Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-03-14

KINDLlNG 4 FIRE IN THE BOX CAR.
watching. Then the ineNorable smoke Of
the foe was seen; the pin connecting the
burning car with our engine was pulled
out and we slowly moved on. Too clearly
we saw the ruin of all our hopes! TO wait
the coming of our foes was vain. They
were now near at hand, and we could see
their guns, with which they would be able
to fight us at long range. The car which,
if the day had been dry, would long before
this have filled the bridge with n mass Of
roaring flame, Was burning faster than
the bridge. TO take it to another bridge
was useless, for the drenching rain would
have given it little chance TO burn away
from the shelter Of the bridge. Very
sadly we left the tall column of smoke
behind. The pursuers saw the car, and
realizing how serious their loss would be
if it was permitted to consume the bridge,
they pushed right into the smoke and
showed the burning car on to Ringgold,
but short distance ahead, where it was
left to smoke and sputter in the rain on
the side track
We were now on what proved to be our
last run. have often been asked if this
day was not one of great fear and terror
on the part of those who were engaged in
the race. For my own part, 1 cannot
honestly lay claim to any greater fear
than I had often felt in ordinary military
service. No matter what happened, there
was the assurance that we still had one
resource-the power to turn around and
attack the pursuing foe. From the be-
ginning, such u conflict had been present
to my mind as matter of course. Be
fore leaving camp, this had been reckoned
u natural consequence of our position. 1t
had been frequently talked of among the
men, and not one OF them seemed to re-
gard it with any more dread than all or
binary battle. We had been careful to
select large rcvolvers for use, and not for
show, and when we found the enemy
gaining upon us, or our leaders, plans for
their destruction failing, we only felt or
said that our time to strike would soon
come. We did not have the boastful feel
ing that we were an ovcrmatch for
large body of southern soldiers, for we all
knew how desperately they could and
often did fight; but Of the ordinary citi-
zens gathered up, as we presumed our
pursuers were, or even of conscripts, VIC
had no great fear. That we had not our
accustomed arms was q serious disadyan-
tage, but this could be remedicd by get
ting into close quarters; and we trusted
that our leader, who had shown such
wonderful skill in management, would be
able to put us within short range OF the
pursuing train, where we felt sure that
we could quickly give good account OF It,
Probably the fact of Andrews having
never been in battle, but always engaged
in schemes where his own cool daring and
sagacious planning counted for everything,
and mere force for nothing, made him
hesitate to order an attack which would
throw aside all these qualities and deter
mine the issue by simple fighting. A time
was near when we would firmly have dis
puted our leaders, command if there had
been an officer of any authority among us
who could have been substituted for him;
but not until Andrews himself had def
nitely abandoned his authority.
Many times the question has been
asked: "Why did you not reverse your
engine, and, jumping off, let it drive back
at the enemy" What good could that
have done? If their engine and our own
had been destroyed, as was very probable,
together with considerable number OF
lives, we would only have been where we
were before we captured the engine at all,
except that the whole country would have
been aroused and our disguise thrown off.
The second train would have been on the
ground in Il few minutes and the power OF
pursuit would have been undiminished
We had no wish to sacrifice our own en-
gine until the last effort possible had been
made. 10 merely destroy had no charm
for us, when that destruction could
neither promote our escape nor serve a
,oi1it,rIy p1,rDoco