The Portland daily press., 1896-02-08
WAS HEiA spy?
By ALFRED R. CALHOUN.
Copyright. 1895, by the Author. ]


during the war and spies on the side of
the Confederacy who were without
doubt entirely loyal to the side to which
they first pledged allegiance. say
''first pledged purposely, for it was
nearly impossible for man or woman
to be a spy in the proper sense of the
name without pledging friendship to
both and deceiving one. 1t was, how
ever, only at the beginning and after
spy had been thoroughly tested by an
unmistakable confirmation of his infor-
nation that credence was given to him.
T know of several cases in which men
entered the secret service for what they
could make ont of it without seeming to
have any particular leaning for either
side and were actually paid by both
contestants. think "Kelley, the Song
Man," as he was called in the Army of
the Tennessee, was man Of this char
acter, but Twill state the facts and leave
the reader to judge for himself.
Kelley, as his name indicated, was an
Irishman. April 1, 1862, when he first
appeared in Grants camp at Pittsburg
Landing, he was about 60 years of age,
with blush gray eyes, bald head,
smooth shaved face and bearing that
became obsequious in his effort to be
polite. he was of medium height, wore
a faded blue coat with brass buttons,
napless bell crowned hat and an old
fashioned black stock, above which could
be seen suggestion of soiled and wilt
ed shirt COLLAR.
Kelley represented himself as refu-
gee. He had, he said, been a school
teacher at or near Meriden, Mo-, when
the war broke ont. "But, n heard him
say when he was explaining his presence
to the provost at the landing, ST was
for the Union. When I came to this
country and took the oath of allegiance,
I swore to uphold the constitution of the
United States agin all foreign coun-
thries, and more particularly agin the
queen of Great Britain and Oirland, and
with Gods help I'll sthand by me
pledge"
Kelley drank, but not to excess. Once,
when he was feeling mellow and refused
further to test the canteens offered to
him, he became confidential as to his
own past. He said that he had been edu-
Gated for priest at Maynooth college,
near Dublin, but that when near the ex-
piration Of his course, on the completion
Of which he was to have gone to the
School Of Propaganda in Rome, he be-
came shaky in his theology and was
banished to the secular world. He pro-
fessed to be "a masther Of seven Ian
guages," and although he claimed Eng
land as the first his syntax was at fault,
and his knowledge of prosody, as shall
presently show, was decidedly limited.
He said he could speak Latin as we'll aH
he did English. and for the edifcation
of the enlisted men he ratified this,
"Dominus vobiscum. Eft cum spiritu tue.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima Gull
pa" with other phrases, which recog-
nized as part Of the Latin mass, aa
celebrated in Roman Catholic churches.
and with which any bright lad of that
denomination might be familiar. He
gave, as specimen Of Greek, more quo
tations from the prayer book, and as
sured his listeners that 'tthat's Greek as
Homer wrote it in his famous ballad,
the tIlyud.'" This was delightfully."-
funny to a few of us who were fresh
from college, but we did not undeceive
the boys, who looked up to the old man
with the awe that scholarship produces
in the minds Of the illiterate.
The next day I met Kelley again not
far from Shiloh church-this was two
days before the battle-and to my sur
prise, for he was now in his sober senses,
he spoke again of his education and
wondered II he could not s'get job in
a northern college" If he went up that
way. He regretted that age barred his
being soldier, for all his instincts were
military. His father, captain in the
Eighty eighth Connaught rangers, was
killed at the battle of Waterloo To his
own constant sorrow and shame, his
grandfather, a major of sappers and
miners, fought with CORVALLIS against
the patriots under Washington. But it
delighted him to know that his great
grandfather ON his mothers side was a
prominent officer at Fontenoy, where
Irishmen for once had chance to get
even with England.
I set the old fellow down, as did some
of his own more cultured countrymen
who came into contact with him, as
harmless old humbug, whom the provost
would ship down the river with lot of
other useless creatures who swarm in
the camps Of an army in some inexpli-
cable way and despite the vigilance of
the provost guards.
Kelley had good but an unframed
voice. Music was among his many pro-
fessed accomplishments. He had had
many glass with Tom Moore, he said,
and he led his hearers to infer that the
author Of "Irish Melodies" was inclined
to be Jealous Of his (Kelley's) lyrical
gifts. Lever and he were bosom friends
indeed, he suggested " Rory O'Moore''
to the accredited author of that song,
and at the urgent request of Lever he
wrote all the songs in CHARLES O'Mal-
ley" I recall the words and the air
haunted me for long time of stanza
Of q song which he gave as his own, and