The Portland daily press., 1895-08-17

| are gentleman, aG ieaSt by education,
and have, whether Intentionally or not
we are not prepared to say, done good
service for the Confederacy we shall
save you from the gallows, which. YOU
are aware, is the fate of the convicted
spy, and find you guilty Of desertion. !"
Then turning to the other members Of
the court the president asked, Gam
not right in this gentlemen?"
The officers compressed their lips and
nodded, and the president continued:
81 have never been called OH to per
form a more unpleasant duty than that
which now lies before me. The sentence
Of this court is that You, Allen Snow.
having been found guilty Of desertion
to the enemy while battle was pend
ing, shall be shot to death at daylight
to morrow morning, the I'd day of Jan
uary, 1868, and the provost marshal of
Murfreesboro, to whose charge we now
assign you, will carry out the verdict of
this court. My advice is that you en-
pIoy your few remaining hours in max
ing your peace with heaven, and in i'm
ploring that mercy which it will be folly
for you to look for here. -
With a pale face, but bearing as
calm as that which distinguished him
when speaking in his own behalf, Snow
bowed and was taken back to the Jail
by the provost guards.
When James Coleman left that court,
if such the scene of this farcical trial
can be called, he felt that he was him
self under suspicion, and that soon he
must do successfully what his friend
had failed in, and that is, go over to
the Union side. But he was not the
man to permit alarm for his own safety
to blind him to the awful position of
his friend. He saw that the Confederate
leader was preparing for retreat, and
that within "a hours, if not sooner,
Murfreesboro would be abandoned and
the Union troops in possession.
About midnight General Bragg, with
his staff, came back to the town and
made his headquarters in private resi-
dence Coleman tried to be admitted to
Bragg's presence, but he was told that
that officer was trying to get few
hours of much needed sleep, and had
left orders not to be disturbed until day.
light. Failing in this effort, Coleman
sought out General John G.. Breckin-
ridge, but that officer refused to interest
himself in the prisoner S behalf, stating
as a reason that he knew nothing about
the case. and that if he did it was not
within his province to act in the prem
ises.
That Coleman did not succeed was
not due to want Of effort. In his jour
nal, from which this experience is OBJ
tanned, he wrote of this particular night
as follows:
During the day I got wet to the skin,
and when the rain died out about dark
my clothing froze on me till / felt as if
/ were incased in armor. For the first
time in my life I felt that I was losing
control of myself, and the fate of poor
Snow nearly drove me to distraction. I
was well aware that in one quarter at
least l was regarded as a suspicious
character. and that this suspicion would
extend as soon as the present confusion
was over and Snow fate became known
TO his late associates. II had had the
chance, I would gladly have taken the
poor fellows place, but it was not his
fate or my own danger that troubled ms
at this time. 1t was rather the disap-
pointment that all my carefully planned
schemes for the success of the Union
cause were about to come to naught.
"In the hope that Governor Brown,
whom / knew and regarded as friend,
might be induced to intercede for Snow
/ tried to telegraph him, but the i'll
luck that had come in with the new
year was against me. The storm had
broken down the lines between Steven
son and Chattanooga, and they could
not be repaired until the next day, when
it would be too late.
cat length, thoroughly weary and
disheartened, l took position opposite
the Jail and waited for daylight. With
the first glow Of dawn heard the rattle
of musketry and the roar of cannon to
the north, but SO near by that imae-
ined could hear the Yankee cheer and
the Confederate yell, and prayed as
never before nor since for the coming
of the men in blue. =
Already the wagons were freeing
themselves from what seemed an inter-
minable tangle in the streets of the
town and heading for the south. From
midnight till daylight long lines of cars
carrying the less seriously wounded
were pulling ont every half hour for
Stevenson or Chattanooga. A glow of
elation came over me at the thought
that, after all, it would be found impos-
sible to execute the sentence of death on
Snow, or that it might be forgotten in
the wild hurry Of the hour, but this
hope was soon slain.
1.-THE bugles were sounding reveille
in the camps in and about the town
when squad of men, in command of a
sergeant, halted before the Jail. The
sergeant and two men entered the build
ing. Within five minutes they were
back again, the sergeant in the advance
and Snow, with his hands tied behind
him, following between the two guards
81 ran forward, intending to speak
with the prisoner, and to remain with
him till the end but T cauoht his ,co