The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-09
QUEER EPISODES OF WAR TINES
Some Interesting Things at q Hang
ing and after.


try to live ike gentlemen and get fat and
grow strong on a little pork and fewer
beans, Gen W compelled Martin and
NE 70 assist at 8 hanging very much
against our inclination, aud the lesson was
50 deeply impressed upon our minds that
have ever since carefully avoided all others
In my way. II happened in this wise:
a young soldier belonging 10 a Kentucky
regiment. while hunting in the vicinity OF
TIE camp. shot e hog roofing in the woods.
Inc owner OF the hog, man nearly 1J
years Of age, reprovsd him for IL, saying
that he was always willing 70 obIige the
soldiers IN the way OF milk and butter and
garden truck, such as he could spare from
MS own needs. but that he did not want his
hogs Shot down IN that way. As he turned
70 go back to his house, near By, the young
man shot him through the back, killing him
Instantly.
The soldier was arrested, tried before a
general court martial and sentenced to be
hanged His regiment peIitioned the
general to have the sentence C angel to
shooting, saYiag that 1t would be disgrace
TO them to have one Of their number die
such an ignominiOus death. General
W was iniexible, and refused to make
any change in the sentence-shOoting was
too good for the scoundrel! Very soon after
his refusal reports began 70 spread among
the troops that some lively times might be
expected at the hanging, as the Kentucky
| regiment had made 10 their minds to have
the best Of the matter by shooting the muir
| derer themselves. even If they had 20 do so
on the scaffold. The only effect of these
rumOrs upon the general was to strengthen
his determination to give the Kentuczians
taste Of regular army discipline.
When the time came for carrying the SEN
tence into execution he caused scaffold 70
be erected on their own parade ground, in
Of fhsarr fzor and tod
ment to turn out in fighting order, with
forty rounds of ball cartridge 70 each man,
proceed to the BardstJwn jail. bring the
murderer TO the place selected for his exc
cution. and hang him then and there by the
neck, according to law and precede 1t, until
he was dead. When we reached the camp
| on our return with the prisoner we found
the whole division drawn up, closed in mass
without arms, formed into a great square
around and facing the scaff I'D, with the
Kentucky regiment right in front of it.
The prisoner, supported on each side by
two executioners. regularly detailed Oy
name in special order for the performance of
a military duty, assembled the scaff I'D, took
his place on the trap door, and while the
necessary preparations were going on our
regiment formed into hollow square, with
the scaffold in the center, facing outward
toward the rest Of the division. All the
arrangements having been completed, our
LOAD with ball cartridges-loa!n
The ringing metallic sound of the RAM
mers striking against the rifle barrels in
driving the bullets home and returning TO
their places in the gun stocks after the load
ing was done, came back in answer.
Ready"
The whole regiment, 1000 strong, cast
about as one man, making quarter face to
the right, and the rifles were brought to
full cock with two sharply defined clicks.
short pause, and the voice was heard
once more, not quick and naughty as in the
word OF execution OF military command,
but solemn and mournful:
"Executioners Of the law. perform your
duty"
the sound Of sharp blow with a Ratchet
upon wood was heard. The trap door upon
which the prisoner stood gave way from
under his feet and he shot through the open
trap with sudden, jerky tightening of the
rope around his throat sickening to behold.
Justice was satisfied; the murderer had
been hanged in accordance with the law of
the land, aud not man In the vast assem-
bly,, hushed in solemn silence, dared even
wink, with our loaded rifles staring them in
the face.
The formation of our regiment with a
hollow square ready for action, inclosing
the scaffold and facing away from it, had
| brought its line officers in firing position in
rear of It's. double ranks with the field
officers and the staff-Martin and myself
back of them, and still nearer the scaffo'd.
We stood, in fact, within a few feet of the
platform, and could have touched the MUIR
derer as he swung in his death agonies
underneath after falling through the trap.
Neither of us two had seen a hanging
before, and we were interested lockers on
We wanted to see all there was in it, and
we did SO with vengeance AS the sick
ening snap of the breaking neck struck our
ears, and the convulsive movements and
tremors of the suspended body began with
} gyratory motion even more horrible than
the snap, | saw Martins face grow white as
chalk, and felt myself sickening, with my
ears Uuzzing and all the world about me
turn lg side down. We realed like
drunken men, and had to clasp our arms
around the posts supporting the platform
to keep us from falling.
1t so happened that the curiosity of
burly six-footer OF an freshman, IN the rear
rank of the line in our immediate front, got
the better of his discipline; and turning MS
head over his left shoulder to look at the
struggles Of the dying man, he discovered
our predicament and tbs white faces we
were trying so hard to hide.
BE jabbers!" he muttered loud enough
for us to hear, land it's nice set of staff
officers we have to lead us into battle with
the lnemy, keeling over like schoolgirls at a
hanging To - with them, | say!n
Neither Of us replied; we were both too
sick to do 50; but | saw wicked flash in
Martins eye. and he turned his head to take
a good look at the man as if to remember
him.
When the murderer was pronounced dead
by the medical officers detailed for that
purpose, deep grave was dug under the
platform, IN which he was laid coffinless,
the grave refilled on a level with the
ground, and the scaffold taken apart and
carried off. All the regiments in the divis-
ion, ours leading, then wheeled into column
of companies at the word of command, and
with the bands playing quickstep.
marched over the grave before breaking off
to their respective camps. But long before
the last regiment had passed over it. the
, freshly turned up soil, packed solid with
the tramp of so many feet, was fresh no
longer and the grave had disappeared for
ever from the eyes OF many.
Some time after this, when we got beyond
Bowling Green and struck the retreating
enemy's rear, our regiment happened to be
in advance, holding the skirmish line. The
firing was sharp and the bullets buzzed like
swarms of bees around our ears. 1t was all
that we could do to hold our own, and more
than once the line came near breaking. The
field aud staff were on foot, and in the very
! hottest mart of the fight Martin broLxe awa W