The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-01-16
Remarkable Tom Kelley.

One of the most remarkable private
soldiers in the late war was a young
man named Tom Kelly, a private in
the Second Michigan Infantry. The
remarkable began with his build.
He had arms a full hand longer than
any man that could be found. He
had no more backbone than a snake,
and could almost tie himself in a
knot. He could tell the date or a
silver quarter held up twenty feet
away, and he could hear every word
of a conversation in an ordinary tone
of voice across an ordinary street.
HI could run half a mile as fast as
any officers horse could gallop, and
there was a standing offer of $40 to
any man who could hold him down.
On a bet Oil a box of sardines he once
passed six %sentinelsl within an hour.
On another occasion he entered the
Coionel's tent and carried away that
officers boots
When Toms remarkable qualifica-
tions we've discovered he was detailed
as a scout and spy, and was changed
from one department to another. In
the capacity of spy he entered Rich
mond three times. He entered Vicks-
bnrg and preached a sermon to the
s.ldiers a week before the surrender.
He was in New Orleans five days
before that city was taken. He was
a man who firmly believed he could
not be killed by an enemy, and be
governed his movements accordingly.
While under the orders of General
Hooker, Kelly proved on several oc-
casions that he could see farther with
the naked eye than any officer could
with a field glass. If he could get a
place of concealment within fifty feet
of a picket he could catch the coun-
tersign. He visited Lookout Noun
tsin, intending to spike as many of
the guns a. possible. His disguise
was that of a farmer who had been
driven from his home by the Union
forces. The enemy somehow got sus-
picious 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 over guns
and stores, but it was all the same to
Kelley. With an old tin plate for a
SCOOP and shovel 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 be-
gan firing at him he ran out of camp,
but before he vas clear of it he had
been fired upon fifty times.
Kelley was once captured when
asleep by Missouri gue'illas. When
he opened his eyes he was surround
ed by five or six men on foot and
others in the saddle. 1t was under a
tree in an open field, and he had been
tracked by u dog. As he rose up at
their command he resorted to his
wonderful skill as a gymnast. By
lodging and twisting and jumping
he 60 out of the crowd, pulled a man
off his saddle, and would have es-
capped had not the dog fastened to his
leg. He was then put under guard
in a log house with only one room.
Two sentine's sat at the door with
revol. ers ia their hands, and kept
watch of his every movement. After
an hour or two Kelley approached as
if to offer them tobacco, and jumped
clear yer their heads like a deer. He
had half a mile of open field to cross,
and he crossed it under fire of a score
of muskets and revolvers without
being hit.
During his three years and a half
in the service Kelley captured fifty
two Confederates and turned them
oyer as prisoners. He himself was
captured and escaped five times. As
q spy he entered more than thirty
Confederate camps and forts He