The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1885-11-20
v nv A g
How One Of Lincoln's Reprieves Was Do
Iayed by q Break in the Wires.

~ OAh0 ~ y
Iayed by q Break in the Wires.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
'0The most impressive sight I aver
saw, / think, was at Harper's Ferryin
49," said Detective G. w. McElroy
recently. The detective is a member
of Perkins Agency, and was at one
time Sheriff of Oswego County, N. X.
The conversation was brought about
by a remark upon the impressiveness
Of the funeral services over Gen. Grant.
''The sight of a man goingto his own
funeral, with the band playing q dead
march, is calculated to impress one"
he continued. ssThat is the case, Won
know, with q man condemnedt to death
by court-martial. The case OF which
/ spoke happened in January, 1865,
and the wonderful escape of the con
demned parties is something / shall
never forget. Two Irishmen, John
Shea and Michael Doane, had been
sentenced to be shot for desertion.
There was considerable feeling in favor
of the men. 1t was in the time OF
big bounties, and the two young
men had enlisted for something like
$1,000 a piece. In afew days they were
both missing, and were not caught for
three or four weeks. They were drunk,
and their money was about gone. The
truth of the matter was that it was
no case of willful desertion. The men
had got on a drunk, and had never
sobered up enough to realize their
position. They were badlyfrightened,
and were attended by two priests. l
can remember the place well. They
were marched up on a little hill on g.
level plateau, and the soldiers thrown
into three sides of q hollow square.
The two men, accompanied by their
priests, and preceded by the band
playing the dead march, were marched
around the inside of this square and
stopped nearly in the center, by the
side Of their open coffins. The priests
we're in earnest conversation with
them, and the minutes rolled by till
they grew into anhour. Twelve O'Clock
came, and Gen. Stevenson gave orders
for the priests to leave themen. Very
reluctantly they did so, prolonging
their leave-taking upon one pretext
and another as long as they could.
Everything was at last made ready,
and it was only a matter of seconds
between che men and eternity, when
the Generals orderly rode up, swing
ing his hat andyelling at the top Of
his voice. 1t was a reprive from
Lincoln.
cit seems that the priests had tele.
graphed the President the night before,
asking for a reprieve, and statingthat
there were mitigating circumstances.
Lincoln, who was always looking for
an excuse to save a mans life, repriev-
edthem. Gen, Stevenson's headquar-
tiers were nearly q mile from where we
were, and the telegraph Office was at
his headquarters. He had left a
mounted orderly there with instruc-
ton to push through any dispatch
that come. Nothing came until a few
minutes before IL and the orderly
dashed away. He had to go up q
steep hill, nearly half q mile long.
When hereached the top hishorse was
badly winded, and could hardly 90.
He met q citizen IN q good horse, and
without any ceremony pulled the gem
tleman down and mounted the fresh
animal. Half a minutes delay would
have been the last of Messrs. Doane
and Shea.
"a strange part of the story is yet
to come. Some three years afterward
/ met an old telegraph operator in Os-
wego. He vas in Washington in the
winter OF '64 and'65. We got to talk
ing over war matters, and / found
that he remembered the case Itoldyou
about. He was in charge of the wire
leading to Harper's Ferry. He had
heard of the two men to be executed
there, through the operator. They
had discussed the matter over the
wires. Consequently he remembered
the case well. Upon the morning Of
the execution, at 10 o'clock, the dis
patch reprieving the men was handed
him to send out. He turned to his
desk, and what was his horror to find
that he couldn't work the wire. A
storm was in progress or something
else was the matter. At any rate the
wire would not work. There was no
other way Of reaching Harper's Ferry.
The dispatch he didn't get off until
just before IL, but, as it happened, in
good time; but he told me it was an
experience he would never forget. Al
though it was q pretty close shave for
the two Irishmen, and | don't believe
they ever forgot the accident either"
q