The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-20
IN THE FACE OF SURE DEATH.
Tricks of Quick-Witted Soldiers to
Escape Peril.

bravery was usually Ealnct under what
might be called unnatural conditions
said a veteran officer Yesterday. Il know
i'm my own case I was accredited with
courage which under ordinary circum-
stances. would not be- found among my
attributes. A mans instinct OF self-prcs-
ervation may he soon overcome 10y HAT
terry and by being patted on the back. es-
peciauy if he is young and fun of van
ity. I acknowledge ] was vain in the en-
IRENE. and the encouraging and natter-
ing remarks Of my superior officers when
1 did anything out of the ordinary inn
PEELED me to go into places OF danger
without the least thought of my posi-
ton.
Il have been in many narrow escapes.
hut perhaps the most interesting oc-
CURED while we were stationed ON the
summit of Cheat Mountain. iu Virginia,
in '63. | was taking supper with some Of
hccrs at the fort at Elkwater across the
mountain. We were compelled TO take a
I circuitous route. about ~ miles Ions
! around one Of the foothills of the Cheat
mountain. as the direct course across
the mountain was nothing but "a mass of
underground and tangled laurel making
2
/ After dinner a telegram came stating that
] the fort on the summit and at Eikwater
] had been hanked by the enemy, and would
I have to be abandoned
In my desire TO reach the summit fort
/ in time to move with my section ! de
/ cided TO take the direct route, notwith-
standing the roughness of the road. hav-
ing Travelled il once before. I started out
i'm the dark. and had wendcd my way
/ through the underbush. at the expense of
/ my horse, whose legs We're being terribly
/ lacerated. over the hin into the Bcckie's
I hollow, through which small run made
its way. BY this time a terrible storm
broke out Dazzled by the vivid light
ming and confused by the rumhlings of
! the thunder. | lost my way. ! concluded
/ to go down the run TO whore a loyal man
named StonnecSer lived, so started on my
/ way
After a most terrible journey during
which the story still kept up its war
saw the light of a house before me. Hitch
| ing my morse, amid the baying of hounds
/ and the roar of thunder. / went up to
/ the door and opened it. ] then realized
what a mistake l had made. Instead of
/ going down the creek ] had gone in the
opposite direction, right into the territory
where the Marshall and Wamsley gang
| of guerrillas were terrorizing the people.
The sight which met me when / opened
the door made my heart sick. There
/ were a dozen of the toughest, ill-condi-
toned looking guerrillas you could mag
inc Controlling my surprise and ner-
/ vousness. / looked back into the darkness
and began giving orders to "A lot Of mag
mary officers, telling them to make their
. horses fast and then follow. me
/ Then, mastering ur all my courage and
/ assuming as dignified an air possible
/ for il required this to make boy of 20
a commanding Officer turned to the lady
g IN l..
necker, who was well known TO be loyal
to the union cause, making the suerrillas
. believe ! had made a mistake. Mrs.
! Stonnecker l said, prepare supper at
once for twelve officers. Were in deuce
! of a hurry, too, for we must be Off TO
capture that Marshall and Wamsley gang
/ Up the county. The guerrillas. who were
| none other than the guiding stars Of the
/ Wamsley gang looked at me in surprise,
/ but said nothing / then turned TO them,
and, looking them all over said: All
| good. loyal union men, l suppose TO
this they readily assented. / then said.
| We'll. all of you get upstairs You may
be loyal. but We don't want to take any
risk of any word of our movements being
sent ahead to Marshall and Wamsley. So
| get Every one Of them obeyed like
whipped dogs. and one who was about to
take his gun with him let it drop like a
hot cake when yelled. Leave that there,
you won't need it,
when the guerillas were safely up
stairs / asked the old woman if she could
not give me a room in which to lie down
while my clothes dried. Every now and
then 1 would go to the door and give ad-
ditional orders to my imaginary staff.
The old woman assigned me to the room
which led out Of the living room on the
ground floor When ] got in there 1
| breathed more easily. With some little
trouble | opened the small window ana
| got outside. Finding my horse, put my
hand in the stream to see which way Il
was running, a thing which | had unfor-
tunately neglected TO do when | started
on my journey before, and then squirting
my horse on, started as fast as ! could
down the run All night long ] wandered
! in the woods fearing to take the paths
On accout of persuit.
/ About daylight l came to an open
/ space where a colored man was choppng
| wood. l stopped and told him Of my ad
/ venture of the night, and then asked
| him the way to Huttonville Oh said
! ne, you're going the wrong way; you just
/ want to turn back in that direction l
| turned, and had gone but short dis
! lance when, through an open place,
| saw my guerilla friends Of the night be-
! fore galloping down a roadway i'm full
! pursuit of me. l then understood that
| the colored man wanted to send me into
| danger That man was a curiosity, he
| was the only colored man that
saw during the entire war that
was not loyal to the union. AS
retreated before the guerillas, who
luckily. had not seen me, 1 tried to shoot
the fellow who wished to betray me.
but the dampness and rain had made my
! powder of no avail I got to Huttonvlle
with a half-dead horse, from whose
TANKS were streaming blood where 1
had driven my spurs Then ! found the
forces Of the two forts mustered. They
had given me up as lost.
II tried the ruse Of calling to an imagi-
nary staff in another predicament in
which my love of adventure placed me
It was when the two armies were camped
within y miles of each other near Bev-
erly w Va, in the summer Of SO. A
lieutenant of my company and myself
were rivals for the favor Of a girl VINO
lived about midway between the lines
We had been forbidder to go out of the
lines, but it was our great delight TO run
the risk Of being caught. especially if
we could see the girl without the other one
knowing about it. one night my heuten-
ant came to me and wanted to borrow
my horse, which was fine one to 20 as