The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-07-18
A wOnAA,s WIT.
The Great American Horse Poisonel
Within Piishngh Less Lines.

The Great American Horse PoisoneE
Within Piishpgh Lee's Lines.
s.. LoulI Globe DemoaGt.
Wednesday was Judge Thayers "feld
day,"'and dozen or more Unmatched
couples were made happy by severance
Of the CALLING bonds Of matrimony.
One csss-that OF Williams yS. Williams
seemed to be managed by one Of the
strong.minded sisterhood-a sort Of Portia,
who, in the "late unpleasantness," served
her country as recruiting sergeant, nurse,
yiyandiere, Spy, generalissimo and staff
officer. This lady, although no longer in
the bloom Of youth, and 80 lame that she
had to use q mans cane in walking, pos
sesses fuency OF speech and a selt-pos.
session that would make the fortune Of q
police court barrister. Her history Is a re-
markable one, and she Is not backward in
relating it to anyone who will sit down and
Give ear to her eleqnence. When the
wicked rebellion broke out she was living
with her husband in the pine region Of
Wa consin. Her patriotic partner yolun-
teereu l., CVivnel Payne's regiment, the
Seventh Wisconsin, and she went along TO
keep him company and fight Tor her coun.
,ry. Many OF our citizens will remember
the Seventh Wisconsin when It marched
through the streets oil St Louis with Its
banners flying and large, live American
eagle perched upon q pole and borne by
the strong arms OF q raltsman. The wom-
an was also in the ranks and she and the
eagle divided the honors abou! equally.
They both faced tho dangers OF the battle
on many bloody field, and both escaped
the rebel bullets, and returned crowned
with glory to the piaeries Of Wisconsin.
They served in the Army OF the Potomac,
and II promotion had always followed
merit, the heroine would now be a Major
General on the retired list.
The most important service performed
BY this female soldier was in the role OF q
horse poisoner. She was more fatal 10
horsedesh than the epizootic. 1t seems
that Fitzhugh Lee and his cavalry raiders
had for some time been harrassing the
outskirts OF the Union army fnoVirginia,
running off horses, mules and cattle, pick
ing up stragglers and burning trains to
such an extent as seriously to cripple the
movements OF the Army Of the Potomac.
The Wisconsin Joan dare hit upon plan
that was more effective in checking Fiiz'
hugh Lees depredations than all the
dashes Of Custer and his comrades. She dis
guised herself in homespun skirts,made her
way through the rebel lines, and as a
refugee took up her residence at the
Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, the
headquarters OF the rebel raiders. Under
the skirts OF her dress she carried a guam
tity Of poisonous powder, fatal alike to
horses and mules, but harmless lit is pre-
sumed) to human beings. A handful Of
this deadly drug cast into running stream
was enough to poison the whole stream be-
low, and the horse or mule that took q
homeopathic dose OF it into his stomach
was sure to turn up his heels in o few min
u.es. How many hundreds OF the equine
race were sent to kingdom come by this
ingenious method the lady did not know,
as she kept no mortuary statistics, but she
is quite certain that a large majority OF
Fitzhugh Lees countrymen were transfer
red TO the infantry. and that the turkey
buzzards OF Fauquier had superabund-
ance OF rations for months.