The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1876-07-17
THE MIDNIGHT ESCAPE.
8 a..ssA ! ..aa' al LIS -
AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION:


AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLUTION:
The strip OF ground from Broadway
to Centre street, along Chambers, New
York, seventy years ago, was burial
place. Tho part nearest Broadway was
devoted to tho colored people for tho
last resting spot Of their dead, and the
moiety extending TO Centre street was n
kind of Pottcr's field, and during the
Revolution the spot where most OF the
private soldiers OF the British army, who
died In the city, were inferred. Gallows
hill ythe spot where. the Manhattan res
orvoir is now placed, was decorated with
n gallows,, where all deserters and pris-
oaets suffered death who came under
tho control Of the infamous provost
mlr2hal, Cunningham.
II was customary to execute most Of
the descrters who wese nativefborn at
night. Thcre vas q policy in this.
Pnblic 'exccntions'ot the Americans by
the royalists would have been noised
abroad, and the Injury created thereby,
through the manner in whichth the Cont.
ncntalS Themselves would have nlaIleu use
OF it, must have resulted in tho injury
OF The kings csusc. These executions
gencrally7touli, place after midnight.
The pri iuiers cnndemne,l to death were
always confined i'll the old Jail, within q
musket shot Of tho place Of execution,
aid ii sergc,lntsguNrd.o OF eight men, nc
companied by tho provost marshal md
his deputy, generally conducted the
prisoners to the gallows. ..
II was near twelve o'clock OF night
in October, in the year 1850, that n
young man was reclining among there
cent graves that raised their mounds in
the vicinity Of the gibbet on Gallows
hill. The hour md the place were sin
gtiar for d lone individual, like the man
inouestiou, to be reposing. l say lone,
yet he was not exactly so, il human
bodies, diyested of their mortality, can
b. considered companions for nearly
above his head, swaying to and fro in
the night breeze, hing the remains OF
two soldiers Of the Fifth regiment, who
had been executed that morning for de-
sertion. a0-I
The sky was obs ured with dark,
lnurky clouds, mud the moaning Of the
wiud, rs it swept around the gallows and
through tho trees that here and there
ared their branches amid the darkness
OF tho night, gave desolate and dis
agreeable sound well befltting the place
itself. The man scarcely moved, with
tho exception, now aud then, OF raising
his head md peeriug cautiously above
the mound OF earth, behind which he
lay, toward the jail, dimly visible, with
its high, massy walls, in the field be-
yond. q
At length light glimmered, the tread
of men was family heard, and the young
man, raising himself from the spot
where he lHy, gli1ed along tho rudo
fence, which slSirted the burial ground,
until he stood within n few feet Of the
execution place. Here he paused and
looked iu tho direction Of the approach
ing light. Family through the. haze
appeared two or three files OF soldiers,
preceded tya colored man who carried
Il lantern-thc only light which seemed
to bo in the party. Then walked pris.
ouer, with his arms tightly bouud be-
hind him, and directly after, Cunning
ham, tho provost marshal, and five or
nix soldiers with muskcts on their shoul-
derS. N..
"Oue, two, three" repeated tho
young man TO himself, rs il counting tho
number Of the men approaching ;
"twclve in all. 'Tis n desperate under.
taking, hut my conrade shall NOT die if
I can save him. Now for skill and cour.
ago. DO cool, Dick Martin! You have
been oil still more pCrilotH occasions, il
your commanding officers speak tho
truth"
uo glided back again to his old rest
ing place, when hc stumbled in grave
that ho had noticrd before, just in rcar
Of the gallows. s1ilrst impulse was
to leap out, for the depth Of tho grave
did not.Gxceed three fcGt but second
thought altered his determination, and
he murmurcl: ,.sy.,.. .... %. ,........,. ~,
"Thiq is the best place for mo they
certainty will not think Of looking for n
living man in the gfayolp Aud he
stretched himself ut full length in tho
"narrow house that ho know ono day
or another he should I'LL. They entered
tho burial ground, and proceeded d.
r, city to the gallows, under which they
halted. Furmi0g circle, the colorel
man, with the lantern, Cunningham,
and tho prisoner in the Ccuter, prrpara'
tions were made to so through with the
awful ceromony-that OF deprtving a
fellow being Of life. :,
The colored man looked up at the gH,l;;
lows from which the bodies were hnnG'
lug, and then proceeded very deliberate
ly to cut them down, observing:
"These chaps have hang long enough
l guess" tlf2s s.'1-rslI -
The prisoner looked on with n glanct
OF no common Interest, for ho felt that
his soul was Tutoring on the confines o.
eternity. u.f. -a,.,.t =
The colored man had passed n ront
through the beam where, but o teN
moments before, hung the 'inanltnpt'
clods that now encountered, as 1t wore
tho ground beneath the galows, Ihil
done. hO said:
IVknro Mr. Cunningham, is rOpl