The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-06-27
BUFORD AND THE MOB.
The Exciting Experience Which the
Great Turfman Had in Spring field,
Ill, at the Close of the War.

The Exciting Experience Which the
Great Turfman Had in Springfield,
Ill, at the Close of the War.
Chicago News.
The tragic death Of Gen. Abe Buford of
Kentucky. recalls story he told during
his ast visit to Chicago. II have pas I'd
Trcu. Il many tryir 2 andperIouss scent ,,"
10 said to party of friends, "but ne er
seit &c near deaths door as a. Spring1if d,
L., Just after the var. 10 begin w h,
he'd 3 nauow escape during cur fe t.
ing i'll Georgia. Our forces were n
camped, with the Union troops in ur
'front.'. The sentry lines were thrown ut
rs usual. One day passed through he
lines to make some observations at Z C;s-
tant point. | was unattended, but mo n
ted upon powerful horse. During ny
absence the Union forces drove back our
lines and occupied the same ground W tn
their own pickets. This was unkno vn
20 me, and was surprised and alarm ed
OF my return to be halted by Un On
soldier attempted to ride on. The
soldier tried to stop my horse with his
bayonet. Drawing my revolver, fred
at him, and rode on to camp without
waiting to see the effect of the shot. The
war went on and finally ended. We
surrendered to the superior forces on the
Union side, and l went home. Soon
afterward l went to Springfield to set
IC,. oh ho1 loft oh Of
Willis Renfrow. On the day Of my ar
rival large number of Union soldiers
were mustered out of the service. They
Utterly swarmed into the hotel | was stop
ping at. Pretty soon / discovered they
were eying me very closely. The more
they did so the more excited they became.
Their excitement made me nervous and
not a little frightened, when | reflected
that | was alone, without friends, and in
the midst of soldiers just from the scenes
of conflict that had aroused all their Bit
teTness toward the south. AS an officer
in the Confederate army, | felt that l
would bear no small share of their hatred.
This thought frightened me beyond meas
ure. For the first time in my life | was
really afraid, because | believed that if
the soldiers became aroused there would
be no escape for me. The landlord came
over and urged me to conceal myself be-
fore an outbreak occurred. Although
terribly scared, had DO thought Of show
ing the white feather. l merely went to
my room, secured my revolver, and came
back to my seat, watching the crowd
over the paper l pretended to read. After
awhile a man wearing cOpOrars uni
form came in. Several soldiers ran to
him in an excited manner. / could not
hear what was said, but / knew | was
the subject Of the talk. The corporal
went to the hotel register, looked at my
name, aud then came toward me. Be-
hind him were several of the men. A
score of them were eagerly watching
the scene from the other side of the room.
The landlord, with blanched face, stood
behind the counter, and ] could see he
was frozen with terror. AS the corporal
and his comrades came toward me my
hair literally stood on end. | could feel
the blood leave my face. With all lay
power of self-control l could not conceal
my agitation. felt that after goi
through the perils of war l was to die 1t
the happs OF a mob No man can D L
tray his feelings at such time. Though
great strength was demanded, was so
weak could hardly stand. When tae
corporal approached me he asked i. l
was General BufOrd. With feeble vO re
told him was.
do you remember the Union sold er
YOU shot when breaking through the n
ION lines in Georgia. he asked
Il do, was my reply.
Il am that man." said the soldi'r r,
''and want to thank you for mer, ly
wounding my arm The man held cut
his hand. never was so glad to shake
a hand in my life. The peril had ST P
posed was in had caused great beads of
sweat to cover my face. As l shook his
hand l sank exhausted in a chair. l
looked upon the corporal as my savior.
When he grasped my hand I felt that l
had gone from hell to heaven. The 9th
er soldiers crowded around. 1t seems
they were only excited because a great
enemy was there. Before l left we
all drank to the success of our common
country and agreed to forget we had
been enemies, think that this is the
most thrilling personal experience l ever
had experienced"