'll your duties as an of
| ticer do not urge to the contrary. Hoping
you will grant this favor, remain with
respect, WILBUR HAYES.
| l carefully read the note over twice, and
then said to the orderly:
"Say that will come"
A few moments later, and | stood in the
presence Of the condemned man.
Mr.. Hayes, you sent for me?"
did, Lieutenant; and it was because
of your kindness to me during the trial,
and also that [ saw in your eyes pity for
my fate,
and sincerely wish had not the unpleas-
ant duty devolving upon me of ordering
your execution tomorrow"
| 81 have favor to ask of you, SIR to
please order the guard to remove some dis
lance from the tent, as it is confession l
wish to make"
| gave command to the guard to retire
few PAGES, and returning to the tent
| Hayes at once began:
| ~ am no spy, sir but am condemned
| upon circumstantial evidence. L came in
| to the Confederate line to visit my mother,
who lives in the South, although she is
! Union in her feelings. After q visit to
her of few days, [ started to return, and
by the roadside came upon dying man,
clad as a Confederate soldier. Imagine
my surprise to recognize in him noted
spy of our own army, and also recognizing
me- he informed me that he had been
wounded the night before, by being fired
upon by party of Confederate cavalry,
and had ridden on until he could go no
further. He knew he was to die, and en-
trusted to my care the papers he had about
him. 1 watched over the poor fellow IN
til he died, and then following out shall
low grave,
It" Left him alone in his glory
and proceeded OH my way.
GO have little more to add, except that
I am Major of cavalry in the United
States Army, and wish that you will take
my private papers from me after am dead
and send them to an address will give
you. Now this is all / ask, except that
you will send me pen and ink by the or.
derby when you return"
Thus we parted, and finding scout
awaiting me at my tent upon my return
gave him pen, ink and paper, and ordered
him to ride over to the tent where the
doomed man was with them, and tell the
guard to release his hands of the shack
les while he wrote, but to keep close
watch upon him.
A few minutes after was startled by 9
loud shout, one, two, three shots in rapid
succession, and then the rapid rush OF
hoofs by my quarters. was just in tim'
to see the scouts horse dash swiftly by
and recognize by the moonlight, the com
manding form of Wilbur Hayes, the
Union spy in the saddle.
Men mounted in hot haste, and chase
commenced, but the daring soldier escaped
and thus saved himself from the death Of {
spy.
Upon inquiry learned that when the
manacles had been removed from his wrist
Hayes, watching his opportunity, witt
two rapid blows struck the guard and thu
scout to the ground, and springing lightly
on the back of the scouts horse, rode rap
idly away, followed by the shots from tn,
sentinels in the immediate vicinity.-COt
J PrentiSs Ingrahan1, (CeafeClerGte.)
Boots and shoes.