Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-11-15
CAPTURE And ESCAPE.
A History of the Experiences of
Doc" Jones During the War
of the Rebellion, as told
by Himself.

| selves in some brush near rnvine.
After Wood, ns usual, had raked n lot
OF wet leaves together, we crawled in
for the day, and commenced gnawing
our ham; in fact Wood had already
commenced ON IL by pinchcs before we
stopped.
learned something in these travels
that could hardly believe, and that is,
n lot of wet leaves are warmer than dry
ones, II you have enough to keep the
wind out.
We had not lain long before we were
quite comfortable, with the exception
of being hungry. We were well sup
piled with meat, but we had not so
much as toothpick to cut IL with.
Wood commenced gnawing at the end
of the ham, and after eating while
he passed it over to me to gourmandize
on, and so we kept it up for an hour or
more, before we had sufficient TO satisfy
the craving OF appetite. 1t was u
comical picture to see Wood with his
face entirely buried in the ham, and
hear him champing like an animal; /;
but he certainly was entertained with
the same edifying amusement when
I had the ham in my possession.
The storm Of the night before was Of
very short duration, and we had n very
pretty day. We could have enjoyed
ourselves very Liccly had it not been
for the fact that within few rods of
us man was chopping wood. This
was matter of very much concern to
us. We had no fear of his coming our
way, as we were in very secluded
spot; but the fact of our having eaten
the ham was productive of an irresisti-
BILE thirst, and we were compelled
several times during the day to go to
the ravine for water. Besides the man
had with him little dog that seemed
to be an excellent hunter as he was
continually on the scent of something,
and barking most of the time. We,
of course, feared he would come across
our trail and give the alarm; however
he was very good little dog and did
not give us any trouble. | got very
little sleep that day and Wood did not
get any; he never did when there was
any danger.
AS soon as 1t was dark enough we
began our tenth nights march, which
proved to be a good one for us. There
were no surprises for us with the eX-
ception OF herd of deer coming across
our path. We were following path,
when we suddenly heard tremendous
cracking in the brush to our left, when
Wood exclaimed, "what in blazes is
coming now 7" When they came, we
endeavored first to run one way and
then another, in order to get out of the
way, and one of the animals almost ran
over Wood. He said he could feel its
breath in his face. After they had
passed, we sat down and had n hearty
laugh; but we could not imagine what
had frightened the deer so badly as to
make them rush on us in the manner
they did.
Although it was beautiful night,
and quite light, we made very little
progress, owing to the uneaveness of
the country; and we drank water at
every opportunity with nothing but
our ham to eat, We began to fell quite
badly. AS soon as it began to get
light, we arranged for good sleep;
but had some trouble in finding one
suited to travellers OF our pretensions.
We must stop near some water, or we
would perish before night with thirst,
and we kept travelling until the sun
was rising, before We found one. Near
a path going down the foot OF fiat top
we found spring, and within few
rods of 1t under some overhanging
rocks we fixed our bed. We slept
until about 3 p. M, when / was awak-
ened by a reminder from Wood. He
said there was man coming up the
mountain in our direction singing, /
very soon recognized the familiar tune
of Nellie Gray, and the music proceeded
from no mean voice.
Wood saw him n long way off, but as
he approached us we could see that he
was n colored man. He came as far as
the spring, sat down and rested. We
discussed the advisability of making
ourselves known to him. AS we had
gone too far west to reach John Lam
bert's house, we We're very anxious now
to find the man Simpkins, to whom we
had been directed rs being on our
route, and we were surely in his vicin-
ity now, and concluded to address this
colored man and get some instructions.
We feared in hailing him no would get
frightened and run away, and We
agreed that Wood should crawl as close
to him as possible, and If he saw him
unarmed he might not run away.
Wood got so close to him that he
could not run If he had wished to,
as he was rs quick as n flashed and very
active, and the darkey would have had
a hard time in getting away from him.
He told mo afterward that that negro
would have never got away from him
until he had heard who We were and
what We wanted.
AT first the darkey seemed very
much scared; but when he realized
who we were, he was the happiest
negro l ever knew. He gave us very
much information, telling us that
Simpkins lived about six miles from
where We were, at the foot of Wolf
Creek mountain or ridge. He stayed |
with US for some time, and then started |
on his journey to mill some four miles
distant, to get little meal. BY the
time we were done talking with him,
1t was nearly night, and We took up
our march for the eleventh night,
headed for Simpkins.
Va