The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1880-12-01
Remarkable Tom Kelley.

One Of the most remarkable private SOL
diers on either side of the late war was Q
young man named Tom Kelley, q private in
the Second Michigan Infantry. The re-
markable began with. his build. He had arms
a full hand longer than any man who could
be found. He bad no more backbone than a
snake, and could almost tie himself in q knot.
He could tell the date on q silver quarter held
up twenty feet away, and he could hear ev-
cry word of a conversation in q common tone
of voice across an ordinary street. He could
run half g mile as fast as any officers horse
could gallop, and there was a standing offer
Of $40 to any man who could hold him down.
On a bet of a box of sardines he once passed
six s%entinels within an hour. On another oc-
casion b. entered the Colonel's tent and
brought away that officers boots.
When Toms remarkable qualifications
were discovered he was detailed as a scout
and spy, and was changed from one depart
ment to another. In the capacity of spy he
entered Richmond three times. He entered
Vicksburg and preached a sermon to the SOL
diers a week before the surrender. He was
in New Orleans five days before that city
was taken. He was a man who firmly be-
lieved that he could not be killed by an en-
envy, and he governed his movements accord
ingly.
While under the orders of General Hooker
Kelley proved on several occasions that he
could see farther with the naked eye than
any officer with the field glass. If he could
get a place of concealment within fifty feet
of a picket he could catch the countersign,
He visited Lookout Mountain, intending to
spike as many of the Confederate guns as
possible. His disguise was that Of a farmer
who had been driven from home by the I'm
ion forces. The enemy somehow got suspi.
cious of him, and he was placed in the guard
house for the night. There was a sentinel al
the door, and others pear by standing guarc
over guns and stores, but it was all the same
to Kelley. With an old tin plate for use 81
shovel and scoop, he burrowed out the bach
end of the building, walked up to two pieces
of artillery and spiked both before the alarm
was given. When the s%entinels began firing
at him he ran out of camp, but before be was
clear of 1.-THE had been fired at fifty times.
Kelley was once captured when asleep By
Missouri guerillas. When he open his eye:
he was surrounded by five or six men on foo
and others in the saddle. 1t was under a tres
in an open field, and he had been tracked by
a dog. AS he rose up at their command ht
resorted to his wonderful skill as q gymnast
By lodging and twisting and jumping he 60
out of the crowd, pulled a man off the sad
die, and would have escaped had not the dos
fastened to his leg. He was then put unde
guard in a log house with only one room
Two sentinels sat at the door with revolver
in their hands and watched his every move
ment. After an hour or two Kelly approach
ed as if to offer them tobacco, and jumped
clean over their heads like a deer. He ha(
half a mile Of an open field TO cross, and h
crossed it under the fire Of a score OF mus
kets and revolvers without being hit.
During his three years and a half in TIN
service Kelley captured ffty-tWo Confeder
ates and turned them over as prisoners. II
himself was captured and escaped five times
As a spy he entered more than thirty Confed
crate camps and forts. He was fred upon a
least 1000 times, and yet was never wound
ed. He had said that he would never die b,
the hand Of n enemy, and his prophecy
came true. In the last year of the war
while bringing a captured Confederate scou
into camp, both were killed within forty rod
of the Union lines by . bolt Of lightning.
a Mexican F0HnpeiS.