The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-01-25
ONE MOMENT TOO LATE.
The History of a Confederate Military
Execution.
(From the Philadelphia Times.)

(From the Philadelphia Times.)
The scene of my tale opens in little
cabin in the AL; ghany Mountains, in
West Virginia, twenty-five years ago. A
woman was anxiously bending over a
sick child tossing apd mutsering in the
unrest of fever. Every now and then
the word ''father" escaped the chid's
lips.
"The child grieves powerfully after
her father" said one of the neighbors
who had come to help the mother nurse
the i'll child.
"That she does," replied the poor
mother, with weary sigh. "He always
set world of store by her It almost
broke her little heart when he went to
the war, and since she has been sick she
has begged for him the pitifulest you
ever heard"
"Can't he come to see her?" asked the
neighbor.
ssNo," replied the woman; sshis colo
mel said he couldn't be spared now. He
had furlough last summer If be just
had known about this and waited. Seems
to me she might ges well if she could
just see her father, and it wouldn't fall
SO hard on me, either, if he was here
Several days went by, and little Sallie,
the sick child grew worse. At length
the mother wrote an urgent letter to her
husband, out of the agony of her heart,
imploring him to come home at all costs
if he wished to see his little daughter
alive again. Once more be asked for q
furlough, and again he was refused. An
engagement was pending. The enemy's
force was greatly superior to ours, and
not man could he spared.
John Ball was brave man; he had
proved that in many an engagement.
Nothing could have tempted him to
swerve from his duty as soldier, except
his frantic desire to see his child once
more. Under this pressure he left the
camp against orders, and fled to his rude
cabin among the Alleghanies JUST in time
to see little Sallie's face light up once
more with e CLEAN Of joyful recognition,
and to receive her parting kiss. To do
this he had incurred the brand Of de-
serter, and had taken his life in his own
hands.
RETURNING TO THE RANKS.
Scarcely were the child's remains in
tered than he, without waiting to COM
fort his sorrow stricken wife, started
back to camp, intending to throw him
self on the mercy of his commander Tor
exculpation OF any ofense committed
under so overwhelming pressure; OF,
if the worst came to the worst, to meet
his fate like man. But new compl-
cation had arisen. During the few days
he had been absent the men on the other
side had changed their position like the
figures on chess board, and the enemy's
troops had come between him and his
command. He travelled through cold,
drenching rain, sleeping at night in a
forest to lessen the risk of falling into
the enemy's hands.
He began to feel strange stupor
creeping over him and was just able to
drag himself to the house of friendly
countryman, who took him in and kept
him for the next few weeks, during
which time he lay i'll Of pneumonia.
Just as he was beginning to convalesce,
and before he had had time to volun-
tarily give himself up, he was arrested as
q deserter. His wife followed him to
camp and pleaded for him, telling the
cause of his desertion with all the elo-
quence that strong emotion could dictate
and taking all the blame on herself, In
vain; he was tried and condemned by
every rule of war as a deserter. The
commanding officer, however, made this
concession to the agonized wife-he
would defer the execution ior three days,
so as to give her time to go to Rich
mond and implore the clemency of
President Davis, which was now the sole
hope for the prisoners life.
GOING TO PLEAD FOR HER HUSBAND.
Like Jeanie Deans going to plead be-
fore the Queen for her sisters life, the
simple mountain woman went to the
Confederate capital and pleaded her
husbands cause before Jefferson Davis.
She had it in her power to prove that he
had shown himself a brave soldier, that
he had not LIT the camp from cowardice
or from detection to the cause, but from
his overwhelming love for his dying
child and his intense desire to see her
once more before she passed away.
Davis finally granted the mans pardon,
and drew up paper to that effect, which
he gave to messenger, directing him
to take the next train and carry the dis
patch to the prisoners commanding
officer. He moreover gave the woman q
duplicate paper to make her husbands
release the more certain.
Joyfully she started off with the pre-
cious document that was to carry life and
liberty to her beloved husband. The
cars seemed all too slow for her burning
impatience. The train was always
heavily loadeI in those days; there was
SO much travelling to and fro, so much
shifting of the troops from one point to
another. From hard and constant use
during the war the railroads got into
very bad order, SO that accidents and
detentions were quite frequent occur
rences, especially toward the close OF the
war. On this fateful trip one of these
frequent accidents occurred during the
night. 1t was not very disastrous acci-
dent, but still it occasioned tee deten-
ton Of the train until day before the
necessary repairs could be made.
NEARING CAMP.
It seemed as if "the stars in their
courses fought against" the condemned
prisoner. His wife wrung her hands
with frantic impatience during the de-
tention, but there was no help for it.
She had to endure it, though each mo-
ment seemed to her an hour. At length
cha vas sneedinn on her Way again. and