Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-10-30

/ ground in front. I discovered the man
/ with the white SLOUGH hat standing be
/ tween two trees, cOolly firing away at
me. do not know why II was. but in
I that moment there crept an awful terror
lover my soul as / realized that / was
marked. and that a human being was
actually thirsting for my LIES blood.
/ But the more uneasy I felt over the ter
rible discovery / had made the more
| determined / became to make things as
/ hot as possible before the mysterious
man with the white SLOUGH hat got IN
his work on me. From that time on 1
/ became marvellOusly reckless and des-
perate. 1 felt that my life was doomed
that it was a question OF lew days
ere L would be called away, and that L
might as well make my life glorious dur
ing its brief earthly existence. entere 1
the conflict with a renewed VlgOr, with
a deeper and bitterer vim 1 loaded my
gun and fred with a quickness that was
surprising, and my aim seemed to be Tar
more effective than ever before. My
fellow skirmishers noticed the sudden
change that had come over me, and
though did not see tit to explain mat
tiers, went right on, rushing into dan
ger and what seemed certain death, at
every opportunity. We reached LeXing-
ton that night after having enjoyed a
/ spirited skirmish all through the after
I HULL 444C 4OllOM4A 4L1O4A4A44ts 4OlLA4 L45
on the road to Lynchburg at an early
hour. But we had not gone far before
| the enemy opened upon Us and q hot
/ slZirmish followed. / was on the ex-
! treme line of advance, and the man on
my right was a particular friend Ofmine,
/ Joe Black, who, by the way, was only
nineteen years old, three years my. sen
/ Tor, but a perfect daredevil of soldier.
After we had been skirmishing about an
| bour RlopLy called ont f0 ma
/ ''Say, jeff"
/ "Well, what?'
"Do you see that tall 'son-of-a-gun of
a reb,' with a big white hat, pecking
away at us?"
"NoI where is her"
"Do you see that apple tree in the lit
tie field just this side Of the woods over
yOnder?"
eyes"
"Weu, you Just keep an eye open in
! that direction, and you'll soon see the
cuss."
The next moment 1 saw a man step
from behind the tree 1 was WatChingi
/ then I saw the smoke of his gun, and be-
/ fore the report of the shot reached my
ears, a missile Of lead Whizzed by, passing
within a foot of my head. 1t was the
man with the white SLOUGH hat. Then
there came a lull over the scene. The
/ fight rather subsidized for few moments
or so, only. however, to be renewed with
a livelier vigOr; but during the lull Black
and 1 got behind the same tree, and held
! a confidential chat. I related my ad-
venturers of the past two days, how 1
tumbled on the man with the white
SLOUGH hat, and how he had paid especial
attention to me during the time and was
still attentive to me. Black was amazed.
Who could this devil with the white
SLOUGH hat be, and why had he picked
on mere. boy like me for his victim?
cts a bad piece of business, said he,
in a serious tone, land 1 can't for the
life of me understand it. 1t is evidently
plain that he has marked you as his own,
and that as long as he can find you he is
going to shoot at you"
Black thought it would be advisable
under the circumstances, for me to quit
the skirmish line and return to the main
body of the army, and 1 laughed at the
idea, and expressed the determination to
stick to the skirmish line while life last
} ed, in spite of the man with the white
| slOuch hat.
Then" said Black, "lePs stick closely
. together, and whenever one of US cor
} ners the 'sun-Of-a-gun' we'll both Join in
, to make it most Interestingly hot fol
p him"
< The next day was a fearfully warm
one all around. Gen. Hunter had fooled
3 his opportunities away until the foe haC
% ample time to be reinforced from the
D army about Richmond and Petersburg
] The result was we failed to capture
S Lynchburg. Daylight had no sooner
e made its appearance before the advance
r guard Of the Confederate army opened
fire on US. In a moment our rear was
: protected by a line of skirmishers, with
p Black and myself at our favOrite post Of
r duty, and the very first SOutherner that
t my eyes fell on was no other than the
e man with a SLOUGH hat. 1 pointed him
l out to Black, and then we fired at the
D fel Ow with q vehemence, but with the
< usual effect. He in return devoted his
sole attention TO me, never bOthering
2 Black, though we were only some TWEEN.
] ty feet apart The enemy'S advance line
= pushed Us closely and hotly all day long
!, and when darkness came both Black and
S 1 felt a brief relief, as 1t at last gave us
I an opportunity TO eat q mOrsel of dough
the only article OF food left us. Ou
F., forces kept up the retreat all through
< the night Fences were burned along
p the roadway so as TO keep the men wide
g awake and IN line, yet IN spite of this
9 precautiOn, men here and there, com
g pletely played out from OVerWOrk, would
t drop out of the line only to be Ia ken as
= prisoners by the COnfederates, who fol-
D lowed dangerously close at our heels.
e Daylight had hardly set in before the
p enemy opened on our rear. Again the
skirmishers were let loose to hold then
2 at bay while the main body of our troops
r marched on in quick retreat. 1t was
, near nine o'clock before either Black Of
I 1 caught sight of our man, but we dis
covered him at last. We found him II
our near front pecking away at me fol
2 dear life.
3 Lets try and get better acquainted
z with him, said Black.
o "HOw?' I asked.
p Lets try and pick up a handkerchie