The Portland daily press., 1892-06-07

$50 you see, Howard" the prisoner
began, with 9 manner less troubled than
that of his visitor, 81 ana in mighty
bad box, and reckon it'll be about i'm
possible to get me out of it. Yet, as true
as God is my judge, though my case
looks black enough and the court that
tried me may have meant to do right, l
am neither a spy nor murderer. The
fact is, was shot out in the hills by one
of Eli Murray's men just as was think
ing of coming home and taking the
oath, for I haven't been feeling at all
well since / caught a severe cold after
swimming the Cumberland and travel
ing for days with frozen clothes, after
Bragg's retreat" and he was seized with
another fit of coughing, and to stop it he
drank from canteen that General Boyle
had sent him and which did not contain
water.
Rogers was killed over at Bardstown
on the fifteenth of last September" said
Captain Forbes. Where were you then?"
"On the Holston, up near Zazenell, on
the Virginia line"
Can you prove that?"
Il could if | had chance"
What do you mean?"
you know Lieutenant Bowen, of your
regiment"
81 should; he is my cousin"
We'll. captain, on the sixteenth of
September captured Lieutenant Bowen
on the Holston and he is now a prisoner
in the Confederacy. IF he could be COM
1<r T
have said, even though he may not think
very kindly of me for the trick played
him at that time" said the prisoner.
Captain Forbes was startled. This
was the first news he had had of his gal
liant comrades capture, and there was
that in the prisoners manner as he told
his story that led him to believe that
Bowen had been deceived by trick
that strictly honorable soldiers would
not have descended to; yet in considers
ton of this mans situation, and particu-
iarly for the sisters sake, he made no
further inquiry on this point. In re-
Spouse to Campbel's question as to
what he expected to do to save him
from the gallows Captain Forbes rose
and said:
q will act on suggestion given me
by Miss Jennie, and will at once tele-
graph my friends Judge Speed and Cen
eral Holt, asking them to intercede to-
night with the presidentf for areprieve."
The captain was about to hurry back
to the telegraph Office, which was in
General Boyle's quarters, when the
prisoner, with quick glance about him,
bent over and whispered, ''Have you a
pocketknife?"
Il have" and on the instant the cap
tain inserted his hand into his pocket
and was about to draw out the knife,
when something in the mans pinched
face and eager eyes attracted his atten-
ton, and he said:
cit is against the rules to permit you
to have knife"
For Gods sake, Howard for the
memory of old times, let me have It'll 1t
is the disgrace of the gallows that cuts
me and is killing poor Jennie"
Captain Forbes refused to give him
the knife, and then, to be rid of his i'm
portunities, he hurried out and went at
once to the telegraph Office, where he
found the distracted sister and the sorely
troubled commandant of the camp.
General Boyle" said the captain, as
he sat down to write, 81 want you to
join me in sending dispatches to Speed
and Holt"
To this the general assented, but the
messages were yet wet when the mill
tary telegraph operator began working
his switches, and the clicking that had
been going on without interruption came
to sudden stop.
What is up" asked the general in
alarm.
st is the storm, sir" replied the
opeator.
well, what of it?"
1.-THE direct lines from Cincinnati to
Washington are down, and the storm
that has been raging over the Ohio
valley today is moving east across the
Alleghanies."
my God!" exclaimed the excited
general, "What is to be done?"
"ls it necessary to send the messages
tonight, sir?" asked the operator.
Before the general or Captain Forbes
could reply, Miss Campbell, who had
been listening with an awful earnestness
in her beautiful pale face, sprang to her
feet, and laying her hand on the key
board as if she would send the message
herself she cried out:
lit is for a human life, mani Storm
or no storm, the messages must go!'
The operator, who thoroughly appre-
ciated the situation, stroked his forehead
nervously; then, as if struck with a
sudden inspiration, he said:
81 will try to communicate by way of
the northv'
"By way of the northy' echoed the
general.
Eyes, if I can get command of the line
from Cincinnati to Cleveland, and thence
to Buffalo, can send the message round
by New York and so to Washington.
But of course it will take much longer
time, if can do it at all, !" and the young
man in his eagerness threw off his coat
| and began working with an energy that