The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1888-01-26
ONE MOMENT TOO LATE.
The History of n Confederate Military
Execution.

ONE MOMENT TOO LATE.
The History of Confederate Military
Execution.
(From the Philadelphia Timos)
Tho scene of my tale opens in little
cabin i'll tho All, ghany Mountains, in
West Virginia, twenty-five years ago. A
woman was anXiOusly bonding over q
sick child tossing and muttcring in the
unrest of fever. Every now and then
tho word "fathcr" escaped the child's
lips.
The child grievcs powerfully after
her father, said one of tho neighbors
who had como to help the mother nurse
the i'll child.
"That sho does" replied tho poor
mother, with q weary sigh. "Ho ALWAYS
set a world Of storo by her. 1t almost
broke her little heart when he went to
tho war, and since she has been sick she
has begged for him the pitifulcst you
ever heard"
Cant he come to see hcr?" asked the
neighbor.
"No," replied the woman; "his colo.
mel said he couldn't be spared now. He
had n furlough last summer. If he lust
had known about this and waited. Seems
to me she mi. 1t get well if she could
just sec her father, and 1T wouldn't fall
so hard on me, either, if he was here"
Several days went by, and little Sallio,
the sick child grew worse. At length
the mother wrote an urgent lottcr to her
husband, out of the agony Of her heart,
mploring him to come homo at al costs
II ho wished to &co his little daughter
alive again. Once moro be asked for n
furlou2h, and again he was refused. An
engagement was pending. The cncmy's
force was greatly superior to ours, and
not man could lie spared.
John Ball was brave man; he had
proved that in many an engagement.
Nothing could have tempted him to
swerTc from his duty as Il soldier, except
his frantic desire to see his child once
more. Under this pressure he left the
camp against orders, and fled to lis rude
cabin among tho Allcghanies Just in time
to see little Sullie's face light up once
molc with CLEAN of joyful recognition,
and to receive her parting kiss. TO do
this he had incurrcd tho brand Of de-
GcrtCr, and had taken his hfc in his 2%,n
hands.
RETURNING TO TIE RANKS.
Scarcely were the child's r.mains in
TERED than hc, without waiting to com
fort bis sorrow stricken vile, started
back to camp, intending to throw him
self on the mercy Of his commander for
cXculpatlOn of any oilrnse committed
under SO overwhelming n pressure; or,
II the worst canlc to The worst, to meet
his late like man. Bat new compli-
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 Il chess board, and the cncmy's
troops had come between him and his
command. lie travelled through cold.
drenchlng rain, sleeping Mt night in n
forest to lessen the risk of falling into
the enemy's hands.
lie began to feel strange stupor
creeping over him and was lust able to
drag himself to the house of n friendly
countrymnn, 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 couvalrscc,
and before he had had time to volun-
tanly give himself up, he was arrested as
descrter. His wife followed him to
camp and pleaded Tor him, telling the
cause OF hls dcscrtlOn with all the clo-
quoncc that strong emotion could dictate
and taking aN'the hlamc on herself, In
vain; he was tried and condemned by
every 1ulo OF war as a dcScrtcr. Tho
commanding officer, however, made this
concession to the agonizcd wife-he
would defer the execution tor three dave.
SO as to give her time to go to Rich
mond and lmplorc tho clcmency Of
President Davis, which WAS now the sole
hope for the prisoners life.
GOING TO PLEAD FOR HER HUSBAND.
Ihkc Jeanne 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 1t IN her power to prove thnt he
had shown himself II brave soldier, that
he had not left the camp from cOwarllico
or from detection to the cause, but from
his overwhelming love for his DIVING
enid and his intense desire to sec her
once more before she passed away.
Davis finally granted the mans pardon,
and drew mp paper tO thnt effect, which
he gave to II messenger, directing him
70 take tic next train and carry the dis
pat II TO the prisoner commanding
olhcer. lie moreover gave the woman
duplicate paper to make her husbands
release the more certain.
JOyfully she started off with the pre-
clous document that was to carry life and
liberty to her beloved husband. The
cars seemed all too slow for her burning
lmpaticncc. The train was always
heavily loaard III those days; there was
~ much travelling to and fro, SO much
shifting Of tn" troops from one point TO
another. From hard and constant use
during the war the railroads got into
very bad order, 80 that accidents and
dctcntlonS wcro quite frequent occur
rencc8, especially toward the close Of the
war. On this fatcful tip one Of these
fcqucnt accidents occurred during the
night. 1t was not very disastrous acci-
dent, but still it Occa9iOncd the dctcn-
ton Of the train until day before the
necessary repairs could be made.
NEAIuNG CAMP.
1t seemed as if 'Tho stars in their
courses fought against the condemned
prisoner. His wife wrung her hands
with frantic In PATIENCE during the de-
tcntlOn, but there was no help for it.
She had to endure it, though each mo-
mcnt seemed to her an hour. At length
she was speeding on her way again, and
in few hours more she reached her
dCstinatiOn' She and Davis messenger