St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1883-11-24
THE LATEST WAR STORY.
louisville Commercial. /

| vt was just befole the battle of
Shiloh" said Col. Watts, when /
was engaged carr, ing dispatches
from our DIVISION 10 anulher located
about 100 miles south Of us. Every
precautIcn L,u been taken to head
| off au communication, and the
greatest care had to be taken in
keeping dispatches aud the like Sc
creted, So that III case of tue car
rier being captured, nothing of q
tell-tale nature could be found upon
him. When l entered the scouting
service / had tour Of my front teeth
Knocked ont. and had them replaced
by false ones. These we've hollow
ed out behind, and admitted cf
good sized messase beiug secreted
therein.
On the trip that started out to
tell you about, | had nv dispatch
secreted us usual, aud was riding
along very peacefully i'll the dis
gulse of IL farmer going to the mill,
when | Was suddenly surprised by
tle enemy. pretended to be very
much enraged at them for making
me their prisoner, but there was no
way Of getting out of it, for they
had kinder dropped OH me. They
proceeded to search me, and COM
PEELED me To take off every stitch of
clothing. These they ripped up
into ribbons, but OF course they
found nothing, aud ] was begin.
ming to feel safe, when, standing
before them there, perfectly nude.
one OF the fellows stepped up to nee,
and slapplug me on the back. said:
"'Ain't he fat? He'd make good
beef
"The slap was SO vigorous that
ont popped my false teeth. That
settled 1T. The jis was up, and I
began contemplating my fate. Sew
enteen men jumped cut for those
false teeth ut the same time, and it
didn't take long for them to find
the dispatch, which read:
Send Us 300, 900 men at once"
$50 you We're on your way for
reinforcements, were you? said q
Lig, red-nosed captain, sneeringly.
well, we'll just help you along on
your journey. Bring up that NOR
tar.
"Great heavens!' thought /, thew
certainly don't intend to blow me
to pieces. The mortar was brought
up and planted. and pointed in the
direction ia which / had been tray
cling. 'DoubIe-chargs her and
stick this fellow in head first said
the captain. TLey double-charged
her and then forced me in head
frst. Vivid recollections of every
thing mean that I ever did in NV
life fitted across my mind, and.
boys, / actually prayed. But while
l prayed l felt them rammiug the
charge home, and / concluded that
my prayers were OF no avail.
II smelled the powder right in
front of me. and a happy thought
struck me. Something told me to
eat the powder, and l began on il.
At every Jam OF the ramrod I swal-
lowed an extra-sized mouthful. and
when the ramrod ceased I could
see daylight through the touch hole.
A fuse was inserted aud touched off.
and no doubt the tends retreated
to a safe distance to watch my fight
into Alabama. I heard the fuse
sizzling as the fire drew near 20 me.
but I felt safe, for not grain Of
powder bad l left lying around
loose. The fuse went out with a
sudden squirt, and I felt that my life
had been saved. The wouid.be
murderers couldn't understand whv
the gun missed fire. and they began
drawing out the charge. to see what
allied her. just about the time they
got me out, q lot of our cavalry
churged upon them and I waa
saved; but, boys, / can taste that
saltp stre and sulphur to this day