The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-12
HANGED LIKE DOGS!
General James A. Garfield In a
Bad Light.

no tA I'LL IL - ~
IL narrative were but little known
ntIin the circle of fire surrounding thu
Santb in those days. We reprint them.
:, 1LnuId be borne in mind, however,
- his accoun Is taken merely from
.Ta 5ry official papers, aud does no,
r,narlv picture the haste and vindic-
r.p... shown by certain Yankee Gen
L m the affair. Nor does it set forth
:. nr,rer prominence the fact that the
,,r victims vehemently protested
hat they we're not spies. They were in
,Lr;r own country, simply passing
,I,.ush an their way to recruit d regl-
u,,.1t in kentucky. We Know a young
liner who was taken in the same way,
lied A. a spy, and murdered by inch
49, I'm solitary confinement.
Th,. Editor Of the Farmer and Ne
.lIsi- was himself captured inside of
,,-,rt'. lines at the close Of the war,
and wa, kept bound hand and foot ION
- and water Diet for eight days,
ami might have been shot, but for
vent, over which his captors had little
r.,Dtrol. Yet he "a not a spy, and
L.I come w;thiu their lines, with arms
IN his hands, through u gap left by their
own negligence.
Ruf TO the narrative told by some
Northern writer:
THE story Of Major Andre is familiar
+, rb, readers of English history. For
me hundred years his untimely end has
L..-u read and discussed, often with
rbr,bbing hearts and eyes trimming
with tears, and yet the interest felt In
that gallant officer is apparently as great
now a. on the first day of October,
100. when he was led to execution by
r,mInand of Gen. George Washington
himself. Military authorities Oh both
sides of the Atlantic have almost uni
ysr,ally conceded the proprIety of the
action taken by Washington in that
matter; but there have been many of
his admirers then and since whose rev.
erence for that illustrious patriot would
have been greater If he had nltlgated
In some legitimate way the severity OF
that painful sentence. Few, indeed, OF
III. contemporaries. who at that time
debated 50 warmly the merits or the de
merit, of that course, could have dream
eli that eighty three years Afterwards
OF 10 be more precise, on the 9th day OF
Jane. Io63-a lneal descendant OF Mrs.
Georsc Washington should have per
ishei IN the same ignomiuious way, un
der circumstances which present, to the
least, a series of remarkable colncI-
dences,
Col. Williams was the Son of Capt.
William G.. Williams, who was for
twenty years Il we'll known officer OF
the United States Army, and who was
mortally wounded at the battle of Mon
tcrey. lie had married Miss Columbia
Peter, a daughter of Thomas Peter. Il
prominent citizen of Georgetown, and
one of the intimate personal friends of
George Washington Thomas Peter
had married Martha Parke Custis, who
was a graudchild of Mrs. George Wash
iustou, and long resided III Georgetown,
where. in the year 1901, he built the OLD
mansion now occupied by Mrs. kennon,
the widow of Commodore Beverly Ken
non, who was killed on board the
Princeton by the explosion OF a gun III
1914. One of the fruits of the marriage
Of Capt. Williams and Miss Peter was
il sou, born on the It'll day of July, 1889,
named William Orion Wlllams, who
became the leading actor IN the depior-
able train of events about to be related.
Mrs. Williams and Mrs, Kenuon we've
also the sisters of e.. W. p. GUSTS, the
tgruer owner of the Arlington estate
and the father of Mrs. Robert f. Lee.
1t will thus be seen that W. o. Viii
liams was the direct and lineal descen-
dlnt of Mrs. George Washington.
Gen. Washington himself left no
children: With Williams was assoc;a-
n grandson of Maj. George Peter, the
brother of Thomas Peter-whO was
born GA the 18th Of October, 1912, and
who. when they were boys together,
bad formed for Williams = most devo
ted aud romantic attachment. In per
soual graces and accomplishments Viii
liam orion Williams bore great rcsem-
bIauce to his father, Captain Williams,
aud was possessed Of d genius very
much like that of Major Andre. Al
ter completing bis studies, he was en-
pIoyed for i time in the service of the
coast survey, but his great ambition
was to become ii soldier, and through
the assistance of friends he obtained u
commission as Lieutenant in the I'd
cavalry regiment of the United States
Army. Shortly after he Was appo!n
ted ~ aide on the staff Of Gen. Win
field Scott, tLen Commander-iu-Chief
OF the army, with headquarters at
Washington City. Tits WAS in the
early part Of the year 1861, and the
omlnous thrcatings in the southern
norlLon already indicated the outbreak
which culmiaated in the war Of the
rebellion. Col. Robert J.. Lee, was
ten, scott : chief of staff, and wal also
on duty II the War Department in
" a~Nhlugtun. AS in the case of Major
Andre. 50 in that of Lieut.. Williams,
q owe affair was, Indirectly at least,
The cau>t OF the course of events which
ended 50 disastrously for both and
winch lcd both to death on the scaffold.
Lieutenant Williams was p~assionately
devoted to a daughter of Col. Robert
Z. Lee, who was hen residing at Ar
hA9ton. Miss Lee has never married.
While On duty at Washington he made
ifcguen, visits to the young lady. both
before and after Col. Lee resigned his
commission as an officer of tue United
States Army. These visits came to the
knowledge Of General Scott and Assist.
AaJutant General Townsend, who were
naturally apprehensive that, in these
critical times, especially in themonths
Oh April and May, 1861. Lieut.. Will
"ilAs might carry across the Potomac
information of a value character to the
vonapIrators IN Virginia. They order
Ell INN, therefore, to discontinue these
visits lie promised to do SO, but the