The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-05-15
WITHIN AN ACE OF DEATH.

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WITHIN AN ACE OF DEATH.
for by Cham rs JOHrnaI.
We propose to offer to our readers q
few instances of hair-breadth escapes, by
which various human beings have BEEN
saved ffom death.
Colonel Gilmor, relating the story of
fight in which he figured, says in his
g Four Years in the Saddle ~ I" Turning
half round In my saddle to call on my
men, 7 received a sudden shock aud felt
deadly sick, and at the same instant saw
man trail his gun and run off. killed
him before he had gone three steps. His
ball had passed through two coats and
stuck in PACK of cards in my left side
POCKET. They were quite new, the wrapN
per not even having been broken open.
The suits were each distinct. The bullet
passed through all, stopping at the last
card, which was the ace of spades"
Such another literal translation Of the
phrase, "within an ace of death, is not
upon record but hair-breadth escapes
are common in war. At the battle of
Laon, Stefens SAW a shell strike the horse
of Prussian officer. Entering near the
shoulder, it caused the poor animal to
make conVulsive spring and throw it's
rider the fragments of the shell being
projected on all sides, while the rider
jumped up from the ground unhurt.
During the Orimean war Colonel
Wyndham, dispatched to find out how
matters were going in the first attack on
the Redan, saw a soldier walking along
the trench two or three yards ahead OF
him. Presently, round shot came fly
ing over the parapet, and the man was
hidden from sight by the dust. When
it subsidized the colonel was astonished
to find himself beside 8 living man,
whose countenance presented a curious
sdmixture of fright and Joy, as scratch
ing his head, ne exclaimed: Why,
dash my buttons, but that was amazing
nigh!' Gay, sy, my boy" responded
the colonel, ''We'd much better be djg@
ging trenches at three pence 81 rod in
Norfolk" To which his fellow>country-
man only replied ''What are yeW teW
from Norfolk ?"
Amazingly nigh death, although in
blissful ignorance of the fact, WIS the
Confederate staff officer marked down by
the NOrtherner's rifle, and only saved by
the officer commanding the platoon hap
pening to recognize in him q client of an
Insurance Office of which he was secre-
tary, and striking up the leveled weapon
with: Don't shoot we've got a policy
on him."
DR.. Brydon, the sole English survi
vor of the retreat from CabuI, during
the last Afghanistan war, was quite
aware of the DarroWness of his escape,
but never could understand how it came
about. Alter long and terrible ride,
he was just congratulatiug himself upon
having at last got clear of the enemy,
when he found himself pursued by a
solitary horseman. He had but broken
sword wherewith to defend himself, and
with this he managed to intercept cut
at his head, directed with such force
that it cleft through the base of the
blade and left only the bilt, which the
doctor hurled in his assailant's face, and
the next moment the Afghan cut
through Brydon's head-piece and the
magazine he had that morning placed
inside it. Unarmed, half stunned and
hopeless, he mechaLi ically stopped to re-
cover his fallen rein, when, to his sur
prise and relief, his foe turned away and
galloped of. leaving the doctor to drag
himself to Jelalsbad.
The sword of justice is not always
rightly directed, and sometimes it
comes near committing murder. A
young New Yorker named Wells went
one evening to Booths theatre. Taken
with fit of coughing, he left the tbe~
ater, intending to go home but after
going some little distance, it came on
showing SO fast that he retraced his
steps. As he strobe along, two men
came rushing down the street, one OF
them dropping a gold watch and chain,
soEa io rad 10,
after the loser, running into the arms OF
a policeman, who marched him of to
the station to explain matters. Pres
emily a messenger arrived in hot haste.
saving the thief was wanted st the Fifth
Avenue hotel. Wells was taken there.
and brought facs to face with q man
lying on a lounge covered with blood.
q Is this the man who stabbed you ?n
asked the officer. " 1t Is" said the DOOR
fellow, falling back, never to speak
again. Wells was tried for the murder.
found guilty, and sentenced to be
hanged and hanged he would have
been, it fortnight before his execution
a prisoner in Sing Sing had not confessed
upon his desth-bed that he had robbed
the man of his watch, then stabbed him
and ran off, afterward dropping the
watch as he ran.
Among the communists tried at Yer
sailles was Jean Baptiste Pigerre, charged
with commanding the firing party who
shot the hostages at La Roquette. He
protested he knew nothing Of the dread
ful business, and was not aware that the
hostages had been shot until after his
arrest. His denial went for nought. He
had bean denounced by members of his
own party three of them on trial with
him declared he was at La Roquette.
NJ. Chevrieu, a prisoner there at the
time. said he saw Pieerre from his cell
dressed ss a national gusrd, trailing a
scabbard after him; his face was fixed
in mis- memory; and Scissor, g police
Office, asserted emphatically: That's
the man" Only one voice was raised in
Pigerre's behalf, that Of the communist
Judge, Genton. You can shoot me, if /
you ike" exclaimed he !; ''but Pigerre is !
Innocent ; he had nothing to do with it,
The prosecutor summed up, insisting
uDon Pigerre's conviction with the rest /
the advocates for the accused said their /
Intellectual say and then came an inter I
ruptiOn. A man named JarTaUd, whom 1