San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-10-11
A War Renaissance.

,nee, / never "" 80
S 'ssb A position again"
''S allow . was it?" | asked.
Well" said the colonel, sighinl
~ unwillingness to go back to tina
W. slSa,aceful day, "you see, | was one o
az one hundred federal prisoners
slDa'usbt down from Savannah tc
%Si"yIeston to stop the shells and balll
t.n% General Rufus Sections batter
" You remember we were stock
' 'i.d there on a sp &c in front Of
Charleston MS a sort of target for the
ts.isral guns. Well, on the way down
som Savannah to Charleston we were
- escape. AS II matter of fact, we
Sdn't escape; but, then, it was all ar
s.nred that we should. We planned
AIN Savannah. The train, a ram
Ming stumbling affair--you know
s s southern train was in those
s,vs at best-made up of old passen-
s ssy cars, box cars and flat cars, drawn
%, wheezy old locomotive capable of
scmething like ten miles an hour on q
lead level, was to be guarded, as
usual, by detail from the home
mard--old men and young boys unfit
FOR field duty. They were armed, of
,Ourse; but we outnumbered them
ak to one-yes, ten to one-and, in
rOnt of brain power, there was no
comparison. So, we arranged plan
BY which escape seemed certain, with
bopes as confident as though it were
no sooner said than done. At GER
tain point on the railway; not far from
the coast, where our men. of-war were
continually on the move, one of our
number was to give the signal, the
guards were to be overpowered and we
were to take to our heels-every man
for himself and the Lord for us all.
OF course, we kept the plan a secret
within a comparatively small circle.
We had to guard against the tinorous
and the traitorous. But we knew
perfectly well that we could depend
on every man after we had seized the
guards and captured their guns. Ev-
cry man in the secret had his part to
PLAYA signal to give, a guard to
watch, a gun to seize. Each of us
carried an improvised weapon of some
sort. I remember l picked up the
bolt of an old car-coupling and hid it
under nay shirt, and suppose all the
others had arms of similarly terri
BILE description. My duty was to kill
guard who stood rightin front of me
at the end of the car, when the signal
should be given. It was an old pas
senger car. sat in the last seat fac
ing the woodbox, and the guard stood
by the stove. Presently he came over
and stood by the woodbox; and such
a guard! A white-haired farmers boy
Of some II years, so sleepy from long
duty that he could hardly keep his
eyes open. He had a good face, with
very innocent expression, that re-
fined the appearance of his coarse
clothes and dirty shoes. He had an
old-fashioned musket--a muzzle-load-
er, with big percussion cap. And
this was my victim! l looked him all
over and measured him carefully.
One blow of my hard bolt on that
soft head would end him. There
would be no difficulty about it. 1t
was simply a question of time, The
train started. The motion increased
the poor boys drowsiness. He kept
erect and awake with evident Difficult
ty. why don't you sit up on the
l said to him, as his head
began to sway from side to side. 1t
showed how remarkably green he was
that he at once climbed upon the box
and sat there with his musket be-
tween his dangling legs. 1 have no
idea of the scenery of that route. L
saw but one thing all the way-that
boy. l watched him as the hawk
watches the little chicken. And as l
watched him l pitied him more and
more. He was so young, so fair, so
innocent. 1 steeled myself with the
thought that he must die if we would
be free. At the time, though, l was
looking for some way in which l could
do my duty and yet save that boy, L
tell you it's a terrible thing to sit for
hours opposite a toe-headed boy meas
uring HIM for coffin. l don't know
what fear is, but l confess without
hesitation to a tremor every time l
thought of his dying gasp. As L
him land everybody else in
the car was watching mel l wondered
1 could not disable his gun
and then content mysely with stun
ming him when the moment came.
kVitb e,,ol, oora nc Won aan scarcely