The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-05-13
TOM KELLEY.
Remarkable Faculties of q Union Scout
and Spy.
Erron, the Rnffalo ExnrasS

From the Buffalo Express.
One of the most remarkable private
soldiers on either side in the late war
was a young man named Tom Kelley, q
private in the second Michigan infantry.
The remarkable man began with his
build. He had arms full hand longer
than any man who could be found. He
had no more backbone than a snake,
and could almost tie himself in a knot
He could tell the date on Il silver dollar
held twenty feet away, and he could
hear every word of conversation in a
common tone of voice across a street.
He could run half mile as fast as any
horse could gallop, and there was a
standing offer of SO to any man who
could hold him down. On a bet of q
box of sardines he once passed six senti-
nels within an hour. On another occa-
sion he entered the colonel's tent and
brought away the officers boots.
When Toms remarkable qualifications
were discovered he was detailed as a
scout and spy, and was changed from
enc department TO another. In the Ca
pacity of spy he entered Richmond three
times. He entered Vicksburg and
preached sermon to the soldiers q week
before the surrender. He was in New
Orleans five days before that city was
taken. He was man who firmly be-
lievcd that he could not be killed by an
enemy, and he governed his movements
accordingly.
While under the orders of Gen Hook
er, Kelley proved on several occasions
that he could see further with the naked
eye than any officer could with a field
glass. If he could get place of con-
cealment within fifty feet of picket, he
could catch the countersign. He visited
Lookout Mountain, intending TO spike
as many of the confederate guns as posi-
BILE, His disguise was that of farmer
who had been driven from home by the
Union forces. The enemy somehow got
suspicion of him, and he was placed in
the guard house for the night There
was a sentinel at the door, and others
near by standing guard oyer guns and
stores, but it was all the same to Kelley.
With an old lin plate for use as shovel
and scoop, he burrowed out at the back
end of the building, and walked up TO
two pieces of artillery and spiked both
before any alarm was raised. When the
sentinels began firing at him he ran out
of camp, but before he was clear of it he
was fired upon fifty times.
Kelley was once captured when asleep
by Missouri guerrillas. When he open
ed his eyes nc was surrounded by five or
SIX HlcH On lOOI anu OineTS III tHe SStQulS.
1t was under a tree in an open field, and
he had been tracked by a dog. AS he
rose up at their command, he resorted to
his wonderful skill as a gymnast. By
lodging and twisting and jumping he got
out of The crowd, pulled a man off his
saddle, and would have escaped had not
the dog fastened TO his leg. He was then
put under guard in log house with only
one room. Two sentinels sat at the door
with revolvers in thier hands, and kept
watch of his every movement. After an
hour or two Kelley approached as if to
offer them tobacco, and jumped clear
over their heads like a deer. He had
half mile of open field to cross, and he
crossed it under the fire of a score of
muskets and revolvers without being hit.
During his three years and q half in
the service Kelley captured tifty-two con-
federates and turned them over as pris-
oners. He himself was captured and es-
capped five times. AS a spy he entered
more than thirty confederate camps and
forts. He was fired upon at least 1000
times, and yet was never wounded. He
said that he would never die by the
hands of an enemy, and his prophecy
came true. In the last year of the war,
while bringing in a captured confcder-
ate scout, both were killed within forty
rods of the Union lines by bolt of
lightning