The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-03-01

HHfHNAA
Maj. Thomas O. Farquhar OF Anuis-
ton, Ala. on a visit TO Buffalo recently
told a Buffalo Express reporter a hu-
morous story OF the war During the
seige Of Nicksburg he was In command
OF a confederate regiment outside Of
Gen. Grants lines We had plenty OF
food" he said. 1T was a fertile coun-
try We had to draw from and there was
no difficulty In getting enough to eat
We Intercepted poorly guarded supply
train OF the Yanks and had enough to
feed a regiment for a month stored right
In our little camp. In spite OF Yankee
vigilance, spies would now and then
sioal out OF the city and We saw aud
talked with several OF them. Each had
pitiful story to tell OF how the lnhabl.
tants OF Nickshurg suffered Tor food and
We ransacked our brains to devise some
means Of sending them a portion Of our
plenty.
An old negro who was acting as a
gunner under me was the one 10 suggest
what looked at frs, like a feasible plan.
His idea was to load supplies into the
four cannons which We had and IRE
them boldly over the heads Of the
Yankees into the city itself Il Was
great idea and after some study We de-
cided that Il was worth while making
the experiment The supplies which We
had captured consisted OF bareback In
cans that would 10 into the guns like
Tapeshot and We calculated that by
giving them plenty OF elevation We
could send the food directly into the
city, where even such morsels would
be- welcome. was Ia command OF the
detachment aud gave my consent 10
what an older and more experienced OF.
ncer would probably have froWned upon
as being contrary 10 all rules Of war.
Next morning al sunrise We loaded
the guns. We put a plentiful charge Of
powder In each and then rammcd home
as many cans OF bareback as would
equal In weight an ordinary cannon
bail, and that was not a great many. /
assure you. In one OF the guns we put
four cans OF tomatoes. This we consid.
cred an experiment as we had little
hope that such fluid stun would sur.
yive the impact OF falling in the city
but Il was worth trying. We pointed
the guns and just before the lanyard
OF the first was pulled the old negro
gunner ran a few rods down the hill
where he would be below the line Of
smoke and able to see where our novel
shot struck.
The first gun TO be fred happened
to be the one We had loaded with toma-
toes The gunner pulled the LANYARD.
there was a roar and a pun Of smoke
tina obscured our sight for an instant
then Il blew away and We saw running
up the hin toward rs our old negro
covered from head to foot with what
looked like blood. while he waved his
arms wildly and shrleked. I'm killed.
I'm killed. Oh, Lord. have MASSEY ON
my soulv We were alarmed and ran
down toward him. Tie stlll screamed
and shrIekod and fell down In a faint
a. he saw ms. We rushed mp TO him and
then every man OF MS burst into laugh
that would have walked the dead Il
reused old Tom. who opened his eyea
and shrleked the louder when he saw
our apparently lnhuman levlty. AS
soon as We were able TO speak or move
We picked the old negro up. stood him
on his feet 10 assure him that he was
still alive and then ordered him 10
scrape the tomatoes on himself He
was the most thoroughly bedaubcd |
specimen ] ever saw. You see. the heat !
Of the discharge Of the cannon melted |
the solder In the tomato cans and th.y |
had Eimply dropped 10 pieces on leav- |
Ing the gun, while their contents hal
been propelled just Ear enough down the