The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-02-20

was a night of horror.
At first the prisoners denied any com
plicity with the train-wrecking. They
claimed to be citizens of Kentucky, dis
gusted with Lincoln, and trying to JON
the confederate army. Being confronted
with citizens of Kentucky, however, they
were not able to carry out this fiction
and they then told a straight story
claiming that they were soldiers of the
United States army, detailed to specia
service, and entitled to be held as prison
ers of war. The confederate authorities
charged them with being spies, anC
ordered them to be tried by a court
martial. They we're given able counsel,
Judge Baxter of Tennessee being il
charge of their case. Before the trial
opened, Andrews, the leader, who was
never put upon the same footing with
the others, was carried before a court
martial and condemned to be hung as o
spy. The witnesses against him were
the men from whom he had stolen the
train, though his own admissions were
held to be sufficient to convict him. A
scaffold was prepared for him at Chatta,
nooga, but the near approach of the
federal troops caused his removal to At
lanta. Just before his death he made a
daring attempt to escape, and succeeded
in making his way nearly through the
lines. He was finally discovered, naked
and nearly starved, in a tree, by some
little children who were playing in the
woods. They reported his presence, and
he was speedily surrounded and cap,
tured. He was then hanged almost i'm
mediately. His scafold was erected a
short distance outside of Atlanta, about
the centre of what is now a cotton field.
He died very bravely, protesting against
the manner of his death, and claiming
that he was executed in violation of law.
He was a magnificent specimen of man
hood, and was engaged to be married to
a beautiful young Kentucky girl within
a few DAYS Of the date of his hanging.
There were no unusual circumstances
attending his execution. He died quick
ly, and apparently without much suffer
ing. ,
When the trial of the rest of the band
had begun, it was discovered that the
court martial had determined to make a
difference between the men who had
been promised q share of the $1,000, to
be given at the close of the expedition,
and those who were simply detailed for
service without knowing the precise
nature of the expedition. The prisoners
relied upon the fact that the whole
twenty men we're detached for this
service from the same brigade, and that
their raid was hence q military eXpedl-
! ton, and not the work of spies. They
defended their having adopted citizens
dress by citing instances where Nor
gan's raiders having been captured in
~souadrons in civilians clothes, were
treated by the federals as prisoners OF
war. The trial was a lengthy, tedious
one. and the decision was reserved for
some days.
One day the men we're in their prison
PLAYING checkers upon the floor and
singing quite merrily, when some one
called attention to the fact that a large
body of horsemen had halted in front of
the Jail door. 1t was noticed that an
immense mass of people wa collected
in the streets near the prison. The
door was thrown open and an officer
standing in the doorway called for
William Campbell of Kentucky, Geo. D.
Wilson, Marion A. Ross, Perry G. Shad-
rack, Samuel Slavens, Samuel Robin
son and John Scott of Ohio. The men
arose as they were called, except Robin
son, who was very i'll with a fever, and
had to be raised to his feet and sup
ported while he stood. The officer COM
handed the men to follow him, and they
left the room with him. The prisoners
who were left were in a deplorable state
of uncertainty. They did not know
whether their comrades had been carried
out for exchange or parole or death. No
intimation of the decision of the court
had been given. At length they re-
turned, headed by George Wilson, who,
with a face as pale as death, said: "Boys,
we are to be hung Immediately"
The guards came in with the men,
and tied them hand and foot. During
this preparation, the condemned men
took o last farewell of their comrades.
Wilson, who had been for years an un-
believer, turned to Pittenger, n COM
rade who was quite religious, and said /:
"Oh, Pittenger, I know that you are
right" and then, turning to his friends,
he said "Boys, when you come to
die, try to be better prepared than I am
now p Shadrack, who had been the wit
of the party, but a profane and reckless
man, said eff I were only prepared
to meet nv God, I would be satisfied"
He was urged by Pittenger to calm him
self, and think of Heaven, but he re-
piled 4: cit is too late, now-but I'll try,
III try |" Slavens, who was q man Of
immense stature, turned toward his
friends, and said "Oh, boys, tell my
wife and children p and then broke COM
pletely down, and could say nc more.
Young Scott, who was married only three
days before he left for the army, never
said a word from the time his sentence
was announced. His lips were drawn
tight across his mouth, and his hands
clasped in front of him. Henever spoke
a word. Ross is said to have been the
frmest of them all. He said "Boys,
if any of you escape, tell them I died for
my country !; that I died like q man, and
do not regret it." Robinson, so i'll that
he could hardly speak, and could not
stand, had to be carried from the room.
! Only about three minutes were consumed
in the preparations. The men were
then carried through the front door and
placed in an open cart. The cart was
surrounded by a heavy force of cavalry,
and an immense throng of sight seerH
accompanied it.
The place selected for the hanging
was within the city limits. An enor-
nous scaffold was erected, it being a
notably low one. The scaffold was fur,
nished with a trap floor, which sank
from beneath the feet of the men at the
springing of a trigger. After the men
had assembled the plank, and the nooses
had been adjusted, George Wilson asked
to be allowed to make a statement. Per.
mission was granted him, and, standing
there, in the shadow of a violent death,
with the fatal rope about his neck chok-
ing his voice down, he made o speech
that went to the heart of every man that
heard it. He spoke without q tremor,
and with calm and distinct utterance.
He said it was not the part of brave men
to murmur at death when they were
brought face to face with it, and that he
had nothing to say against the decree of
the court that had brought him to the
scaffold. He decried, however, in the
name of his comrades and in the name OF