Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-05-10
AN ARMY EXPERIENCE.
How an Old Veteran Escaped Annihi-
lation and Lived to Impart
Warning to Others.
National Tribune of Washington


A pleasing occurrence which has
just come to our notice in connection
with the New York state meeting of
the Grand Army of the Republic is
so unusual in many respects that we
venture to reproduce it for the benefit
of our readers.
Captain Alfred Benson, of New
York, while pacing in the lobby of the
armory, previous to one Of the meet.
ings, suddenly stopped and scanned the
face of gentleman who was in earn.
est conversation with one of the Grand
Army officers. II seemed to him that
he had seen that face before, partially
obScured by the smoke of battle, and
yet this bright and pleasant counter.
ance could not be the same pale, and
death>like visage, which is so dimly
remembered. But the recollection,
like Banquo's ghost, would not "down"
at command and haunted him the en-
tire day. On the day following he
again saw the same countenence, and
ventured to speak to its owner. The
instant the two veterans heard each
others voices, that instant they recog.
nized and called each other by name.
Their faces and forms had changed,
but their voices were the same. The
man whom Captain Benson had recog.
nlzed was Mr.. W. X. Sage, of St.
Johns, Mich, veteran of the 23d
N. Y. Light Artillery and both mem,
bers of Burnside's famous expedition
to North Carolina. After the first
greetings were over, Captain Benson
said:
"It hardly seems possible, Sage, to
see you in this condition, for l thought
you must have been dead long ago."
eyes, / do not doubt it, for if 1 am
not mistaken, when we last met / was
occupying a couch in the hospital, a
victim of yellow Jack in its worst
foim."
81 remember. The war seems to
have caused more misery since its close
than when it was in progress" replied
the Captain. 81 meet old comrades
frequently who are suffering terribly,
not so much from old wounds as from
the malarial poisons which ruined their
constitutions"
81 think so myself. When the war
closed / returned home and at times I
would feel well, but every few weeks
that COMPOUNDED 'all.gone' feeling would
come upon me again. My nervous
system, which was shattered in the
service, failed me entirely and pro-
duced one of the worst possible cases
of nervous dyspepsia. Most of the
time | had no appetite; then. again l
would become ravenOusly hungry, but
the minute l sat down to eat l loathed
food. My skin was dry and parched,
my flesh loose and fabby. I could
hold nothing on my stomach for days
at time, and what little l did eat
failed to assimilate. I was easily ia
tigued my mind was depressed; / was
cross and irritable and many a night
my heart would pain me so 1 could
not sleep, and when | did had horrid
dreams and frightful Nightmares. Of
course, these things came on one by
one, each worse than the other. My
breath was foul, my tongue was coat
ed, my teeth decayed, l had terrific
headaches which would leave my ner-
vous system completely shattered, In
fact my existence, since the war, has
been living death, from which have
often prayed for release"
"Couldn't the old surgeon do you
any gOOd?"
81 wrote him and he treated me,
but like every other doctor, failed.
They all said my nerve was gone and
without that to- build upon I could not
get well. When.I was at my worst,
piles of the severest nature came upon
me. Then my liver gave out and
without the use of cathartics | could
not move my bowels at all. My blood
got like stream of FIRE and seemed
literally to burn me alive" ~
"Well you might better have died