The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-08


Pike was not in camp. She was told
that, on account of the fate of his unfor-
tunate brother, he had been given twen-
ty-four hours leave. She went back to
the jail, but Pike had not been there.
With her breaking heart growing heavier
at every step and her brain reeling for
the want of sleep, the poor mother began
to pace the streets. Knoxville was to her
a bewilderingly large place, and the
crowds of men, many of them drunk,
added to her perplexity and confusion.
Not knowing where she was going,
but feeling that she must keep moving
or die, she wandered down to little
street near the river where the houses
were occupied by poor whites and free
negroes. 1t was growing dusk, when
a colored woman met her and asked If
she was Mrs. Hurd, Jacks mother.
'sIm Jacks pore heartbruk mother"
was theresponse.
size been sarchin fo' yeh,' said the
black woman. 'fFoller me-"
Mrs. Hurd followed her into the back
room of a long, rambling shanty, and
here she met Pike with number of
men IN gray uniforms, and other men in
butternuts, but all looking Enthusiastically
like mountaineers. Pike kissed his
mother, and Sam Mcneil, of Jacksboro,
handed her his canteen, and said the
stuff was good and to take a big, re-
freshing drink, which she did, though
neither herself nor her boys were adj
dicted to4the use of liquor.
"AIleof we uns har, 'cept Pike" said
Sam Mcneil, sis conscripts, and rather
agin the wah. But that amt har nor
thar at this time. We uns may be shot,
If so we uns holds on, but thar amt no
danjah Of bein hanged tomorrow, ez
Jack. Hurd shorely viii be eff sosbe nothin
is done to help him outen this id bad
hole. So hits to talk hit ovah that we
uns sneaked down har. But I reckon
Pike he'd bettah tell yo', fo' he knows
that all the friends of we uns amt in
this room, though I'll say the ten har
hez allowed to take big resks tonight,
and if so be the plan works ez she should
Jack Hurdll be a free man in the noun
tains afoah sun up, and he won't be
alone by hissef, nuther."
give seen lots of the mountain BOYS"
said Pike hoarsely, "men ez is into the
wah, like me, coz they feel bound that
way, and men ez was dragged in, like
hunted niggahs, by jeff Davis houns;
and we uns hez all agreed that Jack
shouldn't hang. And mother yo' must
go back to the prezen tonight and whis-
per to him that we uns hez swore that
fo' the honah Of the mountains my
brother can't hang. And by Cd! we
uns'll keep our word eff so be we hez to
fab the jail and the town"
Pike then went on to explain that be-
tween twelve and one o'clock that night
the guards about the jail would be
quietly overpowered, the jailer would
be forced to surrender the keys, and
then Jack Hurd and all the men held,
because of their devotion to the Union,
would be released, giving them six
hours of darkness in which to get into
the western hills.
This plan staggered Mrs. Hurd. 1t
was d holder scheme than she had
dreamed of, for she had not taken into
account the help she might get from
Union men. But now that Pike and
Jack would be working together she felt
that nothing could resist them.
The men prevailed on her to eat some
thing, and when she was ready to go
back to the prison, which was about
eight o'clock, the same colored woman
was on hand to guide her.
Without any delay she was conducted
to her son, and as she neared the cell in
which hewas confined, she saw a brighter
light. than that burning in the corridor,
and she heard voice that she did not
recognise chanting hymn she had
learned as a girl up at Tazewell-
Here bring your wounded hearts,
Here tell your anguish;
Earth hath nosorrow
That heaven cannot heal.
She crept uptoth cell door, and look
ing through the grating she saw an old
man with long gray hair and kindly
face praying with his thin hands clasped
and his closed eyes appraised to the cell
ing, while Jack sat on the cot, with his
rightahand pushed into the breast of his
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