The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1890-02-07

Ills lace all aglOW WIN enthusiasm, ne |
exclaimed, will show yon what a hot
place / was in" Then in loud tone he |
called out "Smithl Smithp speaking to
another wounded man across the room
who had two good legs under him, "bring
me my coat, if you please" Smith brought |
his coat and the wounded captain held |
pointed out by running his finger through
them, seven bullet holes. ''This'' be said, |
his finger sill lingering in the skirt of his
coat, sis the one that broke my thigh
Then letting the coat drop from his hands
the enthusiasm died out of his face, and
something like sadness taking its place,
he said 81 am afraid shall never be ut
for service again." "but" says he, his face
again lighting up, II mean to save this
coat and will it to my children when /
die" When he paused, 1 told him that
and the doctor; that I had succeed in
smuggling bottle of whiskey through
the guards. | described the search at the
door, and my success as a smuggler, at
which he laughed very heartily. then
slipping the bottle out of my shirt bosom,
under his blanket, left and crawled up
into my bunk, watched him and Smith
and another wounded man who was call
ed up. as they sampled the bottle. Now,
reader, ii you will excuse the digression;
/ will tell you secret. Your whisky in
another mans stomach. who really nee d
it, will make you feel better than if you
had taken 1t into your own stomach. l
speak from experience.
There was little thought of or talked OF
In this second edition OF the Hole of Cal
cutta,but the possibility of escape. Nothing
FEAST BILE occurred to our minds. The up
per story of the building, whose Easements
we occupied, was filled with officers, who,
like us, had come on for exchange and
had been too late, and like us bound for
Fort Delaware and to the same doom with
as of receiving the same treatment that
Strait and his officers were supposed to
be receiving. There wss no cemmunica--
tion between the prisoners in the upper
rooms and the Easements. Three days
after our arrival ut Norfolk, all the pris-
steamer Maple Leaf, bound for Fort Della
ware. Her officers were white men; her
crew consisted of negroes entirely, about
!, Fifty or sixty in number. We were under
care of lieutenant and twelve soldiers
armed with muskets. The two sets of
prisoner mingled and 1t soon became
known that the steamer as to be captur-
ed. A low, bulky, heavy-set man with
iron gray hair and beard was pointed out
as captain, whose orders were to be obey
ed implicitly. He was sailor and had
been capt ured on board and in command
of confed erate gun boat. He was suf-
fering at the time from a severe wound, as
| / after wards learned He had laid his
plans while in prison; had appointed a
staff to assist him and now there was
nothing to 90 but win our crowd to his
purpose, which was an easy job, and by
the aid of is staff officers to assign every
man to his duty. There were thirteen SOL
diers including the lieutenant and about
as many white men, officers of the steam
er. We we're divided into squads
of three, each three to deal with
white man distinctly poin-
ted ont to him. This took about two
thirds of our number-the remaining third
was held together nnder captain to over
awe the crew and give help wherever il
might be needed. The signal of attack
was to be the ringing of the great bell Of
the steamer by onr captain. All these
arrangements were quietly made while
we steamed out of the broad river james
the forts on either side of the channel
and the gun boats were all left to our rear
In front OF us and to our right was Cape
Henry, TO our left Cape Charles. About
the middle of the afternoon, every squad
being as convenient as possible to bis
point of attack, all chatting among them
selves or with the guards as quietly and
pleasantly as if no attack had ever beer
contemplated, suddenly the great bell be-
gan TO rattle as if the ship were on FIRE
or the hour of doom WAS at hand. In thu
twinkling of an eye every squad spran
upon iis man and bore him down upor
! the deck and wr,nched his gun from hi
hand. There was only one blow struck
The squad with which I acted was t.
: seize sentinel at the foot of the gang
= way. Our position WAS unfavorable fo
A verY quick action and our man proved e
4 be stalwart, brawnY Irishman. He was
: brave and put forth all his strength. w,
( could not bring him down nor get posses
Q SION of his musket until one of our fellows
e who had finished his job, came running
: with tausket poised horizontally owe
E his shoulder, stock foremost, and CAV
y him blow between the eyes, which set
r tied him effectually, without doing hin
n any serious injury. In one minutes tim,
o from the ringing of the bell the ship wa
; ours. The crew of negroes surrendered
n without blow. Some of them becam,
so ashy with fear that / thought for
moment they we're going to turn white
They became our willing slaves as Ion!
\ as we had any work for them to do. The
t old Confederate yell" rang out that eve
ming on the Chesapeake as it never will
e again. The ship did not change hel
( course or stop running until night. Th'