Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1879-05-17

than O ugeri we Acaiu 1rVhl uliA
at once; a scouting party riding up
the valley ostits captain and two men
by successive shots from a Henry rifle,
and the man who fired them escaped
through the woods. That night a
vidette was struck from his horse and
his throat cut. Next day a teamster
was killed. In one weeks time Dan
Vernon had killed thirteen men.
He left no wounded behind him.
When he fired it was with dead aim,
and the victim went down with scarce
ly a cry from his lips.
A refugee who came in gave us
| such details of Dan as we did not
know, and when it was known that
he was bushwhacking our. advance
scouts were detailed to hunt him
down.
They pursued in vain. Knowing
every acre of ground in the valley, he
not only eluded pursuit, but many OF
the men pursuing him never came
back to us. If their bodies were
found, bullet hole was proof that
Dan Vernon had added another victim
| to his list. 3D.
In four weeks time he had scored
thirty -four victims, and foraging and
scouting parties dreaded that one man
more than a whole regiment of Early's
army. He would murder a picket at
one point during the night, and next
day bushwhack a troop ten miles
away, and he moved with the stealth
of a tiger. No man ever gave an
alarm after knowing Of his presence.
Well, what I set out to tell about
was how we captured Dan one fine
day, and how singularly he escaped.
Parties were continually after him
without success, while our party
found him without searching.
About fifty of us were thrown for
ward one day from the picket post to
a new position just deserted by the
enemy. Included in this new terri
tory was a loghouse, suppose to be
deserted, but when we came to inves-
| tigate we discovered a "Butternut"
up and asleep on rude bed in a
corner. He had gone to sleep within
the Confederate lines, and when he
awoke the blue-coats were about and
beyond him.
Who the prisoner was no one seemed
to care, but it was the accepted
opinion that he was no more than a
private soldier, and l was detailed to
| guard him until he could be sent back
to headquarters. ae
The man betrayed no alarm when
reused from sleep. As far as we
could see he was unarmed, AND when
the boys joked him on his capture he
coolly replied:
"Well, it amt nothing to weep
over, was getting purity tired of this
thing, anyhow" -.
l had fair look at the mans face,
and l found something there to
puzzle and startle me. One day l
had picked up in camp the dag,lerro-
type of a man dressed in citizens
clothes. 1t seemed to be that of a
farmer, but the face was one to be re-
membered. As sat in the open
door of the old house, carbine across
my knees, and looked into the face of
our prisoner, it came to me all at once
that it was his face had seen in the
picture. There was a great change
in some particulars, but yet l conf
IDENTIFY inquired: "Did you have
your picture taken by, of Lynch
burgp e..
eyes" he replied. a.
"Was the case of red morocco Z"
'It was" E .... -.
Then the picture 1 had found i'll
camp must have been stolen from his
house by foragers and afterwards
thrown away. The man looked at me
as if ready to answer further ques
tions, but had none to put just then
l was wondering at the curious coin
cidence, when he sat up on the bed,
looked me square in the eye, and
said:
~ am Dan Vernon, the bush
whacker, and 1 killed one of your
men last night before turning in
here" r.E.a... ,.. l.s q.
'Dan Vernon |" I repeated afte,
him. eyes. 1t is a good joke on
your comrades, who took me for a
scrub soldier!" ....-
l was SO taken by surprise that
could not utter a word. He was az
cool as ice, however, and he continu'
ed:
'It would give Sheridan great JOY
to string me up or see me shot, but
my time isn't come yet. l shall b.
going pretty soon."
Now, that was pretty cool talk, con.
sidering that l was there to guard
him, and had my cabine ready for 6