The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-09
Gun. Londea wifh 800.

Maj. Thomas .. FarQuhar OF Admission.
Al't;s on q visit 10 Buffalo recently. tcll
an Express reporter a humorous story OF
the war During the siege Of Nicksbf.rE
ne was in command OF confederate reg
iMeht OUTSIDE OF Gen Grants lines "W @
ltu plenty OF foOd. he said 1T was a
fertile territory that we had 10 draw
from, ana there was no difficulty in get
ing enough TO eat We intercepted a
poorly-g guarded supply train OF the yanks
and had enough 10 feed a regiment for a
month stored right in our little camp ia
spite OF yankee vigilance spies would
no" anu Jnen steal out Of the city. and
We saw and talked with several OF them.
Eacn mad a pitiful story to tell Of how
the inhabitants Of Nicksburg suffered for
some means OF sending them & portion
Of our plenty.
An old negro who was acting rs a
gunner under me was the one 10 @sJc-Csu
what looked at first ike a feasible plan
His idea was to load supplies into the
-FOUR cannon which we had, and fire them
tboally over the heads OF the yankees
INTO tne city itself. 1t was a great idea,
and after some study we decided that IL
was worth while making the experiment.
Inc supplies which we had captured con-
sisted OF bareback in tins that would
20 INTO the guns like grape-sr0c and
we calculated that by giving them plenty
OF elevation we could send the fool d.
fectly INTO the city. where evan such
morsels would be welcome. l was in COM
mand of the detachment. and gave my
consent TO what an older and more eX-
fIoWned upon as being contrary to all
the rules OF war.
Next morning at sunrise we Ioadod the
guns. We put q plentiful charge of now
der in each and then rammed home as
many cans OF bareback as would equal
IN weight an ordinary cannon bali, and
I ina was not great many, l assure you.
IN one OF the guns we put four cans of
tomatoes. This we considered an cxncri-
ment, as We had little hope that such
fluid stuff would survive the i1.po-r of
MOI r...-
ing. We pointed the guns, and Just before
the lanyard Of the first one was nuited
our OLD negro gunner ran few rods down
the NIL, where he would be below the limo
OF smoke and able to see where our novel
shot struck
The first gun to be fired happened to
be the one we had loaded with tomatoes.
me gunner pulled the lanyard, there was
a roar and puff of smoke that obscured
our slght Tor an instant then il blew away
anu we saw running up the hill towards
Us, covered from head to foot with what
looked ike blood, while he waved his
arms wildly and Shrieked: I'm killed.
IN klIIed! ., Lord have massy on my
soul; We We're alarmed and ran down to-
ward him. He still screamed and shrek
eq ana Tell down in a faint as he saw us
We rushed up 70 him, and then every man
OF US burst into a laugh that would have
Waked the dead. 1t reused old Tom. who
opened his eyes and shriekcd the louder
Wheh ne saw our apparent inhuman lev
lty. As soon as we We're able 70 SNEAK or
him on his feet TO assure him mar he va
sun aIlVe, and then ordered him to scrape
the tomatoes off himself He was the
most thoroughly bedaubed specimen I
ever saw; You see. the heat of the dis
eharge OF the cannon had melted the SOL
ger IN the tomatoe cans and they had
SIMPLY cropped to pieces on leaving the
gun, while their contents had been pro-
peIled Just far enough down the hill to
spaJter all over the old negro. The major
paused and chuckled again.
How did the harCl-faolr xr-o~1~ o@t-1.7
the reporter.
. w e didn't get a chance to try it," was
me reply. The yanks, thinking we were
dpout 10 lombard them from the rear
started up the hill after us. and as there
would nave been no use making any re-
slstance against such a superior force
we spiked the guns and retreated. What
they thought when they found the hard
TACK IN them never learned, but 1 sup
pose II only confirmed their idea that We
were going to attack them"