The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-27

concerning whom authentic informa-
ton had been received at the war depart
ment and whose description was furnished
for Wells guidance. He was to do him no
injury, but to make sure of his person and
of all papers that he might have upon him,
and to bring him under q sufficient guard
directly to the war department., and Gen.
Augur was directed to be present there in
order to assist in the examination of the
prisoner and to verify any dispatches that
might be found.
Accordingly, Just before midnight a car
riage drove up to the door of the war de-
partment with a soldier on the box and two
soldiers on the front seat within, while the
back seat was occupied by Gen. Wells and
the prisoner. OF course nc one but the two
or three who had been in the secret was
aware that this gentleman had walked
few hours previously ant that the paper
which was the cause of the entire
ceremony had been sewed up in
his clothes just before his de-
parture. Gen. Wells reported that,
while the prisoner had offered no resistance,
language, and that he boasted ~fiercely of
his devotion to the confederacy and his de-
testation of the union. During the exami-
nation which now followed he said nothing
except to answer a few questions, but his
bearing, patient, %scornful, u%ndaunted, was
InHG OF an luCOnpAFhDle HCJOr. IL MT.
Clay and Mr.. Benjamin had been present.
they would have been more than ever GER
tain that he was one of their noblest Young
men. His hat, boots, and other articles of
his clothing were taken off one by one. The
hat and BOOTS were first searched, and
finally the dispatch WAS found in his trous-
ers and taken out. Its nature and the
methods of its capture were stated in a
memorandum which was drawn up on the
spot and signed by Gen. Augur and Gen.
Wells and one or two other officers who
were there for the purpose, and then the
dispatch bealer himself was sent off to the
old Capitol prison.
The dispatch, with the documents of veri-
%hcation, WAS handed over to Mr.. Seward
for use in London. and Il day or two after
ward the warden of the old Capitol prison
WAS dire oted to give the di~spatch-bearer an
opportunity of escaping, with Il prope show
of attempted prevention. One afternoon
he walked into my office. All" said l,
answered. Did they shoot Mt you?'
'.,rhey did and din't hit me, but l didn't
think that would answe the purpose. So
/ shot myself through the arm" He showed
rue the wound. 1t was through the tleshy
part of the forearm, and due care had been
taken not to break any bones. A more de-
libetate and less dangerous wound could
not be, and yet it did not look trivial.
He WAS ordered to get away to Canada as
promptly as possible, 30 that he might OK
plain the loss of his dispatch before it
should become known there by any other
means. An advertisement Offering $4,000
for his recapture was ut once inserted in
the Now York Herald. the Pittsburg Jour
ma! and the Chicago Tribune. No one ever
appeared to claim the reward. but in about
II week the prisoner returned from Canada
with new dispatches that had been intrust-
ed to him. They contained nothing of i'm
p%ortanoe, however. The wound in his arm
had borne testimony in his favor. and the
fact that he had hurried through to st.
Catherine's without having it dressed. WAS
thought to afford conclusive evidence OF his
fidelity to tho confederate cause.
The war was soon ended after this adyen-
ture and, M his Services had been of very
great value. a new place, with the assn ance
OF lasting employment, WIS found for the
youn man III one of the bureaus of the
war department. He did not remain there
very long, however, and l don't Know what