The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-06-08
1 From the san Francisco ChronicIe.
STRANGER THAN FICTION.

LFrcm the san Francisco Chronicle.l
STRANGER THAN FICTION.
After the battle Of the Wilderness
Gen. Lee set ont to follow the UniOn
forces, leaving Col. CrOnan with 9th
ers TO bury the dead and care for the
wounded. Among the disabled On
the Confederate side was man
{ named Smith, who mai lost an arm
I ia the battle, and was strongly su5-
I pected Of being Union spy. 4 e7Hn-
/ ell Of officers was held 10 decide the
status or the suspected, when CrOnan,
dissatisfied with the account he gave
OF himself, insisted on his being shot.
Smith, cool, bold and astuts, confront
eG the coUGeil with the air of an in
juTed man. pointed To- his shattered
arm, and asked "Was it thus that
spies executed the bs-hests of their
employers Was il Usual with spies
Ia bear the hTunt OF battle ? Wss It
thus that Lee expected the Confeder-
ate wounded 10 be treated ~ Col.
CrOnan retOTted by ObssTving that
spies not unlrtq ientiy mingled in
battle to avoid suspicion that the ac-
cUsed had been detected in making
inquiries respecting the m0veme ss
of commanders, which at least " fe
calculated 10 arouse suspicion, and
that finally his explanation of these
suspicious circumstances was doubt
fui and unsatisfactory. At last vote
was taken as to his guilt, which re-
suited IN his scguiItal, CrOnan east
ing his ballot icr condem nation.
"rhe fortune of war" changed, the
stars of the Union were in the ascend
ant, ami the COnfederates were pressed
on all sides by Grant, and it befel
CrOnan 10 taste the bitter life of war.
He was captured and sent with eight
/ others to Florida, where they were
] guarded by colored soldiers. The
prisoners, relieved from the toll OF
war, occupied themselves with plot
ting to effect their escape. The coll
Ored women around the prison,
strange as it may appear, were the
most devoted friends. They procured
for them all the comforts they could
command, gave them all the intelli-
gence they could obtain, and, in short,
were the coniidants. advisers, and Sc
cret messengers of the prisoners. Con-
stantly plotting, maneuvering, dis
Stimulating, the prisoners occupied
themselves for two months, when
one night, at signal from their fe-
male friends, they resolved to try for
tune. It was midnight, and black as
Erebus. Rain poured down in . del
uge, the thunder crashed, the angry
and ineessant lightning rent the sky,
Illuminating the heavens with a mo-
mentary glow Of iurid light, and then
abysmal darkness envelOPed the
earth. 1t was one of those awfnl
nights when nature covers, and the
bravest experience an underlined sem
Jiment of fear. The African race is
naturally superstitiOus, and it was no
wonder that the cOlOred guards be-
came derelict and took TO cover. This
was the moment fOr the captives.
Frustrating themselves on the ground,
they wriggled, snake-like, by slow
and silent movement toward the
guards, with bated breath and glar-
ing eyes. Through the thick dark
ness they could barely see them scat
tered here and there in the shelter of
trees and other objects which afforded
security from tue remOrseless storm.
NOislessly they crept on. When they
were within three feet OF the sentinels
they paused to concert simultaneous
action, and then with q sudden bound
they sprang on them, disarmed and
gagged them, and then held q council
as to their next procedure. 1t was a
fearful crisis in desperate adventure.
Some one cOunselled tying the guards
to trees to prevent them from spread
ing tue alarm others to put them to
death as q more efficaciOus means of
incurring their silence; while Cronau,
with characteristic originality, pro-
posed to seize the guards as fugitive
slaves, who were beyond the pale of
law and protection, and to carry them
off TO Cuba. This was exactly the
kind of plan TO secure the concur
renee of his desperate companions.
They caught the idea at once, and
marched the tied and gagged soldiers
down to the seaside, seized Il schooner
in the harbor, and by daylight were
sailing for Havana with their late
guards tied down in the vessels hold
as marketable slaves. Arriving at
Havana they sod the schooner and
their seven ''slaves" for s., 200, which
sum, being evenly divided, CrOnan,
WIN liz VI NAAC pull GAltAC baCh
to the south, got married, and went
into business with a partner in New
Orleans. Nemesis pursues the evil
dOer, and CrOnan, instead OF attend
ing TO his business, took to gambling
as a more rapid as well as a more
easy way OF recruiting mis- shattered
fortunes. Losing in plsy lie drew
surreptitiously from the funds OF the
firm, hoping by turn in cards TO be
aole to restore the abstracted money
and thus save his honor.
But Nemesis would not have it thus.
The revengeful goddess decreed that
he should drain the cup of bitterness
TO the dTegs. When the guilty man
saw detection at hand rather than
abide his fate or seek refuge in sui
eide, he left his wife and friend aud
business and took flight, arriving in
San Francisco in 1866.
Cronan was in every way an extra
ordinary mau-tall, OF sOldiery bear
ing, and of fine presence, he was with
al highly accomplished. A brilliant |
c0nversatiOnalist and splendid lin |
guist, he could converse in French, |
Spanish, italian, and German as we'll |
as in English and Celtic. He was al
so q mathematician, could steer a |
ship, construct fort on the most APP |
proved principles of engineering, was |
an architect, machinist, exeelled in
chirography, was first-class book
Keeper; musician, singer and a |
skilful fenceT-in short, he was in /
many respects a second Admiral /
Criehton. He arrived in San Fran
cisco without dollar, and was glad |
to get job at shOvelling sand. With |
his other natural qualities and quail
ficatiens he was gifted with a cheer
ful, hopeful disposition, which nOth-
ing could disturb. He did very we'll
at sand shovelling, and though ambi-
tiOus, was content. When he had
been about three months in the city
he began to make acquaintances, not
among the hoodlum classes but with
merchants, who, it is
needless to say, admired his versatile
DC -vers, and resolved to help him
when opportunity offered. He was
Initiated into organizations and clubs
in the city, which widened the circle
of his acquaintance, and CrOnan un-
derstood the tact and art of making
the most he could of the circum-
An advertisement appeared
in one of the morning papers from
the Anatomical Museum, on Mont
gomery street, calling for q person to
translate into English the French in
On specimens just delivered
at the museum, such TRANSACTIONS 20
be written in good legible hand.
Cronan applied for the job and got it.
He was paid $40 day for the work
and gave the utmost satisfaction TO
his employer. 1t would be suppOsing
beyond human nature to
think that he was ia a hurry To get
through with the jcb. Whenever he
a dozen translatiOns or 50
his fertile imagination would suggest
some improvement in the work. His
who knew very well he
could make tue public pay for it all
when his museum vas opened, read
lily adopted every suggestion, and
CrOnan, in the receipt of his SO
day, was recuperating fast. In fact,
he thought Nemesis bad forgotten ali
about him. But she was on his track
still. One morning he was strolling