The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-01-05
4 TILE OF THE WIR.
4 Missouri Guerrilla Who Married the Wife
ora Nan He Had Murdered.

Quite recently gentleman living in
Pittsburg received a letter from his son,
who resides in the state of Missouri,
notifying him of the death of a lady
connection of the family named Mrs
Wilson, whose demise occurred near the
town of Mexico, Mo. Her death re-
calls one of those incidents of the war
which read more like romance than
the narration of a sober fact, remarked
the recipient of the letter to Pittsburg
Leader reporter. ''Some time about
the period of the war young Missou-
rian, who had been married but a few
months, feeling that the demands of his
country were stronger than those of
home, bade farewell to his lovely wife
and enlisted in the army of the north.
But short time after his enlistment a
letter announced the arrival of young
stranger in the family circle, and the
soldier applied for permission to go
home on a furlough to see his offspring.
The permission was granted a month or
two later, and, filled with joyful antici
patton of the glad meeting that would
hail his return, he started from Vir-
ginia for his home. Missouri at
liliS tiiiit WAS ONtlllill VIII Il saw
age set of men who pursued a regu-
lar guerrilla warfare and were called
bushwhackers. From the bushes that
hedged the roadsides they sent their
murderous bullets to the hearts of I'M
suspecting travellers who passed their
place of concealment, and many are
the tales of how they rode up at night,
and firing through the windows of
humble dwellings, killed the innocent
men who were sitting at the fireside
surrounded by their little ones. Our
soldier had arrived within three miles
of his home, one dark night, when he
was siezed by one of these bands of
guerrillas as he was riding along the
lonely road and by them strung up to
a tree, as they were rebels and hated
union man as Lucifer hates St. Michael
His body was cut down next day by his
friends and inferred in the village
As the years rolled by
time softened the sorrow of his widow,
so that when her hand was sought by
a wealthy neighbor whose name was
Wilson she consented to the marriage. |
Time sped along on rapid wing. The
war has been ended, and only the re-
unions of veterans and the stories of |
men kept the scenes of
the conflict wildly in the mind. Ever
since the-close of ehe rebellion it has
been the custom of a>body of men
styling themselves members OF She
Lost Couse," to meet at stated periods
in various sections of the coun
Try. Wilson WAS a member
If this organization, and in the
course of events his house was Sc
ected as the place of their reunion. On
he evening when they met there Wilson
gether in one room, recalling the esca-
)ades they had been engaged in per-
onally during the war, while his wife
vas in an adjoining room, engaged in
eme household work During the con-
'ersatiOn Wilson remarked to one of
he men: Il have always felt sorry that
We did not let that young fellow 90
ZONE and see his wife and child, as he
legged so hard to be allowed to do be (
ore we hung him up" AT that mo-
nent Mrs. Wilson appeared in the {
DOM with her face blanched the white
less of snow, and in her hurried words '
sked: ''Wilson, were you one of the !
zen who helped to hang that man?' |
lie replied that he was. Then" said /
he, 1--WE must part. That man was my i
So they separated. On his t
eath-bed Wilson bequeathed to her and '
ne daughter she had borne him large c
state. Her son by her first husband S
7as a delicate lad, and inherited from v
is father a handsome competency. L
efore he attained his majority he died il
'om consumption. Just before his t
cath he held conversation with his b
lother, during which he said he didn't a
elieve the crime of the father should n
2 made burden on the shoulders of "
is step-sister, and asked his mother if S
lie had any objection to his leaving the b
roperty to the daughter of Wilson. C
ne replied that she didn't care what W
sposition he made of it, and he be- Il
leathed it to his step-sister. His moth fl
only survived him few weeks, as n
II affection seemed to have been
raped up in him, and the letter an
ounces her death. $50 runs the world
way "