Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-12-09

told the Yankees thaf II was i negro b0y
who ran away and h&a carried the dogs
with him, adding f1of sour negroes are
afraid Of you people, anyhow.r Mr.
Cough was Juror III Court and fortu-
nately was released. oaf they called AZ
his house and made general search a
few days after. We sfent rough night.
| falling into muskrat h1Ies and trying TO
find road, which W failed to do until
daybreak, when we stopped af a house
where / was well knosln TO get drink
Of water, and while at III pump we saw
the Yankees coming 81 the house. 50
away we went mp the road until reached
Mrs Coughs house, asId sent to Leon
ardtown for oase T. !. asuggy On
\ that Jiay drove over to the pafuxent.
where stayed several DAYS. Soon after
my return to Medley's Meek. / received
note from Mr.. Holmes, on the river,
stating that boat would be over TO his
shore from Virginia on tomorrow night
after salt. 49,
so down | went, and the boat arrived,
two free negroes in small bateaux, in
/ which they put eight sacks of salt, to-
gether with several small boxes of full
minating powder and other material
which had for the Ordnance Depart
ment at Richmond. In my hand trunk
l had a nice pair of shoes, which / pur-
chased in Washington, as present for
Mrs. President Davis. This would of
itself have been considered High Trea-
son by the Yankees When the boat was
fioated she was scarcely an half an inch
above the surface of the water. This
was an exceedingly risky trip, in boat
so heavily loaded ten miles across the
Potomac. Fortunately il was q calm,
stlll night, otherwise we would all have
been drowned. / knew the two negroes;
their names were Harrison; they had
been on the Yankee gun boats, and had
a very bad character where they lived in
estmoreland county, Va. We started
about D O'Clock, p. IN. | steered the
boat with a paddle and the negroes row.
ed. We got about two-thiris of the way
over when they stopped rowing and
commenced whispering. There was a.
gun boat coming up The river not far
from US. | said to them, don't you see
that gun boat - They arose from their
seat. j quickly drew my two pistols and
fired shot over their heads, and order
ed them to sit down and row as hard as
they could, else would kill them both
and paddle ashore. | held my pistols
cooked, pointing at them until we reach
ed the shore, telling them to "pull, YOU
scoundrels, pull" and they certainly did
pull hard. | made up my mind to kill
them both If they stopped rowing, or at
tempted to rise from their seats, for am
thoroughly satisfied that they intended
to kill me, or deliver me to the gun boat
and get reward for doing so.
just as we landed gun was fired up
the Greek, and / sent one CT them to see
who vas shooting ND theEe, and the 9th
er one / made sit on Ko0t, and kept
guard over him until the other one came
back and said Mr.. Branson was shooting
ut swan. i then made them take my
boxes up to an old negro mans house,
about half mile from the shore, whose
name was Kelley, and very worthy old
negro. | told him how these two ne
roes had acted, and remarked that he
knew they were very bad fellows, and
that had better kill them and rid the
country of them. The old man very
coolly said: Indeed, would not blame
you if YOU did" /, however, | paid them
five dollars a piece in Baltimore bank
money, with the understanding that
they were to leave the country in three
days, which they did. The old negro
took me in his ox-cart TO the Hague,
and from thence | went to Richmond,
and had the pleasure of delivering the
war material to the Ordnance Depart
ment and to Mrs. Davis pair of shoes.
After i had safely arrived in the Con-
federacy, | thought what risk had
run in going to Washington in disguise
and returning through the county in
woman's apparel, for had been captur-
ed the Yankees would have undoubted-
ly insisted that was spy, which might
have resulted in the loss of my life.
Upon reflection, it is surprising that
was not captured, for was well known
In the counties, as well as in Baltimore,
and considering the multitudinous spies
which the Government had in every
community, it seems miraculous how l
escaped.