The broad ax., 1896-09-05

T ~. faces, the men stood 10 their work.
me boy officer was eyervvhere His
ample fired his men. and as Ne mass
81 from place to place many a cheer
went up for the young commander.
Ths Majors Opportunity.
-. ne well knew the end had not
some. In the night the British had
oto eseu snree cannon to a SPOT within
~ yaros OF the fort, and In the morn
IS nsnl the fire was renewed. but
10 the vigilance of George Gro
sn produced but little damage.
TN ociock In the afternoon came.
tue pnush general was becoming des-
peae' Als steady fire provoked No
relurn- de could not see that he had
prougnt the fort one whit nearer TO a
surrenoer. His Indians were becoming
9Iseouraged, and something must be
gone. The clouds were heavy now and
the DeiloW1ng of the approaching thuu-
ger increased the confusion. The mo-
ment ror which the boy officer had
been waiting had come.
Realizing that the northwest anrle
was the weakest spot In his defense.
MAJ. Oroghan had brought the Good
bess there, silent for a long time now.
ana loading her with a half charge Of
powder, he filled her to the muxzls
with shot and slugs. But he had
masked her in such a way that her
presence was unknown. There also b
had stationed the Kentucky sharp-
shooters, and he knew he could depend
upon them. The decisive moment fer
which he had been planning had ar
rived. Feigning an attack on the south
ern side, Col. Short suddenly led his
British soldiers in two close columns
against the northwest angle. Leaping
INTO the ditch and calling TO his men to
follow, the angry colonel shouted:
Give the Yankees no quarterr'
Now! Let them have itr' shouted
the excited boy officer, when he saw
the ditch full and the sharpshooters
and Good Bess" spoke together. The
masked port few open, the slugs and
grapeshot poured into the ditch and
groans and cries arose on every side.
Another column Of British advanced
and again the Good Bess" spoke. This
was enough. The British turned and
fed and left the colonel, who had cried
out to give the Yankees no quarter,
dying among the dead, and feebly
waving his handkerchief on the end Of
his sword and begging for that mercy
he himself had refused to offer.
All night the boy officer stood on the
ramparts and lowered pals Of water
to the wounded. He dared not open
the gates for fear Of treachery, but the
kind-hearted young commander dug
trench, by which the wounded were
brought into the fort.
What think you were his feelings
next day when he wrote Tippecanoe
that he had held Fort Stephenson with
the loss of one man killed and seven
wounded, against the British Proctor,
who lost In killed and wounded lbs?
And what was done for the boy on
cert Gen. Harrison, when he unuer-
stood that escape from Fort Stephen
son would have been impossible, could
not praise him enough in his dispatch
es, the ladies of Chillicothe gave him
a beautiful sword, congress voted him
the thanks Of the nation and twenty
two years later presented him with q
gold medal. The boy officer was in
deed old enough to command and until
his death, which occurred at New Or
leans In 1S49, wherever he went he
used to hear a song written In his
honor, one stanza Of which was:
Sound, oh, sound Columbia's she'll
High the laundering pean raise!
Let the echoing bugles swell
Loudly answering sound his praisel
IT'S Sandusky's warlfke boy,
Crowned with victory's trophy,
Comesi
High arise We shouts OF joy,
Sound the trumpets, beat the
drumsr'
philadelphia Inquirer.