The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-10-05
HUMAN MATCHES.
The Wonderful Popularity of Miss
issippi Family.

VI tII0 CICy OII VIC OTOWu Hill rOaO
is a Mississippian by birth. Hi.
father was a Shareholder and a be
lever in the cause of the South
Politics led to separation of the
family, one of the sons who stoutly
stood for the Union leaving the pa
ternal roof and coming North in his
teens. When Lincoln called fol
men this son was prompt to respond
In the service to which he thus gave
himself he became a Major, and il
is through him that this story has
its being. During the war he learned
that his father and brothers had en-.
listed in the Confederate armies
and when the Major with his com.
pany was forming part of the in
vestigating lines that held the starv.
ing Mississippians within the forti.
fications of Vicksburg, he wondered
if any of his own kith and kin were
in front Of his guns.
II have just received word that
nay old father is dead" he said.
HE left paper which was to be
opened after his death. It is a
strange document, as you will see.
In it he asks for a reconciliation OF
his children, estranged since 1850
by the war. One clause, directing
particular attention to me, says:
Il cannot go to my grave without
asking your forgiveness for sup
pressing so long my parental love.
There is no reason why our family
should longer live apart. Our hot
Southern blood explains our con-
duct. There is but one act of ex-
cessive vindictiveness that needs to
be explained.
al was in charge Of a battery at
Vicksburg in front of your COM
mand. On the 2Sth of June you
made an assault upon the works.
We were short of battery supplies.
Our last fuse had been fired. We
had neither torch nor match. You
know, perhaps, that your sister Kate,
then a young girl, followed me all
through the war. She would not
leave me. You know also the pc
culiar physical energy and subtle
force that characterize our blood.
If you will go back to the early days
before we had heard much of
electricity or 'spiritualism,' you
will remember how all of you chill
dren used to rock tables and chairs
by a power you could not explain,
and how Kate used to comb sparks
off her hair, to the terror Of the
colored people.
"sWeli, in our desperation one
day in the trenches, | determined
to have Kate fire the cannon if the
worst came. By rubbing her hands
or feet over rough cloth or by
stroking her hair she could charge
herself with electricity and dis
charge it off the end Of her finger
in sparks. When you came up
against our breastworks that day
{ we did not then know that you led
the column we were without means
of firing upon you.
Kate | called.
"'Yes, SIR she answered, compre-
without further words.
Stepping up to one of the guns, she
peered through the portfolio at the
advancing column of bluecoats. /
saw her turn pale and falter, and
her eye was fixed upon an object
l looked and saw you in
the van of your ranks, fairly in
front of our cannon. | was dazed,
but only for an instant. Our men
were beginning to yield, and your
troops meeting feeble resistance,
we're coming on triumphantly.
"'Do your duty, Kate, l said, and
The girl, setting her teeth together,
rubbed her hand twice over her
rough jacket, and lightly struck the
DID fashioned cannon right at the
;ouchhole, where a little pile of
powder had been poured. There
vas an instant discharge, and re-
;ult-confusion in the Federal lines.
al do not know, unless Provi-
lence came directly to your aid,
low you escaped. But l loved my
State, and we thought we were right,
BOY. You need never to have known
his, for few saw it, and they are
zone. But a fathers returning af-
ection compels me to tell all. In
he fierce love we had for our cause
We would have sacrificed you. |
hank God that in the fearful rain
# shot that day you were spared.
Kate lives to join in this request
hat you forgive
There is nothing in this to ex-
lite any incredulity," the Major
aid, in speaking of the letter, My
ather is right. All our family are
luman electric batteries. Let me
i've you an illustration
The Major sat down, pulled off a
hoe and stocking, and scraped his
ARE foot on the carpet few times.
turning on a gas jet, he took his
niger and applied it at the gas vent.
instantly the gas ignited from the
park that was given off his finger:
"I havap't done that for years. |