Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-05-14
TROUBLE IN AUDRAIN AND MON
ROE COUNTIES DURING THE
REBELLION.
Appellate Judge Caldwell, of st. Louis,
Recalls Incidents of the Conflict
in This Section.

Jurist is porting over musty law books,
but when he has for the time being
laid aside the dignity and cares of his
office, and is comfortably seated in
the large arm chair which ls the most
priced piece of furniture in his rooms
at the Planters.
During the stirring scenes of the
late war, Judge Caldweli-Colonel
Caldwell he was then-was q district
commander in charge of several COM
panies of troops, and it was his duty
to preserve the peace in Audrain,
Galloway and Monroe counties, in the
interior of Missouri.
The skirmishes between the Federal
troops and the bushwhackers did
much TO fire the blood of a large num-
Der Of young men of the section, who
were in the first place sympathizers
with the Confederate cause. Many of
these young fellows lived in Monroe
county neal Paris. The majority OF
them were wealthy, and why they had
not been in the regular army for
months is something that has puzzled
Judge Caldwell ever since. Blood
told in those days, as it is said to now,
and when General "Pap" Price went
marching through Missouri the young
men from Paris quickly formed a
company of eighty men, all splendidly
mounted, and joined the command for
a short time. Army life was not what
it was cracked up to be, however, and
after a few skirmishes the Paris COM
pany, which was not regularly enlist
ed, returned TO it's native heath.
For several weeks they remained
quiet enough, but the war spirit was
upon them and they longed to be once
more in the saddle, but not attached
to a regular corps. So a meeting OF
the company was called and it was
decided by a unanimous vote that the
command should do a little rowing up
on its own responsibility. To decide
was to act, and in the dawn of the
next morning a troop of gray-coated
htIbCIiiCH sdiiOPCu ouC vi L M iOou
ed for the Audrain county line. For
weeks they made things lively for the
people on the border line of the two
counties, committing a number of
small depredations and keeping the
Federal sympathizers in a constant
state of terror. Judge Caldwell was
then stationed at Mexico, Mo-, and it
was at this point that he took a hand
in the game. The story is best told in
his own words:
81 was in st. Louis to see the Gen.
eral in command Of this department
when the news was received that the
Paris company had taken to the sad
die. When l returned to Mexico it
was with instructions to go to Paris
and suppress those boys. ! said moth
ing of this to the officers in charge of
the companies of my districts but be-
gan making inquiries about the bush
whackers from people who lived near
Paris. Some of them told me that the
boys were lear Paris nearly all the
time, and finally an old negro who had
lived in Paris nearly all his life told
me that the company divided into
squads during the week, but on each
Saturday night Paris was the rendez-
vous. The boys were all we'll known
there, and nearly all of them had
s~weethearts in the town. This was
the eason they went to Paris once a
week, and they usually held a big
dance in the dining room of q vacant
hotel.
81 kept this Information to myself
also, but at 10 O'Clock IN the next Sat-
urday night I sent orders to the cap
tains of four OF my companies, telling
them to report with their companies
at nee. did not say where we were
going, but we started out of Mexico at
a gallop, headed for Paris, where the
young fellows were just getting well
warmed up to their dancing.
az remember that ride as well as
though it wer last night. The roads
were in fairly good condition and the
moon shed just enough light to clearly
show lis the way. The men did not
know what was before them, and all
of them were specializing upon the
possible object of the sudden call to
the saddle. The mystery only added
to the excitement and served to keep |
the nerves of the men tingling with
aNfiafsof.a, VIZ po1n thio xrn for
several hours and it was nearly three
O'Clock in the morning when | halted
the command about two miles south
of Paris and gave the different cap
tains their instructions. Two COM
panies were scattered about the edge |
of the town, which was declared under |
martial law for the time being, and the
remaining two companies were drawn
up around the hotel, which was ablaze
with lights. The boys were having a
great time and did not know that there
was a Federal soldier within 25 miles
of them until n of the captains en-
tered the ballroom and commanded
the boys to file out.
"When the residents of the town
awoke that morning, they were as
greatly surprised as the dancers had
been, and it was some time before they |
realized what had happened. Several
amusing incidents occurred on account
of this, and one of them / remember
especially well.
''There was in Paris at that time an
attorney named Alexander, who after
wards went to Congress from that dis
trict. Alexander was a Confederate
sympathizer, but for some reason he
had never joined the army. Mr.. Alex
ander slept in his Office, and took his
meals in O house outside of town. This
it happened, was several hun
dred yards outside of our picket line,
and when Mr.. Alexander started out
to breakfast that morning he was
stopped by the pickets.
"'You cannot cross this line,' said
the picket.
"Mr. Alexander explained that he
wanted to 60 TO breakfast, but the
stated that he did not have the