The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-12-23
WAR MORIES.
A 81 800 Meal That Was Spoiled by
an Inconsiderate Missile.

an th'ohoii'Tat NIisSlit.
Connected with the Tobacco Ex-
change ut Richmond, Va, is n gentle.
man who, according TO the Detroit Free
Press, was living "under the hill' in
Petersburg during the p~erilous days.
After several shot and shell had passed
over his house, his family left il for
safer quarters. bat n evening decided
to return. Everything was quiet for an
hour, and then u shot came booming
over. This was enough for wife and
children, but the husband got mad and
declared he would stay there that night
if every gun in the Federal intrench-
ments was turned loose upon him. Half
an hour went by, and he was patting
himself on the back over his grit, when
the Fcderals suddenly opened five or six
heavy guns Mt the hill. Shot and shell
roared and Missed and screamed, and the
mans hair began to crawl. He stuck
there, however. until boom! bish crash !
came a canuon ball rs big as his head
plump through one side of the house and
out of the other, and then he flew out
doors and struck a gait just a little faster
than creased lightning. Singularly
enough, that was the only shot which
ever hit the house, though dozens fell
around il.
After Grant had his guns in position,
and more especially after he began
reaching out for the Weldon raiiroad,,
he could have Knocked Petersburg TO
pieces in t~wenty-four hours. He would
probably have done so had there been
any excuse for il, but there was none.
III, r,, Tnl,rnt, linn. ,,.,., d, ,n.1, .n1 -
half away, and Petersburg was only
held by non.combatants. Nevertheless,
Grant did not propose that any one in
reach Of his guns should sleep soundly or
forget his presence. Occasionally shots
were therefore pitched into the city TO
check any enthusiasm, and If anybody
got over an hours sleep at n time il was
considered something to boast of. One
night during n heavy firing TO the left of
the crater, the Federal guns were for a
time so elevated that every missile cleared
the Confederate lines, howled over
Petersburg and fell among the houses
under the hill. One shell entered the
window of a house aud exploded in the
parlor. a part of the front of the house
was blown out, one side demolished, the
chamber floors driven through the roof
and the whole building weakened. The
people had moved out, but left all
their goods aud n dog TO watch them.
No one could say just where the dog was
when the explosion took place, hut he
was not killed.
During the same fire, and five minutes
after a family had taken up their quarters
in bomb proof of the back yard, a she'll
drove in the front door, penetrated the
floor and exploded under the house.
There were five rooms below and four
above. and the explosion shook off every
bit Of plaster and knocked down every
partition in the lower part. The family
well was at the back of the house, and
so much debris was driven into it that
no water could DO got for days.
In the winter of 1864 a citizen who
had Unexpectedly received $4,000 in Con-
federate currency on an old debt, deter
mined to have a good square dinner, aud
company TO help TO eat il. Rye, coffee.
bacon, meal. rice and molasses were
about the only provisions in market; but
a, y cost of $1,000 the citizen scraped
together enough to justify him in invit-
ing n company of six friends. The guests
were in the parlor, the table set, and the
cook was over the stove, when a shell
entered the dining room through the
side Of the house. The explosion SO
wrecked the room that no one could
enter II. The table, pieces OF which
saw, could no, have been demolished
any better with an Az, and the plaster in
two or three rooms was shaken down.