The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-05-01
OUR STORY TELLER.
WONDERFUL ESCAPES.
Human Lives Saved Under Curious
circumstances.

We propose to offer to our readers a
few instances of hair-breadth escapes.
by which various human beings have
been saved from death.
Col. Gilmor, relating the story of
fight in which he figured, says in his
-Four Years in the Saddle:"
Turning half round in my saddle to
call on my men, received a sudden
shock, and felt deadly sick, and at the
same instant saw a man trail his gun
and run off. / killed him before he had
gone three steps. His ball had passed
through two coats and struck in pack
of cards in my left side pocket. They
were quite new, the wrapper 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 illustration 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, Steflens saw shell strike
the horse Of Prussian officer. Enter
ing near the shoulder, it caused the
poor animal to make a convulsive spring
and throw its rider, the fragments of the
shell being projected on all sides, while
the rider jumped up from the ground
unhurt.
During the Crimean war, Col. Wynd-
ham dispatched to find out how matters
were going in the first attack on the
RedaD, saw soldier walking along the
trench two or three yards ahead of him.
Presently a round shot came flying over
the parapet, and the man was hidden
from sight by the dust. When it
subsided, the colonel was astonished to
find himself beside living man, whose
countenance presented a curious admir-
ture of fright and Joy, as, scratching his
head, he exclaimed:
"Why, dash my buttons, but that was
amazing nighP
"Ay, ay, my boy" responded the
colonel; "we'd much better be digging
trenches at thrcepence rod in Nor
folk"
To which his fellow countrymen only
replied: "What! are yew tew from
NorfolkG'
Amazingly nigh death, although in
blissful ignorance of the fact, was the
Confederate staff officer marked down
by Northerner's rifle, and Only saved
by the officer commanding the platoon
happening to recognize in him a client
of the insurance office of which he was
secretary, and striking up the leveled
weapon with, "Don't shoot we've got a
policy on him."
DIR. Brydon, the sole Euglish survivor
of the retreat from Cabul, during the
last Afghanistan war, was quite aware
If lao r.
never could understand how it came
about. After a. long and terrible ride
he was just congratulating himself upon
having at last got clear of the enemy,
when he found himself pursued by a
solitary horsemsn. 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 his
blade and left only the hilt, which the
doctor hurled in his assailant's face, and
the next moment the Afghan cut
through Brydon's headpiece and the
magazine he had that morning placed
inside it. Unarmed, half stunned, and
hopeless, he mechanically stopped to re-
cover his fallen rein, when to his surprise
and relief his foe turned away and
galloped off, leaving the doctor to drag
himself to Jelalabad.
The sword of justice is not always
rightly directed, and sometimes comes
near perpetrating murder. A young
New Yorker, named Wells, went one
evening to Booths Theater. Taken
with fit of coughing, he left the
theater, intending to 20 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 gold watch and chain,
which Wells picked up, and then went
after the loser, running into the arms OF
a policeman, who marched him off to
the station to explain matters. Presently
a messenger arrived in hot haste, saying
the thief was wanted at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel. Wells was taken there and
brought face to face with a man lying
on a lounge, covered with blood.
"Is this the man who stabbed you T
asked the officer.
"It is" said the poor fellow, falling
back, never to speak again.
Wells was tried for murder, found
guilty and sentenced to be hanged; and
hanged he would have been If a fort
night before the day fixed for his execu
tion a prisoner in Sing Sing had moi
confessed on his death bed that he had
robbed the man of his watch, then stab
bed him and run 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. HI
protested he knew nothing OF the dread
full business, and was not aware tha
the hostages had been shot until hi
arrest. His denial went for naught
He had been denounced by member
Of his own party; three of them on tria
with him declared he was at La Ro
- guette. NJ. Chevrieu, prisoner Their
at the time, said he saw Pigerre from
his cell, dressed as National Guard
trailing q scabbard after him; his fac
was fixed in his memory, and Scissor,
police officer, asserted emphatically:
"That's the man."
Only one voice was raised in Pigerre'
behalf, that Of the Communist Judge
Genton.