Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-09-18
SAVED HER FATHER.
How . Brave Girl Put to Shame Fl
Blood-Thirsty Guerriilas.


How . Brave Girl Put to Shame Fifty
Blood-Thirsty Guerriilas.
The neighborhood of Union Depot, Tenn,
was distracted with feudal troubles during
the war, says correspondent of the Phila-
delphia Inquirer. Colonels Snap, LedhetteE
and Leith, of the Confederate forces, with
their partisan bands, ravaged the country
from one end to the other, and were met
with stern resistance by the Union Home
guards. At the beginning of the hostill-
ties the bridge across the Halston, above
Union Depot, was fixed upon for destruc-
ton by the Confederate officials.
A band of men under Colonel Ledhetter
was sent up from Knoxville to fire the
structure. They arrived in the town just
after sunset, and proceeding to the bridge
found it guarded by two men. One of these
guards ran away when the Confederates be-
gan to smear the bridge with coal Oil, but
the other remained, and, shotgun in hand,
opposed the marauders. AS they advanced
he retreated, fighting them step by step,
and several of the guerrillas, shot dead,
fell from the bridge into the turbulent
stream and were carried on down toward
the Tennessee.
Finally the brave defender was overtalken
and one of the Confederates, who knew
him, cried out, with musket cooked and pre-
sented to his heart:
Surrender, or you are dead man"
'Never," cried the watchman, and he dis
charged his shotgun full at the advancing
mans heart.
The Confederate fell upon the ties, and
his body, resting for a moment, finally
tumbled into the river below. the burly
watchman's gun was empty and he had shot
away all Of his ammunition. He dubbed
his gun, and in the lurid light, already far
ing about him from the fired bridge, he
faced his enemies, resolute, defiant TO the
last. They rushed upon him and he was
overpowered. His gun was wrested from
his hands, and stout rope was wound
about his body, fast inclosing his arms
What shall we do with him ln asked the
leader.
He should hangl Hang himr'' echoed
the chorus
ITO the cedar grove p' was the order, and
| those grim guerrillas, with the bound
watchman in their midst, marched back
| across the bridge, now sheet of fame, and
through the town, to a dense grove of
cedars on the ridge beyond.
Here they halted, and the leader of the
band, addressing the prisoner, said:
Its the verdict of the crowd that you be
hanged. Have you any thing to say!'
"Nothingl' was the defiant answer. "You
are whelps and 1 am a Union man. Do
your worst"
"String him upr' ordered the leader, and
rope was produced and knotted about the
| patriots neck.
He was allowed a minute for prayer, and
his white lips were inaudibly voicing last
petition to the great Father, when slen-
der, girlish figure, attired in snowy white,
burst through the grim throng and threw
her arms around the doomed mans neck.
With nervous fingers she undidthe moose,
and, forcing the stern-visaged crowd
aside, cried out in daughterly indignation
"For shamel You are fifty to one, and
| you would commit murder. This is my fa-
ther. If you hang him you shall hang me
also"
The guerrillas were abashed at this bold
defense, and for time said nothing. Final
ly one man spoke, and he evidently voiced
the sentiments of his fellows, for his words
were wildly cheered.
"Now,n said he, ''let's adjourn. JEFF Davis
is free man"
''Ayei aver was the answer, and they
skunk away, leaving father and daughter tc
make their way back to the little town
which now was photographed against the
sky's background by the lurid glare of the
burning bridge.
Father and daughter still live in Unior
Depot, and every night the brave girl, now
a matron with children about her knees
| gathers up her two bright tin buckets anC
| journeys to the spring below the town
chatting gayly with her neighbor women