The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-01-20

all Tue IUuo clOQueUcb CDaC SLfUuS
emotion could dictate, aud takins
all The blame on himself. In vain
he was tiied and condemned by ev
cry rule of war as a deserter. TIL,
commanding officer, however, made
this concession to the agonized wifi,
he would defer the execution TO-
three days, ST. as to give her time Il
go to Richmond and implore tn,
clemency of President Davis, whicl
was now the sole hope for the plis
oneI's life.
; GOING TO oPLEADFoR HER HUSBAND
Like Jennie Deans going to pleat
before the Queen for her sister,
lite, the simple mountain womal
went TO the Confederate capital ant
pleaded her husbands cause before
jefferson Davis. She bad il in hel
power TO prove that lie had been ;
brave soldier; that be bad not lrl
the camp from cOwardice, or iron
detection to the cause, but from his
his overwhelming affection for bis
dying child and his intense desire
to see her once more before she
passed away. Davis finally grant
ed the mans pardon and drew up ii
paper to that effect, which he gave
to a messenger, directing them to
take the next train and carry the
dispatch to the prisoners command
ing officer. He, moreover, gave the
woman duplicate paper, to make
her husbands release the more Ger.
tain.
Joyfully she started off with the
precious document that was to car.
ry lie and liberty TO her beloved
husband. The cars seemed too
slow for her burning impatience.
The train was always heavily load
ed in those days; there was so much
travelling to and fro, SO much shift
ing OF the troops from Que point to
another. From hard and constant
use during the war, the railroads
got into very bad order, so that ac-
cidents and detention were quite
frequent occurrences, especially To-
ward the close of he war. On this
feal ful trip Que OF desc frequent
accidents occurred during the night.
1t was not a very disastrous acci
dent, but still 1t occaSiOued the de-
tention of the tram until day, before
the necessary repairs could be
made.
NEARING CAMP.
1t seemed as if "the stars in their
courses fought against" the con.
demned prisoner. His wife wrung
her hands with frantic impatieuce
during the detention, but there was
no help for it. She had to en- lure
il, though each moment seemed to
her an hour. At length she was
speeding on her way again; aud III
IA tew hours more she reached her
destination. She and DAVIS mes
senger started together in wagon
for the camp, urging the driver on
to almost frantic haste. As they
ueared the camp the sound of Il
volley of guns made the poor wife
Shiver aud turn pale. They reached
the camp. She could not ask a
question, but the messenger request
ed that they should be conducted
to tue commanders tent. Silently
she handed him tue Presidents
paper. 1t was too late; the terri
BILE truth was borne to her without
a word being spoken. With Il
heartrendIng shrek she fell insen-
sible to the ground. Tenderly the
brave bit stern men around her
lifted her up and administered to
her, and tears stood in MANY a vet
eran's eyes over the solrow stricken
woman.
The commanding officer had de-
ferred the execution three days,
and even late in The afternoon OF
tue fourth day. Then thirteen men
from another regiment thaa john
BaIl's were chosen, and twelve OF
them were given muskets, though
only one of these muskets had shot
in 1t. The thirteenth maH was held
in reserve in case of the first shot
not doing Its work effectually, aud
to render the scene more narrowing
this actually proved TO be tue case,
so the thirteenth man was called
on to give tue death wound to John
Ball. THIS mau declared aiterward
TO a friend that this was the most
terrible moment in bis lite, and that
he would rather have undergone
death himself than to be called on
to fulfill such Il task. / have given
a fictitious name to the prisoner,
but in all other respects | have ad-
hered to facts.
THE WIPES FATE.
When the wife recovered from
her swoon her BRAN VAS so derang-
ed by the terrible blow thst she
seemed mercifully unable to realize
or clearly recall tue tragedy that
had befalleu her. Alternate fits of
wild excitement and gloomy apathy
succeeded each other. Sue slipped
away out of camp and instinc,iyely
found her way back to her humble
cabin, and alter piniug there a few
weeks she was one morning found
lying dead on the grave of little
Sallie.
Tie delegate FROM Idaho is op-